Warding off Father Time, Phil Mickelson's epic PGA Championship win reminds us it's better when we're together

Mickelson, 50, made major championship history and created a moment we'll never forget at Kiawah Island

Golf is the loneliest sport on Earth. Exposure at the highest level is emotionally equivalent to a climber free soloing a piece of slab that takes your breath away. A place like the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island exacerbates this feeling because the entire sports world is watching you try and juggle your anger, pride and patience when the strip of land that stretches out into the Atlantic Ocean -- which Pete Dye said he would have "begged" for the opportunity to build upon -- is doing its best to rip them from your soul. Somehow, Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship on Sunday under these arduous conditions. He warded off the cold, dark night that comes for every athlete that has ever lived, and he engendered a goosebump-inducing call from Jim Nantz at the end: "Phil defeats Father Time." It felt as surreal as an ending to a golf tournament has ever felt.