Fierce Rival Phil Mickelson Once Made a Heartening Confession About Tiger Woods: ‘I Think We’re Decades Away…’

Tiger Woods has always been Phil Mickelson’s professional rival since the beginning of his career. He has even taken the latter’s several chances of becoming world no. 1 and winning majors. Yet, Mickelson had nothing but praises when he had to compare his rival with the young golfers on the PGA Tour! 

“There is nobody in the game of golf,” Mickelson said during an interview with Golf.com. “That I have seen that is remotely close to the level of performance Tiger was in his prime.”  

According to him, Woods dominates the short game, ball striking, and even the mental aspect of the game. “And Tiger put them all together in one to create a career,” he added. “That is mind-boggling.”

Does Phil Mickelson believe the young golfers can match Woods’ career? 

“We have a lot of great young players in the game,” he said in the interview. “And if you look at the top four right now, those four guys are quality – quality people, too.” Notably, at the time of the Golf.com interview, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, and Rickie Fowler were the top 4 players. 

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Although Mickelson equated them to the bests, he wondered whether they could be a match to Woods in his prime era. According to him, nobody is near Woods’ career graph, especially as he has won 4 majors in a row. “I think we’re decades away from anybody getting back to that level,” he added. 

Tiger Woods – professional career in his prime era

Tiger Woods turned professional in 1996 and began his hunt for the championship titles the same year, winning two in the process. Notably, he ruled the golf world until the late 2000s and won 70+ titles, including 14 majors and 16 World Golf Championships! 

Other than winning tournaments, Woods has created many records, some of which are still unbroken. He is the youngest player ever to win the career slam. The golfer was 24 when he won it and was only the fifth to achieve the feat after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus. 

Woods is also the only one to win all the major tournaments in a row, which was later named after him as Tiger Slam. Furthermore, he has a record of making 142 consecutive cuts from 1998 to 2005. To understand how no one can break this record, Jon Rahm holds the longest active streak at 15 on the PGA Tour. 

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Can you think of anyone on the PGA Tour who can possibly take over Woods’ legacy as of now? Let us know in the comments down below.