Phil Mickelson Wins WGC-Mexico Championship 2018, Thomas' Incredible Eagle
Since winning the Open Championship in 2013 at Muirfield, four and a half years and close on a hundred tournaments later Phil Mickelson is again a winner, at the WGC-Mexico Championship. In the final playoff with Justin Thomas a par on the first hole was all he needed to take home the trophy. This is Mickelson's third time to take the WGC title and at 47 years he is now the oldest golfer to do so. It is his 43rd career win.
"I feel like I'm starting to play some of my best golf. To culminate here in Mexico City with a World Golf Championship victory is exciting to me beyond words because it just validates the hard work I put in and the struggle for the last few years to finally get my game back," Mickelson said after his win.
Mickelson's final round score of 5-under-par 66 brought him to 16-under 268. Thomas, too, brought his best game to Chapultepec. His final round of 7-under 64 included an extraordinary hole-out for eagle, from 119 yards out on the final hole. From eleven shots behind he was suddenly tied for the lead. The sudden death play-off was over fast, when Thomas missed his putt.
23 years in age difference and many years of experience separate the two golfers. Mickelson's first PGA Tour win in 1991, then as an amateur, before Thomas was even born.
They had met years before the 2018 WGC-Mexico, however, when Thomas was a teenager at college. Later, at the 2014 US Open they played a practice round together, after which Mickelson told the golfing media, “You’ll get to know Justin Thomas soon enough.”
Thomas, PGA Tour player of the year last season and with two wins already this season, moved to No. 2 in the world. Now 24 years old, he spoke with Mickelson after the tournament.
"I just said I'm really proud of him,'' Thomas said of that conversation. "He's been so supportive of me ever since I met him when I was 17. For someone at his stature at that time to reach out to me during amateur events, college events, to tell me I was playing well was so cool.
"Obviously I would have loved to drum him out there in that playoff, but I'm just happy for him and I just told him I know how hard he's worked and I know how big and important the Ryder Cup is to him. And he's playing some great golf.''
Another professional who was at the WGC-Mexico was Jon Rahm. Rahm pledged to donate $1,000 for every birdie he made and $3,000 per eagle to earthquake relief in Mexico City. He made 21 birdies. His sponsors matched the total to bring the final contribution to the Mexican Red Cross to $63,000.
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