RIDGEDALE, Mo. – Phil Mickelson made his PGA Tour Champions debut at Ozarks National so he could avoid a two-week break right in the middle of his preparations for next month’s U.S. Open.
If he was going to show up, Mickelson thought, he might as well win.
He closed with a 5-under-par 66 on Wednesday to reach 22-under 191, leaving him three shots clear of Tim Petrovic. The wire-to-wire victory in the 54-hole event made Mickelson the 20th player to win on the 50-and-older-tour in his debut, not to mention gave him some much-needed confidence after a missed cut at The Northern Trust last Friday knocked him from the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“I really enjoyed playing here, enjoyed seeing the guys again, and they were so accommodating and fun, and it was just fun for me to compete,” said Mickelson, who plans to take 10 days off before heading – he hopes – to the Safeway Open for his final warmup ahead of the U.S. Open, which is set for Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York.
“I got to shoot scores and compete,” Mickelson added. “The competition here was really strong. It was good for me to get off to a good start and compete.”