CNN) They call him “Phil the Thrill.” Firstly, it’s a neat rhyme, but mostly because it encapsulates golf’s evergreen entertainer.
Phil Mickelson has been wowing fans with his swashbuckling style and engaging demeanor for nearly 30 years.
The Mickelson thumbs up is a trademark, as is the bashful grin, the looping swing and the black-clad gait of a gunslinger.
Being left handed has always marked him out (particularly as he’s right-handed in everything else), but Mickelson’s all-or-nothing approach and wizardry around the greens would have marked him out anyway.
When he’s in the right mood, a Mickelson news conference is a feast, crackling and popping with insight and witticisms.
At Augusta last year he was asked to complete this sentence: “Being Masters champion is better than…”
“Well, being a Masters champion is better than not being a Masters champion,” he flashed back with that wide grin before elaborating.
“He’s got box office, always has,” says CNN Living Golf’s presenter Shane O’Donoghue.
Phenomenal’
Mickelson, who modeled his swing on his left-handed airline pilot dad’s, made a splash in the 1991 Walker Cup, the amateur team competition, at Portmarnock in Ireland.
The fresh-faced California kid dazzled a new audience with his magical — and often high risk — short game.
The Mickelson flop shot — precariously lofting the ball nearly vertically into the air to land softly over a nearby obstacle — very quickly became a thing of legend.
“He set down a marker for what he would do in this pro career,” added O’Donoghue.
