Phil Mickelson: Why he can’t beat Torrey Pines anymore

Phil Mickelson and Torrey Pines seem like they should be a match made in heaven. So why hasn’t Lefty enjoyed more success at the Farmers Insurance Open?

Phil Mickelson is basically the epitome of San Diego cool. He’s stylish without being too flashy; save for the wildly expensive alligator belts and shoes he wears on the course, he’s almost always wearing shorts (calves like Adonis) and flip-flops on social media. He’s infinitely approachable, and seems to genuinely enjoy just about everything in life. But for some reason, in recent years, his PGA TOUR “home course” of Torrey Pines hasn’t been particularly kind to him.

What makes it more confusing is that hasn’t always been the case. Most of us will point to Mickelson’s win at the 1991 Northern Telecom Open as his first Tour victory, which is true. But his first win as a pro – with a Hall of Fame career still in its infancy – came at the 1993 Buick Invitational, right here at Torrey Pines. A fitting homecoming, if ever there was one.

He’s won it twice since then, going back-to-back in 2000 and 2001, but he’s gone dry in the 18 years since. Now, considering the absolute boom that golf has experienced in that time, it’s orders of magnitude harder to win at any course, regardless of familiarity. But for someone of Lefty’s talent, the expectations are always going to be higher.

Mickelson last scored a top-ten finish at the Farmers Insurance Open nine years ago, and he made headlines when he elected to skip the event in 2019, the first time he’d missed it in nearly 30 years.

To his credit, he was honest about the reasons behind it: he was looking at a potential schedule of six tournaments in a row – a feat at any age, much less in your late 40s – and the fact that Torrey Pines was, in his own words, not “a good place” for him anymore. His love for San Diego hadn’t waned, but he simply began to realize that a “home game” didn’t mean much if he didn’t think he could dominate the way he used to.

The fact the he was eliminated from the redesign of the North Course in 2015 certainly doesn’t help, but it’s not like that changes his game. He’s hitting the ball plenty long (bombs!) for most courses, but when they’re playing a 7,600-yard U.S. Open level track that also has tight fairways and challenging rough…well, it takes a complete game in top form to win there.

So could Phil Mickelson win again at Torrey Pines? Sure, he could, but it would take an absolutely perfect week, and I just don’t know that it’s that kind of tournament anymore. I’m glad to see him returning this year, because he belongs at the Farmers Insurance Open like Jack belongs at the Memorial. It’s a special course for a lot of reasons, and San Diego deserves to have such a fantastic representative for the game around as much as possible.

But the days of routine top-tens here are long over. Phil knows that, but that’ll make the times he does pop up to the top of the leaderboard even better. And Lefty has always been a bit of a showman, anyway, so let’s just enjoy it while we can.