Phil Mickelson: Days on Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup Are Over
By Tim Letcher
Phil Mickelson was a mainstay on the United States Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams for over 20 years. Those days are likely now over.
Until last year, Phil Mickelson had made every United States Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team since 1994. That’s 25 years of representing the red, white and blue for Lefty.
That streak came to an end when Mickelson was not selected for the 2019 United States Presidents Cup team. Captain Tiger Woods decided to go in another direction, picking Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed, leaving Mickelson out for the first time since the Clinton administration.
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Mickelson took the news well, going to Twitter to support Team USA as they beat the International Team again to keep the cup. Mickelson even donned a stars and stripes onesie in support of his countrymen.
Mickelson would like nothing better than to make it back to another Team USA and to represent his country once again. However, his chances to do so are becoming very limited. Mickelson turns 50 in June, so his window of opportunity is quickly closing. He will likely be a Ryder Cup captain one day, but by that time, his chance to be a playing captain may have passed.
If Lefty is going to make the 2020 United States Ryder Cup team, he has a lot of ground to make up. In fact, if Mickelson is going to make the team, it’s likely going to be via a captain’s pick.
Mickelson is currently 27th in the Ryder Cup standings, so he has to climb over nearly 20 players to make the team on his own. With only a limited number of events this summer, it doesn’t seem likely that he can make up that much ground.
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Captain Steve Stricker knows Mickelson well, having played with him in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 Ryder Cup teams. However, Stricker knows that he will need to have the best team possible to face a European Team that has won four of the last five Ryder Cups. Mickelson does not figure to be part of that team.
We have likely seen the last of Mickelson as a competitor in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.