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Can Phil Mickelson be first 50-year-old at Tour Championship?

By Kathlene Bissell

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 20: Phil Mickelson of the United States walks across the ninth green during the first round of The Northern Trust at TPC Boston on August 20, 2020 in Norton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 20: Phil Mickelson of the United States walks across the ninth green during the first round of The Northern Trust at TPC Boston on August 20, 2020 in Norton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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A lot of players in their 40s have reached the Tour Championship since 1987.  But can Phil Mickelson get there at age 50?

Raymond Floyd couldn’t do it. Davis Love III hasn’t been able to do it. And both of them won late in their careers. Could Phil Mickelson actually get to Atlanta this year?

Right now, Mickelson’s at the mercy of the afternoon wave of golfers to make the weekend cut at the Northern Trust, gain more points and proceed to the next step.  He’s put himself behind the eight-ball with a first round 74.

One thing is certain, getting to the Tour Championship is not easy as past greats have shown.

Floyd won 1992 the Doral- Ryder Open, which was played at Doral, in the year that he turned 50. Doral was played in March, and Floyd’s 50th birthday was in September of that same year. Had he made it to the Tour Championship, he would have been 50.

Floyd, who was known for his stare, was a prolific winner with 22 victories on the PGA Tour, 14 on the Champions Tour and 28 additional victories around the world.

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Davis Love III won the Wyndham Championship in 2015, and that gave him enough FedEx points to at least get into the playoffs. While he made the playoffs that year, he was out after the  Barclays and Deutsch Bank. He was 51 at the time.

Love has 21 PGA Tour victories, no PGA Tour Champions titles, mainly because he spend so little time on that tour. However, he does have 37 worldwide victories, and partnered with Fred Couples to win five World Cups, which broke the team record of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer who had won four together.

Because a victory isn’t necessary for entry into the Tour Championship, Phil Mickelson has an outside chance to do it.  He just needs enough FedEx points to get there.

Prior to this week’s Northern Trust Mickelson was in 67th place.  The top 70 in points  make it to the next tournament, the BMW.  What he can’t do is to lose his top 70 position this week.

Should Mickelson make the last event of the season, he will at least be comfortable.  He’s won it twice already, in 200 and 2009.

However, he’s currently in a perilous position.  Unless several golfers at the Northern Trust fall down the leaderboard, Mickelson may be on the outside looking in.  If he misses out on Atlanta, he can take comfort in the knowledge that other great golfers before him couldn’t get there at age 50 either.

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