What It Takes To Win - Waste Management Phoenix Open

Phil Mickelson has won his first PGA Tour event of 2013, and he did it by putting together 4 of the best rounds I've seen this year.  With an opening round of 60 (something that I will never be able to relate to), Mickelson didn't look back for the rest of the weekend.  With plenty of experience on tour, Mickelson didn't let the hype get to him, as he continued to play bogey free golf for nearly the entire event.  I was thoroughly impressed by his game play, poise, confidence and consistency.

Let's take a closer look at the breakdown of Phils tournament and what it took to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open...

• Round 1: 60 (11 under) - 11 Birdies, 7 Pars
• Round 2: 65 (6 under) - 1 Eagle, 6 Birdies, 11 Pars
• Round 3: 64 (7 under) - 7 Birdies, 11 Pars
• Round 4: 67 (4 under) - 5 Birdies, 12 Pars, 1 Bogey
• Total: 27 under par - 1 Eagles, 29 Birdies, 40 Pars, 1 Bogey

Those are truly impressive numbers. "It's an important one for me, because it's been a while since I won, been a while since I've been in contention," Mickelson said. "I was certainly nervous heading into today. I think the thing I'm most excited about was the way I was able to regain control of my thoughts after a few shots early on that I didn't care for." 

Along with the above stats, another that helped Phil along to hoisting the trophy, was his greens in regulation.  Although he only hit 57% of the fairways off the tee, Mickelson was able to find 87.5% of the greens in regulation.

• Avg Driving Distance: 298.8 yards
• Driving Accuracy: 57.14%
• Greens in Regulation: 87.5%
• Avg Putts per Round: 27.5 (Avg of 1.53 putts/hole)

Congrats to Phil Mickelson on an amazing performance and a great start to the 2013 season!


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This article was written by Scott Stevens from Eat Sleep Golf as part of our What It Takes To Win series.  This series is focused on taking a closer look at the winning performance of each PGA Tour event to see exactly what it takes to be victorious among elite golfers.

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