Phil and I go way back

On this past Sunday Phil Mickelson, at almost 51 years old, won the PGA Championship becoming the oldest golfer to ever win a major championship.  To put this in perspective, in my younger days I could hold my own with the best wheelchair marathoners in the world.  Now, at 51, I’m probably not even the best wheelchair marathoner in Canonsburg.

Phil has always been one of my favorite golfers.  We’re both roughly the same age.  We’re both left-handed.  And we both had eerily similar golf games.  Although this last point may be hotly contested by my golfing buddies.

As it turns out Phil Mickelson and I have a connection that goes back almost 30 years.  In 1994 the U.S. Open was held at Oakmont.  At that time I was doing my rehabilitation at Harmarville, which is right down the road from Oakmont.  During your rehab you were granted two day passes to leave the facility to spend the day with friends and family, to break up the monotony and to get a feel for what it will be like once you’re released back into the wild.

I had the opportunity to use one of those days to go to the Sunday round of the tournament with my father.  We made our way around the course a bit and eventually settled near the tee box on the 14th hole.  After a few groups came though, Phil’s group was up next.  Now, at the time, I was only about a month out from my accident so I was still in a neck brace, not particularly independently mobile, and generally looking pretty beat down.  After they hit their tee shots and were getting ready to head down the fairway Phil took the time to come over to me, shook my hand, asked me how I was doing and gave me his golf glove.  I still have it framed and hanging in my game room.  I’m pretty sure he’s long since forgotten about this encounter but, considering what I was going though at the time, it meant a lot to me.  For him to take the time to show some level of interest and compassion in the middle of the final round of the US Open says a lot about the man.  For whatever it’s worth, he’s had, and will continue to have, my support for his continued success.  I’ll just take this opportunity to congratulate him on his victory and hope he’s got more to come.  He deserves it.