1,425 Weeks Later, Phil Mickelson Drops From the World Top 100

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Phil Mickelson WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind
Phil Mickelson smiles on the putting green during the third round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind on Aug 1, 2020, in Memphis, TN. Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images

Phil Mickelson has officially fallen out of the Official World Golf Rankings’ top 100. It marks the first time since the week of August 15, 1993 that the lefthanded legend has not appeared on OWGR’s first page.

Nearly 28 years ago, a 23-year old Phil Mickelson, coming off a T6 at the PGA Championship, won the old International event at Castle Rock (Colorado), and moved from No. 101 to 65th.

Incredibly, Lefty would stay inside the top 100 for a record 1,425 weeks, including 1,356 straight weeks inside the top 50 (also a record). He spent 775 of those weeks, including 402 consecutively (2004-2011), ranked inside the top 10 – the third best all-time, trailing only Tiger Woods (906), and Ernie Els (788).

Additionally, Mickelson appeared in the year-end world top-10 rankings 15 times (1996-2002, 2004-2010, 2013). Only Woods has more (17) year-end appearances on the list.

After opting out of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, though, Mickelson fell from 96 to 101, exactly where he started 27 years and five months ago.

In his last 10 official worldwide events, Mickelson, 50, has compiled world-ranking points only twice, totaling just 3.16. Five of those results were missed cuts, while a T44 was his best finish.

Mickelson claimed his last PGA Tour title in early 2019 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The win was his second (WGC-Mexico) in a 22-start span which moved the then 48-year old Mickelson to No. 17 in the world rankings. To fans and pundits alike, he appeared to be on a path that would allow him to compete well into his 50s. But, since then – in 37 starts, he owns just two top 10s (both top 3s), while plummeting 84 ranking spots.

The 5-time major winner will tee it up in the next two PGA Tour stops – first at this week’s PLAYERS, followed by the Honda at PGA National next week.

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