It has now been three days since Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship in South Carolina, and the 50-year-old, six-time grand slam champion remains the biggest talk in all of golf. However, it is not just the fact that Mickelson became the oldest major winner ever that is impressive. There is one statistic that should raise the most eyebrows.
Mickelson’s drive of 366 yards was the longest drive of any golfer at the PGA Championship on the 16th hole this past weekend according to Andy Nesbitt of USA Today. His tee shot went further than the tee shots of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, and Cameron Champ.
When you put Mickelson’s monster drive on Sunday into perspective, you must realize he is still averaging an impressive 302.5 yards per drive. This is indeed, an impressive total for one of the oldest current golfers on the PGA Tour. Mickelson is tied with 30-year-old Max Homa of Burbank, California for 48th in driving distance. The PGA Tour leader in average driving yards is DeChambeau, who averages 322.5 yards per drive. However, DeChambeau’s drives this past weekend were not good enough to put him into contention at the PGA Championship, as he tied for 38th at three-over-par, nine strokes back of Mickelson.
The fact that DeChambeau was not among the leaders was very surprising when you realize that the Ocean Course in South Carolina was the longest course in major golf history at 7876 yards. It was to benefit the younger golfers on tour that bombed the golf ball the most. No one expected the golfer that hit the ball the furthest on the third final hole to be 50 years of age.
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