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Phil Mickelson is in South Korea this week to make what will be his third start of the new PGA Tour season at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges. While he and the rest of the field will be competing for a hefty $9.75 million purse, Mickelson has an insanely impressive streak to keep alive as well.
The 49-year-old has been a constant in the Official World Golf Ranking Top 50 since December of 1993, a solid 1,351 weeks as one of the world’s Top 50 players, but that streak could come to an end this week.
To put that number into a bit more of a bizarre perspective, here are some world facts from when Mickelson, currently ranked 47th in the world, wasn’t ranked inside the Top 50:
- Brooks Koepka probably didn’t know what golf even was seeing as how he was three-years-old at the time.
- Friends hadn’t even aired on TV yet.
- Bill Clinton hadn’t even been accused of sexual harassment yet.
- O.J. Simpson hadn’t been arrested yet, let alone found innocent.
- Nick Faldo was the No. 1 player in the world.
- Tiger Woods had yet to make his first start in a major.
- Mickelson had less than $1 million in career earnings
#OWGR doomsday scenarios for this week…
🐯 could drop out of the top 10
🕺 could drop out of the top 50
Both of these have less than 10% chance to happen, but they are possible nevertheless…
— Nosferatu (@VC606) October 14, 2019
As the ever-reliable Nosferatu points out, there is a much greater chance he keeps his status inside the Top 50, but if he goes out and has a horrible four days and the players around his ranking number fall into place, he could find himself outside of the Top 50. There is no cut line this week, so he’ll have a guaranteed four days unless he withdraws for some reason.
Tiger Woods will have to sit back and watch to see if he falls out of the Top 10 as he isn’t in the field this week.
What an absolutely incredible run it has been for Mickelson regardless of what happens this week. Hell, I was less than a year old when he first got inside the Top 50 in the world and he’s been there ever since. His golf game is more consistent than pretty much anything in my life, wow.