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Phil Mickelson is the greatest shortstop player of the modern generation. Countless times over the course of his career, we’ve seen Mickelson find himself in a seemingly impossible place, only to use touch and ingenuity to escape. Even when it looks like he’s not being shot, Lefty finds a way to escape danger.
Before there was Phil Mickelson, there was Sword Ballesteros. Throughout his career in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Ballesteros also found himself in a number of impossible positions. And like Lefty, he always seemed to find a way out of it.
Mickelson and Ballesteros’ involvement in the style of play is no accident. As a kid in Southern California, Mickelson looked to the five-time major champion for inspiration in his own game, and came to emulate his champion as he improved.
“Saif was the guy I wanted to go on a training run with the most,” he said. Michelson said after Ballesteros’ death. “He definitely had an impact on the match.”
Once Mickelson rose to the pro ranks in the early 1990s, this coaching tour began to bear fruit. And in the following years, Lefty and Ballesteros became friends, practicing together all over the world.
The first time Mickelson met Ballesteros, at Valderrama, host of this week’s LIV golf event, the Spaniard took Mickelson under his wing, showing the young pro the ins and outs of the practice rounds during their time together.
“It was little things like ‘Come here, hit that shot,’ and he’d hit a botched bit off the stump,” Mickelson said. “You’d play a practice round and have him hit a putt to the right back pin when on practice day the pin would be forward center, and he talks about getting ready to play and competing and working on the shots he had to play competition. That was for a young boy of seventeen.”
For the most competitive Mickelson, this was a bit different from his typical prep work. Lefty’s MO has always been winning at any cost—even if it’s a Tuesday practice run. But, as Ballesteros taught him, the prep work you put in early in the week can be the difference between winning and losing on the weekend.
“I’m out there trying to hit a number and trying to score a goal in a training session on Tuesday,” said Mickelson. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
This does not mean that Ballesteros and Michelson never They must be able to compete with each other. The Ballesteros were also fierce competitors, dragging Mickelson into all sorts of competitions where each could show off his short play prowess.
“Then we’d be together with Hugo Boss and do photo ops together and between breaks we’d have little cellar competitions, chopping competitions,” Mickelson said. “And the time I spent with him really meant a lot to me.”
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