50 free Phil Mickelson trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Phil Mickelson is naturally right-handed, learned golf by mirroring his airline-pilot father's swing, won a PGA Tour event while still an Arizona State amateur and then spent a decade as the best player never to win a major. He fixed that with an 18-foot putt at Augusta in 2004, added two more green jackets, a PGA at Baltusrol and a Claret Jug at Muirfield, and at 50 became the oldest major champion in history at Kiawah Island. This quiz covers the whole ride: the Tucson win as an amateur, Bones Mackay, the Titleist voicemail, the 59 in Hawaii, the Winged Foot double bogey, the garbage-can drop, the Jim Nantz call in 2010, the balcony at St Andrews, the Troon 63, the Match against Tiger Woods for $9 million, the insider-trading fine, the psoriatic arthritis diagnosis, the Saudi comments that cost him KPMG and the move to LIV Golf. Fifty questions with four options each and a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for the clubhouse.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which California city was Phil Mickelson born and largely raised?
San Diego
He honed his short game on an extensive practice area his father built in the family's backyard.
Q 02What was the profession of Mickelson's father, Phil Sr.?
Airline pilot
His flying schedule left time to play golf with Phil several times a week.
Q 03Why does the naturally right-handed Mickelson play golf left-handed?
He mirrored his father's swing
He learned by standing opposite his right-handed father and copying him like a reflection.
Q 04Mickelson's maternal grandfather Alfred Santos was a caddie at which course?
Pebble Beach
Alfred is also Mickelson's middle name; the grandfather took Phil out to play as a boy.
Q 05Which university did Mickelson attend on a golf scholarship?
Arizona State
He won three NCAA individual titles there, a record he shares with Ben Crenshaw, and led the Sun Devils to the 1990 team title.
Q 06How many Haskins Awards as outstanding collegiate golfer did Mickelson win?
Three
He took the award in 1990, 1991 and 1992 and won 16 college tournaments in all.
Q 07Whom did Mickelson beat in the final of the 1990 U.S. Amateur?
Manny Zerman
Zerman was a high school teammate; the 5 and 4 win at Cherry Hills made Mickelson the first left-handed U.S. Amateur champion.
Q 08Which event did Mickelson win as an amateur in 1991, earning a PGA Tour exemption?
Northern Telecom Open
He made a triple bogey with five holes left in Tucson, then birdied 16 and 18 to win by a shot.
Q 09Who became Mickelson's caddie in 1992 and stayed for 25 years?
Jim 'Bones' Mackay
They parted by mutual agreement in 2017, a week after Mickelson skipped the U.S. Open for his daughter's graduation.
Q 10Mickelson's 2000 Buick Invitational win ended a streak of how many straight Tiger Woods victories?
Six
'I didn't want to be the bad guy,' Mickelson said afterwards. 'I was just trying to win the golf tournament.'
Q 11What label was Mickelson stuck with before his 2004 Masters breakthrough?
Best player never to win a major
He had 17 top-tens in majors and six second- or third-place finishes between 1999 and 2003.
Q 12How long was the birdie putt on the 72nd hole that won Mickelson the 2004 Masters?
18 feet
Ernie Els finished a stroke back after the pair traded birdies and eagles on the back nine from different groups.
Q 13Who finished runner-up to Mickelson at the 2004 Masters?
Ernie Els
Mickelson became only the third left-handed swinger to win a major, after Bob Charles and Mike Weir.
Q 21Who finished three shots behind Mickelson at the 2010 Masters?
Lee Westwood
Mickelson's Saturday run of eagle, eagle and a near-eagle on 13, 14 and 15 turned the tournament.
Q 22Which CBS announcer called Mickelson's final putt in 2010 'a win for the family'?
Jim Nantz
Both Mickelson's wife and mother were dealing with cancer that year, and he greeted Amy with a long embrace.
Q 23Which condition did Mickelson reveal he had been diagnosed with before the 2010 PGA Championship?
Psoriatic arthritis
He became a vegetarian to aid treatment and finished T12 that week behind Martin Kaymer.
Q 14A leaked voicemail praising which manufacturer's gear got Mickelson dropped by Titleist in 2004?
Callaway
He was released from his Titleist deal 16 months early and took ridicule for switching equipment just before the Ryder Cup.
Q 15What career-low 18-hole score did Mickelson shoot at the 2004 PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii?
59
He later matched his 60 in competition at the 2013 Phoenix Open, where a 25-footer for 59 lipped out.
Q 16Mickelson won his first PGA Championship in 2005 at which course?
Baltusrol
Rain pushed the finish to Monday; he pitched to 18 inches on the last to beat Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjørn by one.
Q 17Who won the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot after Mickelson double-bogeyed the last?
Geoff Ogilvy
Needing par, Mickelson hit driver, bounced off a hospitality tent, hit a tree and plugged in a bunker.
Q 18Where did Mickelson's drive on the 17th at Winged Foot in 2006 famously come to rest?
Inside a garbage can
He was granted a free drop and saved par there; it was the next hole that undid him.
Q 19Which swing coach did Mickelson hire in 2007 after leaving Rick Smith?
Butch Harmon
Harmon had previously coached Tiger Woods and Greg Norman; Mickelson won The Players a month later.
Q 20Which golfer wore bright pink trousers in 2009 in support of Mickelson's wife Amy?
John Daly
Amy had been diagnosed with breast cancer; the Tour later staged a 'Pink Out' at Colonial.
Q 24Which putting grip did Mickelson adopt at The Barclays in 2012?
The claw
Putting woes had cost him cuts that summer, including at the Open.
Q 25Who beat Mickelson by two at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, his record sixth runner-up finish there?
Justin Rose
Mickelson led by one entering Sunday, holed out for eagle at the 10th, then bogeyed 13, 15 and 18.
Q 26Which event did Mickelson win the week before his 2013 Claret Jug triumph?
Scottish Open
He beat Branden Grace in a playoff; nobody had won that event and the Open in the same year before.
Q 27At which links did Mickelson win the 2013 Open Championship?
Muirfield
He birdied four of the last six for a closing 66 and called it 'arguably the best round of my career'.
Q 28Where did Mickelson's drive on the Road Hole land during the 2015 Open at St Andrews?
A hotel balcony
The out-of-bounds drive onto the Old Course Hotel led to a triple-bogey 7 that ended his challenge.
Q 29What did Mickelson shoot in the first round of the 2016 Open at Royal Troon?
63
It set a course record and tied the major-championship low; a 15-footer for 62 on the last just missed.
Q 30Who shot a final-round 63 to beat Mickelson's 65 at the 2016 Open?
Henrik Stenson
Mickelson finished 11 shots clear of third place, a record margin for a major runner-up.