Phil Mickelson: 2008 US Open Player

Phil Mickelson was born on June 16, 1970, in San Diego, California. San Diego is also the venue for the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines. Mickelson was nicknamed “Lefty” because of his left-handed swing, which is something of an oddity because he is usually right-handed. Phil Mickelson, 2008 US Open player, turned professional in 1992 and joined the PGA Tour in the same year. He has enjoyed 39 professional wins, of which 32 were on the PGA Tour. In the process he managed to reach second place in the world golf rankings.

He has bagged three wins in major championships - two of them at the Masters in 2004 and 2006 and the other coming at the 2005 PGA Championship.

Phil Mickelson's most significant finishes

The first major championship win for Phil Mickelson was the 2004 Masters, which he won by sinking a 20-foot birdie on the final hole, defeating Ernie Els in the process. His next major championship win came in 2005 when he won the PGA Championship by one shot, defeating Sweden's Thomas Bjorn and Australia's Steve Elkington. In 2006 he again won The Masters, this time by two strokes over South African Tim Clark. Mickelson has also enjoyed a number of second place positions - at the 1999 US Open, the 2001 PGA Championship, and then again at the 2002, 2004 and 2006 US Opens.

Phil Mickelson at the US Open

Phil Mickelson, 2008 US Open player, has never won the tournament. However, he does have a string of impressive results to his name in this championship. In 1995 he came 4^th, in 1998 he came 10^th, in 1999 he came 2^nd, in 2001 he came 7^th and in 2002, 2004 and 2006 he came 2^nd. This means that out of 12 US Opens, Phil Mickelson finished in the top ten a total of seven times. Surprisingly, he failed to make the cut at the 2007 US Open