The 2021 PGA Championship: Phil Mickelson's Impossible Victory at Kiawah
On May 23, 2021, Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course to become the oldest major champion in golf history at 50 years and 11 days old. The record he broke had stood since 1968, when Julius Boros won the PGA at 48. Mickelson didn't just break it — he obliterated it by two years.
It was the most improbable major championship victory since Jack Nicklaus at Augusta in 1986, and in some ways it was more improbable than that.
The Context
By 2021, most golf observers had concluded Phil Mickelson's major championship career was over. He had won five majors between 2004 and 2013. The most recent had been the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield. In the eight years since, he had turned 50, gained weight, lost distance off the tee, and shown flashes of the game without consistently performing at the level required to win a major.
He arrived at Kiawah Island unranked in most pre-tournament analysis. The Ocean Course — Pete Dye's deliberately brutal design on the South Carolina coast — was playing at its most demanding. Wind off the Atlantic was constant. The rough was severe. The greens were fast.
The Week
Mickelson opened with 70 and was in contention but not the story. By the third round, he was. He shot 70-69-70 to hold the 54-hole lead by two shots, playing with a patience and precision that nobody had expected from a 50-year-old whose game had seemed to be in decline.
The final round was the story. Mickelson played the most important golf of his career when every other factor in the tournament — age, conditions, the expectations of the field — should have worked against him.
The Final Round
Brooks Koepka, the two-time US Open champion, was the most serious threat. He closed within a shot on the back nine. Mickelson responded, making critical par saves and the occasional birdie, never letting the gap close to nothing.
Standing on the 18th hole with a one-shot lead, Mickelson hit a conservative tee shot, played his approach conservatively, and made bogey. Koepka's final hole challenge fell short. Mickelson won by two shots.
His celebration on the 18th green — the raised fist, the grin that has been recognizable since he was 20 years old, the embrace with his caddie brother Tim — was one of golf's most genuinely emotional finishes in years.
What It Meant for Kiawah
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island had already hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup (the War by the Shore) and the 2012 PGA Championship. The 2021 PGA added another chapter to one of the most dramatic courses in American golf history — a Pete Dye layout that plays along the Atlantic coastline and consistently produces the kind of high-stakes golf that other courses merely promise.
Kiawah's Ocean Course is now the site of three major championships and one Ryder Cup. No other course in the southeastern United States comes close to that record.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old was Phil Mickelson when he won the 2021 PGA Championship?
Phil Mickelson was 50 years and 11 days old when he won the 2021 PGA Championship, making him the oldest major champion in golf history.
Where was the 2021 PGA Championship held?
The 2021 PGA Championship was held at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
What major championships has the Ocean Course at Kiawah hosted?
The Ocean Course has hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup (the War by the Shore), the 2012 PGA Championship (Rory McIlroy), the 2021 PGA Championship (Phil Mickelson), and the 2023 Ryder Cup.