...but he's stiffened his lip and swallowed his pride and is man enough to admit that the big tournaments of the year delivered some of the most classic and dramatic moments of golfing history. Here are his top memories...
SHOT OF THE YEAR
Phil Mickelson
How can a golf shot be simultaneously sublime, absurd, foolhardy, gloriously reckless, unutterably pure and ultimately the product of genius all at once? Well, if it's been hit by Phil ‘Lefty’ Mickelson, that’s how. How many of his peers would both attempt and then pull off a shot with the following characteristics: 200-yards out, from the pine-straw, with a downhill lie and amongst trees to a target across a hungry creek and set on the tiniest of shelves. Oh, and whilst holding a narrow lead on the back -nine on Sunday of a Major. Lefty of course attempted and delivered on such a shot at the 13th hole at Augusta that will forever be remembered in golfing lore, landing his ball with impossible featherlike precision to five- feet under the hole. For me, no other shot since Tiger Woods's “Nike’ moment at Augusta’s 16th in 2005 came close for Shot of the Decade. Utter brilliance.
