Phil Mickelson
Philip (Phil) Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) (nicknamed "Lefty" for having a left-handed swing despite being right-handed), is an American professional golfer who won The Masters golf tournament in 2004.
Born in San Diego, California and raised in Arizona, Mickelson began playing golf at a very young age. In 1990, Mickelson became the first left-hander to win the U.S. Amateur Open. By 1991, he had won his first PGA TOUR tournament at the Northern Telecom Open.
Mickelson continued to win many PGA tournaments, winning at the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and the World Series of Golf in 1996, the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1998, the Colonial in 2000 and the Greater Hartford Open in 2001 and again in 2002. However, despite his victories (21 as of 2004), he had yet to win a Major tournament until his victory at The Masters in '04. Before the victory, he was considered to be the best golfer on the PGA TOUR who had not won a Major.
His Masters win made him only the third golfer with a left-handed swing to win a Major, the others being New Zealander Sir Bob Charles who won the British Open in 1963 and Canadian Mike Weir who won the Masters in 2003 (but missed the cut in 2004).
Interestingly, Weir is also a right-hander who plays golf left-handed. The legendary Ben Hogan, who won six majors, including three in 1953, was left-handed, but played golf right-handed.
