Kiawah Island (United States) (AFP)

"O time suspend your flight": the American Phil Mickelson achieved a historic feat, becoming at the age of 50 the oldest winner of a Grand Slam tournament, after his victory at the PGA Championship on Sunday at Kiawah Island (North Carolina). South).

This Major coronation is the sixth of his career.

Winner of this event for the first time in 2005, the Augusta Masters (2004, 2006 and 2010), as well as the British Open (2013), he finished at -6 and kept two strokes ahead of his compatriot Brooks Koepka, who broke down after starting the day in the lead, and South African Louis Oosthuizen.

Already considered a veteran on the North American circuit, Mickelson erases from the shelves the American Julius Boros, who won the USPGA at the age of 48, in 1968. All while dancing, better than the competition, with the wind sometimes violent which has continued to sweep the so versatile Ocean Course, the longest course in history (7,876 yards, 7,201 meters) for a Grand Slam tournament!

Proof that this tall fellow (1.91 m, 91 kg) from "Lefty", so nicknamed because he is left-handed, has never weakened physically under his cap and his reflective sunglasses, despite the heat, the humidity and the distance to keep, under the gaze of the alligators in charge of the places in the swamps adjoining the greens.

As an "old crocodile" that he is, Mickelson knew how to keep his calm when he committed his three bogeys in the first part of the course, immediately erased by three birdies, including a wonderful chip that left the bunker on the N.5 and accompanied by howls of joy from an audience we had not heard so loud since Tiger Woods' winning putt at the 2019 Masters.

- Adept of meditation -

Fans of the little white ball, weaned from strong emotions at the edge of the greens in a year and a half of the Covid-19 pandemic, have grasped the historic moment they were witnessing, and wore "Old Phil" in the last nine, started with a 4th birdie.

This did not prevent him from faltering with three other conceded bogeys.

Without damage however, because at the same time neither Koepka nor Oostuizhen took advantage of it, each committing a double bogey which extinguished their hopes.

Mickelson, who had recently confided that his greatest difficulty, with the passing of time, was to remain constant and focused on four full days, admitting to having recourse to meditation in particular to help him, managed to surpass himself in this area.

Certainly over-motivated by the feat within reach of the club, at an age when you hardly dare think about it when shaving in the morning.

Tiger Woods, a man of unlikely comebacks, returning from delicate back operations, currently recovering from a serious car accident that shattered his right leg, must have been shivering and inspired by seeing the feat. of the one who has remained in his shadow for the title of greatest golfer of the last 25 years.

Sixteen years separate this coronation from the previous one won by Mickelson at the USPGA, the longest gap between two victories in the same Major.

What is missing now from this swing magician, who entered history in his own way, through the door of longevity?

Only the US Open, the only Grand Slam title missing from his record and where he finished second on six occasions.

Good thing: the 2021 edition takes place next month in Torrey Pines, in his hometown of San Diego.

© 2021 AFP