Phil Mickelson has been one of the most successful golfers of the modern era, amassing six Major titles among 57 wins in a professional career now into its fourth decade. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that he was also one of the standout talents during his college years.
Mickelson was born in San Diego, California in 1970, but part of his upbringing took place in Scottsdale, Arizona, and it was in the city of Tempe where he took a golf scholarship at Arizona State University – an institution founded in 1885 and which, nowadays, is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the US.
Mickelson attended the university between 1998 and 1992, where he majored in psychology. However, it was his achievements on the course that made his college career so special and where he became the best-known amateur in the US at the time.
Under the guidance of coach Steve Loy, who is still part of Mickelson's team today, the star-to-be honed his skills on Pete Dye’s ASU Karsten Golf Course, and the results were spectacular.
Mickelson enjoyed almost unrivaled success representing university team the Arizona State Sun Devils. Over his four-year stint at the university, he amassed 16 collegiate wins - a record for Arizona State. He was also a three-time NCAA individual champion, achieving the feat in 1989, 1990 and 1992.
Additionally, during each year at the university, Mickelson was the first team All-American, while he also won both the Haskins Award and the Jack Nicklaus Award, each of which honor the year's most outstanding male college golfer, in three successive years between 1990 and 1992.
Famously, he also won a PGA Tour event while still at college, the 1991 Northern Telecom Open - a feat that took 33 years to be matched when Nick Dunlap won The American Express in 2024. He was also low amateur at the 1991 Masters at Augusta National.
Since graduating, Mickelson has had one of the most successful professional careers imaginable but he has maintained links to the university. That includes an announcement in 2017 that he would design a new short-game practice facility for the Sun Devils at Papago Golf Course in Tempe.
That ensured a tangible legacy for one of the university’s most famous alumni, although, thanks to his stunning achievements, his status as one of its legends had been secured decades earlier.
