Over the past three decades, Tiger Woods’ heat has never cooled down. Super Tiger is definitely the biggest name in the history of golf and is considered a living legend. Phil Mickelson is also no slouch, hailed as a highly influential face in golf since his time as an amateur in the 90s of the last century.

Amateur period

Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson radiate a brilliant aura and have owned a series of great titles since they were Amateurs.

For three consecutive years from 1991 to 1993, California teenager Tiger Woods held the US Junior Amateur Cup, and three years later continued to dominate the US Amateur Championship. To date, no one has been able to match this achievement of Woods. He was on the US team at the Eisenhower Trophy and Walker Cup (although the US team lost in 1995) and was a six-time Junior World Golf Champion.

Tiger Woods lifted his first US Amateur championship trophy at the age of 21

Phil Mickelson is a three-time NCAA individual champion and received First-team All American honors during his four years at Arizona State University. Lefty won the US Amateur championship in 1990 – he became the first left-handed golfer to win the national amateur tournament (Mickelson is right-handed but plays golf with his left hand). In two consecutive Walker Cups in 1989 and 1991, Mickelson was a member of the US team and helped the team win the 1991 cup with a record of 3/4 wins.

Phil can boast a success as an amateur that Tiger cannot – He won one PGA Tour event before turning pro. In January 1991, at just 20 years old and still in college, Phil won the Northern Telecom Open in Tuscon.

Mickelson won the Northern Telecom Open as an amateur

Compared to Tiger Wood, Phil Mickelson’s amateur career had a more successful point when he won a professional PGA Tour event. In January 1991, at just 20 years old and still in college, Phil won the Northern Telecom Open in Tuscon.

Although Tiger Woods may be superior thanks to six consecutive years of winning the national championship, his “rival” Lefty is no less competitive.

Professional awards

Tiger Woods won the Claret Jug Cup at Hoylake in 2006

Tiger Woods’ record at professional tournaments is second only to Jack Nicklaus. Super Tiger has won a total of 15 Major titles and completed the career Grand Slam 3 times. Besides, he had 26 top 10 finishes in major tournaments, and 7 of them were runner-up. The first time Woods reached the top 10 majors was The Masters 1997, the last time was winning at the Masters 2019, the gap between the two milestones is currently 22 years.

Phil Mickelson has won 6 Major titles but has never won the US Open despite finishing runner-up 6 times. In total, Lefty has had 34 top 10 finishes in Major tournaments – 8 more times than Tiger and 12 of those were top 2 positions. The 1993 PGA Championship was the first time Mickelson made a mark in a major by reaching the top 10. , and the most recent was runner-up at The Masters 2023 – two milestones 30 years apart. This is a strong testament to Mickelson’s incredible longevity.

At the age of 50, Phil still has enough strength to defeat talented junior golfers to hold the PGA Championship trophy

At 43 years old, Tiger Woods won The Masters 2019. At 50, Phil Mickelson still won the 2021 PGA Championship, thereby becoming the oldest golfer to win at a professional tournament.

In this aspect, Tiger Woods is definitely better than Phil Mickelson in terms of achievements, but Mickelson’s performance in Major competition is still maintained even after 3 decades.

Pro Titles and Bounty Races

Woods has 82 PGA Tour victories and a total of 110 championships in professional tournaments. His 82 PGA Tour titles have helped him match the record set by the legendary Sam Snead.

Tiger Woods has 10 leading earnings on the PGA Tour

Mickelson has won the PGA Tour 45 times from 1991 to 2021 and has a total of 57 victories as a professional.

Thanks to his massive title collection, Tiger Woods has topped the PGA Tour’s money list 10 times and has income exceeding the $110 million mark from the Tour. As for Phil, he never led the money list when competing during Woods’ heyday. He ranks second in all-time earnings on the PGA Tour, earning nearly $95,000,000.

In this criterion, the difference is too obvious. Tiger has spent about 15 years dominating the professional golf scene, playing 358 matches on the PGA Tour and winning 82 times. Woods’ 23% win rate has yet to be broken!

Professional team tournaments

Phil Mickelson appeared in the US Ryder Cup team 12 times and is the member with the highest “seniority”. But his overall record was not high – 18-22-7. Lefty prevailed in singles competition (8-6-1). He also played in 12 Presidents Cups and had a better overall record of 26 wins, 16 draws and 13 losses. Mickelson was a member of the American team that won the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1996.

Tiger has played 8 times for the US team at the Ryder Cup and has only lifted the trophy once, in 1999 at Brookline. Tiger’s Ryder Cup record is 13-12-3, a win rate of 46%, higher than Mickelson’s 38%.

Woods and Mickelson at the 2004 Ryder Cup.

Tiger and Phil played together on the first day of the 2004 Ryder Cup. However, the “dream pair” lost to Colin Montgomerie & Padraig Harrington in the morning session, and were beaten by Darren Clarke & Lee Westwood in the afternoon.

Tiger has competed in nine Presidents Cup seasons and served as captain once. His playing record is 27-15-1. Super Tiger was also a member of the US team in three World Cups and won twice, including one individual title.

In conclusion, Tiger Woods’ achievements when competing in team tournaments are more impressive than Phil Mickelson’s.

Since they started playing professionally, Tiger and Phil have always been the two biggest names in golf. Obviously Tiger has achieved more, won more titles and received more prize money, but it’s still difficult to put his and Phil Mickelson’s careers on the line.

Tiger Woods is arguably the greatest player of all time, while Phil Mickelson is also a great golfer who has inspired generations. Mickelson has a number of notable achievements that Tiger does not have – winning the PGA Tour as an amateur, winning a Major at the age of 50 and playing in 12 Ryder Cups as well as the Presidents Cup… Those are impressive milestones that put Phil Mickelson’s name goes down in golf history, walking alongside the legendary Tiger Woods!