KIAWAH ISLAND, SC - MAY 23: 2021 PGA Champion, Phil Mickelson poses with the Wanamaker Trophy after the final round of the 2021 PGA Championship held at the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island Golf Resort on May 23, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)

Phil Mickelson has spent his career in the shadow of Tiger Woods but the quixotic left-hander threw down the gauntlet to his greatest rival yesterday when he became the first man over 50 to win one of golf’s Major titles.

Playing with huge heart, the flamboyant Californian denied Brooks Koepka his third Wanamaker Trophy in four years, carding a one-over 73 to win the 103rd PGA Championship by two shots on six-under-par from the smouldering Floridian (74) and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen (73) on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

Where 53-year old Greg Norman and 59-year old Tom Watson failed in The Open in 2008 and 2009, Mickelson succeeded in dramatic fashion, overtaking Julius Boros (48 years, 4 months and 18 days old when won the 1968 PGA Championship) by becoming golf’s oldest Major winner aged 50 years, 11 months and 7 days.

Boros himself came up short when he led the 1973 US Open into the final round, eventually finishing tied for seventh behind 63-shooting Johnny Miller at Oakmont.

But 28 years after he won on the PGA Tour as an amateur, Mickelson joined Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino as a six-time Major winner, becoming one of just 13 players to win six or more.

After a dramatic battle, the man from San Diego took a three-shot lead to the treacherous par-three 17th. He overshot the green and made bogey to take a two-shot lead to the last.

After Mickelson cut his drive into the gallery on the left, the door was open for Koepka. But Mickelson slammed it shut when he rifled a 176-yard nine-iron to 16 feet and after battling his way through an enormous crowd that swarmed onto the 18th fairway, he watched his rival two putt for a 74, then gratefully two-putted to win by two before falling into an embrace with his brother and caddie, Tim.

"This is just an incredible feeling,” said Mickelson, who worked hard on his mental game to complete a massive win. "I just believed it was possible yet everyone was saying it wasn’t. I just hope others find inspiration. It might take a little extra work, a little harder effort to maintain physically or maintain the skills but gosh is it worth it in the end and I am so appreciative to be holding this Wanamaker Trophy.

“I just love the game of golf and I love what I do and the challenge of competing against such great players. I mean what an incredible player and tough competitor Broosk Koepka is. To have the chance to play in the final group with him was an exceptional honour.

“It’s been really fun for me to see his development. I remember playing a practice round with him in the 2013 PGA at Oak Hill and to see the way his game has developed and what a tough player his is, it was a really difficult task for me to be able to go head to head and come out on top.”

It was high octane stuff from the start with four swings of two or more shots between Mickelson and Koepka in the first seven holes alone.

Leading by one overnight, Mickelson three-putted the first as Koepka knocked in a 12 footer claim the lead.

But the Floridian double-bogeyed the par-five second, taking four to get down after flying the green in three as the left-hander chipped dead for birdie.

Koepka looked certain to benefit from a two-shot swing at the driveable third as Mickelson failed to find the green.

But Koepka’s three-footer for birdie lipped out and Mickelson remained one clear of the chasing pack on six-under.

The gap was soon two as Mickelson holed from the waste bunker for a spectacular two at the 214-yard fifth and Koepka failed to match him from 25 feet.

But it wasn’t for long as there was a third big swing in six holes as Mickelson bogeyed the sixth and Koepka stiffed his approach and made birdie to draw level on six-under

There was another two shot swing at the par-five seventh as Mickelson made a birdie four to to lead by two shots on seven-under as Koepka made bogey — he would fatally play the par-fives in three-over — to fall back into a tie for second with the South African Louis Oosthuizen heading down the back nine.

It was Mickelson who drew first blood down the stretch, knocking in a 12 footer at the 10th to go three clear on eight-under as Koepka, struggling off the tee and fragile with the blade, bogeyed the 10th, 11th and 13th to fall five behind.

Mickelson saw his three-shot lead balloon to five when Oosthuizen double bogeyed the 13th. But the Californian, perhaps tiring, opened the door with back to back bogeys, finding water with his approach to the 13th before missing the 14th green and failed to get up and down.

His lead was down to two strokes when Oosthuizen missed a 14 footer for eagle at the 16th but tapped in for birdie.

As Koepka birdied the 15th to get back within three, Mickelson needed a birdie at the 583-yard par-five to restore his three-shot cushion and pulled it off, blasting a 366 yard drive (the longest there all week) before chipping dead from over the green to get back to seven-under.

Koepka matched with a sand save to draw level with Oosthuizen on four-under, leaving the title riding on the last two holes.

Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry shot 69s to tie for fourth place with Paul Casey and Harry Higgs two-under but a 72 for pre-championship favourite Rory McIlroy left him tied 49th on five-over-par.

it was a remarkable performance by the Dubliner and a brilliant PGA for Lowry, who moves to within one spot of the nine automatic places in Harrington’s Ryder Cup team at 10th.

“Look, I'm in the position I'm in,” Lowry said. “This is another good week towards it. It's always good to play well in front of him under the gun because I play a lot of golf with him, practice rounds, but for him to see me in competition was pretty nice, as well.

“So yeah, look, I've got a lot of golf to play between now and then. Like I said a few weeks ago, there's another two major champions to be crowned the rest of this year. We've got a lot of big tournaments, a lot of good golf to play, and hopefully I can make that team, and like I always say, I don't just want to make the team, I want to go to Whistling Straits and I want to win the trophy. That's where my head is at this year, and I feel like I'd be a great part of the team if I do manage to get on it.”

As for McIlroy, the world No 7 was a shadow of the man who won the PGA Championship by eight strokes at Kiawah Island nine years ago and admits he must regain trust in his driving if he's to challenge for Major number five.

His win in the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago came out of the blue, given he's only been working with Pete Cowen and Dr Bob Rotella for little more than a month.

Now he concedes he's been struggling to regain confidence in his driver for the past three years, and that's a big challenge with just 24 days to go to the US Open.

"I still have a ways to go with everything," he said. “I just haven't driven the ball as well as I know that I can for a long time, and that's the foundation of my game, I guess. Once I'm driving it well, everything becomes so much easier.

"I just haven't driven the ball like myself for a while. Probably haven't driven the ball like myself since 2019, so I need to figure it out

“There was still parts of my game that I needed to sharpen up, and obviously, those parts were exposed this week in the wind and on a tough course.”

Cowen is keen to reduce the movement in McIlroy's slinging draw, but that clearly remains a work in progress as the Co Down man found just 31 of 56 fairways and ranked 79th for par-five scoring.

His putting was also well below par and having made everything inside the six feet at Quail Hollow, he missed eight putts in that range at Kiawah Island and ranked 76th of 81 for scrambling with a success rate of just over 40 per cent compared to 75 per cent in 2012.

It was little wonder he was second last for par-five scoring, losing 13 shots to Phil Mickelson alone.

Asked what was most frustrating, he said: "Just all of it. The par-5s were a killer. I made six bogeys on the par-5s in the first two days, I think. Especially on a par-72, those are the holes that you have to birdie.

"Even walking off there with pars is a disappointment, so to walk off there with bogeys is obviously even worse. Yeah, I really put myself behind the 8-ball with that.

"I actually felt like I putted okay the first couple days, and then just over the weekend, I started to miss a few. I started to over-read them a little bit and was sort of questioning my reads. A little bit of indecisiveness crept in."

Starting the day on five-over, he had a chance to grab a back door top-10 finish with a low round but drove into the water at his opening hole for the third time in four days before going on to mix four birdies with three bogeys for his 72.

"More of the same, very average, sort of can't really get anything going, and it was a day where you had to get off to a fast start," McIlroy said. "The first few holes were playing a lot easier than they have done, and I didn't do that, and yeah, just sort of stuck in neutral.”