Phil Mickelson keeps close tabs on the young bucks in the next generation of world-class touring pros. He has befriended and mentored them, and he has played against them in Tuesday matches that have become the stuff of legend.
However, so far, Mickelson hasn’t seen any current player that is even in the same league as rival Tiger Woods.
“There is nobody in the game that I have seen that is remotely close to the level of performance Tiger was in his prime,” Mickelson told Golf.com in an interview.
“Mentally, short game, or ball striking, I don’t think anybody matches him in any of those areas. And Tiger put them all together in one to create a career that is mind-boggling in the game of golf.”
Mickelson has conceded Woods got the best of him for the first decade-plus of the 14-time major winner’s career. However, the left-hander believes he has gotten the better of Woods since about 2007. In terms of major wins, Mickelson leads in that span by a 3-to-2 count.
As for who will become the next Tiger Woods, Mickelson isn’t so sure that’s on the horizon.
“As great as the young players are, the level that I’ve seen out of [Woods], especially when you go back to 2000 at the U.S. Open and his performance when he held all four major championships at once,” he said, “I think we’re decades away from anybody getting back to that level.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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