Yahoo Sports Phil Mickelson falls out of World Golf Rankings top 100 for first time in 28 years
It's been nearly three decades since Phil Mickelson was not a top-100 ranked golfer.
Mickelson did not play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week and fell out of the Official World Golf Ranking top-100 players for the first time since 1993. It is a record span of 1,425 weeks.
He is ranked No. 101 in the latest rankings after starting the year at No. 66. The 50-year-old star has played in 45 events, fewer than most of the talent above him in the rankings. In the four official worldwide starts, he's missed the cut twice (American Express, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) and finished tied for 53rd in the other two competitions.
His one PGA Tour Champions event in Tucson last month did not count toward world-ranking points. Mickelson finished tied for 20th, missing out on making it a record three straight wins in three tries on the circuit.
Mickelson's time as top-100 golfer
Mickelson joined the world rankings as an amateur in 1990, via ESPN, by finishing 19th at the Northern Telecom Tucson Open. He was ranked No. 540 in his debut on the list.
The 44-time PGA Tour winner first entered the top-100 in 1993 when he won the International tournament. It was his second PGA Tour victory and he never looked back down. He has never been ranked No. 1, but was locked at No. 2 for 270 weeks. All of those second-place rankings were behind Tiger Woods.
Mickelson is a five-time major champion winner and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. He said earlier this year if he didn't play well early on he would “start to re-evaluate things” and “maybe play a few more events on the Champions Tour," per Golfweek.
His last victory is at the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He is scheduled to play in this week's Players Championship in Florida at TPC at Sawgrass.
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