Golf 2019 highlights: Phil Mickelson's emergence as a social media phenomenon

In a professional career that has so far spanned 26 years, Lefty has won 44 Tour events, including five majors, a Players Championship and two World Golf Championships. He has also made 24 appearances for USA in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, a run which ends this week.

If it wasn’t for the phenom that is Tiger Woods, he would surely have won many times more, and be the great American golfer of this generation. Even playing in Tiger's shadow, he's been a permanent menace for a quarter of a century, and 2019 saw that menace go modern as he became golf's newest Social Media King.

Although he technically joined Twitter and Instagram at the back end of 2018, this year saw Lefty’s online presence explode. He has since amassed a combined 1m followers who await his latest 'Phireside' or, more recently, a joust or two with a journalist.

And so, with Christmas firmly in mind, here are my 12 Days of... Mickelmas? Yes, Mickelmas. Pour yourself a mulled wine, grab a second mince pie, get yourself Phireside and relive his social media #bombs with me...

12. A Lesson with Lefty

Phil giving some valuable insight into his tournament preparation and short game technique...

11. Speed freak

Here he offers a glimpse into an off-season workout. Not bad for a 49-year-old...

10. No Tour Championship? No problem...

Phil didn’t seem too troubled to have missed out on a place at East Lake...

9. #TributeTuesday

The beginning of a mini-series of Phil sharing brief stories of those that have helped him climb the ladder...

8. Calves.

The PGA Tour’s announcement that players could wear shorts during practice rounds pro-ams was somewhat overshadowed by Phil and his calves. I strongly recommend reading the comments section on this one...

7. The (MizzenAnd) Main Man

Embracing the appreciation of his calves – And giving us some tips on how we too can have #CalvesLikeAdonis...

6. Walk it in

Clearly, Phil is also a big fan of Kevin Na and his famous walk in style...

5. Putts down, thumbs up

Nothing like a bit of recovery after a record thumbs-up return on Saturday at the PGA Championship...

4. Weight a minute!

Here is the great man demonstrating the results of a six-day fast and 15lb weight loss...

3. Seventh Heaven

A hole-in-one in Jim Nantz's back garden - a replica of the famous seventh at Pebble Beach - and with the added bonus of commentary from Nantz himself...

2. Phireside with Phil

Here's the birth of 'Phireside', a tongue-in-cheek series where he recalls stories from the past. We have even seen guest appearances from Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson, and, in a manner of speaking, Tiger Woods...

1. Magnolia Lane

It’s Saturday at the Masters and Lefty gives us a little insight into his weekend strategy. Clue: it involves hitting bombs...

• Twitter: @PhilMickelson
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