06 March 2024 , 19:19
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The Open have handed Phil Mickelson a reprieve after reducing the age limit exemption for former champions.
Mickelson, who turns 54 in mid-June, was facing the prospect of playing at The Open for one of the last times this summer after organisers The R&A updated its exemption categories on Wednesday (6 March). The headline change is dropping the age limit for the first time since 2007.
Back then it went from 65 to 60. From now on, it will stand at 55. But, crucially, that only applies to any new champions from this year onwards, meaning Mickelson, who won at Muirfield in 2013, and all other previous winners can continue playing up to and including the age of 60.
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"From 2024, players winning The Open will be exempt until the age of 55," the R&A said in a statement. "All golfers currently exempt as past champions will be able to play in The Open until the age of 60."
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As confirmed by The Open, the American is one of 22 players to have secured this exemption for The 152nd Open. Mickelson also got in as one of the PGA Champions between 2018 and 2024 after what was his most recent major win in 2021
Several of those, such as Brian Harman, Cameron Smith, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Tiger Woods, also have multiple other exemptions.
Mickelson will continue playing at The Open for the foreseeable future (PA)Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson and Zach Johnson join them by qualifying as winners from over the last ten editions, a group which also includes Mickelson. Ben Curtis, Darren Clarke, David Duval, Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, John Daly, Justin Leonard, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Stewart Cink and Todd Hamilton complete the list with only one exemption.
Several other LIV Golf players feature among those 22, but notably, neither Patrick Reed nor Sergio Garcia have exemptions.
Their best bet of playing at Royal Troon is through the Open Qualifying Series, namely the Italian Open, or getting in through final qualifying this summer. Mickelson does not have to worry about that and will be back in Scotland over a decade after his maiden triumph at The Open.
Three years ago, he described winning at Muirfield as one of his top two career wins. “The greatest feeling of accomplishment, I think, was winning the British Open in 2013 because it wasn't really a style of golf suited to my game."
Those concerns are not unfounded, either. Mickelson only has four top-ten finishes since first playing at The Open in 1994, compared to at least ten at the other four majors and 16 at the Masters.
Three came in six years between 2011 and 2016, with two runner-up placing separating his maiden win. The only other was a third place in 2004, a year he came in the top ten at all four majors for the first and last time.