Phil Mickelson celebrates with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. AFP
Phil Mickelson celebrates with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. AFP
Phil Mickelson celebrates with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. AFP
Phil Mickelson celebrates with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. AFP

Phil Mickelson makes history with PGA Championship victory aged 50


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Phil Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major championship, shooting a last-round one-over-par 73 to capture the PGA Championship by two shots at Kiawah Island.

"This is just an incredible feeling because I just believed that it was possible but yet everything was saying it wasn't," Mickelson said. "I hope that others find that inspiration. It might take a little extra work, a little bit harder effort to maintain physically or maintain the skills, but gosh, is it worth it in the end."

At 50 years, 11 months and three days, Mickelson wiped out the mark of oldest winner of a major that was set by Julius Boros, then 48, in the 1968 PGA Championship.

Mickelson earned his sixth major title, a list that also includes the 2005 PGA Championship. His most recent victory in a major was the 2013 British Open. He has been a major champion in three different decades.

"What an achievement to win a major at 50 years old, and he deserves all of that," said South African Louis Oosthuizen, who shared the runner-up spot with Brooks Koepka. "It was not easy with the wind, and you know, he kept calm. That's unbelievable and great stuff."

Mickelson briefly lost the lead near the beginning of the last round. But Koepka, who went in front, took a dip, eventually going through a seven-hole stretch at four over.

Mickelson needed to be sharp given the circumstances. "I love the challenge of competing against such great players," he said. "What an incredible competitor and tough player Brooks Koepka is, and to have a chance to play in the final group with him was an exceptional honour."

MATCH INFO

Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium (Malacca, Malayisa)
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD

* Second leg in Australia scheduled for October 10

Profile of Bitex UAE

Date of launch: November 2018

Founder: Monark Modi

Based: Business Bay, Dubai

Sector: Financial services

Size: Eight employees

Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings

Retail gloom

Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.

It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.

The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Results

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m, Winner: ES Rubban, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)

5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Al Mobher, Sczcepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: Jabalini, Tadhg O’Shea, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami

6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: AF Abahe, Tadgh O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: AF Makerah, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: Law Of Peace, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar

The biog

Name: Abeer Al Bah

Born: 1972

Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992

Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old

Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school