PEOPLE

Jan. 25, 2007 Thursday

Phil Mickelson：a Mirror on his Family (1/3)

Meet a golf champion who’s learned what really matters in life

The amazing golf champion, Phil Mickelson has won three major championships and a total of 29 events on the PGA Tour. But how did he get to be where he is study? Phil seems to be very much a reflection of his parents, Mary and Phil Sr. From tee to green, he has always used his mother’s playfulness to entertain the crowds and his steely nerve is likely influenced by a cool focus that his father developed as a fighter pilot.

However, Mary and Phil Sr. weren’t as interested in nurturing a phenom as they were in raising a responsible human being. Phil Sr. said his son has privately gone about “being more generous than anyone I know.” Why would Mickelson pull over to the curb, with no cameras or notebooks in sight, and hand hundred-dollar bills to homeless men?

Uncommon generosity

Why would he give a 94 dollars tip to a waitress who just served him a 6 dollars breakfast, or kids working at a lemonade stand 100 dollars for a cup? Why has he poured his writings into college funds for children of soldiers killed in combat?   （ 1 ）

（ 2 ）, who was forever willing to lend a hand to help others less fortunate than herself. One time she drove her 10-year-old son through an impoverished area and reminded him that everyone doesn’t get to live in a nice house. Mary recalls Phil crying.” He saw these children playing with rocks, using anything for a toy, with glass all over compassion for other people.”