The 2025 LIV Golf Virginia at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club was a spectacle of intense emotions and remarkable performances. The event was marked by a series of dramatic incidents that captivated both fans and players alike. Joaquin Niemann claimed his fourth title of the season at the event, and Bryson DeChambeau‘s team, Crushers GC, won the team event. While DeChambeau thought he’d done enough to shine, Phil Mickelson had a surprise up his sleeve that left fans and players stunned.
In the final round, Mickelson’s second shot on the 17th hole landed in the rough near a greenside bunker. With a difficult stance and his back to the pin, Mickelson decided to go with his trademark flop shot—playing it over his shoulder. He lofted the shot almost over himself and landed it so precisely on the green. “Phil can actually hit it over his own head,” the commentators jokingly expressed while he executed this brilliant mastery. And just when he thought he’d seen it all, the shot landed in such an ideal spot that it eventually rolled into the hole.
If you have followed golf for a long time, you know there’s nobody in the game who is as creative as Phil Mickelson. No one exemplifies the artistry quite like he does with his short game on the course. And it’s not just his creativity but his ability to execute these ideas with utmost precision that has always left everyone dumbstruck.
It was “magic,” as Bryson DeChambeau had called it at the time. “Man, he created some Phil Mickelson magic there. Vintage Phil. To see him get up on the side slope, and he’s just staring at it. You could just see his wheels turning,” DeChambeau said of Mickelson’s flop shot. “It went in the hole, and I was like, ‘That’s got to be one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen in my entire life.’” Only if DeChambeau was done praising the beautiful shot. In a recently shared post on Instagram, DeChambeau and Co. are sharing their thoughts on classic Phil again.
DeChambeau, who was paired with him, described the magical moment: “It just had this parabolic trajectory to it. It landed on the green, and I’m like, No way!” “That’s got to be one of the greatest shots I have ever seen,” DeChambeau explained, seemingly still recovering from the shock. DeChambeau‘s candid reaction serves as a testament to the high regard in which Mickelson is held by his peers, and moments like these remind fans and players alike of the artistry and unpredictability that make golf a captivating sport. Even Mickelson himself couldn’t believe what he had just done—”Even I was a little bit surprised.”
While Mickelson’s shot at LIV Golf Virginia will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most iconic moments of the year, let’s take a look at his other iconic moments in the past on the PGA Tour.
Phil Mickelson’s short game wizardry
Back in 2020, before Mickelson moved to LIV Golf, he had an iconic shot during the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Playing on the par-3, 7th, Mickelson found his tee shot plugged in the bunker and had very little green to work with. But a shot that would intimidate many couldn’t shake Mickelson’s confidence. He splashed the ball out of the bunker so precisely that it just pitched onto the fringe of the green, and gradually rolled to two feet from the cup. It was one of his best sand saves in his career, and he ranked it as ‘top-five’ among his best shots.
Mickelson’s reputation as a short‑game virtuoso reached new heights at the 2019 Masters when he pulled off a jaw‑dropping flop shot on the par‑3 ninth. Facing a brutally fast green sloping away, he opened his lob wedge wide, took a full backswing, and launched the ball high and soft. It dropped nearly dead beside the hole, setting up a routine par that looked anything but routine.
These moments captured Mickelson’s fearless creativity, turning high-risk shots into pure artistry, and clearly, Mickelson’s admission of his current physical challenges seems almost futile now.
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