Six-time Major champion Phil Mickelson is more than happy to pass on his words of wisdom to the next generation of stars after the 53-year-old was spotted giving Caleb Surratt a helping hand in Hong Kong.
Surratt, who was a college golfer earlier this year before turning professional to join LIV Golf, played with Mickelson last week in Jeddah but struggled with his game, which led to Jon Rahm, captain of Surratt’s Legion XIII team, reaching out to the American to find out if there was anything he spotted that Rahm could help the youngster out with.
Most golfers would have provided Rahm with a few details about what they thought Surratt could improve on, but Mickelson is not your everyday golfer.
The 45-time PGA Tour winner instead offered Surratt a one-to-one lesson to talk him through a few bits and pieces that Mickelson had learned over a career spanning three decades.
“I'm happy to do it, and Caleb is a very talented, incredible player,” said Mickelson ahead of LIV Golf Hong Kong.
“He asked for some help, and I'm happy to do it, happy to help. I texted him later, and he said that things were going pretty good and that he started to feel comfortable with it. Hopefully it helps.
“For somebody at 19 to reach out I think shows a lot of maturity. He's already shown in the first couple of events how talented he is. He's just going to continue to get better and better.”
Prior to Mickelson’s comments, Rahm also revealed that “Phil has been willing to help anybody way before LIV Golf.”
The reason for that? A certain Spanish great that spent time helping a young Mickelson ahead of his first professional event.
“A lot of people helped and supported me in my career early on,” said Mickelson.
“I was a kid who looked up to Seve Ballesteros and had an opportunity to play with him in my first professional event when I was 17 and played a practice round with him and had a remarkable day.
“Later on, we both represented Hugo Boss and we would do some photo shoots, and in between shots, we would go have chipping contests.
“I would ask him about chipping, and I would ask him about short game and some of the shots he would hit.
“What an incredible experience for me to be able to have contests with Seve, have the ability to ask him questions and to hear his thoughts, somebody I looked up to as a kid who I watched win the Masters when I was a kid.
“If somebody reaches out to me, I want to try to be as kind as Seve was.”
