Phil Mickelson lauds Texas for winning the College Football Playoff quarterfinals after making early excuse for Arizona State

Phil Mickelson has lauded the Texas Longhorns for winning the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. Texas won the match by 39-31 in double-overtime over Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on Wednesday, January 1. Quinn Ewers' touchdown and Andrew Mukuba's interception sealed the deal for Texas.

Arizona State's Cam Skattebo made a 143-yard passing touchdown at the end but the Sun Devils fell short. Texas will now face Ohio State on January 10 and Arizona will prepare for the 2025 season in August. Mickelson, who is an Arizona State University alumnus, took to X and wrote:

"Congrats to Texas for winning an incredibly exciting game. So proud of ASU for playing with so much heart. Happy New Year to everyone."

Before the game itself, Mickelson had expressed excitement for Arizona to reach the quarterfinals but also made an excuse. He wrote:

"I'm so excited Harvard of the west, Arizona State, is currently playing in the playoffs! It’ll be a tough road since we are known more for our academics, but Go devils!"

Phil Mickelson studied at ASU from 1988 to 1992. His college profile says he is the "BEST AMATEUR EVER." Further, his collegiate golf career is regarded as one of the greatest in golf history.

Mickelson won three NCAA individual titles and was named first-team All-American all four years. In college golf, he won a record 16 tournaments. In 51 starts, he had 34 top-3 finishes and 43 top-10 finishes.

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Phil Mickelson intends to play at "the highest level"

Phil Mickelson has had a rough last few years in professional golf. His last win came at the 2021 PGA Championship. After joining LIV Golf, his performances have dipped. Of the 57 players who competed in LIV Golf in 2024, he finished 46th this year. He finished 39th in 2023 and 34th in 2022.

However, Mickelson has shown enthusiasm to compete at the highest level again. In a friendly match with Wesley Bryan, he said (via NUCLRGOLF):

"The game plan? I've been able to get to a point where I believe I can play at the level I played out in my 30s. I don't know if that's going to be the case. We're going to see heading into this year, but I'm going to really make a push to compete at the highest level."

Mickelson won the majority of his 57 wins in his professional career in his 20s and 30s.

"And that means, you know, fine-tuning all aspects of my game, including driving, including speed, including putting and all that, and getting my short game back to a really sharp, the highest level. So I think that I can do something special," he added.

In 666 starts on the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson has made 537 cuts. He has 45 wins, 38 runner-up finishes and 138 top-5 finishes. At his best, he was considered among the biggest rivals of Tiger Woods.