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This is an exercise I did a few years ago when I looked at Phil Mickelson's resume and compared it to the those of golfers around him from an historical perspective. This was just after he won the 2013 Open Championship. I said then he was on the fringe as a top-10 golfer ever, but now I think he's in.

How can that be if Mickelson hasn't even won a tournament since 2013?

There are two reasons for this. The first is that longevity at a high level is to be celebrated more in golf than maybe in any other sport. Because you can still legitimately win at age 40 or 45 or 50 or 55, taking care of your body and your swing matters in golf. Mickelson has done that as well as anyone ever.

Mickelson is still very competitive at a high level -- the 2016 Open proved that. Even though he doesn't have a win since then, he got beat in majors by historic performances from Henrik Stenson (2016 Open), Jordan Spieth (2015 Masters) and Rory McIlroy (2014 PGA Championship).

He could very easily have eight (!) major championships just based on those three near-misses since winning the 2013 Open. Even without those wins, he has still added to his runner-up collection (11 times) and his top 10 collection (38 times) at majors. He has 42 PGA Tour wins and an additional one on the European Tour. He also has just one fewer top-three at majors than Tiger Woods. I value non-wins like these more than most.

This pushes him into the all-time top 10 in my book. My new top 10 looks something like this.

  1. Jack Nicklaus
  2. Tiger Woods
  3. Ben Hogan
  4. Sam Snead
  5. Arnold Palmer
  6. Gary Player
  7. Tom Watson
  8. Gene Sarazen
  9. Walter Hagen
  10. Phil Mickelson

I probably overrated Hagen before because I didn't consider his era enough, and I probably underrated Mickelson and Palmer. Mickelson has provided a couple of absolutely epic performances since 2013, too. This shows that will be remembered long after he is done playing -- a near 62 in a major, a near 59 on the PGA Tour. He, like his beloved wines, seems to be getting better with age.

As for the Bobby Jones issue -- the man only won nine times on the PGA Tour. He didn't even play for a decade. Is that better than what Mickelson has done? Maybe, but it's difficult to determine. Jones and Byron Nelson are probably Nos. 11 and 12 on here.

The second reason is that Mickelson is also doing it in an era in which it is more difficult to win than ever. Money has flowed to golf like never before, and we are finally seeing the unintended consequence (or benefit) as the competitive landscape settles into a fierce cauldron where golfers like Dustin Johnson and Jason Day only have one major each.

And I repeat, a 46-year-old Phil Mickelson is still competing with these cats!

Lefty's legacy goes beyond the course, too. He will be remembered for two reasons outside of his immense short game and go-for-broke style off the tee. The first is that he is the most beloved American golfer since Arnold Palmer.

Tiger Woods is more revered, to be sure, but Mickelson is more beloved. If you go to an event and traipse the fairways, the catcalls are loudest for Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. Those are the people's choices in golf right now. Mickelson has been going like that for 25 years now. That's part of his legacy.

The other piece that Lefty is going to be remembered for is as the father of modern American team golf. He took a massive gamble between the 2014 Ryder Cup and 2016 Ryder Cup by throwing 2014 captain Tom Watson under the bus, helping organize the task force and generally imposing his will on the entire process.

It paid off.

"Certainly I felt more pressure heading into today's matches," Mickelson said after the first day at Hazeltine this year. "Given the buildup over the last couple years, the criticism, the comments, what have you; the pressure was certainly as great or greater than I've ever felt. I could have copped out and asked to sit, that would have been a total weak move, and I wanted to get out there. Put me out there. I enjoy that pressure."

Now he's going to be a multiple-Ryder Cup captain. He's going to go down as one of the men who ushered in a (hopefully) long and sustained run by the United States in team events. In so many ways, he is these events.

"I have been a part of 10 successful Presidents Cups, and eight losing Ryder Cups, and it's very easy to see what the difference is," said Mickelson after the United States routed Europe this year. "And these guys are some incredibly talented players. When put in the right environment, the U.S. team brought out some of their most amazing golf. We're bringing home the Ryder Cup because of it.

"I'm so proud to be part of the team, I'm so proud to know these guys, to experience this together, to share these emotions, to celebrate tonight. And I've known that these guys have had this level of performance in them for sometime. It's just amazing to watch. I think we all who are watching just really enjoyed this week and some of the shots that everybody hit."

All of us who have been watching have really enjoyed Mickelson's career. From the quirky tics to the outrageous performances in big moments, Mickelson has won us over in innumerable ways.

And guess what? We're not even close to the end. Mickelson really believes he can win the Masters at age 50 or beyond. I believe he can, too. He's only 46 now and has said he hasn't felt this good in his 40s. If the driver can be fixed, and that's a huge if, Mickelson's masterpiece may still be ahead of him.

Wouldn't it be like Phil to save a final thrill for the very end?