Phil Mickelson has gone three straight calendar years without a PGA Tour victory. Three straight. He finished in the top 10 at the Safeway Open last week in his final PGA Tour event of 2016. It's still insane to me that Tiger Woods, who has not played professional golf in 14 months, has won more recently than Mickelson.

It's not for a lack of elite performances, though. Mickelson obviously had one of the great duels of all time against Henrik Stenson in the British Open this summer. He also finished top five at the CareerBuilder Challenge, Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Cadillac Championship, Wells Fargo Championship and St. Jude Classic.

"It was a good year to build off of," Mickelson told Golf Channel. "I had some good performances. My iron play came back. It was a great putting year. A lot of really good positives to come from this year. I have to fix my driving this offseason, and I think the wins will follow. The only disappointment is that I didn't win. I had a couple of really good opportunities to do so. That's the only thing the year was lacking. Had I been able to break through and get that British, that would have made the whole year."

Mickelson was a top-10 putter and top 10 in strokes gained overall on the Tour. Phil Mickleson! He turns 50 before the next Summer Olympics. His only weakness, at 46, is his driver, which has been his only weakness his entire career (other than thinking he's capable of shots he's only sometimes capable of pulling of).

Here's the thing about Mickelson, though. He's somehow getting more thrilling as he gets older. This is my fear with Woods. That he will retire next year or the year after that, and we will miss out on this insanely great last chapter like we have received from Mickelson.

Lefty gave us so much despite not hoisting a trophy this year. He kissed the claret jug before embarking on a historic round with Stenson. He took shots at anyone and everyone. He basically captained a Ryder Cup team. He backed up all his talk with a sublime level of play at his age. It was a joy, and the people loved it.

Who knows how long this could last? I wrote this comparison between Mickelson and Woods, but it sometimes feels like Lefty's thumbs will have life for 10 or 15 more years. It's not unthinkable that Mickelson could win the Masters at 50 (or beyond). So while I know it was disappointing for him to once again go winless in 2016, it was still a pleasure to watch and take in. One I hope lasts for another decade (at least).