Irish Examiner view: 50 is the new 40

Mickelson’s major victory

Phil Mickelson celebrates after winning the final round at the PGA Championship golf tournament on the Ocean Course.

There may be few enough places around the world where Phil Mickelson’s extraordinary victory in the US PGA Championship was celebrated as empathetically as in Ireland — and not just because golf is so very popular here.

Mickelson, at 50, became the oldest winner of the title. He won his sixth major title at Kiawah Island, 16 years after first winning the Wanamaker Trophy. In a country with a surging age trajectory anyone who defies time inspires. Anyone who confirms that 50 is the new 40 is indeed cherished.

In a country where the CSO predicts that those aged 65 or over will increase significantly from 629,800 in 2016 to nearly 1.6m by 2051, Mickelson’s victory is more than encouraging. The ESRI has warned that, by the end of this decade, before Mickelson is 60, the Irish population aged 80 or above will increase by between 89% and 94%.

His win would doubly inspire if, like him, we prepared properly for the profound demographic shift expected long before he would qualify for our state pension in 2037 — not that he, or Bob Dylan, who turned 80 yesterday, might need it.