The old adage suggests life begins at 40, and in sports there have been several instances of stars celebrating glorious triumphs in the twilight of their career.
Phil Mickelson became the latest history maker on Sunday with a memorable US PGA Championship victory at the age of 50, making him the older male major winner of all time.
A two-shot victory over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen made Mickelson a six-time major winner, and marked his first since he topped the leaderboard at The Open in 2013, aged 43.
But Mickelson is by no means the first sportsperson to prove that age is just a number. Here we remember some of the greatest achievements by those of advancing years (at least in sporting terms…).
BRADY BUCS THE TREND AT SUPER BOWL LV
When Tom Brady ended his lengthy association with the New England Patriots, some doubted whether he could emulate his unrivalled success at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Those people were wrong. Already the oldest quarterback to have won a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots two years prior, Brady's memorable triumph with the Bucs over the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LV back in February saw him become the oldest player to win a ring, aged 43.
HOPKINS PUNCHES TICKET INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS
Boxing has a long history of fighters continuing well into their later years, and often times they prove ill-advised decisions.
But Bernard Hopkins certainly does not fall into that category. The all-time great first became boxing's oldest ever world champion when he defeated Jean Pascal in May 2011 to win the WBC and IBO light-heavyweight titles aged 46.
Two years later, he broke his own record by toppling Tavoris Cloud to win the IBF strap, and then in April 2014 – at the age of 49 – defeated Beibut Shumenov to add the WBA's belt to his collection.
FANGIO FINDS THE FORMULA TO SUCCESS
Revered by many as the greatest Formula One driver of all time, Juan Manuel Fangio certainly has a record to stack up against the best.
The Argentinian had seven full seasons in F1 and was world champion five times with four different teams and runner-up twice, while there were 24 wins from 51 Grands Prix.
The last of his F1 title-winning seasons occurred in 1957 at the age of 46, making him the series' oldest champion of all time.
NOTHING IS ZOFF LIMITS FOR VETERAN DINO
Dino Zoff is not the oldest player to ever feature in a World Cup fixture, that honour belongs to Essam El Hadary, who was 45 when he played in Egypt's final group-stage match against Saudi Arabia in 2018.
But the Italy legend does hold the record as the oldest player to win the World Cup when he lifted the trophy aged 40 years, four months and 13 days in a 3-1 victory over West Germany in 1982 in front of a bumper crowd of 90,000 in Madrid.
ROSEWALL AND SERENA ARE ACE
Serena Williams and her sister Venus have made a mockery of Father Time in women's tennis over the past two decades, while Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have dominated the men's game in their 30s.
But still, greatness should still be recognised and the last of Serena's grand slam titles at the 2017 Australian Open (when she was eight weeks pregnant no less!) saw her become the oldest female slam winner of all time.
In the men's game, the honour does not belong the three aforementioned modern-day greats (though who would bet against one of them doing it one day?). That benchmark lies with Ken Rosewall, who was 37 years, two months and one day old when he won in Melbourne in 1972.
PHIL TOPPLES BOROS
In the context of Mickelson's triumph, it seems only fair to mention the man who previously held golf's major benchmark.
Julius Boros was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship. Indeed, golf is a game where players can excel much later in their careers.
Tom Morris and Jack Nicklaus were both 46 when they won the last majors of their glittering careers at The Open and the Masters respectively.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse
Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.
Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.
"We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.
"We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.
"They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.
"Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.
"I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolves: Bellegarde beauty earns visitors first point
Wolves earned their first point of the Premier League season following a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
Chris Wood's towering header was cancelled out by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde's stunning strike as the spoils were shared at the City Ground.
The hosts took the lead in the 10th minute as Wood rose to nod home from Elliot Anderson's corner.
However, the visitors were level just two minutes later in spectacular fashion, with Bellegarde firing a stunning long-range volley into the roof of the net.
Gary O'Neil's side had Sam Johnstone to thank after the break, with the debutant producing a strong hand to deny Wood his second goal of the game.
Matheus Cunha curled a shot just wide while the offside flag denied Wood later on, with Forest unable to snatch victory but extending their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Data Debrief: Wolves end losing streak while Wood matches Collymore
After opening the season with two defeats and eight goals conceded, Wolves stopped the rot with a welcome point against their Midlands rivals, while ending a five-game Premier League losing streak in the process.
Meanwhile, Forest remain unbeaten in their opening three games of a top-flight season for the first time since 1995-96.
Heading his side into the lead, Wood became only the second Forest player to score in both their first two home matches in a Premier League season since Stan Collymore 30 years previously.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
