As the men’s professional golf divide continues with no indication of when or if a resolution is imminent, Phil Mickelson has remained mostly quiet, reiterating his stance that the game is in a “disruption” stage and he anticipates a good outcome.
But the original disruptor from some 30 months ago again maintains he is not privy to the conversations taking place between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which backs LIV Golf—although he remains bullish on LIV Golf’s future and his role in it.
His participation as a player, however, is a bit murky. Mickelson has also been quiet on the golf course, making the cut in two of the four major championships, with a tie for 43rd at the Masters and a tie for 60th at the British Open.
And he has just one top-10 finish—a sixth in Jeddah earlier in the year, his only top-20 result in 11 LIV tournaments.
Mickelson has mostly declined pre-tournament interviews at the major championships and wasn’t asked by R&A officials to reminisce about his duel with 2016 winner (and LIV colleague) Henrik Stenson upon the Open’s return to Royal Troon last month.
Although he is not in LIV Golf’s “relegation zone” with two individual events remaining, it wouldn’t matter anyway. As a captain of the HyFlyers team, he is exempt from being dropped, even if he were to fall below the top 49 players. He is 44th.
But at age 54, it is fair to wonder where Mickelson, a six-time major winner, sees his competitive career going. So I asked him during a conference call last week that was set up to promote next month’s LIV Golf Chicago event.
Mickelson is clearly all-in on the HyFlyers team he captains which includes Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale and Andy Ogletree. And he was forthright about his own golf and where it might lead.
“My involvement with the HyFlyers is going to be long-term and probably through the rest of my life,” Mickelson said. “I'm an equity shareholder and I'll have the ability to be intricately involved in the growing out of the team throughout the course of the next many decades. But as far as my career, I'm realistic with where I'm at.
“I also have a unique opportunity because of the fact that physically I've been able to withstand injuries and been able to be in better shape to do something at an age that nobody else has done, but I have not played at that level that I need to.
“I see glimpses and my teammates see glimpses of me being where I expect to be able to compete at this level, but I'm also realistic with myself, and if I'm not able to I'll step aside and let somebody come on in and take the HyFlyers to new levels.”
Mickelson has one more year left on his U.S. Open exemption for winning the 2021 PGA Championship. The six-time major winner will be exempt at the Open through age 60 and for life at the Masters and PGA Championship.
He has spoken previously about his desire to make more history in the majors given his opportunities to keep playing them, having become the oldest major champion at age 50 when he won the PGA at Kiawah Island three years ago.
But aside from a runner-up finish last year at the Masters, Mickelson has shown little spark in his game.
It’s not been for a lack of trying. His longtime coach, Andrew Getson, is with him at nearly every tournament and Mickelson appears to put in the work both at home and at events.
“Surprisingly if you look at the analytics, it's been my short game that's just crushed me the last few years,” said Mickelson, who is 48th out of 56 players in LIV ‘s scrambling statistics. “I've been like last in scrambling on LIV. It's been a staple of my game throughout my career, and the last couple years it's been the reason why I have not scored and had the results. That's where I've been focusing.
“I finally had a nice little turnaround. If my short game is sharp, I'm going to be in contention. But I've been throwing four, five shots away a round because of short game, and that's been something I'm not used to, and it's probably why it's been harder for me to overcome, because it's different.
“But ball-striking wise and shot-making abilities are on par with the level needed to compete, but my short game is not. That's why I'm spending a lot of time trying to turn that around.”
As for the current state of the game, Mickelson had no answers for where any negotiations stand. But he did have an opinion on where things will end up.
“We're in the middle of a disruption phase, but where we're going to end up and where we will be when this gets sorted through is going to be exponentially better than where we were in the path that we were on,” said Mickelson, citing various statistics about reaching a younger demographic and being able to do different content-related initiatives, including his “Pros vs. Schmoes” YouTube project.
“For 30 plus years, I did everything I could to help build the PGA Tour brand, and I would be brought in to help close the deal with many CEOs when they were on the brink of potentially signing a deal,” he said. “There were about seven to 10 times that I would come in and try to close the deal. That was my way to help tryto build the PGA Tour at that time. I'm no longer part of the Tour.
“My focus has changed to building something different. I tried for decades internally to do it with where I was at, and I feel like this is a better way to go to achieve the things that I want to achieve in the game.”
The Olympics, Lydia Ko and the Hall of Fame
Golf’s two-week run in the Olympics at Le Golf National outside of France could not have gone better. From indifference and skepticism to the way the tournaments were ultimately embraced, especially by local fans, the event was a rousing success, helped by a couple of strong events with big-name players.
Scottie Scheffler’s final-round 62 that blew past a slew of players, including Jon Rahm, whose pain in faltering was apparent, along with the strong, emotional words that came from players such as Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and silver medal winner Tommy Fleetwood only solidified how big of a deal the tournament was for the men.
The fact that tears were shed showed how much it meant.
The women’s tournament offered several excellent storylines as well, but it’s again hard to beat New Zealand’s Lydia Ko winning after also earning medals in 2016 and 2021. Now 27, Ko achieved the LPGA Hall of Fame—a difficult points-based system—with the victory.
“Listening to my National Anthem, I can understand why Scottie Scheffler was so emotional last Sunday,” Ko said. “It's a feeling that you can really not repeat unless you are in that position again. I know that it's probably never coming again, so what a way to kind of ...”
Ko had described her entire Olympic experience as sort of a Cinderella story, having won the silver in Rio and the bronze in Tokyo.
“Cinderella's glass slippers are see-through and my podium shoes are also see-through; I guess that's something that we have going for us. I feel like I'm part of this story tale,” she said.
“Going into this week, everyone was saying, ‘oh, what if you finish and collect all the gold on top of the silver and bronze you have.’ Of course I want to do that, complete it, too, but it's much easier said than done.
“The French fans have been awesome, kind of taking me in as one of their own. And it's definitely a life peak for me here. I don't think I've experienced this kind of adrenaline before, and to do it here, it really can't get any better.”
Ko, who became the No. 1 player in the world at age 17, became the first player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame since Lorena Ochoa in 2022 and the first active player since Inbee Park in 2016. The LPGA Hall is strictly on a points-based system that gives points for victories as well as other honors.
She did not discount the idea of retirement which would put a 2028 Olympic return in doubt but also said she wanted to enjoy playing at a top level.
Between now and then, plenty is to be determined regarding the Olympics and golf, including whether a team aspect will be added, if a mixed-team event will also be part of it and how the overall golf schedule will be impacted with the Games scheduled for mid-July.
But having a successful run this time certainly makes the discussions all the more meaningful, especially with a U.S.-based Games and golf scheduled to be played at iconic Riviera Country Club.
Europe goes all-in on the PGA Tour
Ryder Cup Europe has shaken up the way players will qualify for the team next year at Bethpage Black, and while ultimately it is unlikely to result in much of a difference who plays for Luke Donald in 2025, the changes are nonetheless a bit jarring to the system.
The new process is putting more weight in PGA Tour events than it is in DP World Tour events.
Previously players who competed predominantly on the PGA Tour had a world ranking points avenue which meant two lists of automatic qualifiers. But that has been scrapped in favor of a single points list (that will definitely make things simpler) and understandably gives more weight to the major championships but then, somewhat curiously, puts PGA Tour signature events above everything else.
Donald will still get six at-large picks, which ultimately would make up for any glaring omissions anyway. Which is even more reason why it seems odd that Ryder Cup Europe would go down the road of giving PGA Tour events greater weight.
The points breakdown will see major championships get 5,000 points, with the 2025 signature events, Players Championship and FedEx Cup playoff events 3,000 points apiece. So that is 12 events outside of the majors that will get more points than any regular DP World Tour event.
The Rolex Series events on the DP World Tour are getting just 2,000 points (as are regular PGA Tour events), with “Back 9” events getting 1,500 points, “Global Series” events getting 1,000 points and PGA Tour opposite-field events getting 1,000 points.
There is really just one nod to the DP World Tour: it is the only place to get points in 2024 after the qualifying period begins later this month.
Also, LIV Golf was not mentioned, which means a player such as Jon Rahm will have to qualify via the four major championships and the few DP World Tour events he will play. Or get a pick—which was probably the more likely route, anyway.
The old system was somewhat skewed toward the PGA Tour as well, it was simply less obvious.
The Europeans went off two lists—the European Points List and the World Points list, which used the Official World Golf Ranking as a points list during the qualifying period.
But the catch was this: when choosing the six players, Europe took the first three off the European List, which happened to be Rory McIlroy, Rahm and Robert MacIntyre last year. When it went to the World List to fill out the team, McIlroy and Rahm were also at the top so they were bypassed, meaning that Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick were the automatic qualifiers.
Had the World list been used first, McIlroy, Rahm and Hovland would have been the automatic picks before going to the European list which would have bypassed the top two, meaning MacIntyre and then Yannick Paul and Adrian Meronk would have been the other two.
Neither Paul nor Meronk were picked and both played their golf on the DP World Tour.
So that was far more subtle than the system which now hits you over the head with the idea that Europe is not likely to see a single player at Bethpage who plays exclusively on the DP World Tour.
Sure, there is the fallback of captain’s picks. Donald chose Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Højgaard last year. Both players, along with the other 10 that whipped the Americans in Rome, are all now members of the PGA Tour.
The DP World Tour does have a working relationship with the PGA Tour now that sees a few co-sanctioned events such as the Scottish Open. But it’s one-sided as the top 10 players who are not otherwise PGA Tour members getting PGA Tour membership, leading to the idea that the DP World Tour has become a feeder tour for the U.S. based-circuit. It’s certainly easy to understand why it is viewed that way.
There were financial considerations made in doing that deal but the Ryder Cup had always seemingly been separate. The players who competed for Europe took pride in how much the event helped their tour, knowing that the massive profit from the event goes a long way toward subsidizing their tour.
That is unlikely to change in the short term. Just how they are part of it.
The (long) regular-season finale ... and other notes
The final event on the PGA Tour’s regular-season schedule did not disappoint—even if it seemingly took forever on Sunday due to a delayed first round forced by heavy rains left by Tropical Storm Debby.
Somehow the Tour got in 36-holes plus on Sunday—save for Matt Kuchar, who decided not to finish his final hole but won’t impact the outcome, with England’s Aaron Rai getting his first PGA Tour victory and an invitation to his first Masters.
Rai prevailed over tough-luck second-place finish Max Greyserman, a PGA Tour rookie who appeared on his way to winning for the first time after holing out for an eagle at the 13th hole—only to hit his tee shot out of bounds on the very next shot, his ball bounding on a cart path before leaving the course.
That led to a quadruple-bogey 8 and his lead was gone.
“If that doesn’t hit the cart path, we’re probably in a different situation,” Greyserman said. “I’m probably making 5 at worse.” Instead his lead was gone in one hole.
He regained the lead with a birdie at the 15th but then four-putted the 16th to fall two back. He finished second alone.
“I played good enough to run away with it,” he said. “I’m just going to walk away with I played well enough to win … I’m going to walk away with more confidence, learn from the mistakes and grow from it.”
And a few more things
> Nobody played their way in or out of the top 70 in FedEx Cup points, which is the cutoff for the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin this week in Memphis. Victor Perez hung onto the 70th position. Lucas Glover, who won the Wyndham last year, missed the cut and thus missed a chance to move into the top 70, meaning he won’t be able to defend his FedEx St. Jude title this week.
> Greyserman finished second for the second straight tournament after also doing so at the 3M Open. He still moved to 47th in the FedEx Cup standings.
> Matt Kuchar had been the only player to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs each year since the program began in 2007 but is not advancing.
> The top 50 following the FedEx St. Jude will qualify for the BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Colorado. That is also the cutoff for the eight signature events next year. There are eight players who were in the signature events this year who failed to make the playoffs: Andrew Putnam, Kurt Kitayama, Adam Svensson, Glover, Lee Hodges, Adam Schenk and Rickie Fowler.
> The LIV Golf League resumes its schedule this week with its event at the Greenbrier, where last year Bryson DeChambeau shot a final-round 58. It is the 12th of 14 events and the second-to-last individual tournament.
> LIV Golf’s Peter Uihlein won the International Series England event, the elevated-events part of the Asian Tour that are funded by LIV Golf. He won by seven strokes over Andy Sullivan and fellow LIV Golfer Caleb Surratt. Harold Varner III tied for fourth.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Phil Mickelson Remains a LIV Golf Fixture, but His Playing Days Could Be Numbered.
