Phil Mickelson, when all is said and done, will forever be one of the greatest players in PGA Tour history.
He has won 45 times on the PGA Tour, which puts him tied for eighth all time with Walter Hagen.
He has won six major championships, including the PGA Championship in 2021 at the age of 50.
He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
That all makes what’s currently going on with Lefty’s golf career all the more sad, yet also kind of hilarious. Mickelson, as we all know by now, took the Saudi money and is playing on LIV Golf where he was pretty much a non-factor in the league’s first year of existence last season.
Things have now taken and even worse turn for Mickelson and his LIV Golf team as it was announced on Monday that his HyFlyers GC squad added Brendan Steele and James Piot to the team of four players, which also includes Cameron Tringale.
Think about that for a minute—a day after the golf world got done celebrating Tiger Woods’s incredible return to professional golf, Mickelson got to announce his team of players that most hardcore golf fans wouldn’t be able to pick out of a lineup.
I mean, LOL.
Let’s break down this team, shall we, and have some fun pointing out how blah of a thing this is for one of the best golfers of all time to be a part of.
Steele: The 124th player in the world has won three times on the PGA Tour, with his last win coming in 2017 and his first win coming in 2011. He has been a journeyman for many years and won’t be missed by anyone who watches the PGA Tour.
Piot: The 24-year-old former U.S. Amateur champion missed the cut in the two majors he has played in and he also missed the cut in the four PGA Tour events he has teed it up in. Last year Piot had one top-10 finish in seven LIV Golf starts, with the other six finishes being T-21 or worse (remember, only 48 players participate in LIV tournaments).
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Tringale: The 35-year-old holds one of the saddest PGA Tour records you can own—he made the most money (more than $17 million) without winning a single event. That’s right, he played 13 years on the PGA Tour and never got a trophy at the end of any of the weeks he played.
Big yikes there.
At least last year Mickelson had Matthew Wolff on his team, a young player with a weird swing who had three top-10 finishes last season.
This is Mickelson’s life now and he has nobody to blame for it but himself.
Sure, he got a lot of money from the Saudis to make this his life but instead of being celebrated in the final years of his career like his once rival, Tiger Woods, he’s being laughed at by lots of golf fans—who will also likely skip watching LIV Golf again, even if they could find the CW, which will be airing the events this year.
Well done, Phil!
