Phil Mickelson has taken a fresh swipe at golf rival Rory McIlroy as the feud over the LIV Golf series continues.
McIlroy has been one of the main voices against the Saudi-funded breakaway tour that took the golf world by storm last year. Numerous high profile names in the sport made the switch to LIV in 2022, including Mickelson.
The six-time major winner was also joined by the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson, among others. But McIlroy has often voiced his negative feelings towards the breakaway league ever since last year.
McIlroy is currently competing at the Memorial Tournament at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio. He is tied for first place alongside Si Woo Kim and David Lipsky on six-under par going into the final round on Sunday.
After one of his rounds at the Memorial Tournament, McIlroy was asked about his swing and if he had any concerns around it at this point in the season. The US Open takes place next week, before the final major of the year with The Open at Royal Liverpool next month.
"I think these things were creeping in at the end of 2022, probably. And again, that's why it was -- you know, we have all been advocating for an off-season and there's certain reasons why guys want - it's very hard to try to play your best golf when you're really thinking about your golf swing.
"So that off-season time would be nice to work on your mechanics and your fundamentals so that you've got those sort of bedded in so that you can sort of roll going into the bulk of the season.
“I didn't really feel like I had the necessary time to do that over the -- you want to take a little bit of time off over the holidays, get yourself back into it.
"So it's just - my reluctance to work on - like I know it's been creeping in, but reluctance to work on it was more to do with the fact of how much golf we had coming up and just not really wanting to be thinking about my golf swing a ton."
A video of McIlroy’s interview was posted on Twitter, which led to a response from Mickelson. The American claimed that LIV Golf would be "perfect" for McIlroy - but took a swipe by claiming no team would want him.
Mickelson wrote: “As worn out as Mclroy was after the Masters and his need for an off season, LIV would be perfect for him. Problem is I don’t think there’s a team that wants him on it because they’d have to deal with all his bs.”
Mickelson is part of the HyFlyers GC team in LIV, and there have been reports that the series could introduce a relegation system much like football. However, the 14 captains, of which Mickelson is one of them, would be exempt from being relegated to the point where those affected would either be axed from the league or have to find a new team.
