DETROIT — For those of you who did your random act of kindness, good on you.
It's still not bringing Phil Mickelson back to Detroit.
Mickelson, the six-time major winner who is arguably among the 10-best golfers ever to play the game, has taken a reported $200 million to play the new, Saudi-financed LIV tour, which starts this week over in London. Mickelson has committed to the tour's full schedule, meaning he won't return to the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which this year is being played opposite a LIV tour event at Bedminster in New Jersey.
Mickelson essentially bid farewell to ever competing again on the PGA Tour in a Twitter post Monday — his first Twitter post since February, when he apologized for remarks sympathizing with the Saudis while blasting the PGA Tour.
"I am incredibly grateful for what this game and the PGA Tour have given me," Mickelson wrote as part of a three-paragraph statement announcing his joining the LIV tour. "I would like to think that I have given back as well but now I am excited about this new opportunity."
Mickelson told Sports Illustrated on Tuesday he won't officially resign from the PGA Tour, whose commissioner, Jay Monahan, long has threatened banishment to players who defect to the LIV tour. Dustin Johnson, who received a reported $125 million from LIV, and Kevin Na, each of whom played the Rocket one time — Johnson the inaugural year in 2019, Na the second year — have officially resigned.
Mickelson, of course, made national headlines last summer in Detroit, when he teed off on The Detroit News after a report published on the eve of the tournament exposed his past ties to a shady Metro Detroit bookie. Mickelson said he wouldn't return to Detroit because of the bad press, then reversed his stance and said he would be back in 2022 — but only if those signing a petition to bring him back vowed to do one act of random kindness throughout the year.
The Mickelson saga in 2021 was initially considered a headache by Rocket Mortgage brass, but by week's end, they had come to embrace it, because it put the tournament in the national narrative for the first time, and it led to increased ticket sales.
But since last year's Rocket, Mickelson's career has taken a significant tumble in the court of public opinion, since comments he made for a book were published in February. In the comments, he dismissed Saudi Arabia's atrocious human-rights record, including the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the killing of gays, in talking up the rival golf league.
Mickelson had not been seen or heard from until his Twitter post Monday. The London LIV tournament, which begins Thursday, will be his first tournament since he played in Saudi Arabia in early February.
He told SI on Monday he does "not condone human-rights violations" but that he believes LIV "can be good for the game of golf." On his gambling exploits becoming so public, in Detroit but particularly in Alan Shipnuck's explosive biography which was released last month, Mickelson said, "It became reckless. It's embarrassing. I don't like that people know. The fact is I've been dealing with it for some time."
So far, we know who's not playing in the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic, set for July 28-31, but we know very little about who will be teeing it up at Detroit Golf Club. Tournament officials have yet to announce a single player commitment, with the tournament just seven weeks away.
There are a couple of reasons for the delay. The LIV situation is one reason, though not that big of one, given few of the 48 commitments to the Saudi-funded tour have any history of playing in the Rocket, and none of them have any extended history playing in Detroit. Talor Gooch, who interestingly is walking away from the PGA Tour despite being 14th in the FedEx Cup points standings, played here twice; Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel and Hudson Swafford have played here once; and Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter have never played the Rocket.
That said, there is one player to keep a close eye on, and Rocket folks certainly are: Rickie Fowler. Fowler, the face of the Rocket Mortgage Classic and Rocket Mortgage's most recognizable pitchman since 2015, has acknowledged that he has had talks with the LIV tour, and has not ruled out joining the tour at some point. He said he's still committed to the PGA Tour, but that may change, depending perhaps on how the first LIV tournaments are received — notable, there is no TV network airing the LIV; tournaments are being streamed live on YouTube and Facebook — and perhaps on if LIV ups its offer to Fowler.
Fowler joining the LIV would be major news in Detroit, given he's been the tournament's biggest booster. Rocket Mortgage would have a big decision to make on whether to move forward with its endorsement deal if he were to join LIV. Mickelson and Johnson have lost untold millions in sponsorship deals.
Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic champion, figures to return to Detroit, though he's been battling a wrist injury for a while and has played sparingly in 2022, and when he has played, it hasn't been pretty. He also had a miserable experience in Detroit in 2021, first splitting with his longtime caddie, then missing the cut, and then being blasted for not meeting with the media. That said, he is a Rocket Mortgage brand ambassador, so he's probably contractually obligated to play, if healthy.
Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champion, was originally linked to the LIV tour, but quickly disputed that and committed to the Rocket Mortgage Classic in a Twitter post. He has embraced Detroit, raising more than a $1 million for local charities, a chunk of that money coming from his own pocket.
Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, has played the Rocket Mortgage Classic every year, and would figure to be playing in 2022, as well.
Locals Brian Stuard and Ryan Brehm will surely be here.
And you can expect 2021 champion Cam Davis and 2019 winner Nate Lashley in the field, as well.
(James Piot, the Michigan State alum and reigning U.S. Amateur champion, won't be here. He was a prime candidate for a sponsor's exemption, but has joined the LIV tour for a payday worth more than $1 million. He will play the U.S. Open next week, as will Mickelson. The majors remain open to LIV participants.)
As for the rest of the 156-player Rocket field — RMC tournament director Jason Langwell declined comment for this piece, on the shape of the field — it's still a waiting game, and for one significant reason.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic was pushed back several weeks in 2022, and now is the last regular-season event before the four FedEx Cup playoff events. As such, many pros are taking a wait-and-see approach to finalize their schedules. If a player is high in the standings entering Rocket Mortgage Classic, they might prefer a week off before the playoffs start the following week.
If a player is in good shape in the standings but wants to enter the playoffs in even better shape, he might consider adding the Rocket Mortgage Classic to the schedule (say, Patrick Cantlay, currently No. 4, or Justin Thomas, No. 5?).
And if a player is having a down year and is just inside or just outside the playoff bubble, he assuredly will play in Detroit. It may not be Saudi money, but there's huge money at stake in the FedEx Cup playoffs, with $18 million for first place to $500,000 for 30th.
And, as we've learned from the LIV tour, money certainly talks.
