In his first expansive comments since the PGA Tour announced an alliance with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Phil Mickelson said that he is “very optimistic” about where the game is headed.
Speaking Wednesday at the LIV event at Valderrama, Mickelson, one of the central figures in the Tour-LIV war, said that the partnership happened about “six months earlier” than he anticipated but that he’s “very appreciative” that the tours have reached this point.
“I felt appreciative that we got to this point where we’re working together because it makes me confident with where the game of golf is headed in the future,” Mickelson told reporters. “We felt like it was going to be about two years, roughly, before we got to that point. It took a year and a half, or six months quicker, than I thought it would be.
“Going forward, we’re all very optimistic about where the game of golf, professional golf specifically, is headed. A lot of the changes that have been made because of LIV, we’re all very appreciative – both on the LIV tour as well as the PGA Tour, and we’re happy for the guys out there that they’re having some positive changes there as well.”
The future of LIV Golf appears uncertain, even as CEO Greg Norman has told employees and media that it’s business as usual. LIV is expected to release a 2024 schedule in the coming weeks, and on Wednesday, officials announced Andalucia as the “official destination partner of LIV Golf in Spain.”
But according to the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, PIF and DP World Tour, which was made public Monday, the tours’ new for-profit entity will “undertake a full and objective empirical data-driven evaluation of LIV and its prospects and potential and will make a good-faith assessment of the benefits of team in golf in general” and determine how best to integrate team golf into their tours’ schedules. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, the CEO of that new venture, will make the recommendation, per the agreement. Norman is not mentioned in the five-page agreement.
When asked about LIV’s future, Mickelson said: “I think actions are a little bit stronger than words. I think if you just look at what LIV is doing and what we’re doing, I think that is more of a statement.”
He added, “Everything over the last couple of years that we’ve been told by Greg and everybody on LIV has come to fruition, so we have a lot of confidence in what they have been saying to us because everything has been happening. We don’t really feel the need to publicly posture our position. There’s really no need for us to talk about things publicly but to just let it play out.”
Mickelson was one of four marquee players who met with the media on Wednesday, along with Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia. Each was asked whether they had any interest in rejoining the PGA Tour, as per the agreement, there will be a to-be-determined pathway back for players after the conclusion of this current season.
Here were their responses:
Mickelson: “Rather than saying yes or no, I know that from a player experience, all of the difficulties and challenges and things that take a lot of excessive energy and output throughout the week have been fixed at LIV. So the player experience here is incredible. I just can’t envision a better scenario for me as a player than playing out here on LIV.”
Koepka: “I’ve been pretty happy with my decision to be here at LIV. I’ve enjoyed it. I’m not going to speak for everybody else, but I would say everybody is pretty excited, and everybody is pretty happy with where they’re at right now. It’s tough to look into the future – I don’t have control over what other guys do. But I know I’m happy where I’m at right now, and just take it one day at a time.”
Johnson: “I’m excited for the future. I think with this agreement, the only thing that’s going to happen is LIV is going to get even better than what it is now, which it’s already great. I’m happy exactly where I am, and I’m definitely not looking to play more golf than I’m playing now, that’s for sure.”
Garcia: “To be totally honest, I came to LIV because of different reasons, but one of them was to be able to play a little bit less. Obviously, that’s not going to change. If everything goes according to plan like we expect it to be, I will not be playing much at all on the PGA Tour because I don’t plan on playing 30 events a year. That’s not something that is in my mind at the moment. Obviously, as things settle and we know exactly where we all stand, then we can make decisions. But I wouldn’t think so. Not at the moment, I guess.”
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