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Mickelson tugged his drive on the par-4 6th hole at Oak Hill into the swampy area of Allen’s Creek that nearly ate Tom Kim alive Thursday evening. Kim’s muddy demise proved to be a useful warning to other pros: Don’t bother. Drop and move on. So Mickelson began to go through his normal processes.

“Two club-lengths on red, correct?” he shouted out to Rickie Fowler, who was up in the fairway. Fowler flashed him a thumbs-up. Mickelson had already stuck a tee into the ground in the first cut, which was straight back on the line of entry into the hazard. He also stuck a tee about one foot into the fairway, dropping on the short grass about 250 yards from the hole. 

Mickelson was already rehearsing the swing he planned to take when a rules official crossed the hole to halt him. Mickelson, it seemed, had taken an improper drop. 

“I don’t think that’s right,” Mickelson said. “In fact I know it’s not. You get a full semicircle on every drop.”

Up until six months ago, Mickelson would have been right. Rule 17.1d states that taking a drop from a red-staked penalty area offers players a semicircle of area not nearer the hole that is one club-length in radius. 

“Not going back on line,” the rules official said. 

“You mark your spot, and then you get a full club length,” Mickelson contended. 

Usually players are upset with a ruling when they don’t know how to proceed and have to listen to orders. Mickelson, on the contrary, believed he knew the rules well enough to enforce this decision himself. 

“I appreciate you stopping me and making sure I don’t make a mistake, but I don’t think that’s accurate,” Mickelson said. “I think you get a semicircle on every drop.”

The rules official used his radio to call in another official but went on to explain that the rule Mickelson was referencing changed this year. When taking a drop back from a hazard on the line of where the ball entered it, players do not get an extra one-club-length semicircle to drop within. Instead, they are to drop it at what is called a “reference point” which must be on the line of entry. The ball must come to rest within one club-length of that spot, but cannot be dropped within one club-length of the spot. Kudos to the ESPN microphone operators for staying on the dispute closely enough that viewers could hear every word. After Patrick Cantlay was shown hitting his approach, the cameras cut back to Mickelson, who had been joined by another official. 

“That rule changed,” the second official said. 

“This year?” Mickelson asked. “I never heard that.”

“It’s okay, you just dropped improperly,” the second official said. “You can go ahead and move it back. You can operate back on the line and drop wherever you want to. But it’s going to be along that line.”

“Thanks for stopping me,” Mickelson said. “I appreciate your help. Thank you.”

Rules

What a change in tone! Mickelson wasn’t the only person to be surprised by the ruling. The entire broadcast staff waited on the rules official’s declaration, too.

“You learn something new every day,” one commentator said. 

You can count your correspondent as a member of the same camp.

What Mickelson had left with wasn’t exactly desirable. He didn’t want to drop too far back from the first cut, which angled away from the green, making his approach even longer. Mickelson instead took his drop in the first cut and then played a 3-wood from 248 yards, into an 8 mph breeze. His third shot sailed left of the green, narrowly missing the same creek his tee shot ended up in. He would play his way up to the green and two-putt from 30 feet for a double bogey to drop to five over, which is where he would finish the day.

It was a frustrating double bogey, but the result could have been worse. Had Mickelson ended up playing from the edge of the fairway like he originally intended, he would have played from the wrong spot. The improper drop would have been treated similarly to a Cameron Young situation earlier in the round when Young was penalized for not returning his marked putt back to its original spot. The verdict was a two-shot penalty that turned Young’s 73 into a 75 and a sure-fire missed cut.

Two more strokes for Mickelson would have booked him an early flight home from Rochester. Instead, he’ll be around for the weekend, starting his third round at five over, all thanks to the actions of an informed rules official. Lefty provided some thoughts afterward:

“I ended up hitting it in the hazard and took line-of-sight and came back. I didn’t know that they changed the rule this year, whereby you normally could take the point in line and then you have that two-club-length semicircle, and I guess in January they changed that to where you just only get line-of-sight, so the guy came over and saved me a penalty because I had dropped it in the ruling under last year and didn’t realize it had been changed, and he came and saved me a stroke, so I was very appreciative.”

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The post The lawsuit against the PGA Tour just lost its star plaintiff: Phil Mickelson appeared first on Golf.

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The suit, which was filed on Aug. 3, has progressed through an initial hearing (which the PGA Tour won, keeping LIV golfers from competing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs) and has reached the phase where discovery of information and documents is being dictated. Over the last eight weeks, a handful of LIV pros withdrew their involvement: Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez, Abe Ancer, and Jason Kokrak. When asked why he departed, Perez told SI.com, “I didn’t really think it through [when joining]. I did it to back our guys.”

Now on Tuesday, four other players have pulled out of the suit, namely Phil Mickelson, the lead plaintiff. Mickelson was working with his own counsel and had hinted at this weeks ago and finally made it a reality this week. 

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“I am focused on moving forward and extremely happy being a part of LIV, while also grateful for my time on the Tour,” Mickelson said in a statement. “I am pleased that the players on Tour are finally being heard, respected, and valued and are benefitting from the changes recently implemented. With LIV’s involvement in these issues, the players’ rights will be protected, and I no longer feel it is necessary for me to be part of the proceedings.”

Ian Poulter, Hudson Swafford and Talor Gooch have also withdrawn from the proceedings, leaving just Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Jones, Peter Uihlein and LIV Golf itself as the remaining plaintiffs in the case. Will the suit maintain its name of Mickelson et al vs. PGA Tour? Probably not. It is just further indication that the suit, which LIV Golf joined after it had initially been filed, was always trending toward LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour.

By pulling out of the suit, Mickelson and the others who followed do not fully clear themselves of involvement. As major pieces of the LIV Golf puzzle, it is still possible they could be deposed by either side for means of discovery. Mickelson’s name had been linked with a rival golf tour for more than a year prior to his official announcement in June.

The suit itself hinges on the competition between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour since LIV has entered the professional golf industry and pulled prime Tour talent to its side with guaranteed contracts, backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. PGA Tour members have long been discussed as independent contractors who can choose where and when they compete. But PGA Tour regulations limit the ‘where’ and ‘when’ when it takes place at the same time as Tour events. 

Members are allowed to apply for a release three times a year, 45 days in advance of an event, which the Tour either approves or disapproves. In the instance of LIV Golf’s first event, held in London in early June, Tour members were not granted releases yet continued to play in the event. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan promptly suspended them indefinitely or banned them from returning to the PGA Tour. Those golfers incurred additional suspensions as they continued to make starts in LIV events. That is merely one aspect of the lawsuit that LIV believes is an illegal, anticompetitive act. Despite numerous players and their council withdrawing from the suit, LIV contends it will move forward.

“Nothing has changed,” LIV Golf said in a statement. “The merits of the lawsuit — the PGA Tour’s anti-competitive conduct — still stand and will be fully tested in court, and we look forward to it. We stand by the players who the PGA Tour has treated so poorly, but we also recognize to be successful we no longer need a wide variety of players to be on the suit. We have our players’ backs and will press our case in court against the PGA’s anti-competitive behavior.”

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“We were a force,” DeChambeau told GOLF.com last week. “We were just a force.” 

It was 5 p.m. on Thursday and DeChambeau was asked just how far away that Ryder Cup felt, now that he’s back playing team golf in the Midwest. 

“A long way,” he said. “Am I the same person? Yeah. Is my body a little different? Yeah. Nothing else is really different except for the golf landscape.” 

The entire golf landscape, that is. 

DeChambeau was in the middle of a putting session at Rich Harvest Farms, on the eve of yet another LIV Golf Invitational, about 45 miles west of Chicago. Despite the course being just 180 miles south of Whistling Straits, he wasn’t wrong: The pro game undoubtedly was “a long way” from last September. 

Lost in the haze of the past year has been the fact that DeChambeau began that Ryder Cup on edge. He arrived having avoided media for two months, the kind of decision that only garners more attention, agreeing to break his silence only because it seemed like the best move for the team. But 12 months later — this was now on Sunday evening at Rich Harvest Harms — a different DeChambeau approached reporters, proactively asking them if they needed anything from him. (His update: He hurt his eye when he was clothes-lined by a rope during the final round, a “freak accident,” but he would be fine, and his game was “trending” even if he’s frustrated.)

Moments later, Dustin Johnson arrived at the scoring tent. The MVP of the 2021 Ryder Cup dapped up his LIV teammates — with whom he’d just won a fourth straight LIV team title — and shared just two words: “Another one.” Twelve months ago a dominant DJ leading a team of Americans wouldn’t have earned you much juice at the sportsbook. But that’s what happened with Johnson’s Aces in Chicago, all of it taking place just days before the Presidents Cup kicks off in Charlotte, where none of them are involved, let alone invited.

The individual winner in Chicago was Cam Smith, whose absence will also be felt at the Presidents Cup. Joaquin Niemann, who finished fifth and was a lock for the International roster, will not be there, either. “It’s terrible,” he told GOLF.com on Thursday. He plans to tune in on TV, now more than $1 million richer as of Sunday night. Finishing right behind Niemann was Louis Oosthuizen, who told SI.com “it just sucks” that he cannot play in the Presidents Cup. 

If this week’s headlines feel like a LIV Golf sympathy tour, just wait until Presidents Cup media sessions begin. Trevor Immelman, the International team captain, put it plainly to GOLF.com last week: “All the players that left — just so there’s no misunderstanding — they had a very clear understanding and perspective of what the consequences would be with the decisions they were making. When they made those decisions, they factored all of these things in.” A year ago, Immelman highlighted four players that got him really excited. One is on his roster (Sungjae Im); the other three are with LIV (Smith, Niemann, Abe Ancer).

Back west of Chicago, another piece of this year-of-change portrait: captain Phil Mickelson. It being an NFL Sunday, much of Mickelson’s day was spent hearing gambling solicitations from the crowd, with him miming his responses with smiles and thumbs up. (An odd sequence to watch on repeat considering Mickelson’s public admission to “reckless gambling”.)

The 66 strokes Mickelson carded resulted in him looking as happy as we’ve seen him since his LIV debut. As the linchpin signing of the LIV operation, Mickelson has faced the brunt of questioning more than anyone — including the first 26 queries at his team’s initial presser in London this summer. But with each tournament that passes come fewer and fewer questions about the guaranteed money he’s accepted, where it’s coming from and what role it plays in burnishing the global reputation of Saudi Arabia. Even fewer of those questions will come in Thailand (where LIV is headed next) and then surely none a week later in Jeddah.

Mickelson’s 66 could be the result of him feeling more natural in this new version of himself. It also could be the random brilliance that happens for the best players in the world. But his arrival at the scoring tent gave off the sense of a man with community.

He seemed more excited about Cameron Tringale’s finish than Tringale himself. Mickelson was delayed in signing his card because of a pit stop to talk with teammate Matthew Wolff. The 23-year-old shot 72 and told Mickelson he “couldn’t make a f—king birdie.” He wasn’t lying: 18 pars. Mickelson was locked in on every word, his Hy Flyers having not yet sniffed a team title. He keenly reminded Wolff that it would likely net them a tie for third. “That would be a great momentum spurt for us,” Mickelson said, and it ended up becoming true: $250,000 to each of the Hy Flyers.

Perhaps most interesting about this hyper-attentive version of captain Mickelson was that it would have played so well next week in Charlotte. The 51-year-old was the fan favorite among everyone at last year’s Ryder Cup, Michael Jordan included. Golf spectators have a low standard for intimacy, and Mickelson’s thumbs seem sufficient. It was true in Wisconsin and just as true in Illinois.

Alas, here we are. Wherever that is. “A long way” from 12 months ago.

Despite carding the best round of his 2022 year, Mickelson declined to speak with the media — even LIV Golf’s own website editor — as he packed up and left. Before long he exited the clubhouse with a black and red duffel over his right shoulder, talking through various shots with his coach Andrew Getson. A security guard walked in front of them and another trailed behind as Mickelson got into the driver’s seat of a white Yukon Denali, started up the engine and peeled away. Over the next two hours, a string of private jets took off from the nearby Aurora Regional airport, many of them flying right past Charlotte, on a beeline for West Palm Beach, Fla.

The author welcomes your comments, concerns, and any other notes at sean.zak@golf.com.

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The post Was Phil Mickelson right? Xander Schauffele weighs in: ‘This is what he wanted’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Was Phil Mickelson right? Xander Schauffele weighs in: ‘This is what he wanted’ appeared first on Golf.

The Olympic gold medal winner (and PGA Tour mainstay) found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place when Mickelson infamously accused the Tour of “obnoxious greed” back in January, igniting a fight that has spanned the majority of the year and included Mickelson’s unceremonious defection to LIV Golf and subsequent multi-year suspension from the Tour. Here was Mickelson, one of Schauffele’s mentors, friends and practice partners, battling against Schauffele’s place of work, the PGA Tour, the platform that had allowed Schauffele to earn millions and make an international name for himself.

In recent weeks, that awkwardness has only grown more pronounced. First, there was the announcement from the PGA Tour that outlined wholesale format and structural changes in order to better compensate its top players. The changes include expanded bonus pools and high-purse “elevated” events for the game’s top players, and were made with the no-so-subtle intention of slowing the bleed of talent following Mickelson from the PGA Tour to LIV. Then, there was Mickelson’s victory lap press conference at LIV Boston, in which he lauded players for achieving the changes he’d fought for, and the PGA Tour for “magically” finding the money to fund those changes.

On this week’s episode of “The Drop Zone,” Schauffele spoke for the first time about his perspective from the middle of the fray, and about making sense of Mickelson’s “success” (or lack thereof) in reaching the change he so desired. A wide-ranging interview encompassing the entire PGA Tour season eventually landed, inevitably, on Mickelson.

“I think recent articles come out, where people were like, ‘well he wasn’t too far off, he just said some unsavory things,'” Schauffele said, referring to Mickelson’s other now-infamous interview with The Firepit Collective‘s Alan Shipnuck, in which he called LIV Golf’s financiers ‘scary motherf—–s.’

“It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to get his point across or his point was taken kind of aggressively. Not out of context, but without him really knowing. It’s sort of every player’s nightmare, I guess — that’s why we get scared to talk to you guys.”

While Schauffele understands Mickelson’s plight (Phil claimed he believed their conversation was off the record, a statement Shipnuck disputes), he’s not quite sure he reaches the degree of feeling sympathy for Phil.

“He said what he said, so in terms of feeling bad for him, it’s hard,” Xander said. “But at the same time, whether he was emotional and behind closed doors, that’s one thing.”

Still, Xander says, even if Mickelson’s methods were unsavory, it’s hard to argue with their effectiveness. Phil sought to improve the conditions for the sport’s top players, and to that degree, he was successful.

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“He knew it would take something drastic, and he had to pick which side of the fence he wanted to be on,” Schauffele said. “He’s been such a staple on the PGA Tour and such a staple in our game of golf, that it’s… I don’t hold anything against him or think of him much differently. Regardless of what people have written about him.”

The irony, of course, is that of all the people to bear the fruit of Phil’s labor, Phil himself won’t be one of them.

“The main points he was trying to make, and what he really wanted in his vision, you know maybe we’re living it out now on the PGA Tour,” Schauffele said. “It’s unfortunate he isn’t a part of that, because this is what he so wanted.”

To hear the rest of Schauffele’s Drop Zone interview, including his thoughts on the whole of LIV Golf, check out the link above, or download the episode on Spotify here or Apple Podcasts here.

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The post Tour Confidential: LIV Golf’s newest gets, Phil Mickelson, Tiger and Serena appeared first on Golf.

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1. The latest batch of LIV Golf defections came in on Tuesday, and the list of players was … not too surprising! World No. 2 Cameron Smith marked the highest-profile signing, joining the new league just weeks after winning the Open Championship at St. Andrews. How important was this batch of defections for LIV?

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Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): Every player LIV picks up is a victory of a kind. But Smith is the biggest so far–the reigning Open and Players champ, the World No. 2, the first guy, really, who LIV critics couldn’t fully dismiss, whether by saying he was either past his prime or never that gung-ho about competition in the first place. On the other hand, LIV didn’t land Hideki, whose market impact would have felt even bigger.

James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): It felt as if this batch of LIV defections was the first in which you picked your head up and realized, ‘whoa, the PGA Tour has lost a TON of talent.’ Sure, it helps the argument to see a 23-year-old multi-time winner and the World No. 2 join. But it’s hard to keep up the argument the LIV field consists only of old has-beens and burnout youngsters. This crop brought top-tier talent.

Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): If Sunday was any indication, hugely important. You had Cam Smith vs. Dustin Johnson vs. Joaquin Niemann. That’s entertaining! IT was the first time LIV Golf has truly entertained me with its finish, and I’m not particularly hard to please. I think in terms of marketability, it was massive. Because the reigning Players Champ and Open Champ is now in all their promotional material. That’s a nice bullet to have in the chamber.

2. Phil Mickelson basked in the changing landscape in pro golf at LIV Golf Boston (where he finished T40). On the topic of structural changes enacted by the PGA Tour, Mickelson argued they proved the Tour needed a rival. (“Unless there was leverage, nothing was going to happen,” he said.) With a rival league helping to force major changes on the PGA Tour, was Phil right?

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Sens: He was right about the leverage. No way we would have seen such big changes so fast. And he was right that these changes are great for many pro-golfer bank accounts. It’s also been great for headlines and clicks. Whether all the shake ups have been great for fans is another matter. I don’t see any immediate perks, unless you’re caught up in that weird faux-populist belief that more money for already rich athletes is somehow a victory for the rest of us. To me, that’s been one of the most striking phenomena in all of this. All the cheering from the sidelines about sticking it to the system. Something we see more often in politics. Oh, wait. I forgot. Stick to sports!

Colgan: He was right, of course, but the irony is that he won’t ever be remembered for it. Right or wrong, Phil has tied his legacy to LIV. Maybe the PGA Tour needed his push, but no amount of victory laps is going to bring him back to see the fruits of his labor.

Zak: He was right but also wrong? Phil has routinely glossed over important details and even cited information incorrectly in this process of “being right” against the PGA Tour. So good for him! He can continue to bask in it, but I’ll continue to believe that there was an easier process than looping in money from Saudi Arabia. 

3. Bubba Watson, one of LIV’s newest players, said he was at peace with his decision to join, even if it cost him an invitation to the Masters. “If Augusta National tells me I can’t go, being a past champion, then I don’t want to be there anyway,” he said. Is there any chance Watson, a past champion, doesn’t receive an invitation next April?

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Sens: Maybe I’m being naive, but I don’t see the Masters disinviting past champs. More likely that anyone who’s won a green jacket keeps coming back, with other invites being sorted out by World Ranking points, which is a whole other can o’ worms to be opened soon enough.

Colgan: I’m shocked a number of Masters champs made the jump without assurances from Augusta National that their invite would remain intact, but if a few more go to LIV, they may leave Augusta no choice.

Zak: I’m shocked Bubba even brought it up. I highly doubt any of the majors dis-invite people we would already expect to be qualified. It opens them all up to criticism, for better or worse, and even litigation potentially. No one wants that.

4. The LIV news wasn’t over there! On Friday, Greg Norman announced that players would be allowed to compete in shorts, upending a longstanding rule to the contrary. Is this a step forward for tournament golf, or much ado about nothing?

Sens: Egad! I’m scandalized! Nah. Seems very much on-brand and hard to argue with. Most golf dress codes are silly anyway. No shirt, no shoes, no service should be the extent of it. Not that I’m itching to see pasty legs on a golf broadcast, but it doesn’t really matter a lick to me one way or the other.

Colgan: It always struck me as strange that pants were required, especially when I realized Average Joes wore them to feel more professional during “important rounds” — like my buddy on Pinehurst No. 2 … in 115-degree heat. Shorts are a beautiful thing, even if their professional liberation is mostly trivial.

Zak: The pants vs. shorts rule has been one of the most difficult things to explain to non-golf fans in my entire career. It made no sense. It’s a good example of how a little speedboat like LIV can make quick turns for its benefit and the massive cruise ship that is the PGA Tour has struggled to do so. [It’s also pretty meaningless in scope].

5. And we had a Tiger Woods spotting! In the middle of the week, cameras caught Woods cheering on Serena Williams in her final bid at the U.S. Open. Later, the 15-time major champ tweeted in support of Williams, his close friend of many years. All this GOAT-ness has us thinking: which pro athlete is Tiger’s best cross-sport comparison?

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Sens: Running through some possibilities in my head here. Ali? Too outspoken. Federer? Too gentle a persona. For ruthless dominance, and for staying out of politics even as many hoped they would have more to say, Michael Jordan fits best. But you also have to go to the likes of Arthur Ashe and Serena Williams for the broader context of a Black athlete soaring in a lily-white individual sport. That’s my attempt at a composite sketch.

Colgan: Jordan is probably the best answer, both for his dominance and overall ability as much as his transcendentalism and racial significance. Ashe and Williams are good for that reason, as are Jack Johnson and Jesse Owens. From the perspective of pure talent, Tiger’s best comparison is probably Lawrence Taylor or Michael Phelps — men who redefined the conventional understanding of a sport with their sheer athletic ability and desire for greatness.

Zak: Jordan feels most correct because of the timeline, the level of worldly fame, the Nike and Gatorade deals, etc. Also for their absolutely cutthroat nature. You could take any number of the memeable reactions from The Last Dance and find a similar story from those around Tiger Woods. 

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Shortly after the completion of the second round of play in Boston at the latest LIV Golf Invitational series event, the 52-year-old stepped before reporters and delivered the latest blow against his former employer, likening himself and LIV as martyrs for professional golf in the wake of changes to the PGA Tour.

“I think the fans are getting a lot of benefit out of this, and all golfers, all professional golfers are getting a lot of benefit. The guys on the Tour are playing for a lot more money. It’s great that they magically found a couple hundred million; that’s awesome,” he said. “Everybody is I think in a better position now than they were a year ago.”

Mickelson’s comments came after a week headlined by changes to the PGA Tour structure driven by LIV’s growth. After months of loses to their new rivals, the Tour announced a new series of “elevated” events with the goal of convening the top players in the sport more regularly and compensating them at a higher level, among broader expansions aimed at paying top players.

The changes, of course, will be funded primarily by exploding PGA Tour revenues thanks to the league’s new media rights deals and secondarily by the “Tour reserves.” The reserves, which take a small chunk of the Tour’s annual revenues and are eventually returned in full to players, are footing only a small portion of the bill, according to the Tour. The reserves typically act like a savings account to keep the Tour solvent in the event of a crisis (like, for example, the Covid-19 pandemic), though the commissioner retains the authority to release the money under his own discretion.

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Still, in many ways these changes represent the Tour’s best effort at addressing the problems first highlighted by Mickelson in his now-infamous diatribe at the Saudi International in January. At the time, Mickelson endorsed LIV’s rumored formation by slamming the Tour structure and hierarchy for what he viewed as unfairly taking money and resources from players, an offense he called “greed beyond obnoxious.”

With the developments of the last several weeks, top Tour players will now find themselves compensated at their highest-ever levels, and will face fewer challenges around travel, missed cuts and schedule-building. These changes, Mickelson said, were only possible because of the leverage created by LIV and the departure of dozens of top touring pros.

“Now [players are] being heard and things are changing,” Phil said. “Things have gotten better for everybody in professional golf and I believe for the fans, too, because they’re seeing golf in a different environment with LIV. They’re seeing on the Tour, the Tour is bringing their best players together more often. LIV is moving professional golf throughout the world.”

In some ways, he’s right. LIV did help to create leverage for the PGA Tour’s top players, and played an outsized role in forming the most sweeping changes seen in pro golf in at least five decades. The changes likely never happen if not for LIV, and certainly not if not for the dozens of Tour players who have since jumped ship, Mickelson among them.

“I didn’t say I felt vindicated, I said I felt happy for the guys, that they have a voice and they’re being valued and they’re being heard, and changes are being implemented to show that appreciation,” Mickelson said. “Because that hasn’t been the case, and it hasn’t had to be the case because there was no other option and no leverage.”

But there’s also a certain irony in Mickelson’s words. Irrespective of his efforts to the contrary, his role in shaping the future of professional golf will be remembered as a divisive one. Barring a crazy change of heart, Phil’s epitaph as a golfer will surround his role as the first player to throw his support behind the new rival league, and not for the changes influenced in the old one.

Whatever Mickelson’s role is in forming the Tour changes, he likely won’t ever bear the fruit of them (he’s suspended until at least 2024, if not longer), nor will history remember him as the player responsible for enacting them. In a twist of fate, that honor will belong to Phil’s old sparring partner, Tiger Woods, who rallied the support of the Tour’s top players behind the new structure in a rare players-only meeting last month.

Phil, for his part, has drawn his own line in the sand. With a $200 million signing bonus in his bank account and a good deal more coming in on-course earnings, Lefty’s time worrying about money — be it from LIV’s Saudi financiers or the PGA Tour — is all but over. That’s good news, because it seems his next battle has only just begun.

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The post Phil Mickelson speaks again, but continues to say very little appeared first on Golf.

The post Phil Mickelson speaks again, but continues to say very little appeared first on Golf.

Mickelson spoke with Harig for 45 minutes and was provided every opportunity to explain how he viewed the recent wave of changes in men’s pro golf. What a treat! After all, Mickelson was the lynchpin LIV signing in June. He was the one who discussed the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed,” as he called it, back in February. And it was his comments that became international news, causing LIV Golf to pause its launch in the spring. 

Still, given the platform to say whatever he pleased, Mickelson maintained the same reserved, modest tone we’ve seen and heard all summer: He says he’s just happy. Really happy. “Extremely happy,” even, that top golfers are getting more of what they want (money, scheduling benefits, etc.) both now and in the near future. Why does that come as such a relief to him? Mickelson didn’t offer much more to Harig, adding only that he’s “moving on” to the brave new world of LIV Golf. The PGA Tour is in his past. The new Mickelson seems here to stay, his observations cautious and brief, just like they were when LIV launched in London.

That’s what the last few months have been like for Mickelson: guarded. His press conferences have been filled with pauses and methodical answers, and his on-course actions whittled down to a thumbs up here and there, not to mention far fewer birdies than we’re accustomed to seeing on his cards. After missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Mickelson talked with a pool reporter, not the press at large. When reporters asked to speak with him after he missed the cut at St. Andrews, Mickelson responded with what the press liaison called a “firm no.” He has avoided social media almost entirely, and while that might be a positive move for anyone’s mental health, this was the man who embraced those channels like no other, eager to engage with fans, playfully jab media members and toss out dozens of responses between sips of wine after winning the 2021 PGA Championship. Until Friday morning (when Mickelson quote tweeted Harig), Lefty had not tweeted in nearly three months.

But if recent social media buzz can speak to anything, it’s that many believe Mickelson has been vindicated for calling into question some of the PGA Tour’s perceived ills. Greg Norman was chief among those observers, posting grammatically-challenged memes on Instagram and declaring “LIV Golf is clearly the best thing that’s ever happened to help the careers of professional golfers.”

Whether or not Mickelson actually feels vindicated, now that the PGA Tour has enacted sweeping changes that benefit its top players, that’s not a sentiment he’s ready to make public. Again, Mickelson says he’s just “generally happy.” He called his discussions with past and present PGA Tour commissioners “pretty well documented,” thus not needing repeating, adding only, “it’s interesting some of the similarities.”

It is interesting some of the similarities. In years past, Mickelson would have been the perfect expert to explain why those similarities are indeed interesting. But the new Mickelson appears unbothered with publicizing any specifics. It was only seven months ago that he was more than happy to incorrectly cite details about the value of Tour media rights being withheld from top pros. Part of Mickelson’s vague nature this year is no doubt attributable to the fact that the plaintiffs in the most significant lawsuit in PGA Tour history are “Mickelson, et al.” There seemingly is an added layer of litigious cautiousness to everything he says.

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On the short list of things Mickelson is interested in discussing is leverage. Among “monopoly,” “strategic alliance” and “competition,” that eight-letter L-word may be the most important word in golf’s civil war. It was one of the most important words Mickelson shared with Alan Shipnuck 10 months ago. 

“As nice a guy as [Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] comes across as,” Mickelson said in November 2021, “unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right. And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”

On Wednesday, Mickelson reiterated that once again. “It was stated very clearly that nothing was going to happen,” Mickelson told Harig. “Unless there was leverage, nothing was going to change. And all players should be appreciative of what LIV is doing. The players on LIV for the opportunity they are getting. And the PGA Tour for the leverage that was provided to get these changes done.’’

Who provided that leverage? LIV Golf did, Mickelson said. That’s his new business partner and the shield he has occasionally veiled himself behind this summer, leaving us all rather confused at how public a role he wants to play moving forward. LIV Golf is also the most recent plaintiff added to the lawsuit that bears his name and the same body that provided him media training as it launched in June.

“I’m learning from my mistakes,” he told reporters shortly after that training. Not much has changed in the three months since.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your thoughts with the author at sean.zak@golf.com.

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The post Butch Harmon coached Greg Norman and Phil. And he has some thoughts on LIV. appeared first on Golf.

The post Butch Harmon coached Greg Norman and Phil. And he has some thoughts on LIV. appeared first on Golf.

Phil Mickelson, whom Harmon once coached, should be forgiven, he says.  

There are things he likes about LIV Golf. And items he doesn’t about the controversial, Saudi-backed series. And he has an idea on what he would tell Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, and Greg Norman, the LIV CEO and another former Harmon pupil, should they ever meet. 

Yes, the famed instructor has thoughts on the topic that has dominated pro golf, and he shared a bunch this week on the Son of a Butch podcast, hosted by his son, Claude Harmon, a longtime teacher himself. By now, you’ve heard or read at least some of the story, but should you just be checking in, know that it’s gotten messy; in a sentence, there’s the established PGA Tour, there’s now LIV Golf, which will play its fourth event over Labor Day weekend, LIV has signed Tour stars to guaranteed, multi-million deals to play 54-hole, no-cut events with a team aspect, the Tour has banned those players, and now the sides are going to court. Messy. 

And you can’t walk farther than a chip shot until you hear an opinion on it all, though you’d have trouble finding someone with one who’s also more connected to both sides. Harmon played and coached on the Tour. He coached Norman and Mickelson, the faces of LIV. His son currently coaches Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez, both LIV players. But Harmon also didn’t appear conflicted on the podcast, which you can — and should — listen to here. 

On LIV’s biggest story, the money, he’s clear. But his take here is both layered and simple: 

Just say why you’re taking the millions. He would. 

“I think the players that went to the LIV — you’re probably not going to agree with me on this — they created the problem because they went for the money, there’s no doubt about it,” Harmon said on the podcast. “That’s BS about I’m going to play less and I’m going to spend more time at home. No, you went for the money. So just say that. Because the average guy that works — if somebody is in a job and somebody comes up and says I’m going to give you 20 times more money to come over here, they’re going to go over there. And then they’re going to tell their buddies, hey, yeah, they offered me more money and I went. So to me that’s the first problem — I think the PR of the LIV has not been good. The guys should have got together and be honest. …

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“This ‘I’m going to grow the game better’ — no, that has nothing to do with it; you’re not growing any game. They’re growing their bank accounts. Which every sportsman has the right to do — to get the best deal you can get. So I have a problem with people complaining about that. But I think they brought that on themselves by coming up with this other stuff. 

“Secondly, the thing that really bothers me is that the public — and I’m not going to say I’m pro- or anti-LIV — the public is coming out against these LIV guys because it’s a Saudi-run thing. Our government does business with Saudi Arabia. Every large corporation in the world does business with Saudi Arabia. And so why they’re picking on golfers, I have no idea. Golfers to me have been the most underpaid superstars in all sport. Because they don’t get big contracts. Yes, they make endorsement contracts. But you have to earn those. And as soon as you play bad, those go away. … So why you picking on us? Golfers are nice guys. We don’t bother anybody. We just go play golf. Yeah, the guy had a chance to make $100 million — I tell you what, somebody offered me $100 million, I’m gone, I’m over there. Let’s just tell it like it is.”

That all segues well to Mickelson. You’ve probably heard or read most of this story, too. Should you need a refresher, here’s a longish sentence: Mickelson plotted to leave the PGA Tour, said some R-rated words about the Saudi backers of LIV, apologized, left golf for four months, returned, and he’s playing for the new series, and played the U.S. Open and Open Championship earlier this year. 

Harmon knows well how Mickelson speaks; they worked together from 2007 to 2015, winning two majors. On the podcast, Harmon also said “bygones should be bygones.”

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“Well, Phil’s very honest,” Harmon said on the podcast. “I mean, he’s got no filter. It’s one of the things I admire about him, one of the reasons we were friends, because I got a lot of that in myself, too. … What we think is what we say. And I think, in all honesty, I’m going to give Phil some credit. People didn’t like it, but a lot of the things he said about the Tour I think were true. And I think the Tour is now seeing that and they’re trying to change a lot of that stuff. So you got to hand it to Phil for that. He has taken a tremendous amount of criticism for it. 

“You know there’s things that have come out about him and his personal life that he hasn’t done, and look, hey, we all make mistakes; nobody’s perfect, all right. We all make mistakes; there’s things in our past that I think bygones should be bygones.”

On the subject of the actual golf on the LIV series, Harmon said on the podcast he favored the “more relaxed atmosphere.” And players have sold him on the shotgun starts, though he wondered about a scenario where a player in the lead would have to play a hard hole as their finisher, and a player close behind would have an easy one. But Harmon would also increase the fields to 60 players — they’re currently at 48. And he would play four rounds — LIV currently plays three. 

Bigger picture, Harmon also said there’s room for both the PGA Tour and LIV. 

Toward the end of the podcast, Claude Harmon asked his dad this: 

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“All right, so you get in a room right now with Greg Norman and Jay Monahan and someone asks you to be the moderator between the two of them. What advice are you giving to Greg and what advice are you giving to Jay to try and see if there’s a way that this whole thing can be less destructive and less aggressive than it is?”

“First of all, I would say leave your egos at the door,” Butch Harmon said. “Come in with no egos. let’s come in with an open mind and see what we can do to make it better. That would be the first thing. Second thing, I would think that there is a way for the European Tour, the PGA Tour, the LIV Tour, to get together and have four or five huge tournaments a year, where participants from all three get to play. You can make it a 100-man field, you can do it off world rankings, you can do it any way you want to do it, I don’t care. For an amount of money, because that’s what it’s all about. And go to iconic, fabulous golf courses around the world and have this true world event. 

“Now, that going to happen? Probably not because I don’t think Jay Monahan would even go to the meeting at the moment. So I think until things calm down — I’ve never talked to Jay about it, so I haven’t had that opportunity. But I would love to see some kind of thing get together where it is a world event, a gigantic world event. Not close to the majors. The majors will always be the majors. They’re there. Ultimate in golf is winning a major. I don’t care if you’ve 25 tournaments in your life; if you’ve never won a major, I’m sorry, you’re not considered a great champion. But there’s got to be a way that they can co-exist. … And I think these two organizations have to get together and do what’s best for golf.”   

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