LIV Golf’s future remains in doubt and Phil Mickelson has been one of the breakaway league’s most ardent advocates since joining in 2022 and has a frosty relationship with the PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson is unlikely to be welcomed back to the PGA Tour(Image: Johan Rynners/Getty Images)
Phil Mickelson will never be involved with the PGA Tour ever again, despite LIV Golf’s uncertain future, according to former ESPN host Trey Wingo. The six-time major winner will not be welcomed back after burning his bridge with the PGA following his defection to the Saudi-backed league.
While the PGA has already offered a path back to the likes of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, albeit with steep financial penalties, Mickelson’s path will be more difficult. The American is nearer the end of his career, but he also took an outspoken stance when becoming one of LIV’s first players in 2022.
“I think going forward you have to pick a side. You have to pick what side do you think is going to be successful,” Mickelson said after joining LIV. “I firmly believe that I’m on the winning side of how things are going to evolve and shape in the coming years for professional golf.”
The league’s future was cast into doubt earlier this month, however, with speculation that funding could be pulled. LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil has insisted this season’s schedule will be completed as planned but its long-term future being backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund remains in doubt.
And Wingo does not believe that Mickelson is a figure who can easily make a return to the PGA Tour. The broadcaster was unequivocal in his stance.
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“I can promise you one person that you’ll never see in any way in an official capacity with the PGA Tour is Phil Mickelson,” said Wingo. “That bridge has been burned, detonated, destroyed, nuked, lasered to death. There is no building that bridge back.”
Mickelson was one of LIV’s chief proponents and had previously spoken about the sport’s long-term future. He wanted to see the circuit continue to develop.
“I think there’s a lot of things that are going to transpire over the next five or 10 years. I’m very bullish and excited about what that means for LIV Golf,” he said previously.
Mickelson has taken regular shots at the PGA Tour(Image: Lauren Sopourn/Getty Images)
“But there’s also a lot of uncertainty. I think the things that I do know is I think the quality of the players will continue to get better each year. I think that the ability and the sites that we move throughout the world will continue to excite players and excite fans.
“We’ll be going to more countries outside of the United States that really are starving for world-class professional golf, and we’ll have a lot more receptions like we had at Adelaide [where LIV played last week].”
Mickelson, 55, has been an advocate for LIV Golf and talked up the benefits of the league. “From the players’ experience, rather than going into every little detail, I would just say that I used to have anxiousness going to a Tour event with all the details that would go on.
“I would be anxious and not want to go. I’d go as late as I could,” he said. “A LIV event, I can’t wait to get here. I come earlier.
“I can’t wait to get here. The experience from a player’s standpoint, it’s better than I could have ever imagined.”
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Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.