Phil Mickelson owned a 0.23% stake in LIV Golf at the time of its bankruptcy filings, according to a person familiar with the matter.
On Tuesday, LIV Golf submitted a 128-page document to tee off its Chapter 11 proceedings in the District of New Jersey, outlining financial details such as the cap table of the tour. LIV Golf had issued 98.48% of its common ownership to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, 1.05% to Performance54 Group Limited, an entity controlled by PIF, and 0.23% to former CEO Greg Norman. The document also noted a 0.23% stake held by a “current player.”
The identity of the unnamed golfer is Mickelson, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the matter is private. LIV Golf declined to comment. A representative for Mickelson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Mickelson joined LIV Golf when it launched in 2022, receiving a reported $200 million guarantee and 25% of the Hy Flyers team, which he captained. That payday pushed him past the $1 billion threshold in career earnings from prize money, sponsorships, course design and appearance fees. On an inflation-adjusted basis, he currently ranks No. 11 among the highest-paid athletes of all time at $1.53 billion.
Yet the six-time major champion didn’t simply just collect a check from LIV. Mickelson recruited other golfers to the Saudi-backed operation, a move that allegedly resulted in his suspension from the PGA Tour months before LIV’s first event, according to a lawsuit he filed in 2022.
Mickelson originally agreed to a contract that ran through last year. He returned to LIV in 2026, but he only competed in the tour’s South Africa event this March. A family health matter is reportedly what has kept him off the golf course, and Mickelson missed all four major tournaments for the first time in his professional career.
He also left his long-time club near San Diego earlier this year amid an accusation of inappropriate conduct, which was first reported by Golf Digest. A spokesperson from the golfer’s camp did not address it directly, but said, “Any misunderstanding has been cleared up.” Weeks later, golf publication The Skratch released an investigation that cited numerous unnamed sources about additional incidents. Mickelson issued a vehement denial, calling it an “anonymously sourced drive-by shooting.”
It has yet to confirmed what will happen to the 56-year-old’s stake in LIV Golf. According to the term sheet of the tour’s proposed restructure agreement with London-based private equity firm BC Partners, PIF’s equity and debt would be “canceled and extinguished in exchange for releases with no economic distribution on account of such debt and equity.”
Player agreements that existed before the bankruptcy filing will be addressed through the courts. Meanwhile, LIV Golf has made new offers for golfers to participate in a reimagined version of the tour. Those do not fall directly under the Chapter 11 proceedings. The reorganized tour aims to shift 52.5% of the overall ownership to the participating players.
LIV Golf’s bankruptcy secured an initial court approval after an expedited hearing on Wednesday.