Returning to Saudi Arabia for the first time since his disparaging remarks about the source of funding for the LIV Golf Series, Phil Mickelson said Thursday he was happy to be on the “winning side” and saw the PGA regress.
A month ago, Mickelson said that if the PGA had all the best players in the world over the past 20 to 30 years, it would never be the case again.
He struck even harder at a press conference on the sidelines of the LIV tournament in Jeddah, which begins at the Royal Greens on Friday.
“I think in the future you have to choose a side. You must choose the side that you think will succeed. And I firmly believe that I am on the winning side of how things will evolve and shape in the years to come for professional golf,” Mickelson said.
“We play against a lot of the best players in the world in LIV and there are a lot of the best players in the world on the PGA TOUR. And…until both sides sit down, discuss and find a solution, both sides will continue to change and evolve. And I see that LIV is going up, while PGS is going down. I like the side where I am. »
Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are among several major tournament champions to whom the Saudi-funded LIV has offered contracts reportedly worth around $125 million.
LIV currently has 12 of the top 50 players in the world rankings – British Open champion Cameron Smith, No. 2, is the highest ranked, but the majority of them are outside the top-25 as LIV has not been eligible for the points offered for the World Ranking since its debut in June.
The PGA Tour retains the majority of current star players – 19 of the top 20 – and begins a new calendar in 2023 which will bring together the best players fifteen times a year for purses of $20 million.
