Like his golf style, Phil Mickelson’s imagination is only as good as his ability to get the shot.
Mickelson has every right to feel somewhat justified by the bold and rapid changes coming to the PGA Tour. The idea – his idea, he may argue – is that the top players compete against each other as many as 17 times, maybe more, for an average purse of $20 million.
So in that regard, Mickelson won much of his battle.
The question now is whether he lost the war.
Mickelson won’t be part of a PGA Tour model he’s always wanted. His tour membership will not be renewed this season. His name is the first to be mentioned in an antitrust case against the PGA Tour that has caused so much animosity. He’s as much a face of the Saudi-funded wave disturbance as Greg Norman.
Was he right? Does it matter?
“As much as I probably don’t want to give credit to Phil, yes, there were certain points he was trying to make,” said Rory McIlroy. “But there’s a way to handle them… He just didn’t approach it the right way.”
McIlroy talked about collaboration. Mickelson likes leverage, and he might have enjoyed it as much as the reported $200 million signing bonus he got from LIV Golf.
Mickelson would not use the word “justification” in an interview with Morning Read on SI.com last week. This was Mickelson trying to take the main road, a path he chooses only when he suspects he is right.
“All players should appreciate what LIV is doing,” Mickelson told Morning Read. “The players on LIV for the opportunity they get. And the PGA Tour for the leverage provided to make these changes.”
These changes are what Mickelson started preaching about 20 years ago, but back then he was more passive than aggressive. Change finally came in the form of the FedEx Cup, a new model to bring together the best players at the end of the season in a series that culminated in the biggest payout in golf.
Mickelson wanted more. This was in 2006, long before acronyms like PIP and PIF were part of the golf language.
“Wouldn’t it be great if we had 20 events where everyone played together?” he said.
Lefty reluctantly accepted what he saw as small steps toward his big dreams. Most telling of that day in January 2006 was his admiration for Norman – “A brilliant person,” Mickelson called him – and the Shark’s ideas for golf.
All these years later, Mickelson became Norman’s chief recruiter and had the leverage he needed: an endless supply of Saudi money from the Public Investment Fund. That allowed LIV Golf to overpay for a player roster of 10 major champions, five of which are still in the top 50 in the world, the other five well past their prime.
The LIV tournaments are meaningless – it takes years. There is no television partner yet, only a broadcasting crew that artificially increases the hype and thus raises suspicions about the legitimacy of the product.
Still, the PGA Tour had to respond by targeting the stars. The season is shorter, the prize money higher, the fields smaller. That was in June. And then last month Tiger Woods and McIlroy led a private meeting of top players pushing for a model where the elite play together all the time.
Chances are there will be even more changes before January. What emerged from that meeting were eyes towards 2024. Next year is a bridge to get there.
Mickelson first referred to “leverage” when he was at the Saudi International in February. The scathing comments came in his interview with Alan Shipnuck for his unauthorized biography, when Mickelson made it clear that he worked on both sides of the aisle.
He said the Saudis were “scary mother” behind the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and executing gay people. The PGA Tour was a dictatorship that favors “divide and conquer”.
“And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage,” Mickelson said. “I’m not sure I (LIV Golf) even want to succeed, but just the idea of it allows us to get things done with the tour.”
Such words cannot be forgotten. They are at the heart of Mickelson’s motivation. He is not interested in ideas other than his own. And it remains to be seen whether the tour’s plan creates its own separating layer and strays from a centuries-old ideal of meritocracy.
Commissioner Jay Monahan seized on Mickelson’s use of “leverage” by countering with “legacy” that only the PGA Tour can provide, without realizing that every player has a prize and every agent gets a share of it.
What legacy does Mickelson leave behind?
The 18-foot birdie putt at Augusta National for the first of its six majors or the blatant whacking of a moving ball onto the green at Shinnecock Hills in the US Open? Visionary for the good of the game or high stakes gambler motivated by greed?
The success of the PGA Tour – and LIV Golf – could determine that.
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