As a result of Phil's actions, the PGA (a non-profit...haha) will be forced to treat its players fairly, share a larger piece of the pie with the folks who generate the income (& actually open their financial books).
As for the Saudis, who cares! Our nation buys a ton of their oil and doesn't seem too broken up over it.
Phil Mickelson Makes His Point With a Magical Masters
The 52-year-old surged in the final round to finish tied for second, following a year of flashpoints for his leading role as the Saudi-backed LIV Golf divided the sport
Phil Mickelson finished tied for second at the Masters.
By Andrew Beaton, WSJ
April 10, 2023 9:15 am ET
AUGUSTA, Ga.—Midway through the Masters, Phil Mickelson made a prediction that was easy to write off, coming from a 52-year-old who spent the past year as a lightning rod for controversy and the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league.
“I’m ready to go on a tear,” he said.
Then, despite his age and the polarizing narratives that have followed him for the past year, Mickelson went on a tear.
A sight that was once so familiar at Augusta National Golf Club—big crowds and cheers as Mickelson clinically dissected the country’s most famous course—improbably returned, even if it was completely different than before. Mickelson lit the grass here on fire and finished at 8-under par after a final round with eight birdies. The last one came on the 18th hole, where he pumped his fist twice after he nailed yet another big putt.
Mickelson’s surge toward the top of the leaderboard made him the clubhouse leader for much of the afternoon. He finished tied for second place, four strokes behind winner Jon Rahm, alongside Brooks Koepka—another LIV player, who until the final round looked like he might win.
Mickelson became the oldest player to finish in the top-five of the tournament—and returned, for the moment, to the forefront of the competitive golf world after a turbulent year in which he was at the center of attention for everything that has divided the sport off the course. With his run at Augusta, he highlighted some of the changes he helped force on the PGA Tour, without saying a word.
Mickelson didn’t play in last year’s Masters amid a prolonged absence from professional golf after the publication of incendiary comments he made about Saudi Arabia, its human-rights record and the new golf circuit it was starting. He later re-emerged to leave the PGA Tour for LIV, becoming the highest-profile acquisition of the new circuit backed by the kingdom’s sovereign-wealth fund. Later, he was the lead plaintiff when a number of LIV players sued the PGA Tour, before eventually dropping off the suit.
The future of golf, and especially the upstart league backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, remains uncertain. It’s an issue that will be settled in court, where LIV and the PGA Tour have sued and countersued one another, and in the court of public opinion. For now, Mickelson’s performance was a counterpunch to the salient doubts about LIV, its format and his continued relevance.
Mickelson didn’t take a victory lap after his electric final round. Instead, he expressed appreciation for being able to play in a tournament that he has won three times, in spite of the upheaval that has roiled an entire sport. On this surprising day, his game had done the talking.
“I wouldn’t look at it like that,” he said about if he felt like he was carrying the mantle for LIV. “I’m very appreciative that we’re here, that we are able to play in the majors. And I thought it was exciting that this tournament rose above it all to have the best players in the world here and lost all the pettiness.”
Heading into this Masters, it was easy to doubt the competitiveness of LIV—and its members’ ability to compete in a field at a major championship. Many of the high-profile players who joined, such as Mickelson, were given lucrative deals for simply showing up, in addition to the record-breaking prize funds at the events. LIV’s tournaments also include just 48 players, and a weaker spread of players than a typical PGA Tour event, while playing 54 holes instead of the traditional 72.
Then Mickelson turned in his finest round over the final 18 holes. While Koepka, another LIV player, struggled over that span and coughed up his lead to Rahm on Sunday, the final leaderboard ultimately featured two players from the circuit tied for second place.
Their performances amplified LIV’s presence at the Masters, especially with Mickelson wearing a shirt and hat with the logo of the HyFlyers, his LIV team that he credits with keeping his game sharp. It also raised questions about LIV’s viability: Even though its players are capable of playing at such a level, LIV’s tournaments have drawn very low ratings since its debut on the CW Network this year.
The scene was a jarring change from a year ago, when Mickelson was absent from professional golf for months. The publication of comments from Mickelson by the Fire Pit Collective, a golf media company, had rocked golf even before LIV first teed off. Mickelson acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s shoddy record on human rights, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but said he was willing to do business with the country because it was the best opportunity to change how the PGA Tour operates.
The past year has, in some respects, validated Mickelson’s criticisms of the PGA Tour, which since LIV’s launch has overhauled its structure. Purses at tournaments have gone up while the Tour has also altered its schedule and elevated select events to incentivize the best players to compete in the same tournaments more often.
In the lawsuit between the parties, the complaint from LIV and its players claimed that Mickelson was suspended by the Tour during his absence last year because he had allegedly been trying to recruit other players to the rebel circuit. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said a year ago that Mickelson wasn’t disinvited from the Masters, and that it was Mickelson’s decision not to attend.
The Tour replied in its counterclaim that it believes Mickelson worked to recruit other players to LIV while on Tour, and breached its obligations to the organization by doing so. The Tour has also said that he and other players were suspended for violating its rules.
Those tensions evaporated on Sunday. The fans who stood and cheered when Mickelson birdied the 18th hole at the Masters to take the clubhouse lead didn’t seem to be bothered by the angst Mickelson helped ignite.
It was also a reminder that Mickelson, now far skinnier than he was just a few years ago, remains relevant at actually playing golf even when most people his age are playing on the senior tour. This was a lesson Mickelson had reminded golf fans about just a couple of years ago.
That’s when, at the PGA Championship, he became the oldest-ever winner of a major.
Write to Andrew Beaton at andrew.beaton@wsj.com
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