Phil Mickelson made honest admisison LIV Golf future at PGA Championship
Phil Mickelson has endured a tough time since leaving the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-breakaway league, and his playing days could be numbered
After missing the cut at last year's PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson's biographer, Alan Shipnuck, hinted that his days playing for LIV Golf could be limited.
Mickelson skipped the PGA Champions dinner on Tuesday, following concerns raised after his subdued performance at the Masters Champions dinner last month. He is also likely to miss a spot in the Ryder Cup due to his struggles since leaving the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-breakaway league.
Despite being 54, Mickelson is still eager to complete the Grand Slam of golf, with only the U.S. Open absent from his trophy cabinet. He started this year with renewed confidence, but ongoing difficulties suggest his full-time playing days might soon come to an end.
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Mickelson aims to bounce back from his disappointment at last year's PGA Championship as the tournament returns to Quail Hollow. Last year at Valhalla Golf Course, he missed the cut on four-over-par after a disastrous opening round.
The seasoned golfer signed a four-year entry deal with LIV Golf when he left the PGA Tour in 2022, which means his contract is due to expire at the end of 2025. His biographer, Shipnuck, suggested that his next contract might see him take on a non-playing captain role.
Shipnuck also mentioned that Mickelson will start negotiations with LIV Golf towards the end of this year, giving him a few months to make a decision. While Mickelson hasn't hidden his thoughts about retirement, his failure to win the U.S. Open has kept him in the game.
Mickelson, in a candid reveal to Golf Digest in 2022, shared his retirement plan: "If I win the U.S. Open, I will retire. That would be my last tournament. I will have achieved the career Grand Slam and I won't have anything more to prove."
Ahead of the 2025 season, Mickelson has expressed a renewed determination on the 'Bryan Bros' YouTube channel, admitting past shortcomings: "I have not played the way I want to the last couple of years.
"Having four months off and being able to develop a game plan, I have been able to get to a point where I believe I can at the level I played at in my 30s. I don't know if that is going to be the case.
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"We are going to see heading into this year, but I am going to really make a push to compete at the highest level. That means fine-tuning all aspects of my game. Including my driving, speed, putting all of that. Getting my short game back to the highest level, so I think I could do something special."
Despite achieving third place in LIV Golf Hong Kong and sixth in LIV Golf Miami, Mickelson's other seasonal performances haven’t met his expectations. He's even hinted at a potential step back from his HyFlyers team involvement, stating his readiness to compete but acknowledging the sporadic nature of his play: "I see glimpses and my teammates see glimpses of me being where I expect to be able to compete at this level.
"I also want to build this out and create a culture that is sustainable and that people strive to be a part of. How I do that, whether it's internally as a player and so forth, or whether it's strictly from the outside, I'm going to be intricately involved with the HyFlyers going forward probably the rest of my life, and then my playing career I'll be realistic where I'm at, too."
