Phil Mickelson breaks silence on PGA Tour LIV Golf deal with bold declaration

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Mickelson spoke for the first time about the PGA Tour’s agreement with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

For the first time since the PGA Tour announced its partnership with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), Phil Mickelson has weighed in. Well, outside of his initial quick tweet announcing it was a great day.

“Going forward, we are all very optimistic about where professional golf is headed.” Mickelson said Wednesday. “I think actions are a little bit stronger than words. If you look at what LIV is doing, and what we are doing, that is more of a statement.”

Mickelson also loves playing on the LIV Tour.

“The player experience here is incredible,” Mickelson added. “I just can’t envision a better scenario for me as a player than playing on LIV.”

The six-time major winner made these comments ahead of LIV Golf’s Valderrama event in Southern Spain.

Dubbed as the “Augusta of Europe,” Valderrama Golf Club hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup, won by the Europeans. Legendary Spaniard Seve Ballesteros—a hero to Mickelson—was the winning captain.

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VALDERRAMA, Spain — Phil Mickelson of the USA hits a shot during the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama Golf Club.

Mickelson represented Team USA in that event, and now he returns to Valderrama this week feeling as confident as he ever has about the state of professional golf.

“We felt that it was going to be about two years before we got to [an agreement], but it took a year and a half—six months quicker than I thought it would be,” Mickelson noted.

“Everything over the last couple of years that we have been told by [CEO] Greg [Norman] and everybody on LIV has come to fruition, so we have a lot of confidence in what they have been saying to us because everything has been happening.”

The framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF does not include any specifics about how the future of men’s professional golf will look like. But as Mickelson noted, it is essentially an “agreement to have an agreement.”

Future schedules, sponsorships, investments, and player reinstatements all need to be figured out. Plus, the agreement needs to receive approval from the Department of Justice and withstand Congressional hearings.

As for Mickelson, he is happy with where he is and how his 2023 schedule played out.

“Playing 19 events this year with the four majors, the 14 LIV events, and then playing in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, it has been a lot of golf,” the 53-year-old Mickelson admitted. “But its been fun because there are enough breaks in between to where I get excited to get back out here.”

Following Valderrama, LIV Golf heads to London before taking a hiatus. That break will allow some players to prepare for the Open Championship, being held at Royal Liverpool this year.

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GULLANE, Scotland — Phil Mickelson holds the Claret Jug after winning the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield on July 21, 2013.

Mickelson won the Claret Jug in 2013.

Maybe playing with LIV will bring about another major moment for Mickelson, who became the oldest major champion in 2021 by winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

After all, he tied for second at the 2023 Masters—the first time he played at Augusta National following his commitment to LIV.

Either way, Lefty feels confident about what is to come.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.