When Keegan Bradley was surprisingly named as the USA Ryder Cup captain ahead of 2025, one of the main questions golf fans would have had concerned the role Phil Mickelson may or may not play at Bethpage.
You would have certainly got amazing odds in 2021 on Keegan Bradley ever captaining the US Ryder Cup team, let alone doing it before either Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. Woods reportedly turned down the role before the PGA of America turned to Bradley.
Mickelson of course, has been out of the picture since deciding to join LIV Golf in 2022. It is fair to say that the six-time major champion came in for a lot of criticism over his actions in the months before his move to LIV.
But Bradley’s appointment has led to fresh discussions over Mickelson. The 38-year-old had no other partners across his two Ryder Cup appearances as a player. And Bradley has spoken this week about how important Mickelson was to him in 2012 and 2014.
How PGA Tour stars feel about Phil Mickelson
Nevertheless, it would appear that there are no plans for Mickelson to make a surprise return to the fold as an assistant captain for Bradley in New York next year. Speaking on Fore Play Podcast Plus, Dan Rapaport spoke about the attitude of some of the PGA Tour players towards Mickelson.
“I don’t think they feel great about him,” he said.
“It doesn’t look like he will be involved at all, which is a bit of a bummer. I feel like if Yasir and Jay can be best buddies out there, how come Phil Mickelson can’t be involved in the Ryder Cup or want to be involved in the Ryder Cup? That’s weird, I guess. Phil did take the brunt of it, I would think Phil also has some pretty serious grudges. We go back two years when all of this broke and Phil was shamed out of being able to show up to The Masters and the PGA and he probably has some serious held against people who vilified him.”
What golf fans would be naive to think about LIV Golf star
What the last three years have shown beyond doubt is that so much can change in a very short space of time. Few on the outside would have ever imagined that Mickelson would leave the PGA Tour to join a breakaway league, while the framework agreement being announced completely stunned almost everyone in the golfing world.
So it really does seem to be foolish to suggest that Mickelson’s final chapter in the Ryder Cup has definitely already been written. Whatever golf fans think of him, Lefty has had an unbelievable career – with no-one making more appearances in the Ryder Cup as a player.
It is clear that many on the PGA Tour and LIV want to reach some sort of agreement which sees the golfing world come back together, and it may well be that that agreement comes before the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Bradley has already announced two of his vice-captains in Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker, but there will be more to come. Bubba Watson was announced as a vice-captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup just a handful of days before the event actually started. So there is certainly no rush.
Clearly, there are issues to address if Mickelson is going to return to the PGA Tour fold in any capacity in the future.
But rarely has the saying ‘never say never’ been more important in the sport than it is right now.
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