It is hard to imagine LIV Golf being able to turn the game upside down in such a short space of time in 2022 had the league not received the support of Phil Mickelson.
Phil Mickelson tarnished his legacy in the eyes of some with how his move to LIV Golf was handled. The six-time major champion is one of the most popular figures the game has had. He was the superstar who embraced the fans around the turn of the century as Tiger Woods tended to stay in his own lane.
Obviously, no one expected Mickelson to be perfect, but his departure from the PGA Tour definitely did not cast him in a positive light.
Nevertheless, the 55-year-old remains one of the most intriguing figures the sport has potentially ever had.
Scott O’Neil discusses what Phil Mickelson has really been like behind the scenes at LIV Golf
What cannot be knocked is Mickelson’s longevity. Bryson DeChambeau was not even born when Mickelson won a PGA Tour event for the first time. Incredibly, he won his most recent major title more than three decades later.
And it seems that Mickelson is showing few signs of slowing down. He currently sits 20th in the individual standings on LIV this year, while he is inside the top 10 heading into the final round of LIV Golf Chicago.
And speaking on The Colin Cowherd Podcast, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil opened up on what the experience of working alongside Mickelson has been like.
“He’s an enigma and I don’t think there’s going to be another Phil Mickelson. He’s 54 years old, about to turn 55 [note – Mickelson turned 55 in June] his goal this year was to get in the top 10 of this league with a bunch of young stars in their prime. He decided to remake and change his game to be a little less Wild, Wild West and be a bit more let’s hit in the middle of the fairway, let’s get on in regulation and let’s take this putter,” he said.
“I think his body’s changed. He can’t do what these young kids can. We talked about Tom McKibbin or Caleb Surratt or David Puig, they’re coming in and hitting the ball 330 yards off the tee. And he’s like: ‘okay, I know I can’t do that, but I can beat these guys. I’m better, I’m that good’.
“So that’s one part of Phil. The second part of Phil is he’s just a competitor. You look at golfers, from the outside before I came into this business, and I’m like it’s nice. These are not gentlemen, okay. These are guys who are so fiercely competitive. When they come off the course, they have all this testosterone and adrenaline rolling. I like to see it. We do a little corporate thing, a little putting contest, DJ [Dustin Johnson] was complaining that the reads were different. This is a bunch of executives putting alongside him, it’s not a competition. These guys want to win and want to fight. And that’s the other side of Phil.
“And the third piece is think about Phil the learner. Phil saw what Bryson was doing on YouTube, he’s like, ‘why can’t I do that?’ So he partners with Grant Horvat, now he’s got 400,000 followers on YouTube. Phil Mickelson, 54-year-old Phil Mickelson reimagining himself, reinventing himself.
“And then, he’s obviously the captain and one of our partners in HyFlyers. I see him on the first tee, I’m like, ‘hey Phil, good luck, knock them dead, give them hell today’. And he wants to talk about the business, ‘okay Scott, how many fans are we going to have here today?’ When you’re looking at a market in the US, I’m like this guy’s for real.
“I’ve been around some of the great execs of the world. David Stern was a longtime mentor of mine, I worked for him for eight years. I just remember him being this lifelong learner. Adam Silver, the current commissioner of the NBA, always learning, always reaching, always discovering, always figuring out what do I have to do next. That’s Phil Mickelson.”
What LIV Golf stars think of Phil Mickelson
LIV needed someone like Mickelson to be prepared to make the jump as they attempted to convince many big names to leave the PGA Tour.
Should LIV continue to grow, Mickelson’s move should definitely be looked back upon as a key moment in their history. While the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia obviously had the means to lure so many notable figures in, the league surely needed someone of Mickelson’s stature to commit to the move to give it some legitimacy in the eyes of his peers.
And O’Neil is not the only person who has been impressed by Mickelson’s attitude. Earlier this week, Kevin Na spoke of Mickelson being extremely helpful to everyone on the tour.
It will be fascinating to see what the general perception of Mickelson is when he does decide to call time on his playing career. You would not be surprised if there were a few more twists to come before he decided to exit the stage.
What cannot be denied is the fact that golf has rarely been boring when Phil Mickelson has been around.
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