The power struggle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour wages on.
Phil Mickelson raised some eyebrows with his comments about the difference between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour on Wednesday.
And surprisingly, Paul McGinley has actually agreed with the six-time major champion.
Mickelson suggested that LIV have a far better product than the PGA Tour previously.
It was in the summer of 2022 when numerous big names jumped ship from the PGA Tour in order to join LIV.
Since then, numerous other big names have moved across to the Saudi-backed outfit.
Golf fans are desperate to see the best players in the world compete against each other outside of the four major championships.
However, it was suggested by Brandel Chamblee that a merger between LIV and the PGA Tour will never happen.
Whilst LIV have received a lot of criticism from certain sections of the golfing media, there is one particular model they have got absolutely right.
Phil Mickelson says LIV do one thing better than the PGA Tour
Mickelson addressed the media in Virginia on Wednesday, ahead of the eighth LIV event of the season.
And he opened up on how LIV have a superb model for fans and sponsors.
“I think that LIV has made some incredible strides of getting to where we want this to be,“ Mickelson explained. “It will get there. I don’t know the exact timeline.
“We want all the best players in the world to be able to compete against each other more often and on a global scale, and the model that I was a part of for decades just didn’t allow for that.
“We never played against each other. We didn’t have elevated events. We never played all of us against each other outside of the majors. It was not able to move internationally. When they did have tournaments and WGCs internationally, a lot of players didn’t play. That’s disappointing from a sponsor standpoint, from a fan standpoint. When you’re paying for these events and television and you don’t know what you’re buying, that’s frustrating.
“When the fans don’t get to see all the best players play, that’s difficult. The model that is on LIV is what is needed to be successful. We saw it even on last week’s Signature Event. Players will do what’s good for them and not necessarily play unless they are contractually obligated, just like in the NFL and baseball and every other professional sport.
“That model as it’s brought to LIV is allowing us to move throughout the world and make professional golf a global sport and allow countries that have never seen the best players in the world see the best players in the world compete.
“It’s driving a lot of interest in those countries. I understand in the U.S. we’ve always had the PGA TOUR and many of the best players playing here, and so we don’t know what it’s like to want that for decades and not be able to have a model to do that.
“I think that we’re well on our way and not that far away from making that happen, and you’re seeing it with these good young players that are coming out. If you look at the good young players from different parts of the world, not necessarily the United States, you’ve got José Ballester and Louis Masaveu and Tom McKibbin and these young guys from other parts of the world are really interested in wanting to come to LIV and they get what it’s about.
“I think over time that’s just going to continue to grow just like it has exponentially in the last three years, and I think we’re not that far away from having it be what we all want it to be, which is all the best players in the world playing against each other.“
Phil makes a great point there. On the PGA Tour, the players are not contractually obligated to play any of the events on the schedule.
The Signature Events were brought in to ensure that the best players all gathered together for eight tournaments per year.
However, it has already been proven that that actually doesn’t happen, with Scottie Scheffler having missed the Truist Championship and Rory McIlroy skipping the Memorial Tournament.
Paul McGinley agrees with Phil Mickelson’s comments on LIV and the PGA Tour
McGinley is one of the few golf analysts who is fairly open-minded regarding the idea of LIV Golf.
And he took to his X account on Thursday to take sides with Mickelson’s remarks on why the LIV Golf model is actually better than that of the PGA Tour.
If the PGA Tour can move to a place whereby they have the best 10 players on the tour contracted to play in certain events, they will have a far better product to sell to advertisers, sponsors and television companies.
If the PGA Tour manage to facilitate that, then the only thing missing for them is having Bryson Dechambeau, Jon Rahm and perhaps Joaquin Niemann on board.
Perhaps there will be a way of tempting those guys back at some point.
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