Phil Mickelson has been one of the most outspoken golfers against the PGA Tour ever since LIV Golf arrived and he remains, to this day, steadfast in his opinions towards them.
Mickelson was one of a number of huge names to make the jump to LIV Golf in the early days and he’s remained an active spokesperson for the Saudi-backed tour.
As we know, one man who isn’t on the same wavelength as Mickelson when it comes to LIV Golf is golf analyst, Brandel Chamblee.
Chamblee has said more than one thing about LIV over the last few years and it is rarely positive.
Now, speaking on the Trey Wingo podcast, Chamblee has revealed a story which explains why Mickelson is no longer in a good spot with PGA Tour higher-ups.
Brandel Chamblee shares why Phil Mickelson upset the PGA Tour in 2022
With Mickelson now a distant memory for the PGA Tour despite all his success, there will always be something there it seems in terms of bad blood.
Mickelson’s comments in recent years about the TOUR have done him no favours either.
Indeed, there seems to be no way back from either side, with Brandel Chamblee revealing an incident at the 2022 Sentry tournament soured everything.
“You know why he was there? You know why? He was recruiting players to go to LIV,” Chamblee chipped in.
“He was there actively recruiting players to go to LIV. I talked to Mark Rolfing and as you know Mark is Mr Hawaii, and he went out to say hi to Phil and Phil openly told him that he was there recruiting players to go to LIV.
“So there are a lot of reasons why Phil is persona non grata. One was that he was on PGA Tour property recruiting players to go to LIV. Two was the aforementioned faux pas of him using the atrocities I spoke of and three, he was actively involved in a lawsuit against the PGA Tour.”
How the PGA Tour feel about Phil Mickelson ever returning
It’s highly unlikely we see Phil Mickelson return to the PGA Tour but that doesn’t mean we won’t see others do so eventually.
The likes of Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau may well see a pathway back eventually.
However, speaking on the subject a while ago, another golf analyst, Rex Hoggard, explained why Mickelson is right at the bottom of the PGA Tour’s list of things to sort out.
“It was interesting to me because as a non-member, the tour has created that pathway for these players,” Hoggard said of the situation.
“But speaking with people behind the scenes, it’s clear that the pathway for those who were members before they left to go to LIV is going to vary.
“It’s going to be a la carte, and this is probably, along with a lot of other things, going to put Phil probably at the bottom of that category as far as if he ever would want to come back to the PGA Tour, I’m not even quite sure, even if we end up with some kind of agreement, even if we end up with unification, I don’t know that Phil would ever be welcome back.”
When Mickelson is done with LIV, then, it feels like we’ll have seen the last of him.
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