What Phil Mickelson said about potentially being made the US Ryder Cup captain after he joined LIV Golf

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Long before the LIV Golf league was formed, Phil Mickelson was pencilled in as the 2025 Ryder Cup captain.

Mickelson has enjoyed a fantastic career in the professional game with 45 PGA Tour wins, including six major championships to his name.

The 55-year-old has also featured on a record 12 Ryder Cup teams and he is the third highest point scoring American in the history of the competition.

He was a hugely popular figure in the game and still is in some ways, but he undoubtedly tarnished his reputation by joining LIV Golf in 2022.

Incredibly, Mickelson compared team golf on LIV to competing at the Ryder Cup and those comments unsurprisingly raised some eyebrows.

It was claimed that Mickelson was pencilled in to be named as the 2025 Ryder Cup captain prior to LIV’s inception and long before his good friend Keegan Bradley eventually got the nod for the role.

However, would the six-time major winner have said yes, had he been asked, and would he feel comfortable captaining the US team at some point in the future?

What Phil Mickelson said when asked if he should be the US Ryder Cup captain

Mickelson obviously jeopardized his legacy by playing a leading role in the inception of LIV Golf.

He was one of the biggest names to jump ship from the PGA Tour back in June 2022.

However, if LIV and the PGA Tour manage to come to an amicable agreement at some point in the future, it will surely only be right that the man who has made the most appearances for the United States at the Ryder Cup gets the chance to captain the team.

Interestingly, though, Mickelson believes he is too much of a divisive character to take on that role.

Back in 2024 he explained why he might be a poor fit for the Ryder Cup captaincy.

He said: “I don’t feel I’m the right guy to be involved with the team because I’m a very divisive character right now, if you will, and I understand that.

“The players on the PGA Tour, there’s a lot of hostilities towards me, and I don’t feel I’d be the best leader for them.

“I knew I was going to take some hits going forward. I’m OK with that. And as a divisive individual. I don’t think I’m the best unifier going forward for the Ryder Cup, and that’s fine because I’ve had so many great memories with it.“

Those comments were refreshingly honest as ever from Mickelson, and he’s 100 per cent right.

The role of Ryder Cup captain calls for a unifying figure, not a divisive one.

Phil Mickelson’s Ryder Cup record

Mickelson doesn’t possess the best Ryder Cup record, having lost more games than he has won in the competition.

Here are his career results at the Ryder Cup throughout the years:

Mickelson’s best Ryder Cup came in 2012 when he formed a magnificent partnership with Keegan Bradley to win all three pairs matches they played together.

However, it seems like his Ryder Cup legacy is now well and truly finished, and that’s such a sad ending for a player who enjoyed such a fabulous career at the top of the game for such an extended period of time.