Phil Mickelson expects other renowned golfers to follow his lead and join LIV Golf, piling further pressure on major tournaments to change. Mickelson predicts the Open and other major championships will have to bend to LIV's demands, as it snares the sport's biggest names.
LIV members are currently barred from qualifying for major championships through the tour, which isn't recognised by the Official World Golf Ranking. As a consequence, LIV golfers have plummeted in the rankings.
This means players like Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau are relying on past major triumphs to guarantee their places.
Related articles
While Mickelson, Johnson and DeChambeau have secured spots in the PGA Championship at Valhalla this month due to major victories within the last five years, stars such as Sergio Garcia, Talor Gooch, Louis Oosthuizen and Abraham Ancer will miss out in Kentucky despite their impressive resumes and abilities.
Mickelson has been a prominent supporter of LIV Golf since joining as a founder in 2022. He firmly believes LIV players will soon have a path to qualify for majors, as the league continues its pursuit of elite talent.
"Maybe some of the LIV players won't be missed, but what if none of the LIV players played? " Mickelson wrote in a now-deleted post on X, referring to the absence of prominent LIV players at Valhalla. "Would they be missed? What about next year when more great players join? Or the following year. At some point, they will care and will have to answer to sponsors and television."
Mickelson's belief that LIV will continue to attract top players is not unfounded. The league has successfully managed to sign European Ryder Cup stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton ahead of its third season, and commissioner Greg Norman is optimistic about securing more of the PGA Tour's biggest names in the future.
Norman expressed a confident outlook on the tour's future in an interview with Bloomberg before this weekend's event in Singapore, which was won by Brooks Koepka.
When asked about LIV's longevity, the CEO of LIV responded: "My boss told me LIV is not gonna go anywhere. You know, it'll be well and truly in operation, running well past his death. Now he's a young guy.
"So he's asked me just to stay focused and deliver LIV as a standalone entity. He's invested billions of dollars into this. And we are starting to see the creation of a return on investment within this. So we're gonna stay focused over here."
