Phil Mickelson on Wednesday reiterated his belief that denial of the LIV Golf League’s application for world ranking points is due more to the PGA Tour’s desire to hit goals in network television contracts than it is any format issues associated with the breakaway golf circuit.
Mickelson, one of LIV Golf’s biggest and original signees in 2022, made his feelings known via social media last week after the Official World Golf Ranking denied LIV’s application that sought to give players points for competing in LIV events.
He said it again during a news conference at Doral, where the LIV Golf League’s season-ending Team Championship begins Friday.
“I do want to bring to light as to why exactly they are doing what they are doing,” Mickelson said. “It’s not what they are putting out there on the front page. There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes as to the importance of us to the getting points to the PGA Tour.
Mickelson said the majors could create ways for LIV players to compete that would get around the Official World Golf Ranking.
“I think that the majors need to protect their product, and there’s probably other ways that they can do that by creating slots,” he added. “If they want to make sure they have the best fields in golf, they could create vehicles for players on LIV to play in majors where they don’t have to use the OWGR, which would undermine the TV contract and revenue of the PGA Tour if they gave points to LIV.”
Peter Dawson, the OWGR’s chairman, said in a letter to LIV CEO Greg Norman and made public on the OWGR’s website, that the main roadblock to LIV’s inclusion was its lack of pathways to the league as well as a relegation system that does not see more player turnover. He described it as a “closed shop” but said LIV could resubmit its application.
Mickelson was initially asked whether he believed LIV should make changes and do that.
“I’m just bringing facts to life as to like why that’s happening,” he said of LIV’s application being denied. “But really, we as a group, as a league that’s trying to grow the game and bring it globally and promote the game throughout the world, as well as bring something different than the old, stodgy format that we’ve had for decades, we just need to focus on what we are doing and make our product as good as possible, as interesting as possible. We need to make tweaks into our program.
“The OWGR need to obviously make tweaks but we need to tweak our format to continue to evolve and be more interesting and easier to understand. We have enough on our plate to make our product more and more exciting and appealing that we shouldn’t worry ourselves with what they are doing.”
As he did last week, Mickelson suggested the PGA Tour was behind the decision to thwart LIV, as keeping its players from getting OWGR points would mean PGA Tour players would be higher in the rankings. Mickelson said that the PGA Tour’s television contracts with the networks have OWGR clauses that could cause a refund in fees if certain minimums are not met.
The Tour has pushed back on this and said they do not have any agreements that would see a contract canceled due to too few players among the highest-ranked in the OWGR.
“It would be nice if we got World Ranking points because at the end of the day I think it’s hard to argue that some of these guys here are not the best players in the world,” said Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship this year and tied for second with Mickelson at the Masters. “These guys deserve to be in majors that have been in majors.
“So hopefully there’s a pathway for them to at least get into majors because I think there’s quite a few guys out here that I think deserve to be in those.”
Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau are among the LIV players who have suggested that the majors—without LIV being able to earn world ranking points, one of the avenues to the majors—should offer spots based on finishes on the LIV points list or a series of events.
It was the majors, however, who effectively blocked the LIV application. The seven-member board is made up of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan; DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley; and Keith Waters, a DP World Tour executive who heads the International Federation of PGA Tours. They all recused themselves, leaving the four representatives from the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open to vote. Dawson’s letter said their decision was unanimous.
Meanwhile, Mickelson suggested that LIV Golf will continue to evolve and add new players in the offseason.
“I know that’s going to happen,” he said. “When players look at LIV, they are wanting to be part of it. Everybody here is happy and enjoying what we are doing and enjoying the team aspect of it and enjoying each other and the camaraderie and enjoying playing golf globally and all the benefits that come with playing this tour.
“So there’s a lot of players that see that and want to be a part of it. The question is how many spots are available? There’s a lot more players that want to come than there are spots.”
LIV Golf will see four players “relegated” after this season. They have the opportunity to earn their way back through a Promotions event that has not been announced but is scheduled for Abu Dhabi in December. From there, three players will earn their way into the league.
Also, players who did not finish among the top 24 in season-long points are not assured of coming back unless they have a contract, so there is a possibility some openings will develop there.
