Phil Mickelson Expects PGA Tour Players to Join LIV Following Merger Agreement

Whether it’s just a bit of public relations or foreshadowing of things to come, Phil Mickelson remains bullish on the future of LIV Golf.

Mickelson, who was shown to be one of the catalysts of the league coming into existence in Alan Shipnuck’s new book, LIV and Let Die, spoke at the LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami. He said he believes more golfers from the PGA Tour will be joining the circuit for 2024.

Phil Mickelson is very confident in LIV Golf’s continued growth for 2024. 👀 pic.twitter.com/vxUtbmpgyr

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) October 18, 2023

“When players look at LIV, they are wanting to be a 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,” Mickelson said at Doral.

“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.”

But the key question is: Will that happen?

We heard similar talk at this time last year from LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who has been extremely quiet since the framework agreement among the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was announced in June. Norman said that he expected about seven “top-20” players to join the league, but the six who did fell short of that expectation: Dean Burmester, Danny Lee, Sebastian Munoz, Mito Pereira, Thomas Pieters, and Brendan Steele.

Others who are skeptical of Mickelkson’s comments include someone you may expect to disagree—Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee.

He says other stars will join, but what he means is, he HOPES other stars will, just like all those do who find themselves catastrophically on the wrong side of an issue, hoping that others will come along and help them ameliorate the embarrassment of their actions. https://t.co/6mxsBBkkaA

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) October 19, 2023

The other question is how this will all shake out if the PGA Tour is able to finalize this deal with the PIF. No one has quite been able to explain how LIV will work or how the two tours will coexist, but there are questions as to whether the deal will be finalized. There are multiple reports that the sides are far apart on many issues and the deadline of Dec. 31 could be extended.

Given Mickelson’s comments, perhaps the man who wielded much of the power when the golf world splintered in 2021 and ’22 knows more than he’s letting on.

Cover Image via Golfweek