PGA Tour Won't Welcome Back Phil Mickelson If LIV Golf Shuts Down

Aaron Doster-Imagn Images.

PGA Tour Won't Welcome Back Phil Mickelson If LIV Golf Shuts Down

Originally posted on The Spun | By Chris Rosvoglou | Last updated Apr 29, 2026 11:11 AM ET

It appears LIV Golf's days are numbered, which means we could see a few big names return to the PGA Tour. Would six-time major winner Phil Mickelson be one of them?

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil has already said the 2026 season will continue as planned. The tour might not have the Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund backing them after this year though. If that's the case, it's hard to imagine LIV Golf will last much longer.

Trey Wingo believes the PGA Tour would take back Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm if LIV Golf collapses.

"I don’t think the PGA Tour cares about 54 or 52 of the 56 LIV golfers or how many there are. They care about two for sure, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau," Wingo told Awful Announcing’s Brandon Contes. "I think those are the two that, that they’ll find a way back like they did for (Brooks Koepka), because he’s a five-time major winner. But the rest of them, I think they might say, ‘Congratulations, Taylor Gooch, I’m glad you got your money. You won’t see us again unless you go through the hardest way possible to earn your tour card like everybody else.'"

Aug 23, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Phil Mickelson of HyFlyers GC walks on the first green during the semifinals of the LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship at The Cardinal at Saint John's Resort. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images© Aaron Doster-Imagn Images.

As for Mickelson, it sounds like he'll never return to the PGA Tour.

"I can promise you one person that you’ll never see in any way in an official capacity with the PGA Tour is Phil Mickelson. That bridge has been burned, detonated, destroyed, nuked, lasered to death. There is no building that bridge back."

What's the beef between Phil and the PGA Tour?

Golf fans were awfully disappointed when Mickelson left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022, but they saw it coming from a mile away.

Before Mickelson even agreed to join the Saudi-funded league, he accused the PGA Tour of being greedy.

"It's not public knowledge, all that goes on," Mickelson told Golf Digest. "But the players don't have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat [from Saudi or anywhere else], they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel. ... For me personally, it's not enough that they are sitting on hundreds of millions of digital moments. They also have access to my shots, access I do not have. They also charge companies to use shots I have hit. And when I did 'The Match'—there have been five of them—the tour forced me to pay them $1 million each time. For my own media rights. That type of greed is, to me, beyond obnoxious."

Mickelson is undoubtedly one of the best golfers the sport has seen over the past three decades, but he may have crossed the line with his remarks.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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