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Phil Mickelson. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Phil Mickelson's latest rant is bad for professional golf

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 7/31/23

We hadn't heard much from Phil Mickelson recently, but boy did he change that when he sounded off last weekend on Jay Monahan's memo regarding LIV Golf players returning to the PGA Tour.

The six-time major champion was one of the first PGA Tour players to defect to the Saudi Arabia-funded league in 2022, and has shied away from microphones more recently after some of his previous comments landed him in hot water. But he had plenty to say after the PGA Tour commissioner sent a memo last week saying that LIV Golf players would be penalized for their defection if a merger between the major tours comes to fruition.

According to Lefty, nobody currently playing the LIV Golf circuit wants to return to the PGA Tour. Regardless of whether the rest of LIV feels that way, are Mickelson's comments bad for professional golf right now?

What a colossal waste of time.Not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour. It would require a public apology and restitution to LIV playersfor paying millions to Clout media to disparage all of us.A better topic is future sanctions for the many players who now come to LIV
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) July 30, 2023

It's an understatement to say that professional golf is at a fragile point right now. The announcement in June that the PGA Tour could merge with LIV Golf has left PGA pros with trust issues against their own commissioner and has pushed fans to not be as engaged with the sport. Mickelson continuing the "us against them" mentality that LIV has adopted will only make it harder for there to be peace in professional golf.

It also isn't clear how many of Mickelson's LIV Golf contemporaries actually share his complete contempt toward the PGA Tour. PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka opened up in June about PGA Tour events that he missed playing in. Cam Smith wanted to attend the Players Championship as a spectator since he wasn't able to play this year. Heck, Dustin Johnson was very quick to set the record straight when a smack-talk quote about Monahan was wrongly attributed to him. So while some golfers may agree with Mickelson's belief that LIV is the end all be all of the professional golf world, it doesn't appear that his opinion is universally shared -- and putting words in other players' mouths could cause a rift within LIV itself.

So far, Mickelson's peers haven't entered the chat to either defend his comments or argue against them. But there should be plenty of reaction as golf's regular season comes to a close and information about the proposed merger become more clear.

Whatever state professional is in right now, Mickelson is causing yet another rift.

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