LIV Golf player Phil Mickelson targets PGA Tour for "magically-found millions"
Phil Mickelson sported a pair of shorts for the first time in a professional competition on Saturday at the LIV Golf Boston Invitational, after which he had some choice words for the PGA Tour.
Since the PGA Tour announced increased prize purses and four new Elevated Events, there has been a question on the tip of everyone's tongue: was Phil Mickelson right?
In the lead-up to his collaboration with LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia, Mickelson accused the PGA Tour of obnoxious greed with regard to each player's media rights.
He said the tour is sat on "hundreds of millions of digital moments" and Lefty also claimed that the Tour forced him to pay $1 million for each time he competed in The Match.
It was this angst that stimulated the six-time major champion and the sport's oldest ever major champion to break away and become a pioneer of the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Perhaps the 52-year-old was right. Each of the four new Elevated events will have $20 million purses and the biggest tournaments such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship and the Memorial Tournament have also seen huge purse increases.
For everyone’s benefit, @PhilMickelson ROASTING the #PGATour in his post round for “magically finding a couple hundred million!” @LIVLaffGolf @LIVGolfUpdates #LIVGolf
Courtesy @Tengolf_en YouTube. pic.twitter.com/gCK6RPhrH7— Jamal (@NotDrJ) September 4, 2022
The FedEx Cup bonus pool is $75 million for 2023. Mickelson referred to the money that the PGA Tour has injected into their 2023 schedule after the second round of the LIV Golf Boston Invitational.
"The fans are getting a lot of benefit out of this, but all professional golfers are getting a lot of benefits. The players on the Tour are playing for a lot more money. It's great that they magically found a couple of hundred million. That's awesome," Mickelson said.
Despite the flippancy of Mickelson's words, the threat of LIV Golf has forced the hand of the PGA Tour to secure the futures of their best players and essentially, pay players more.
The Player Impact Program for 2023 has been expanded to the top 20 players who will get a share of $100,000,000. Also, the Earnings Assurance Program for fully exempt members from the Korn Ferry Tour category and above guarantees a league minimum of $500,000 per player, but they must play in at least 15 events.
Certainly, the way Mickelson went about securing leverage and joining a new rebel league was questionable, but you could argue he has every right to be smug.
