Phil Mickelson outlines primary reason 'crushing' decline

Phil Mickelson says a poor short game is the primary reason why he hasn't played so well since joining LIV Golf. 

For decades Mickelson has wowed crowds with his expertise around the greens. 

His skill with a wedge in hand along with a willingness to always play aggressively earned him the nickname of 'the Thrill'. 

"You know, surprisingly if you look at the analytics, it's been my short game that's just crushed me the last few years," Mickelson told reporters in a call promoting LIV's forthcoming event at The Greenbrier

"I've been like, last in scrambling on LIV. It's been a staple of my game throughout my career, and the last couple years it's been the reason why I have not scored and had the results. That's where I've been focusing."

Mickelson will tee it up at The Old White having only posted one top-10 finish in the rival league across 11 events. 

The major championships have also been equally disappointing. 

He missed cuts at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, tied for 60th at The Open and finished in a tie for 43rd at The Masters. 

At 54 years old, speculation is mounting that he may call time on his career soon. 

"As far as my career, I'm realistic with where I'm at," he added.

"I'm 54 and I'm putting in the work. I also have a unique opportunity because of the fact that physically I've been able to withstand injuries and been able to be in better shape to do something at an age that nobody else has done, but I have not played at that level that I need to.

"I see glimpses and my teammates see glimpses of me being where I expect to be able to compete at this level, but I’m also realistic with myself, and if I'm not able to I'll step aside and let somebody come on in and take the HyFlyers to new levels."

PGA Tour thoughts

Mickelson made it clear that he's not privy to ongoing discussions between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to ratify last June's framework agreement. 

The six-time major champion once again repeated his claim that whatever comes to pass the men's professional game will be in a better place.

He said: "I would agree we’re in the middle of a disruption phase, but where we're going to end up and where we will be when this gets sorted through is going to be exponentially better than where we were in the path that we were on."

Mickelson is also unconcerned with LIV's TV viewing figures. 

The future is YouTube, he said, and targeting a younger demographic. 

Mickelson continued: "The compensation that we’ve all received has been basically to give up 14 weeks of the year and commit, say, okay, wherever you tell us to go, we're going to go. 

"We're going to go and compete, and that's all throughout the world. So now when you are Hong Kong and you sign a deal to have LIV Golf come, you know who you’re getting. 

"You know who's playing there. Many of the best players in the world are traveling throughout and bringing professional golf throughout the world."

Of the PGA Tour, he added: "For 30-plus years I did everything I could to help build the PGA Tour brand, and I would be brought in to help close the deal with many CEOs when they were on the brink of potentially signing a deal, whether it was Bob Diamond at Barclays, it was Rick Waddell at Northern Trust, it was the guys at Shell, Marvin Odom. There were about seven to 10 times that I would come in and try to close the deal.

"That was my way to help trying to build the PGA Tour at that time. I'm no longer part of the Tour."

Watched our latest YouTube video?