Phil Mickelson’s LIV golf career may be coming to an end, and Bubba Watson may follow in his footsteps.
Phil Mickelson has struggled for form since joining LIV Golf in 2022, and an unplayed role could be the six-time Breakaway League major champion’s next move.
Phil Mickelson could take on a non-playing role alongside Bubba Watson at LIV Golf when both men’s current contracts expire.
Mickelson is responsible for the exodus of PGA Tour players to LIV after pledging allegiance to the Saudi-backed league ahead of the first tournament in June 2022. Since then, the six-time winner has become an integral part of the circuit, but his playing days may be over.
According to Mickelson biographer Alan Shipnuk, the 53-year-old’s next contract with the Breakaway League will likely be as a non-playing captain. Each team captain signed four-year contracts, as did 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch, Greg Norman and company.
According to Shipnuk, the players will speak with league officials again by the end of 2025, with Mickelson and Watson likely out. In 20 events on the LIV circuit, Mickelson has two top-10 finishes as he struggles to match the form that has made him one of the sport’s best players on the PGA Tour. Watson, a two-time Masters champion, had similar problems.
Watson, captaining the RangeGoats in his first full campaign in the Saudi-backed series, finished in the top 10 with his best LIV performance in Tulsa last May. The former green jacket winner discussed his future on the track after not finding his best form.
Speaking at the LIV Greenbrier last summer, Watson admitted he could take on a non-judicial role for the RangeGoats if his teammates wanted. “I told my team that if they didn’t think I was good enough to play, they would fire me and put another good golfer in my place.
“I’m going to play until I get kicked out. I like to help young people. Everyone is trying to get better at golf. I enter the lives of three golfers, all parents and stepfathers. “I want to be there for them and help them if they have a problem,” he said.
Mickelson has also been committed to retiring from golf in recent years, but there is something to that. The American is one win away from a Grand Slam title, with the US Open the only major title he has yet to win. And if he gets over the line at his open house, that’s where he’ll end his career. In an interview with Golf Digest in February 2022, he said, “I’m retiring if I win the US Open.” This will be my last tour. I will have a Grand Slam career and I have nothing to prove.
