Exclusive; Phil Mickelson Makes Boldest Claim Yet That LIV Golf May Change Its Format
Although he has yet to compete for a title in LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson is one of the faces of the league and will be the first top golfer to participate in the inaugural tournament in June 2022.
Since it was held in London about two years ago, all LIV Golf competitions have been held in his three rounds of 54 holes. This is one of the reasons why this course is considered so difficult to achieve official World Golf Ranking status.
Many golfers, including Jon Rahm, have discussed the idea of expanding LIV into a traditional four-day, 72-hole tournament to strengthen its status as the OWGR. After playing 72 holes at Augusta National, where he finished second last year and tied for 45th, Mickelson talked about how lucky LIV was on the four-round course.
“Every round of competition is an opportunity to play well and compete,” Mickelson said after Sunday’s final round. “I don’t think it makes a difference either way. We have a lot of players who only played 36 games this week. We offer mini tours for 54 people and champions tours for 54 people. I wouldn’t be surprised if some or all of the LIV events reach 72 entries. I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter. I like competition. ”
Mickelson also talked about the downside of the 54-hole tournament. “You have to play well on the first day, otherwise you’ll fall far behind and have a hard time catching up. Whereas if you’re 72 years old, even if you don’t do that on the first day, you can still go to the tournament and compete. ”, fighting to maintain parity and then catching up can go either way. It’s just the nuances of different formats,” Mickelson said.
Arguments against LIV and OWGR status included the lack of 72 holes, lack of cutting, and lack of a feeder system to participate in competition. There have been no cuts to LIV’s events yet, but it did hold something like a Q-school last December to fill the last spots on its 2024 roster.
