Decades ago when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were in their primes, out on the PGA Tour you were either a FOT (Friend Of Tiger) or and FOP (Friend Of Phil). FOTs got to play practice rounds with Tiger, FOPs were invited to play practice rounds with Lefty. You could not do both or be both. That’s the way it was.
With this upstart LIV Series wallowing in the Saudi social mire, once again, there is division — you either stand with Tiger and tradition, or lean toward Phil and the potential big money grab offered by the stinky Saudi money.
Tiger has been adamant in his stance and he aligns with Jack Nicklaus. Tiger strongly and repeatedly disagrees with Phil’s belief in a new golf order. Tiger supports the PGA Tour while Phil has sunken into the deep mud of a proposed 54-hole money grab, an undefined team format, shotgun starts and no charitable beneficiaries.
“Phil has said some things that I think a lot of us who are committed to the Tour, committed to the legacy of the Tour, have pushed back against,” Woods stated this week. “I think that some of his views on how the Tour could be run, should be run, there’s been a lot of disagreement there.”
And so once again, players are aligning themselves either with Tiger or Phil.
There hasn’t been much support for Lefty from the Tour’s bigger names. Rory McIlroy called Mickelson’s absence from the PGA “unfortunate, sad.” Jon Rahm said he’s “got to do what he’s got to do.” Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas basically shrugged it off.
“I don’t know if he has to resolve it or not,” Woods added. Mickelson has his opinions. And Woods has his stance, strengthened by knowing how legends Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer basically helped form today’s PGA Tour.
“There’s a legacy to that,” was how Tiger put it. “I still think that the Tour has so much to offer, so much opportunity. I understand different viewpoints, but I believe in legacies. I believe in major championships. I believe in big events, in comparisons to historical figures of the past. There’s plenty of money out here. The Tour is growing. But it’s like tennis: You have to go out there and earn it. You’ve got to go out there and play for it. We have an opportunity to go ahead and do it. It’s not just guaranteed upfront.
Tiger continued with this: “You know, he (Mickelson) has his opinion on where he sees the game of golf going. You know, I have my viewpoint how I see the game of golf, and I’ve supported the Tour and my foundation has run events on the Tour for a number of years.
“I just think that what Jack and Arnold have done in starting the Tour and breaking away from the PGA of America and creating our tour in ’68 or ’69, somewhere in there, I just think there’s a legacy to that.”
Mickelson’s exile wasn’t due to just his Saudi-dealing revelations. No, Phil started turning heads with a number of actions, statements and behaviors long before his Saudi revelations to Alan Shipnuck.
Examples:
Phil argued about Jon Rahm’s vaccination status.
Phil attacked an investigative reporter from the Detroit News during the Rocket Mortgage event for writing an accurate, if unflattering, story about how a mob-connected bookie had refused to pay Mickelson a $500,000 gambling debt.
Phil suggested his excessive coffee-drinking habit had protected him from catching COVID.
Phil attacked the USGA for rule changes limiting the length of drivers to 46 inches.
Phil criticized the PGA Tour policy board’s ban on green-reading books.
Phil claimed that the PGA Tour was holding on to $10-20 billion in “digital moments” that top pros had created.
Phil thanked Elon Musk for grumbling about his $11 billion tax bill.
Phil asked why we couldn’t try achieving herd immunity with the omicron variant.
Phil announced (incorrectly) that he’d won the $8 million first-place prize in the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program at the end of last year.
Phil claimed he was considering leaving the PGA Tour because of its “obnoxious greed.”
All of those were pre-Shipnuck revelations.
And now Mickelson is in some sort of weird social/professional/sports sort of limbo. When will he re-appear?
That’s a question that maybe even Lefty himself cannot answer right now.
Richard Bland Heading For LIV Series:
Stop the presses!! Greg Norman has a recruit — finally — and it’s none other than career journeyman Richard Bland from England.
Bland is the perfect profile for the Saudi-money-backed series — well past his prime at age 49 and in search of some retirement funds.
Norman will be giddy because Bland is ranked 58th in the Official World Golf Ranking and is willing to give up his membership on the DP World Tour.
“I have an opportunity to play these events and secure my future,” Bland said in a recent interview. “And I’d be pretty foolish to turn that down.”
Give Bland credit for admitting he’s going — he’s the perfect profile.
