Accused of Dividing Golf, Phil Mickelson Credited for Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay’s Rise on the PGA Tour

When Phil Mickelson ended his 30-year relationship with the PGA Tour back in 2022, he shocked and divided the golf world. People scrambled to understand why he would make such a move, with many even accusing his gambling addiction as a major reason for his defection to LIV Golf. After all, the Saudi-backed league offered him the kind of money he needed. It was so serious that golf analyst Brandel Chamblee accused him of causing “irreparable harm” to professional golf.

Consequently, Mickelson lost his sponsors. The PGA Tour banned him from playing in any of its events. More events unfolded, with people crowding together to bash the 50-year-old golfer. But then what happened? Changes—many of them. While Phil Mickelson had long left the tour, the PGA Tour players began to reap the benefits. First, let’s explore why we are having this discussion in the first place.

Recently, Cal Clutterbuck joined Frankie and Trent on the Fore Play Podcast Plus, and the conversation eventually turned toward Phil Mickelson. “The PGA Tour was giving no one a hand to play. They were basically saying it is what it is. They had a lot of complaints. And Phil Mickelson has come out and said, you guys should be thanking me. Like, I am the leader. I am Jesus Christ. I sacrificed for your sins. Like, that’s essentially what they did, right? They crucified this man.”

After that, he explained how this benefited players like Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler. “And now everyone’s f**king making more money. You know who should send him the best Edible Arrangement baskets of all time? Patrick Cantlay. That guy has just made so much f**king money because the event purses have gone up astronomically because of LIV, and he didn’t have to face any backlash.” Then, he added Scheffler’s name. “Like, Scottie Scheffler was just going to win tournaments. But it happened to be $60 million more because Phil went over there.”

Last year, Cantlay accepted that his team had a few meetings with LIV Golf. Although he ended up not joining the league, Alan Shipnuck has said that the golfer feels “bitter” about declining the $75 million deal. But hey, he is doing just fine now. In 2024, he earned $7.2 million, including $1.56 million from major championships. $4.71 million were from official events, $195,000 from unofficial events, and $755,000 from the Tour Championships. Scheffler, on the other hand, has made much more. He was one of the highest-paid golfers back in 2024, with a whopping $41 million in on-course earnings and $20 million in off-course earnings. However, according to Trent, it also has to do with reduced field sizes. And Phil Mickelson talked about that as well.

Phil Mickelson and the long-awaited changes in the PGA Tour

In response to LIV Golf’s huge purses, the PGA Tour announced its own new schedule back in 2023. It included eight “Signature Events” with big purses. Five of them have limited fields without a 36-hole cut. On top of that, Jay Monahan introduced the “Player Benefit Program” to thank his golfers who didn’t get lured by LIV Golf’s lucrative deals. Then, we had an excerpt from Billy Walter’s book in which he details Phil Mickelson’s gambling addiction. Consequently, fans believed his addiction had something to do with him joining LIV Golf. While we cannot be sure of that, we can say that a lot was already happening. Did Mickelson have anything to do with the changes? Likely.

In his 30 years of relationship with the PGA Tour, the golfer had often wondered about the number of tournaments in the tour that rarely hosted the top players. After all, top players do attract the most attention. Being one of the top players himself, he wanted the tour to focus prize money on fewer events with bigger purses. With as few as 25 events in a year, plus smaller fields, it would mean top players competing against each other more often. Good idea? Yes. It is now. But back then, it wasn’t.

Mickelson has often said that he discussed this with the PGA Tour, but they never seemed to move. However, with the emergence of LIV, that seems to have changed. Back in 2023, he talked about it at the LIV Golf Bedminster event. “There are two areas of professional golf that I worked hard on and they weren’t going to happen until LIV, which was a team aspect and elevated events, because the fans need to see the best players play against each other more often. I worked very hard on both of those prior [to LIV] and it was made very clear [by the PGA Tour] that those were not going to come about … because it was believed to be that LIV wasn’t going to happen. And now that [LIV Golf] has happened, those changes have been made.”

However, the changes are here, and the PGA Tour players seem to enjoy them. What do you think of it now?