Defending champ Mickelson to miss season finale: ‘Phil made his choice’
Ben Jared/PGA TOUR by way of Getty Images
The feud between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour has engulfed and impacted professional golf so utterly, it’s straightforward to overlook how shortly it has all occurred.
Next week, the senior statesmen of the PGA Tour Champions circuit will face off within the Tour’s season-ending finale, but it surely’s defending champion Phil Mickelson received’t be there.
Less than a yr in the past, Mickelson’s controversial feedback about LIV and the Tour that set off a firestorm had but to be revealed to the general public. LIV Golf didn’t even exist but. And Phil was getting ready to win his second PGA Tour Champions occasion of the yr — and fourth in 15 months — on the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
It seemed like Mickelson, whose 2021 PGA Championship trophy had but to collect mud on his shelf, was settling into a protracted and storied second profession on the PGA Tour’s senior circuit.
Little did we all know that his Charles Schwab Cup Championship victory would end up to be his closing begin in any event organized by the PGA Tour. But as soon as Mickelson made the bounce to LIV Golf this summer time, that once-unthinkable end result turned a actuality, with the Tour banning all LIV golfers from competing in its tournaments.
That brings us to subsequent week’s PGA Tour Champions finale, the place the defending champion will as soon as once more be lacking in motion.
Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer has dominated the PGA Tour Champions for the higher a part of 20 years, profitable the season-long senior title six occasions, together with final yr, regardless of Mickelson’s triumph within the Cup Championship.
At this week’s TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Fla., Langer was requested to share his ideas on Mickelson lacking the finale, and he hinted that whereas he doesn’t have any exhausting emotions about it, Mickelson is just dealing with the implications of his resolution to be part of LIV.
“Well, you know, we’re all there for our own reasons and Phil made his choice,” Langer mentioned. “Whether it’s right or wrong, good or bad, I’m not going to comment on that.”
Langer went on to acknowledge that Mickelson’s absence will certainly affect the event, from the gamers to the followers who come out to watch
“We will certainly miss him. I think Phil is always an attraction when he plays golf, but I guess he made his choice and he won’t be there. There will be other players trying to fill his shoes.”
The 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Championship begins Thursday, November 10, at Phoenix Country Club in Phoenix, Ariz.
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