Phil Mickelson has always been outspoken. More so about the PGA Tour. In February 2022, Phil Mickelson, not yet publicly aligned with LIV, criticized the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed” in an interview with Golf Digest. He pointed out that players didn’t control their media rights or image, mentioning how golfers wouldn’t be paid for their appearances in Netflix’s Full Swing, even as the Tour and major golf organizations profited. Mickelson suggested that if players had their own media channels, golf could be presented more intimately. His comments sparked controversy, leading to a four-month break from competition, during which he missed the Masters and PGA Championship. Mickelson returned, but with a bang.

He had moved to LIV. In June, he played in London. At LIV’s Saudi Arabian tournament in October, Mickelson stated, “I firmly believe that I’m on the winning side of how things are going to evolve and shape in the coming years for professional golf. ” So, when in 2023, the Tour announced signature events for 2024, Mickelson was quick to point out how he had suggested it way earlier.

“Before I left I brought a $1 billion commitment from a current PGA Tour partner to have 8 elevated events and give equity and ownership in these events to the players. JM’s quote was “I don’t believe the league is going to happen so we won’t be doing that.” No vote, no discussion,” he wrote on X. Well, we all know how that turned out. It seems Mickelson was right all along, and the players are realizing it now! Especially Rory McIlroy.

Just over a year ago, McIlroy dismissed LIV as “dead in the water,” but now, he’s admitting its impact. His views have been gradually shifting, especially after he acknowledged how LIV has pushed the PGA Tour to modernize its “outdated system” for the betterment of the game. In 2023, McIlroy even pointed out how the PGA Tour’s new no-cut, smaller-field events are a direct response to LIV’s format. Now, he acknowledged the impact of such high purse events.

Back in 2019, Rory McIlroy appeared in nineteen events and made seventeen cuts. He won three of them and took home $7,785,286. That might seem a lot right? Not really. In 2024, he played nineteen events and won only two of them, and yet earned more than what he earned back then. The Northern Irishman took home a whopping $10,893,790, and skip to 2025, he has only played one event so far, and after winning it, has already managed to take home a whopping $3,600,000. Imagine the leap. The PGA Tour did all of this to stay ahead of LIV. One could easily assume this.

Taking to this, McIlroy said, “…I look at what I made in 2019 before LIV came around and I look at what I’ve made after LIV came around and it’s very different…. @TrackingRory. “Like I don’t know what to say, I earn more money now than I did in 2019 and if LIV hadn’t come around, I don’t know if I would have been able to say that.” Phil Mickelson was once bashed for the same statements, and now everyone is in line with him. This is what has made the golf community believe that he deserves an apology. Mike O’Halloran even tweeted on his official X account and wrote, “Say “thank you, Phil”! Not “FU” Phil. Apologies are in order.”

Rory McIlroy’s stance has indeed changed a lot. In an interview with Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast even said that LIV Golf exposed the PGA Tour’s flaws. He said, “I think what LIV has done, it’s exposed the flaws in the system of what golf has, because we’re all supposed to be independent contractors and we can pick and choose what tournaments we want to play.” 

Now, McIlroy wants nothing more than the star names to come together on the field, and well, Phil Mickelson is on his team.

Phil Mickelson requests to leave behind any hostility

The 4x major winner a while ago remarked that he was too harsh on golfers who moved to LIV. “I think, at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV Golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realize that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods’ position,” he told the “Stick to Football” podcast. To this, Phil Mickelson responded.

He urged fans to avoid piling on McIlroy, suggesting it was time to “let go of our hostilities” and focus on a more positive future. “These comments from Rory, along with others today, probably weren’t easy for him to make,” Mickelson posted on X. “Instead of using this as a chance to criticize, let’s let go of the past and work toward building something better.”

Indeed the golf world has changed. How will it all continue to be, remains to be seen.