Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have been on opposing sides of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf conflict in recent years, but the old foes will reconnect at the PGA Championship this week.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will reunite at this week’s PGA Championship, with both scheduled to attend the annual champions’ dinner on Tuesday.
Woods and Mickelson have clearly had disagreements in recent years, with opposing viewpoints on the split between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Unsurprisingly, Woods remained faithful to the Tour, while Mickelson became a trailblazer for the Saudi-backed series in 2022.
The two have seldom seen one other since, but this week they will rejoin in a more personal setting as guests of Brooks Koepka’s winners dinner in Kentucky, before of the start of the 2024 US PGA on Thursday.
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Both renowned golfers have had a lot of success on the PGA Tour. Woods, a 15-time major champion, has won the Wanamaker Trophy four times in his career: 1999, 2000, 2006, and 2007. Mickelson has two PGA Championships to his resume.
His first win came in 2005, and his most recent came in 2021, making golf history. In winning the PGA Championship three years ago, the HyFlyers skipper became the oldest major champion in history, defeating fellow LIV stars Louis Oosthuizen and Koepka at Kiawah Island.
Only one year later, Mickelson failed to defend his title, having gone into golfing exile after raising eyebrows by offering his support to a new Saudi golf league known as LIV Golf. The six-time major winner branded the Middle Eastern kingdom as’scary’ due to its dismal human rights record, but pledged support for the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia-backed initiative in order to ‘gain leverage’ on the PGA Tour.
Following the statements, ‘Lefty’ withdrew from public life, losing the opportunity to defend his PGA title at Southern Hills one month before making his LIV debut. Even in his absence, Mickelson was the buzz of the event heading into the first round, and Woods responded to Mickelson’s Saudi comments.
“It’s always disappointing when the defending champion isn’t present,” the four-time winner stated in 2022. “Phil has stated certain things that I believe many of us who are dedicated to the Tour and its tradition have pushed back against, and he’s taken some personal time, which we all understand…
“I have not touched out to him. I have not spoken with him. Many of them, I believe, are not related to personal difficulties. It was our perspectives on how the Tour should and could be run, what players are playing for, and how we are playing for it. I have an entirely different opinion on this, so no, I have not.”
Mickelson returned one year later, in 2023, but his old nemesis Woods was absent. The pair will now play together at the second major of the year for the first time since 2020, seated around the same table in honour of 2023 champion Koepka.
This is not the first time the couple has had an evening dinner and a drink or two of wine in recent weeks. The pair attended last month’s Masters champions’ dinner, which was hosted by LIV’s record-breaking signing Jon Rahm, who won the green jacket in 2023.