Phil Mickelson has never gone out of style in the golf world. Among his 45 PGA tour wins, the 6 Major titles cannot go unnoticed. The last of which he earned as recently as in 2021, at 51. However, the golfer has not received a united cheer from the community as a veteran golfer. The reason is his alliance with LIV Golf. When someone tries to debate about his recent Major performance, they face an extreme rebuke from the community. Let us explore the circumstances that brought up such consequences.
In one of the X posts by Dustin Kersey, the author praises the HyFlyers GC Captain, Phil Mickelson. He wrote, “How bout a shoutout for a 54-year-old @PhilMickelson who’s made 4 cuts in his last 8 Majors which included a 2nd place finish. Playing against the best current players in their prime and still hanging in there is unbelievable🤯.”
Kersey, looking at it from his point of view, highlighted that the fact he continues to excel at his age by making cuts is truly remarkable and worthy of praise.
How bout a shoutout for a 54 year old @PhilMickelson who’s made 4 cuts in his last 8 Majors which included a 2nd place finish. Playing against the best current players in their prime and still hanging in there is unbelievable🤯
— Dustin (@dustin_kersey) July 22, 2024
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Notably, exactly two decades ago, Phil Mickelson won his first Major in 2004. He continued to win a major for three straight years. Many consider this his prime in his golf career. But it is not a recent phenomenon that Mickelson has been missing cuts. Throughout his Major career, the golfer has missed cuts here and there while performing well in others in the same calendar year.
Yet Mickelson’s performance has still fared better than the 15-time Major winner, Tiger Woods. In the last four years, Woods has participated in only 8 Majors, out of which he withdrew from two and made the cut only twice out of the remaining 6.
But, a part of the golf community is especially torn to hear about his underwhelming performance. No, not everyone is as concerned about the performance. Some are also wary of his LIV player tags all at the same time.
Golf community heavily criticizes LIV Golfer Phil Mickelson
One fan stated, “Hilarious…. LIV supporters clinging to hope for Senior Players 😂 🤡” According to them, hailing Mickelson’s recent performance is only a coping mechanism to show that LIV has golfers performing at the majors who are still making cuts despite being a senior player. They also insinuated how LIV Golfers might have only these senior players to boast about since their past record, and present age, which portrays them as making cuts of something commendable. Following their statement, this fan added a clown emoji to land yet another blow on LIV Golf.
Someone else, however, compared his performance with Tiger Woods. They stated, “Can’t say the same about the overrated TW Def an achievement!” Calling Woods overrated, the fan emphasized Woods could not match even that record for which Mickelson is getting criticized by the golf community. Out of his 8 Major events, Woods made only 2 cuts, that too with a T47 and a T60 finish. In the same argument, Mickelson came close to winning the 2023 Masters, where he finished T2, four strokes behind John Rahm.
Another fan questioned, “Why does Phil do better in majors than in LIV events?” Out of the thirteen LIV Golf teams, Mickelson led HyFlyers in the 12th position. In the entire season, the highest they climbed up in the leaderboard was during LIV Golf Adelaide, where they finished as the second runner-up. When it comes to his individual performance, Mickelson stands at 44th position out of 55 players. He could reach the top 10 only once this season, finishing T6 at LIV Golf Jeddah. Hence, the fan pointed out that Mickelson, although missed some cuts in the Major, his performances there are still better than in his LIV Golf events.
“You’re now praising a man for making half the cuts! Hahahhahahahhahahah,” loudly laughed another fan. They argued that praising Mickelson for making only half of the cuts among all he participated in might be a little funny. Given how many golfers win events and have much more to boast about in the PGA Tour, the fan insinuated Mickelson’s praise for something so underwhelming was not at all expected. The extended laughing further ridiculed the author’s intention of honoring Mickelson for still holding in there.
“Incredible to see it’s now all about making the cut and not winning,” sarcastically, complained another fan. They suggested how the standards of golf and golfers have fallen so much that people are ready to appreciate when someone makes a cut, as if winning is no longer expected. Mickelson’s last recorded wins came in the same year he won the last Major of his career. It was a year before he joined LIV Golf. Mickelson had won two PGA Tour Champions events: Charles Schwab Cup Championship and Constellation Furyk & Friends. However, after the golfer joined LIV, he has not won in, either the PGA Tours or LIV golf, even for once.
Do you think Mickelson has been doing well compared to Tiger Woods lately? Let us know your take on that comparison.