Phil Mickelson has had a disappointing 2024, but his HyFlyers GC team-mate Brendan Steele is backing the 54-year-old to bounce back in 2025.
13:08, Wed, Oct 9, 2024 | UPDATED: 13:08, Wed, Oct 9, 2024
Brendan Steele (R) has leaped to the defence of team-mate Phil Mickelson (L) (Image: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
Brendan Steele has heaped praise on his HyFlyers GC team-mate Phil Mickelson, claiming he still has what it takes to cut it at the top despite his advancing years. The 54-year-old golf veteran and six-time major winner may have finished 46th on the LIV Golf leaderboard this season, yet Steele remains adamant that Mickelson’s talent will shine through.
During an appearance on the Fairway To Heaven podcast, 41-year-old Steele expressed confidence in Mickelson’s enduring abilities. When asked if he had any doubts about his team captain’s ability, he said: “No, not at all.”
Elobarating, he said: “I’ve seen it all year. I know it didn’t come out during the tournaments as much as we would have liked [but] he played really well in Saudi, which was great. But the game that I saw all season from him is indicative of the way he can play, and the way I think he will play next year.”
Despite Mickelson’s less-than-stellar performances since leaving the PGA Tour for the lucrative waters of LIV Golf in 2022, he reminded everyone of his prowess with a dazzling second-place finish at the 2023 Masters, equalling his best Augusta score ever. Moreover, Mickelson set a record as the oldest major winner in history at the PGA Championship in 2021, just a few weeks shy of his 51st 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day.
His knack for remaining a formidable competitor well into his fifties coupled with a stellar injury-free stretch emphasises that age, for him, is just a number – a sentiment that Steele wholeheartedly endorses.”The limiting factors from his age would be injury [record] and speed, and he isn’t struggling in either one of those, so that’s what I always tell him,” he said.
“I’m like, ‘Forget how old you are, the other 54-year-old’s are injured, they can’t keep up with the speed. They don’t want it anymore. You don’t have any of that’. So there’s no limitations.
Phil Mickelson always predicted LIV Golf would continue to grow (Image: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
“People forget that the Masters was only 2023 and forget that the PGA [Championship victory] was not that long ago. They don’t give him enough credit from that standpoint.
“I know this year wasn’t as good as he would have liked, or as good as our whole team would have liked. But we’re determined to figure it out this off season, have a really good few months and be ready to go come next season.”
Brendan Steele joined Mickelson’s team in 2023 (Image: Getty)
Steele joined Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC team in 2023. Since then he’s managed one tournament victory – clinching top spot at LIV Golf Adelaide back in April. He ended the 2024 season in 24th place, nabbing the final space in the Lock Zone.
His team-mates – Mickelson, Cameron Tringale and Andy Ogletree – struggled to replicate Steele’s form, with all three failing to get anywhere close to a tournament triumph. Subsequently, HyFlyers GC ended the campaign second from bottom after picking up just 20.83 points all season.
