Phil Mickelson remains confident in LIV Golf following PGA Tour merger

One of the faces of LIV Golf over the last couple years, Phil Mickelson has been vocal about the relationship between the organization and the PGA Tour. Now, they’re planning to merge as part of a deal announced earlier this month — and he has weighed in on the plans.

Mickelson spoke ahead of this week’s LIV Golf event in Spain after previously declining to speak on the matter. He said he’s “very optimistic” about the partnership and what it can do for the future of the game of golf.

“A lot of the changes that have been made because of LIV were all very [appreciated], both on the LIV Tour as well as the PGA Tour,” Mickelson said, via Golf Digest’s Joel Beall, “and we’re happy for the guys out there that they’re having some positive changes there, as well.”

Although the partnership effectively means the PGA Tour and LIV will merge, LIV’s future is still unclear. It’s unclear what role — if any — Greg Norman will have under the new agreement, but he’s made it clear LIV is “not going anywhere.”

As for Mickelson, he feels it might be a little early to talk about LIV’s future in public.

“Everything over the last couple of years that we’ve been told by Greg and everybody on LIV has come to fruition, so we have a lot of confidence in what they have been saying to us,” Mickelson said. “We don’t really feel the need to publicly posture our position. There’s really no need for us to talk about things publicly but to just let it play out.”

Another interesting ripple to the merger is how LIV players will be welcomed back to the PGA Tour. When asked about whether he’d go back to the PGA Tour, Mickelson turned the question around and spoke about how his experience has been with LIV.

“Rather than saying yes or no, I know that from a player experience, all of the difficulties and challenges and things that take a lot of excessive energy and output throughout the week have been fixed at LIV,” Mickelson said. “So the player experience here is incredible. I just can’t envision a better scenario for me as a player than playing out here on LIV.”

Of course, the merger isn’t final yet. Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate called on leaders from both the PGA Tour and LIV to testify as part of its investigation.