The countdown is on for the last big golf tournament of the Chicago season, and Phil Mickelson is ready for it.
LIV Golf/Chicago will play the first of its two season-ending championships at Bolingbrook Golf Club Sept. 13-15. The Saudi-backed circuit played regular season events at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove, in its first two campaigns but this year’s event is bigger. It’s LIV’s season individual championship
The only event remaining after LIV/Chicago is the LIV’s team championship. Sept. 20-22 at Maridoe – another new site on the circuit – in Dallas. That’ll conclude LIV’s 14-tournament season.
Mickelson was the first major star to bolt from the PGA Tour to join LIV. He hasn’t been a star on the new circuit but has no regrets about what was then a controversial move.
He’s played in tournaments at all the well-known Chicago tournament courses, but Bolingbrook isn’t one of those.
“We’ve played some venues throughout LIV that are truly world class and cover the gamut, from long and hard to tight and a lot of character,’’ said Mickelson. “We’ve played many (PGA Tour) courses. We’re going to Greenbrier (West Virginia) this week. We’ve played Mayakoba (Mexico). We’re playing Hong Kong , Sentosa, where there have been many tournaments played. There’s also a value to playing a course where the public can play very easily.’’
Bolingbrook, the 23rd course LIV has used in its three seasons, is a public venue. Mickelson didn’t know that the course designer was the late Arthur Hills. That was good news.
“He’s a wonderful architect,’’ said Mickelson. “He’s done some great stuff. He’s very credible as an architect. I’m looking forward to seeing what he came up with.’’
Rich Harvest was well received by the LIV players, but it’s a private club. Mickelson wasn’t a big fan of Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course, another public layout in Lemont that had a long run as host of the Western Open and BMW Championship on the PGA Tour. He’s excited about going to Bolingbrook, however.
As for his own game, the six-time major tournament champion has yet to win on the LIV Tour. At 54 years old, his game may be on the decline. He’s ranked 44th of 56 players on LIV performance this season and the team he captains is 12th of 13.
He has played in all 33 LIV tournaments over the three seasons and has but three top-10 finishes, his best a tie for sixth. One of the others was a tie for eighth at Rich Harvest in 2022.
“If you look at the analytics it’s been my short game that has crushed me the last few years,’’ he said. “It’s been a staple of my game throughout my career, and the last couple years it’s been the reason I’ve not had the results. Finally I’ve had a little turn-around. If my short game is sharp I’m going to be in contention.’’
In the lead-up to LIV’s creation Mickelson was one of its outspoken advocates while also being critical of the PGA Tour.
“For 30-plus years I did everything I could to help build the PGA Tour brand,’’ he said. “I would be brought in to close deals with many CEOs. That was my way of helping to build the PGA Tour at that time. I’m no longer part of that tour. My focus now is to build the HyFlyers team and grow the game globally through LIV Golf.’’
Though negotiations are ongoing, peace between LIV, the PGA Tour and Europe’s DP World Tour doesn’t seem possible in the near future.
“We’re in the middle of a disruption phase,’’ admitted Mickelson, who isn’t participating in the negotiations among tour leaders, “but where we’re going to end up and where we’ll be when this gets sorted through is exponentially better than where we were in the path that we were on.’’
LIV attracted stars like Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka with hefty pay incentives and prize money per event that is more than the PGA and DP World Tour were paying. Standard LIV purses are $25 million for individuals in the 54-hole events and $5 million in the team competition.
Individual champions get $4 million and the team winner divides $3 million. Tourneys have 54 players – 13 four-man teams plus two wild cards. Tournaments have a shotgun start each day and no cuts. All players get a paycheck regardless of where they finish.