Phil Mickelson Goes Scorched Earth On PGA Tour, Pledges Allegiance To LIV Golf

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Phil Mickelson has been vocally outspoken against the PGA Tour even before he officially made the jump to LIV Golf. He's made claims that the Saudi-backed series would force the Tour to change its ways, which is exactly what's happened, but now Mickelson is taking the approach of completely bashing the PGA Tour.

Just last month, Mickelson stated that LIV Golf and the PGA Tour should "come together" and both tours are "good for the game." Something has changed since those comments because it appears Mickelson is completely out on that idea today.

Speaking with the media ahead of this week's LIV event in Jeddah, Mickelson emphatically stated that the PGA Tour is no longer the best tour in the world.

“For a long, long time, my 30 years on the PGA Tour, pretty much all the best players played on the PGA Tour. At least the last 20 years. That will never be the case again," Mickelson said, according to Sports Illustrated. "I think going forward, you have to pick a side. You have to pick what side do you think is going to be successful.

“And I firmly believe that I'm on the winning side of how things are going to evolve and shape in the coming years for professional golf.’’

“And I see LIV Golf trending upwards, I see the PGA Tour trending downwards and I love the side that I'm on."

In previous pre-tournament press conferences since joining LIV, Mickelson tip-toed around certain topics. Now that he's completely emersed himself in LIV Golf, he's done holding back.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.