19th Hole
Phil Mickelson’s LIV Golf sign-on fee is revealed as he’s now expected to miss PGA Championship

To clear up the most recent speculation, Phil Mickelson’s agents recently released a statement confirming his intention to defend his PGA Championship and take part in the US Open, the latter being the only major he has yet to win.
SportFive agency representative Steve Loy made the official announcement that:
“Our client Phil Mickelson is officially registered to play in the PGA Championship as well as the U.S. Open. We have also filed a request on his behalf for a release to play in the first LIV Golf Invitational in London, June 9 – 11. This request complies with the deadline of April 25 set forth by the PGA Tour to compete in a conflicting tour event.”
The statement continued with less certainty:
“Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play. Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made, but rather to keep all options open.”
As per the statement, the 51-year-old has also officially requested a release from the PGA Tour in order to play at the opening event of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, something that a report in The Telegraph suggest has riled the PGA of America with the possible result that he is forced to withdraw from the defence at Southern Hills.
With the inaugural tournament taking place at the Centurion Club in London just a week before that illusive major at Brookline, and the increasing threat of legal action between the two sides, there is also speculation Mickelson may not attempt to complete the career grand slam.
The six-time major winner has had a torrid few months.
Initially promoting the Saudi golf league, a released conversation with a renown golf reporter revealed he believed he could use the threat of the new tour as leverage against the PGA Tour against their stance on media rights.
That led to something of a ‘no-man’s-land’ for Mickelson with the PGA Tour taking a stern stance against his comments, players distancing themselves from the lucrative prize-money on offer, and LIV chairman, Greg Norman, having to rehash initial plans.
The resulting furore led to Mickelson taking a self-enforced break from the PGA Tour and Norman admitting that:
“It was a kick in the teeth. There’s no question about it. It was a gut punch – we were so close. On that Tuesday we had our strength of field ready to go and the PGA Tour heard about this and threw a giant redwood tree in our roadway. And they did. There’s no question about it. They created a disruption by putting that information out, all those comments about Phil out there.”
With the latest statement seeming to confirm that the Saudi-backed tour has welcomed back Mickelson with an open-door policy, The Telegraph report that the 51-year-old received $30m up front and must appear in each Series event or accept the penalty of paying back a percentage of that fee and more.
Whilst PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has suggested he will grant leave to tour members in order for them to play at the opener taking place opposite the Canadian Open, further agreement looks in doubt as the following events clash with the John Deere Classic and Rocket Mortgage Classic before three of the last five events also take place in the USA.
Last week, world number 1053, Robert Garrigus, confirmed his agreement to play in London, and whilst that caused a minor ripple, speculation then ramped up who has also agreed to play alongside Mickelson in June and beyond. Names such as Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Paul Casey have been banded about with suspicious regularity and with the opener just six weeks away, the rumour mill can only get more frenetic.
As for Mickelson, the year doesn’t seem to get any less cloudy and reporters continue to watch every move, with the veteran spotted on the course this week ahead of his expected comeback.
Rumors of Phil Mickelson’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. He had plenty of speed yesterday at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club. pic.twitter.com/N3NhqwEA6v
— Fire Pit Collective (@firepitstories) April 28, 2022
It seems as if there is a fair way to go yet before any conclusion to this story.
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.