Phil Mickelson stunned the golf world when he defected from the PGA Tour to join Saudi-backed LIV Golf in June.
There have been some bumps in his career path since then. In August, he joined 10 other golfers in filing an antitrust suit against the PGA Tour, although he dropped out of the suit in late-September.
But four months since Mickelson joined LIV Golf, he’s convinced he made the right decision.
“I think going forward you have to pick a side. You have to pick what side do you think is going to be successful,” Mickelson said Thursday (per Ryan Young, Yahoo Sports). “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.”
A number of other stars, such as Dustin Johnson, Sergio García, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau, also defected to LIV Golf. Mickelson sees the PGA Tour headed for decline.
“We play against a lot of the best players in the world on LIV and there are a lot of the best players in the world on the PGA Tour. And … until both sides sit down and have a conversation and work something out, both sides are going to continue to change and evolve. And I see LIV Golf trending upwards, I see the PGA Tour trending downwards and I love the side that I’m on.”
Mickelson is in Saudi Arabia for the penultimate tournament of the eight-event LIV Golf season at Royal Greens in King Abdullah Economic City. Johnson clinched the tour’s season title last week.
