Phil Mickelson addresses Tiger Woods’ scathing LIV Golf comments at Open Championship: ‘I certainly respect his opinion’
Tiger Woods made his opinion of LIV Golf very clear ahead of The Open in 2022. He explained that he wasn’t pleased with the players that left the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-backed start-up, saying that they had “turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”
And that’s just fine with Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson was asked about Woods’ scathing comments following his even-par first round at The Open. He made it clear that he harbored no ill will toward Woods for his words.
“I certainly respect his opinion,” Mickelson said, per ESPN. “I have a lot of respect for him. I respect his opinion. I think everybody’s going to have strong emotions and opinions about it, and I certainly respect his.”
It’s no surprise that Mickelson is taking a diplomatic approach with Woods’ comments. Tiger did the same back at the PGA Championship.
At the time, Mickelson was on his brief, self-imposed absence from playing after controversial comments he made about the PGA Tour. Woods acknowledged that while he didn’t agree with Mickelson, it was still disappointing that Mickelson wasn’t at Southern Hills to defend his major title.
“I think that some of his views on how the tour could be run and should be run? Been a lot of disagreement there,” Woods said of Mickelson’s comments. “But as we all know as a ‘professional,’ we miss him being out here. He’s a big draw for the game of golf. He’s just taking his time and we all wish him the best when he comes back. Obviously we’ll have a difference of opinions on how he sees the tour.”
