Woods calls Mickelson comments ‘polarising’ as he takes aim at US PGA Championship crown
Tiger Woods has called Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments about the PGA Tour and the breakaway LIV Golf series “polarising”, while the 15-time major champion says he “definitely” feels he can win the US PGA Championship this week.
Speaking ahead of the season’s second major at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which begins today, Woods said he had not spoken to Mickelson since he announced an indefinite break from the game in February.
Mickelson will not defend his title this week, having withdrawn from the event as the fallout continues from comments made public in February in which he said he was using the new Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf enterprise as leverage against the PGA Tour. His victory
last year at Kiawah Island, when aged 50, made him the oldest major champion in history.
On Tuesday, Woods said: “Phil has said some things that I think a lot of us who are committed to the tour, and committed to the legacy of the tour, have pushed back against. The viewpoints that Phil has made have been polarising.
“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.”
Mickelson sat out the Masters last month for the first time in 28 years. While his return to competitive golf has yet to be confirmed, the American is expected to make a comeback at the LIV Golf Invitational Series opener next month atCenturion Golf Club just outside London.
Each of the inaugural series’ eight tournaments carry a $25 million purse, making them comfortably the most lucrative events in the game.
“I have not reached out to him, I have not spoken to him,” Woods said. “A lot of it has not to do with personal issues, it is viewpoints of how the tour should be run and could be run. I have a completely different stance on that.
“He has his opinion on where he sees the game of golf going. I have my viewpoint. I just think that what Jack [Nicklaus] and
Arnold [Palmer] have done in starting the tour ... there’s a legacy to that. I still think that the tour has so much to offer, so much opportunity.
“I believe in legacies. I believe in major championships. I believe in big events, comparisons to historical figures. There is plenty of money out there. The tour is growing – like any other sport, like tennis, you have to go out there and earn it.”
Woods, 46, is making his first appearance since the Masters and only his second since almost losing a leg in a car crash in February last year.
The former world No 1, who secured the last of his four US PGA Championship victories at Southern Hills in 2007, said: “I feel like I can [win] definitely. I have to do my work.
“I’ve gotten stronger since [the Masters]. But it’s still going to be sore and walking is a challenge. I can hit golf balls, but the challenge is walking.”