Getty Image
Phil Mickelson was the first major domino to fall when LIV Golf set out on its quest to go toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour by poaching some of its biggest names, but there’s a slim chance he could find himself on the outside looking in thanks to an unexpected rule change that’s put him in danger of relegation.
It’s been close to three years since LIV Golf burst onto the scene with the help of the massive bankroll sourced from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and the upstart league proved it wasn’t messing around when Phil Mickelson announced he was parting ways with the PGA Tour after signing a contract reportedly worth $200 million toward the start of 2022.
That marked the first in a string of coups that led to LIV landing other high-profile defectors including Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, and Jon Rahm.
The billions of dollars the organization has shelled out to secure that talent hasn’t led to it having the kind of cultural impact you’d expect from that investment, but most guys who essentially ensured they’d never have to worry about money for the rest of their lives by joining LIV Golf seem pretty content with the arrangement.
However, some of them face an uncertain future thanks in part to a last-minute rule change that was instituted ahead of the conclusion of the current season.
In 2023, LIV Golf took a page out of the soccer handbook by instituting a relegation system that impacted players who finished below the 44th spot in the yearly rankings (golfers who failed to make the cut got the chance to clinch one of four open spots in a tournament that was held after the season wrapped up).
The captains of each team were initially exempt from relegation, but according to Sports Illustrated, that won’t be the case in 2024—which means a handful of pretty notable names are currently sitting on the bubble ahead of the season finale at Bolingbrook Golf Club in Chicago that kicked off on Friday.
That includes Mickelson, the HyFlyers captain who headed into the final event in 44th place (the cutoff is 48th). Majesticks co-capatin Ian Poulter is also in 46th, and RangeGoats skipper Bubba Watson is already in the “drop zone” at 52nd (Anthony Kim, whose highly-touted comeback left a lot to be desired, is well out of the picture at 56th but is exempt from relegation this year).
Relegated players will have the chance to regain their spot by playing in qualifying events after the season wraps up. However, it’s obviously worth noting there’s a loophole in the form of the “business case” exemption that would almost certainly be exercised in Lefty’s case if he ends up sliding into the drop zone.
We’ll know exactly how things end up shaking out when the Chicago tournament wraps up on Sunday.