Phil Mickelson has admitted that his golf career is "towards its end" as the six-time Major champion gave the biggest indication yet that he is considering retirement.
Despite a rousing second-place finish at the Masters last year, Mickelson has otherwise struggled for form since his remarkable PGA Championship victory in 2021 aged 50. The American finished ninth at LIV Jeddah in March but has otherwise failed to record a top-30 finish in the five other events so far this season.
At next month's US Open, he will resume his bid to complete the career grand slam but, speaking ahead of LIV Singapore this week, Mickelson hinted that he is already starting to turn his focus to the next chapter of his golfing journey.
"I’m 53 now and my career, you know, if I’m being truthful it’s toward its end,” Mickelson told Mickelson told Bloomberg TV in an interview for an upcoming episode of Latitude with Haslinda Amin.“Now, I would like to help others find the same enjoyment and fulfilment that the game of golf has provided me.”
"There are moments when you are on a golf course alone and you have that solitude, or you could also be with family and friends having a good time or competing in a club championship or junior event or at the highest level and feeling that competition.
"All of that creates such fulfilment, whether you're practising on your own or with friends. There's so many great things about the game of golf and I would love others to experience those things."
Mickelson was the first big name to throw his weight behind the Saudi-backed LIV Golf prior to its inception in 2022. And even if the 53-year-old may soon step away from competition, he insisted he remained "bullish" on LIV's prospects for the coming years.
"I think there's a lot of things that are going to transpire over the next five or ten years," Mickelson said at his pre-tournament press conference in Singapore. "I'm very bullish and excited about what that means for LIV Golf.
Phil Mickelson celebrates winning the 2021 PGA Championship
"But there's also a lot of uncertainty. I think the things that I do know is I think the quality of the players will continue to get better each year. I think that the ability and the sites that we move throughout the world will continue to excite players and excite fans.
"We'll be going to more countries outside of the United States that really are starving for world-class professional golf, and we'll have a lot more receptions like we had at Adelaide."
