LPGA Player Reveals Why Mickelson Is Pissing Off Other Tour Pros

Meghan MacLaren believes Phil Mickelson has shown a “lack of appreciation” towards the PGA Tour after the six-time Major winner claimed media rights revenue was being wrongly withheld from players.

In an excerpt from an upcoming book, titled ‘Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar’, author Alan Shipnuck revealed that Mickelson, who has earned nearly $95 million in PGA Tour earnings alone, feels he is entitled to a bigger share of the pie.

“The Tour is sitting on multiple billions of dollars worth of NFTs,” Mickelson said. “They are sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of digital content we could be using for our social media feeds. The players need to own all of that. We played those shots, we created those moments, we should be the ones to profit.”

His latest remarks in light of the rumoured Saudi-backed Super Golf League have drawn widespread criticism, with MacLaren among those to be disappointed at Mickelson’s inability to see the bigger picture.

In a quote tweet linking to Shipnuck’s article, MacLaren wrote: “Again.. I think the thing that pisses off a lot of the rest of us is his apparent lack of appreciation for what the PGA tour has done for his career.

“Yes players hit the shots, but it’s not them singularly that “create moments”. There’s a whole infrastructure that’s done that.”

As well as MacLaren, Justin Thomas has also been critical of Mickelson, brandishing his comments as "egotistical", while World No. 1 Jon Rahm recently told the press he doesn't agree with his friend. And this all comes after the left-hander slammed the PGA Tour for its "obnoxious greed" ahead of the Saudi International - an event at which he picked up a seven-figure fee just for attending.

As a result of his tirade, it was thought that Mickelson was one of the driving forces behind the SGL, but even that is in doubt after it came to light that he is merely using the prospective series as a way to gain leverage over the PGA Tour. In fact, he went as far as to say: "I’m not sure I even want [the SGL] to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the [PGA] Tour.”

With most of the best players in the world officially ruling themselves out of the breakaway circuit in favour of the PGA Tour, it remains to be seen where Mickelson chooses to ply his trade going forward. Whatever the case, we're likely to find out soon as an announcement is rumoured for the week of the Players Championship.