ORLANDO, Fla. — Phil Mickelson has met with the backers of the proposed Premier Golf League — and even played with three of them in a pro-am last month in Saudi Arabia — but said Friday that he is not prepared to give his opinions on the concept.
Mickelson, 49, is one of the several name players being courted for the venture that would seriously impact the PGA Tour because it would be nearly impossible for players to take part in both circuits.
The Premier Golf League would consist of 48 players competing in 18 tournaments that would be 54 holes, with no cut and $10 million purses. Guaranteed money is apparently being offered to those who commit, and there is also a team component that would have 12 four-man teams.
Mickelson said at the Genesis Invitational last month that he was studying the plan and might have something to say about it at next week’s Players Championship. After missing the cut Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Mickelson backed off those comments.
“I’m probably not going to talk publicly on that,” Mickelson said at the Bay Hill Club. “I thought I might have an opinion by next week. I don’t know if I will. I probably won’t talk about too much about it.”
Asked whether he would ever discuss it publicly, Mickelson said not “until there’s a little more to talk about.”
Asked whether he believes the Premier Golf League could possibly influence the PGA Tour to make some improvements, as Rory McIlroy has suggested, Mickelson said: “Well, I wouldn’t come out and say I’m not going to do it right away. .. and lose all your leverage.”
McIlroy said two weeks ago that he was not interested in joining the new tour. But McIlroy admitted “it might be a catalyst for some changes on this tour that can help it grow and move forward, and reward the top players the way they should be, I guess.”
Asked this week for an example of that, McIlroy offered an idea for smaller fields as one possibility.
“I don’t want to come across as an elitist, but maybe a few more events with no cuts — if you look at the international properties that the PGA Tour have started to go towards, like Korea, Japan, 70-player fields, no cuts. … So maybe streamline it a bit might be a good place to start a conversation.”
Asked for his ideas on enhancements to the PGA Tour, Mickelson said: “I could go on and on. And I really don’t want to talk about that right now.”