No Longer on Good Terms, Phil Mickelson Admits He Owes Tiger Woods Big Time During LIV Golf Event

The duo didn’t play under practice round together for a staggering 20 years, until the 2018 Masters. While Mickelson was a true “senior” as they call it, having joined the sports five years prior, and racked up nine PGA Tour wins by the time Woods joined in 1996, it didn’t take much time for the latter to catch up. As things stand, the 49-year-old has 82 PGA Tour wins (tied-1st all-time), and 110 as a professional. Mickelson, on the other hand, stands at 45 PGA Tour wins (tied-8th all-time), and 57 tournament victories as a professional. We clearly see a winner, don’t we?

Mickelson, too, long recognized Woods’s influence on the game, and in a recent open discussion, he finally acknowledged the true debt he owes to his greatest rival. 
Even though Mickelson praised Woods’s impact on golf’s health culture, . Despite Woods’s continued support for the PGA Tour, the distance between the two has grown as a result of LIV Golf’s ascent and Mickelson’s contribution to its creation. However, Mickelson’s candid remarks highlight the undeniable impact Woods had not only on his career but on the sport as a whole.

Nonetheless, Mickelson’s open comments demonstrate the indisputable influence Woods had on the sport overall as well as on his career. Even though Mickelson admits that Woods influenced his career, his legacy is defined by his brilliant moments, such as the BellSouth Classic in 2005.
One of the most thrilling events in Phil Mickelson’s remarkable career was the BellSouth Classic in 2005. The 54-hole competition was cut short due to weather-related issues at the TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia. At 8-under 208, Mickelson was tied with prominent players like Arjun Atwal, Rich Beem, Brandt Jobe, and José María Olazábal.
The playoffs that followed were a test of skill and nerve. Olazábal and Jobe both missed a good chance of hitting birdies to win the championship on the opening playoff hole. One by one, competitors were progressively eliminated as the playoffs went on, enabling Mickelson and Beem to square off. When Beem’s approach failed on the fourth extra hole, Mickelson took advantage of the situation. In the end, his second shot was accurate, falling 15 feet from the pin, allowing him to make a birdie putt with confidence to seal the win.
The 2005 BellSouth Classic is still considered to be one of the most thrilling playoffs in modern golf. It demonstrated the exhilarating, unpredictable nature of golf, where resilience and poise can produce successful results even in the face of overwhelming odds. When taken as a whole, these stories highlight the dynamic and ever-changing path of such legendary golfers.
Ankita Bhowmick is a Golf Writer at Essentially Sports. Combining her love for storytelling, with her Master’s in Journalism Ankita is keen on bringing out the timeless allure of golf. Her forte is highlighting the relationships of golfers with their spouses and children for her readers, and providing them with never-heard-before stories.