There comes a time when legitimate anger towards a sportsperson or public figure turns into an unjustified pile-on, we’re not there just yet with regards to PGA Tour player Phil Mickelson, but at the same time, we’re dangerously close after his Saudi Arabia comments
The obvious problem with continuing to kick the 51-year-old whilst he is down is that we will forget why he initially deserved to be called out. First, let’s quickly backtrack to see why Mickelson incurred the wrath of a large majority of the golfing world.
Phil Mickelson Has Been Brash And Ultimately Wrong But He Also Deserves A Second Chance For His Saudi Arabia Comments
In short, the current PGA Championship winner tried to hold a gun to the PGA Tour’s head by threatening to join the new Saudi-backed Super Golf League. When the cards began to come crashing down around the American as the rebel league fell apart, he quickly changed tack and said he was just trying to leverage the PGA Tour into paying the players more.
Understandably, the backlash to that excuse has made him persona non grata in the golfing world, so much so that it has cost him an invite to the upcoming Masters. Indeed, study the Masters markets in the latest golf betting with Paddy Power and you won’t see Lefty’s name anywhere. Instead, you’ll see the likes of Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa priced to win at 8/1 but as for Mickelson, he won’t be anywhere near Augusta National in early April.
Phil Mickelson is no longer listed in the Masters field. pic.twitter.com/uBdZGTnnt4
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) March 21, 2022
This is a development that shouldn’t be lost on anyone given that Mickelson has played in every Masters competition since 1994. Indeed, the 51-year-old was on a run of 28 straight appearances at the iconic event but will now miss out after announcing that he won’t be there. At first, his statement sounded like his exile was self-imposed but it has since turned out that the organizers of the Masters made it clear to him that his presence would bring unwanted attention.
As things stand, you would have to say that the Augusta National committee are well within their right to ask Mickelson to sit the 2022 edition out given that he did, after all, act without any thought for anyone else and the wounds that he inflicted on the PGA Tour are still quite fresh.
With that said, there will have to come a time when the world of golf needs to let bygones be bygones and welcome Mickelson back. It must be stressed that the time to hold out an olive branch is not now and it will do the 51-year-old the world of good to reflect on how much damage he has caused to the PGA Tour.
It is, of course, hard to pinpoint the exact moment when hearts do need to begin softening but it would be a shame if Mickelson wasn’t allowed to defend his 2021 PGA Championship trophy at Southern Hills over the weekend of the 21st of May 2022.
Who’s ready to ball?
👍👍 this guy 😎 pic.twitter.com/90rTJOwPrO— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 26, 2021
The 51-year-old became the oldest major winner in golf history when he won the PGA Championship tournament at Kiawah Island in 2021 and, strictly speaking, he deserves the chance to try to defend his crown after rewriting the history books last year.
Of course, that date may prove too soon for a Mickelson comeback and if it does then the American only has himself to blame for ending up in a situation where he isn’t welcome at the major that he won. But sooner or later, the world needs to give Lefty a second chance.