One of the PGA Tour’s most popular players is considering skipping the Tour’s flagship event, the Players Championship, next week at TPC Sawgrass.
Phil Mickelson, who has said that he will play a limited schedule and only at places the fit his game, has hinted for weeks that he may not tee it up in next week’s $12.5 million event.
“I mean, I want to play it, so I would most likely, but if I hit it like this, it’s pointless, so I got to figure something out,” a frustrated Mickelson said following a missed cut at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Mickelson ruffled some feathers when he said that it wasn’t a “must-play” for him at this point in his career during the Genesis Open.
“I’m 48 and I’ve played it 25 times and I’ve already won it,” he said last month. “If I were young and early in my career, I would say yes because I think it’s as close to a major as it can get. But it’s not the best course for me.”
Aside from Mickelson’s victory, he’s only come in the top-10 two other times. He’s missed the cut nine times total, which includes five of his last six appearances, which is clearly influencing his decision-making.
If he doesn’t play next week, which seems unlikely, the 43-time Tour winner said he would make a start somewhere else.
“If I don’t play there next week I’ll add something else and if I do play there I’m going to take away something else,” Mickelson said. “So I’m going to end up at 20, it’s just going to be how I feel like how my game feels, how it looks. If it’s softer, it’s a lot easier to play. If there’s some rain or it’s softer, I would expect I would play.”
