Phil Mickelson and the Saudis’ other Grumpy Old Men

For several days now, I’ve been trying to figure out what Phil Mickelson is thinking.

In the end, it comes down to this: Phil sounds like a grumpy old guy with a grudge.

That’s not meant as a criticism. Anybody who’s spent their entire adult career within a narrow work spectrum is likely to accumulate lots of inner drives, thoughts, and concepts falling under the broad heading of “…this place is run by idiots.”

I can sympathize. Through decades of newspaper editing experience, I sometimes felt the same way about my publishers. I’ve heard representatives of numerous elements of the corporate and academic worlds enunciate the same sentiment.

The difference between us and Phil? Nobody ever came up to any of us and waved millions of dollars in our faces if we’d jump to their side.

I make no judgment regarding Phil’s generalized complaint about the Tour’s operation: namely, that it gives insufficient weight to the desires of the players. At the same time, there is an element of opportunism driving Phil’s romance with the Saudis that is simply too obvious to overlook.

It is this. The man is now in his early 50s. I know he won a Major just last year, but even so, the decline is – at his stage – inevitable.

We can already begin to see it in the stats. Since the 2018-19 season, when Phil was 48, he’s lost about 15 yards off the tee, his approach game – as measured by Strokes Gained – has lost about three-quarters of a stroke, and during the 2020-21 season his chipping game — the part of his play that made him famous — turned negative for the first time since the Strokes Gained system was invented more than 15 years ago.

Staring at that data, it would be easy for Phil to deduce that he should get out now while the getting is very lucrative.

The trick for the Saudis will be to persuade any other Tour stars to join Phil. He says several will do so, but to this point, nobody has followed him in announcing an intent to cut ties. To the contrary, all the other big stars who have spoken out – Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm – have trashed such talk.

Thus far the only players who have even expressed serious interest in the Saudi money are guys who share his profile: namely, they’re at or near the end of their competitive careers. That public list includes Lee Westwood (48),  Henrik Stenson (45) and Ian Poulter (46),

It’s not hard to ascertain why the core of the modern Tour is disinterested. Unlike Phil, Westwood, Poulter, and Stenson, they’re all still in their competitive primes, providing them many more opportunities to snag the Major Championships they covet. There is no recognized “Major” schedule on any Saudi Tour that can be envisioned.

As for money, well, consider that Rahm, at age 27, has already won more than $30 million – not counting endorsement deals – since turning pro. Morikawa, at 25, is approaching $16 million, and McIlroy – at 32 — has picked up $59 million.

Could they or other big stars – Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau — make more playing on the Arabian peninsula? Possibly. But if you were pulling down $15, $30, or $60 million while just entering your professional prime and doing so while contending for Major fame that the Saudi Tour cannot offer, wouldn’t the temptation be pretty strong to figure you had it good already?

To reiterate, this is not meant to question the legitimacy of any real or imagined grievances Phil has against the Tour.

But until some other Tour stars – younger ones, not the soon-to-be-retired class Phil represents – declare their fealty, it’s fair to speculate that the Saudi movement has its greatest appeal among Grumpy Old Men. It would be difficult to build a legitimate, recognized and interesting Tour out of that playing cohort.