Phil Mickelson’s voice supports TGL’s surprising moves

On Tuesday night, TGL (the new indoor simulator Golf League featured PGA Tour stars) ended its first season. Atlanta Drive finally beat the New York Golf Club to win the Sofi Cup in front of the electric crowd at the Sophie Center. But one person praised the early success of TGL and was surprising: Phil Mickelson.

After winning the TGL final on Atlanta Drive, many writers, fans and players participated in social media, sharing their thoughts on whether the first TGL season was successful (you can read Golf’s Dylan Dethier and Nick Piastowski’s thoughts on season 1 here).

Regardless of whether Mickelson watched the last game or not, he followed on the X at least, which he used quite a lot lately after he recently cuts a long time after the Liv Golf’s first launch.

In response to golf journalist Dan Rapaport’s X post about the end of TGL’s first season, Mickelson issued a statement that could bring great surprises to anyone familiar with the PGA Tour-Liv hatred in the past three years.

Mickelson wrote on X: “This is really good news!

Why Phil thinks TGL is “good for gaming”

Mickelson’s reasoning is simple. As he detailed, among other professional sports fans, if they choose, they can sit in a seat close to the action and watch the entire game. Traditional golf games are different, requiring spectators to spread throughout the golf course and miss most of the shots.

According to Mickelson, TGL offers golf fans an opportunity to experience some more like NBA basketball games.

However, Mickelson added a qualifier at the end of the post, saying that TGL might be good for golf, “if that’s eye-catching.” So far, these signs seem good in terms of the league’s ability to attract and entertain audiences, but it is too early to predict future sustained success.

Mickelson’s comments are unexpected because of the years-long dispute between the PGA Tour and Liv Golf. Mickelson was one of the early promoters of Liv Golf, who abandoned his tour in 2022.

The launch of the new tour caused a huge rift in professional golf, meeting Phil’s players, and hitting those loyal to the PGA Tour. In the early days, insults and attacks were common until 2023, a framework agreement was reached between the tour and Lef’s supporters, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Since then, this excited relationship has improved, although the barbs are still flying sometimes. As for the TGL, it is firmly located on the hated PGA Tour. It was founded by tourism loyalists Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, and is only touring stars and owned by the Tour section.

Given that Mickelson is a leader at the other end of the dispute, his comments in support of TGL were surprised many on Tuesday night.

Mickelson and the Masters of 2025

After struggling for much of his LIV career, Mickelson began finding his form in 2025. He scored his best LIV score when he finished third in Liv Golf Hong Kong in early March.

His comeback happened just at the right time. The Master in 2025 is only two weeks. Mickelson, who has won three masters under his name, has always been a threat in Augusta National. But, as he explained after the match in Hong Kong, he will enter the No. 1 Major this year with increased confidence.

“The truth is I played a lot of good shots,” he said. “I was playing some good golf, it was a construction week because I continued to build Liv, and my goal was to win at Liv and win another major, ready for Augusta.”

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