To allow Brooks Koepka’s application to return PGA Tour created a special club called the Returning Member Program. To join this club, a player must have won a major trophy or THE PLAYERS between 2022 and 2025. This narrow rule makes players like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith eligible for a comeback. But the 2021 PGA Champion winner, Phil Mickelson, misses out by just a few short months. Many fans believe the tour leaders drew this line specifically to keep Lefty away.

Phil Mickelson didn’t take this cold shoulder from his old Tour, sitting down. Phil Mickelson subtly acknowledged the claim that the PGA Tour’s fresh pathway for defectors was specifically designed to keep him out with emojis on X, replying “😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻,” on Fore Play Golf‘s X post.  Then he went to social media to share his sunny thoughts with his followers.

“I’m having so much fun out here,” the six-time major winner told his fans. “I love playing out here on LIV. I love being with the guys… I could not be happier out here.”

Before joining LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson enjoyed a good time playing on the PGA Tour. He won forty-five big trophies and six major titles during his long and colorful career. In 2021, he shocked everyone by winning the PGA Championship at the age of 50 years, 11 months, and 7 days. This victory made him the oldest major winner in the history of golf.

However, his performance dropped quickly after that magical week on the sandy Ocean Course. He missed several cuts in the same season, and his game began to fade away. The performance at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines was particularly telling. Playing in his hometown of San Diego, at a venue where he had historically dominated, Mickelson missed the cuts with a +11.

In June 2022, Mickelson decided to leave his old life for a new adventure. He joined the Saudi-backed league alongside Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia.  That is when things started to get out of his hands. For the first two seasons, Mickelson struggled to adapt to LIV’s  54-hole sprint format. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he frequently finished in the bottom half of the 48-man fields. His best result in 2023 was a T6 finish in Jeddah.

But the 2025 season marked a significant turnaround. Mickelson shot a final-round 64 (6-under par) to finish solo 3rd in Hong Kong. It was his first individual podium finish since joining the league in 2022.  He followed up his Hong Kong success with a T4 finish in Virginia. And Mickelson has attempted to build a franchise identity centered on fun, camaraderie, and veteran stability with his team members like Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale, and Andy Ogletreeas a captain of HyFlyers GC.

Yet, his upbeat dismissal of the PGA Tour only fueled more fire among the critics.

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Fans tear down Mickelson’s Golf legacy

The online debate became even more heated when one fan said, “Someone forgot to tell Phil the Returning Player Program doesn’t apply to him.”

The PGA Tour’s new policy has a very sharp edge. Fans noticed the strange timing of the new rules made for returning stars. It started the eligibility window in 2022 to intentionally exclude players like Phil Mickelson (2021 PGA Champion), Dustin Johnson (2020 Masters champion), Patrick Reed (2018 Masters champion), and Sergio Garcia (2017 Masters champion). Even with his forty-five career wins, the door remains locked tight for Phil Mickelson.

That’s why one fan said, “hE wAsN’T iNViTeD AnYWaY” – PGAT knuckledraggers,”  while another said, “They don’t want you Phil; they want golfers that can still play golf.”

Mickelson missed ten cuts during his final season and struggled to keep up with the younger players. At age fifty-five, his world ranking has dropped significantly compared to stars like Brooks Koepka or John Rahm. And his comments about the tour bosses in early 2022 caused a massive nightmare for his public image.

So another person delivered a reality check, saying, “Mickelson knows he’s never going to be invited back. PGAT doesn’t need a 55-year-old troublemaker taking up space.”

Finally, the conversation turned toward the deep emotional cost of his move as one fan wrote, “I love ruining my legacy and everything I built for greed.” He spent thirty years building a perfect image before he chose the LIV Golf. Most people still remember him as the People’s Champion who signed every glove for every waiting child.  They believe the 6-time major champion traded that beloved image for a hefty check and a gilded lifestyle from LIV.