Phil Mickelson confirmed this week that he had completed a stay at a treatment facility. This is the latest development in a difficult year for the six-time major champion. LIV Golf, the league he helped build, also filed for bankruptcy this year. Mickelson has played only one competitive event in 2026. At the same time, he has faced allegations, financial uncertainty, and questions about his future.

When LIV Golf launched in 2022, Mickelson reportedly signed a deal worth about $200 million and helped recruit other PGA Tour players. He later said that his role in recruiting players was one reason the Tour suspended him before LIV’s first event. He challenged the suspension in court.

On September 8, 2026, LIV filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund ended its financial backing beyond this season. According to Sportico, Mickelson held a 0.23% stake when the league filed. What happens to that stake remains unclear. LIV says it will return in 2027 as “LIV 2.0.” The PGA Tour has said it has no plans for a return pathway for LIV players, and Rory McIlroy has said any route back should be a “tough, tough road.”

LIV’s bankruptcy matters beyond Mickelson because it could change the balance between the PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and LIV, which are central to the ongoing talks about golf’s future. BC Partners has agreed to invest $300 million in the restructured LIV in exchange for equity if the league completes its Chapter 11 restructuring. PIF will no longer be a financial backer, and LIV plans to return in early 2027. Under the proposed structure, players would collectively own 52.5% of the reorganized business.

LIV has also said the large contracts used to attract players from the PGA Tour do not reflect the payment structure planned for the new league. A required number of players must agree to the restructuring deal within 35 days of the bankruptcy filing. If existing contracts are rejected, the reorganized league would have to negotiate new agreements with players under different terms. That is the backdrop to Mickelson’s year. He is a reported stakeholder in the current LIV structure and remains one of its most recognizable faces. However, he has played only one event in 2026, faces disputed allegations, and recently completed treatment.

Phil Mickelson’s Allegations, disputed in part

The allegations surfaced while Mickelson was away from the game. In June, Golf Digest reported that a female employee at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, accused him of nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact before a round. Club officials confronted him mid-round and told him to leave the premises. A Mickelson spokesperson later confirmed he had resigned his membership. His attorney, Tom Clare, cited “a great deal of misinformation circulating” and said Mickelson had retained defamation counsel. Clare also said video evidence contradicted the account, but Golf Digest found no cameras covered the area.

Later that month, journalist Alan Shipnuck published a Skratch report based on interviews with 19 people. It included an allegation from Ashley Perez, the former wife of golfer Pat Perez. She said Mickelson showed her a nude photo of himself and made an unwanted advance in 2015 during a tournament week in New Jersey. The report also described graphic comments he allegedly made in front of dinner guests at a restaurant. A Mickelson spokesperson called it an “anonymously sourced drive-by shooting,” saying some claims were false and others involved matters he had already acknowledged.

In July, paparazzi photographed his wife, Amy, in San Diego without her wedding ring, sparking speculation about the couple’s marriage. Neither has addressed it publicly. A family representative said Amy supports her husband “with extraordinary grace” and “unwavering love.”

Treatment for “family trauma and addiction”

A Mickelson representative told TMZ Sports that he voluntarily entered a treatment facility for “family trauma and addiction” and has completed his stay. It is not clear when the treatment began. Mickelson has spoken before about gambling, writing in 2023 that it had crossed from moderation into addiction and that he had received professional help for years.

That history has been under scrutiny. Golf Digest noted that Mickelson was part of a federal insider trading investigation that ended with his friend, sports gambler Billy Walters, in prison. Walters later wrote a book alleging Mickelson made more than $1 billion in sports bets. Phil Mickelson responded that he never bet on the Ryder Cup and had been open about his gambling addiction.

His representatives have separately cited a private family health matter for his absence. He withdrew from LIV’s first two events and missed the Masters, the PGA Championship and the other majors. His only start was a tie for 48th at LIV Golf South Africa in March. He has announced no timeline for a return.

Phil Mickelson skipped all four majors this year, the first time that has happened in 36 years. His exemption from winning the 2021 PGA Championship had expired. The USGA did not offer a special invitation for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock, and he did not enter qualifying. At 56, his future in the majors is uncertain, though he is still expected to be part of LIV 2.0.

Billy Horschel said on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast that he sees no path for Phil Mickelson back to the PGA Tour despite his lifetime membership. He pointed to things Mickelson said and did before LIV began, and added that Mickelson may not want to return to the PGA Tour or the Champions Tour. Former ESPN host Trey Wingo has said he does not expect a return either.

Mickelson’s image has been dented before. After his 2022 remarks about LIV’s Saudi backers, Workday ended its relationship with him, Callaway paused its sponsorship, and KPMG and Heineken/Amstel also parted ways with him. Golf Digest described his approachability with fans as his most durable asset. How this year’s allegations affect that standing has not been addressed publicly.

Mickelson’s next steps will matter for LIV’s relaunch, and the story is far from over.