Well, folks, it seems Phil Mickelson’s grand vision of a golf empire might be hitting a bit of a snag, like a topped wedge into the woods. Court documents have let slip that Phil, our resident golf philosopher and six-major champ, had a teensy-weensy 0.23% stake in LIV Golf. That’s right, a sliver so small you’d need a magnifying glass and a scorecard the size of Texas to find it. Now, with LIV Golf filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, that tiny piece of the pie might just evaporate faster than a free donut at a golfer’s breakfast buffet.
It’s a bit of a ‘hold my beer’ moment for a league that promised to rewrite the rules of professional golf. Turns out, rewriting rules doesn't pay the bills when your liabilities are apparently twice as large as your assets. We’re talking debts somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion versus assets of a mere $100 million to $500 million. That’s a golf gap wider than my dad’s stance on the backswing. The Saudi Public Investment Fund, the folks who were supposedly building this golf nirvana, are reportedly packing their bags, leaving behind a whole lot of debt and very few fans willing to take equity instead of their promised cash.
And it’s not just Phil feeling the sting. Names like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are reportedly owed millions – stacks of cash that are now stuck in this financial limbo. The proposed fix? Turn the players into owners. Which sounds fancy, until you realize they might have to accept ownership of a sinking ship instead of the cold, hard cash they were promised. It’s like offering someone a share of your lemonade stand after you’ve already spilled all the lemonade.
As for Phil’s own golf journey, his path back to the PGA Tour seems about as likely as me sinking a hole-in-one on a par 5. He missed all four majors this year, which, for a golfer of his caliber, is like a seasoned chef burning toast. Then there were those club allegations, which apparently got sorted, but the reputational dust still seems to be kicking up. Someone who definitely isn't inviting him back anytime soon is Trey Wingo, who famously described the bridge to the PGA Tour for Phil as being “detonated, destroyed, [and] nuked.” Ouch.
Remember that hefty $200 million guarantee Phil was said to have? Well, it’s now just another item on a very long list of unsecured debts. He was the only player listed as a shareholder, which is a bit like being the only person at a party who brought the dip – now the party’s over, and the dip might not get eaten.
LIV’s CEO is talking about a “next phase,” which sounds suspiciously like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. With the main investor heading for the lifeboats and debts galore, it’s the players who now hold all the cards, or rather, the golf balls. Will they want to keep playing for a company that can’t pay them? Only time, and perhaps a very good accountant, will tell if Phil’s minuscule stake survives this financial freefall.