Ahead of this year’s opening round at The Open Championship, Tiger Woods said that any golfer who joined the LIV Golf series “turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”
One of these golfers is Tigers’ longtime rival Phil Mickelson.
The 52-year-old lefty shared his thoughts on Tigers’ comments after posting an even-par card on Thursday.
“I certainly respect his opinion,” Mickelson said, per ESPN. “I have a lot of respect for him. I respect his opinion. I think everybody’s going to have strong emotions and opinions about it, and I certainly respect his.”
Mickelson went on to say he “couldn’t be happier” after joining the Saudi-backed series.
“I made the right decision for me,” Mickelson said. “And I’m excited about, like I say, having the opportunity to play competitive golf and have it in my life in a more moderate scale to where I can do some things outside of that too. I freed up a lot of other — freed up a lot of time as well.
“I couldn’t be happier. I think it’s been really good.”
Mickelson did not attend this week’s 150th Open celebrations, including Monday’s Celebrations of Champions and Tuesday’s champions’ dinner.
Lefty hoisted the Claret Jug in 2013.