LIV Golf: Phil Mickelson didn't just dagger Brooks Koepka, he took a swipe at DJ

Phil Mickelson daggered Brooks Koepka in a feisty exchange at the LIV Golf Miami press conference but his chiding of Dustin Johnson went largely unnoticed.

Ben Smith

27 Oct 2022

LIV Golf: Phil Mickelson didn't just dagger Brooks Koepka, he took a swipe at DJ! — LIV Golf: Phil Mickelson didn't just dagger Brooks Koepka, he took a swipe…

Phil Mickelson didn't only dagger Brooks Koepka during the LIV Golf Miami press conference before the $50m team championship, he also twisted the knife on Dustin Johnson.

In case you weren't aware, LIV Golf decided to shake things up once again this week. Afterall, it's golf, BUT LOUDER!

LIV Golf previously allowed their players the choice over whether or not to wear shorts in their events. Now they have given them the use of range finders.

Of course, they won't be allowed to use the slope reading feature. But they have been permitted as an attempt to speed up the game even more.

Mickelson was asked about this shortly after chiding Koepka and also reflecting on Rory McIlroy's comments about feeling betrayal over the LIV defections.

Lefty also appeared to backtrack on his view that he believed the PGA Tour would "trend downward" if it didn't embrace LIV Golf.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that," Mickelson said.

But back to our topic at hand and Mickelson was asked about the distance measuring devices.

Mickelson was asked:

"DJ and Austin's track record with math, I'm curious if you see that as a value that people should jump on. Any thoughts on that?"

Then Mickelson replied:

"First of all, those numbers can be very confusing for them.

"What the range finders does is it really helps me because I don't have yardages on sprinklers from other fairways, so when I get over there, I have a much more committed swing because I know exactly how far it is, otherwise we're trying to angle it.

"It's just a lot of work to get yardages to one hole from two fairways, let alone three, and lasers just give me that freedom.

"It's no coincidence that the first time lasers were ever allowed on the PGA Tour was the PGA Championship in 2021. Look how that ended up. It's no coincidence."

Mickelson is of course referring to his win at Kiawah Island where he became the oldest male player to win a major at the age of 50.

What a long time ago that seems.

Mickelson has signed a multi-year contract with LIV Golf, worth a reported $200m.

He will be a team captain once again next year when the series expands to a 14-event global schedule.

It has recently been reported that LIV Golf's total expenditure through its inaugural season has totalled $784m.

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