Phil Mickelson claims LIV pro with five major appearances is "top 10" in the world

Multiple major champion Phil Mickelson has claimed LIV Golf's David Puig is now among the top 10 players in the world. 

Mickelson made the audacious claim as he weighed in on the fierce debate that was sparked after Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee said The Players Championship "stands alone" above the four men's majors. 

Lefty replied to Chamblee's controversial take by saying "it's not" and cannot be under consideration for such status whilst certain LIV players are prohibited from teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass. 

The Players Championship will be held over 12-15 March and the field will be without former winner Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. 

And Mickelson appears to believe a young Spaniard and Chile's Joaquin Niemann should also be there. 

"I believe Puig is top 10 in the world as I believe Bryson, Rahm and Jaoco [Niemann] are too," Mickelson said on X. 

"You can't prohibit 4 of the top 10 and be considered a major. That's just reality. 

"The PGA Tour only owns a few events on Tour, The Players is one, but are slowly acquiring more. 

"If they wanted to build value for their own asset, allowing LIV players would greatly increase the interest, exposure, and commercial value. 

"However, the egos of many of the members won't allow for that to happen and that continues to hold them back from growing the value of the SSG investment."

Mickelson's claim about Puig will almost certainly raise eyebrows.

Although Puig is an exceptional young talent, the 24-year-old has only made five major championship appearances. 

He is yet to play in The Masters. Elsewhere, he shared 60th place at the 2025 PGA Championship, 39th at the 2023 U.S. Open and missed the cut on his Open Championship debut in 2024.

He is currently ranked 95th in the Official World Golf Ranking and will need some strong performances on the DP World Tour and LIV in the coming months if he is to have any chance of sneaking inside the top 50 so he can make his first start at Augusta National. 

This is also not the first time Mickelson has made what some may consider an audacious claim about a player. 

Last season, Mickelson predicted that after Scottie Scheffler returned from injury in February he wouldn't win a PGA Tour event until the Ryder Cup. 

After Mickelson pressed "send" on the tweet, Scheffler went on to win the PGA Championship and The Open, as well five other individual titles. 

Cam Smith makes Elvis Smylie claim

Phil Mickelson wasn't the only golfer last week that was full of praise for a LIV player. 

Cameron Smith lauded Elvis Smylie after the 23-year-old Australian became the first player since Henrik Stenson in 2022 to win a LIV event on debut. 

Smylie defeated Jon Rahm by one stroke at their curtain-raiser in Riyadh. 

And Smith believes that Smylie has the world at his feet.

"Yeah, I'm so proud of him," Smith said. "I knew he was going to come out here and play well, but that was pretty special this week.

"To come out like that in your first event, have Rahmbo breathing down your neck is pretty impressive. I think we’re in for a good year.

"The crazy thing is I still think he's got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week.

"I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He's got all the tools of the trade. 

"He just needs to keep doing what he's doing and knuckle down. He's got the mentality. He showed it out there today. He's got the grit. He's a Queenslander, so that comes with it."