The six-time major champion and European Tour legend will miss the start of the LIV Golf season…
Phil Mickelson has announced he will miss the start of the 2026 LIV Golf season.
The six-time major champion will skip this week’s season-opener in Riyadh and the following week’s showpiece in Adelaide to attend to a family health matter with his wife Amy.
“I will not be able to participate in the first two LIV Events as Amy and I need to be present for a family health matter,” Mickelson wrote on X.
“I can’t wait to compete again and look forward to rejoining my teammates as soon as possible. In the meantime, Ollie Schniederjans will step in for me in Riyadh as I root on for HyFlyers from afar.”
LIV’s season begins this coming Wednesday with its first 72-hole event under the lights at Riyadh Golf Club and continues in Adelaide a week later.
Schiederjans, a LIV reserve, will complete a HyFlyers lineup that also includes Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele and new signing Michael La Sasso.
Last season, Mickelson missed the season-opener in Saudi Arabia with a shoulder injury. On that occasion, he was also replaced by former world No.1 amateur Schniederjans.
And Mickelson won’t be the only veteran missing in Riyadh.
Lee Westwood has also confirmed he’ll miss the first two events of the season. The Majesticks GC co-captain is managing a wrist injury.
“Thankfully, it’s nothing too serious,” the 52-year-old Englishman wrote on X. “However, I’ve been advised to manage my rep count over the coming weeks. Therefore, I’ll unfortunately be missing this month’s LIV Golf events in Riyadh and Adelaide.
Ben Schmidt, the 23-year-old Englishman who finished T16 in last week’s DP World Tour event in Bahrain, will take Westwood’s place for the first two events.
Westwood will instead start his 2026 season at LIV Golf Hong Kong, which begins on March 5.