Phil Mickelson claims PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan previously shut down his own idea for elevated events

The PGA Tour recently announced radical changes coming to the 2024 schedule.

In several designated events next season, there will be no cut and the fields will be limited to 70-78 players. These changes will not apply to majors, the Players or FedEx Cup Playoff events.

So far, the ratifications have received mixed reviews not only from fans but some Tour players including James Hahn.

“All the big names that are talking about this ‘new product,’ if you just came out and said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this for the money,’ they want more guaranteed money and this is another way to funnel more money to the top players in the world, I’d have a lot more respect for them,” he said in a recent interview with Golfweek writer Adam Schupak.

In a recent tweet, Phil Mickelson claimed to have approached PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan with a similar idea for events and said he was denied.

Before I left I brought a $1 billion commitment from a current PGATour partner to have 8 elevated events and give equity and ownership in these events to the players. JM’s quote was “ I don’t believe the league is going to happen so we won’t be doing that.” No vote,no discussion

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) March 7, 2023

It’s tough to know for sure if this is true, but it’s interesting to see how LIV has changed the climate of professional golf.

During his pre-tournament press conference this week at the Players Championship, Rory McIlroy acknowledged the changes have been accelerated by the emergence of the Saudi-backed league.