LIV Golf's Phil Mickelson rips USGA CEO Mike Whan, alleges collusion with PGA Tour

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The U.S. Golf Association’s recent change of the criteria to participate in the U.S. Open has Phil Mickelson, one of the leaders of the LIV Golf circuit, unhinged on social media because he believes there’s collusion going on with the PGA Tour. 

USGA CEO Mike Whan explained the changes to the criteria that states a player had to qualify for the Tour Championship and the U.S. Open and be "eligible" as well. 

Talor Gooch, who is on the LIV Golf tour, is one name that is heavily impacted by this change. He qualified last year at the Tour Championship, but since he left to join LIV, he isn’t eligible. 

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Talor Gooch during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational - Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club on April 30, 2023. (Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

Now, with any hopes of making the U.S. Open in June, let alone the Tour Championship in August, Gooch will need to finish well at the PGA Championship next week to be among the top 60 players on the Official World Golf Ranking. He’s currently 63. 

What makes matters worse is he has been playing very well on the LIV circuit, but those events don’t count toward the ranking points. 

"Any time we make changes to our criteria going forward, it impacts somebody and that stinks, but we can only look forward," Whan said, via Golf Digest. 

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"That was obviously disappointing because that changed rule only affected one person, which was me," Gooch noted on the "73rd Hole Podcast" recently.  

Well, Mickelson has his fellow LIV golfer’s back, as he called out Whan and the USGA in a variety of