Phil Mickelson's LIV Golf leadership hailed as Brendan Steele wins first event on breakaway tour

Brendan Steele thanked Phil Mickelson for his LIV Golf breakthrough moment after claiming his first win on the breakaway tour.

The American, 41, held a commanding lead at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia heading into the final round. A four-under-par effort on Sunday was good enough to hold off former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen by one stroke. Steele, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour before joining LIV last year, claimed a career-high payday of £3.2m, but he was quick to shift the praise to HyFlyers team captain Mickelson for the role he has played in improving not only Steele's game but his mentality.

"(Mickelson) was like, how are you feeling? What are you thinking?" Steele said after Sunday's big win. "I said, 'Well, if I can play freely like I did the last couple days, I feel like I'll have a good chance'. He's like, 'That's great. Let's reframe it. Let's make it when I play freely, I can play freely, I will play freely. Let's reframe it into that'. Then I was saying, 'I think it'll be good enough' but 'He's like, no, it will be good enough, you will play freely. This is what you need to do'. So that was what I was trying to do. He's the reason that I'm here and the reason that I'm improving. To be honest, I'm 41 years old and I'm getting better, and it's mostly because of him."

Steele's success came amid significant struggles for six-time major champion Mickelson, who has been unable to produce his best form since becoming a founding member of LIV two years ago. The lefty is 34th in the season standings, with a tied-sixth finish in Jeddah his only glimmer of success.

Mickelson finished in a tie for 38th in Adelaide, but that could not dampen his excitement for his teammate, sharing a huge embrace as