“No one wanted Phil there”: Tiger Woods blocked Mickelson’s entry from the Champions' dinner at St. Andrews
Tiger Woods is known for being among the greatest in the golf circuit. However, little do fans know about his involvement in banning Phil Mickelson from getting a dinner invitation to St. Andrews in July 2022. This was the same time when the 53-year-old golfer left the PGA Tour to join the LIV Golf circuit.
Last summer, ahead of the Open Championship, Woods blocked Mickelson from attending the Champions' dinner at the home of golf. Some of the past champions also supported Woods. Later on, he went on to the R&A to request for the same. As it turned out, R&A too sided with the 82-times PGA Tour winner.
Golf writer Alan Shipnuck revealed this recently in his newly launched book named, "LIV and Let Die." Soon after this, a post from an X account made its way on the platform that discussed the wording from the writer's book and the entire scenario surrounding Phil Mickelson.
#NEW: Alan Shipnuck writes that Tiger Woods was the one responsible for blocking Phil Mickelson from attending the Champions Dinner at St. Andrews: “He talked to a handful of other past champions to get their blessing and then went to the R&A and told them, basically, no one wanted Phil there and it would make the night weird and awkward,” says one of the men at the dinner. “Whose side were they going to take: Tiger’s or Phil’s? That’s an easy choice.” (Via @firepitstories)
Additionally, even LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman didn’t receive an invitation to the dinner as R&A released a statement back then.
The R&A's refusal to invite Greg Norman to the 150th Open
Since the LIV league started, there has been a rift between the PGA Tour and the latter one. Many golfers left the PGA Tour only to join the much-rewarding LIV league. This not only sparked controversies but also banned those players from playing the PGA Tour events.
For the 150th Open Championship, the R&A issued a statement before the year's last men's major to clarify that Norman, the CEO of the breakaway tour, would not be asked to attend the Celebration of Champions or attend the Champions' Dinner at St Andrews.
As it turned out, Tiger Woods backends the R&A decision. Woods and the four-time Major Championship winner Rory McIlroy also supported R&A’s big decision. According to them, Norman had done things that were not in the best interest of the game.