"The PGA Tour Champions has long since ceased being a showcase for fading legends and is instead an annuity for journeymen"

Phil Mickelson hit his share of “bombs” in his 2020 season opener at the American Express, but missed the cut handily despite the speed on display. Overall, his iron play and putting have declined and his obsession with speed is virtual malpractice. (It’s hard to pinpoint his issues with so few stat. All but his opening three 2019-20 rounds have been at ShotLink-free or light venues).

But the bombs keep him believing he is relevant on the PGA Tour—or Saudi Arabia where he’s headed after playing Torrey Pines this week. Mickelson has no top-20’s since last February’s win at Pebble Beach.

Given his self-belief, Champions Tour play starting this June when he turns 50 seems unlikely. One problem not of Mickelson’s doing: the decline of the tour as a place to showcase legends.

Eamon Lynch considers the state of that Tour, once a playground for true greats. But in 2020 the one genuine legend eligible isn’t giving it much thought, reinforcing a huge shift in the Tour’s identity.

But 40 years after it was founded, the PGA Tour Champions has long since ceased being a showcase for fading legends and is instead an annuity for journeymen who couldn’t draw a crowd if they were playing in thongs amid the many vigorous widows at The Villages.

This won’t present as a problem to players currently reaping the benefits of the Tour — and there are surely some who will be happy not to have greater competition at the trough — but Mickelson matters simply because there aren’t any more with his star power waiting in the wings. This is where we see the trickle-down effect of Tiger Woods having impoverished the trophy cases of a generation. Every Tour needs its superstar, and Mickelson is the last undisputed legend the PGA Tour Champions will see this side of Woods getting his AARP card six years hence. And a man with young kids and a broken body who doesn’t need the money probably isn’t a great bet to play either.