The Life Phil Mickelson Chose

It’s probably pointless to spend much time at the Ryder Cup writing about someone who is not here, but it would be strange to walk around Bethpage this week and not give a passing thought to Phil Mickelson.

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It was Mickelson, after all, who originally tossed out the idea of having a Ryder Cup at Bethpage, reportedly advocating for it behind the scenes as early as 2010 with PGA of America president Ted Bishop. When the venue was announced in 2013, it was easy to envision Mickelson in the captain’s chair, reveling in the experience. In a career that had seen nearly everything, it felt like the one role he had left to play. You could just picture him doing it all: charming the media, needling the Europeans, motivating his squad with a fiery speech, and soaking up the love of the crowd for one final time.

Mickelson chose a different path for himself.

He is not part of the U.S. squad in any capacity this week, just the second time that’s happened in 30 years. In 2021, he was a vice captain for Steve Stricker in Whistling Straits, saying he was “humbled and honored” to be part of the team and that he “hoped to help in any way possible.” But he was not asked to be part of the American squad when they went to Italy in 2023. He did wish the United States team good luck on his Twitter account, albeit as part of an ad for his personal brand of therapeutic coffee.

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Mickelson has not said much about the 2025 Ryder Cup on his X account, not since he predicted in March that Scottie Scheffler would arrive at Bethpage having won zero times this year. (Scheffler has won six times.) He did congratulate Keegan Bradley and applaud his decision to pass on the chance to be a playing captain back in August. But no Ryder Cup discussion since.

Mickelson has, instead, weighed in on a number of subjects the last two weeks, including: his belief that Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar should have her citizenship revoked and be deported back to Somalia; that a man who attempted to vandalize a memorial of Charlie Kirk should be subdued with bear spray; that an oil company should be allowed to continue harvesting oil seeping from the ocean floor off the coast of California; that Chargers football has been boosted by Keenan Allen’s return; that Auburn junior Jackson Koivun would look great in a HyFlyers uniform; that Kirk’s assasination has brought out both the best of humanity and some of the worst; that there is a great new show on Netflix called “Animal Kingdom”; that violence is never the answer to political disagreement; that “bullets have historically been a good solution” in response to a video of people looting.

He deleted the post about looting, right around the time the American team he was once poised to captain was arriving at the course he once championed for Thursday practice.