Phil Mickelson ‘not missed’ at PGA Championship dinner
There was no drama at the PGA Champions dinner.
The annual meal is meant to be hosted by the earlier year’s champ, however Phil Mickelson is absent from this year’s occasion at Southern Hills after successful the foremost at Kiawah Island a year in the past. Mickelson, 51, has been in exile since rationalizing the atrocities of the Saudi regime — with their money behind a rival tour run by Greg Norman — as a way to acquire negotiating leverage with the PGA Tour, which he likened to a “dictatorship.”
At least one former champion had no challenge with Mickelson’s absence on Tuesday evening.
“It was a fun evening. Phil was not missed,” Dave Stockton, who gained a pair of PGA Championships within the Seventies, told Golf Channel. “I think Phil would have been a big distraction. The story here this week is the PGA.”
The PGA of America dealt with the duties for Mickelson, choosing a menu and offering items for these in attendance. According to Golf Channel, Stockton performed a pivotal function in reimagining the dinner which is now primarily for previous champions.
“At Kiawah last year we had I think six or seven people in the room besides just players, and like we did (Tuesday), we sat around and they can’t separate us out because there’s so many players, former champions, that it was unbelievable,” Stockton stated. “We ended the night, and everybody stayed. I think it blew the PGA officers away.”
It was thought that Mickelson would use the PGA Championship to make his return after he was extensively celebrated for successful the occasion final year at the age of fifty. Instead, he stays out of the general public eye because the season’s second main goes on with out him.
“This needs to be a celebration,’’ Rory McIlroy stated earlier within the week. “He gained a serious championship at 50 years previous. It was probably his final huge, huge second within the recreation of golf. I feel he needs to be right here this week and celebrating what a monumental achievement he achieved final year. It’s unlucky. It’s unhappy.’’
