Phil Mickelson has been forced to withdraw from the first LIV Golf event of 2025 after sustaining an injury.
Mickelson confirmed on 3 February that he hurt his shoulder in the gym last week.
The six-time major champion was due to play his first event of the year with the breakaway tour this week.
Fortunately for Mickelson the damage doesn’t seem too bad and he is expected to play in Australia later this month.
“While preparing for the season, I suffered a minor shoulder injury in the gym last week,” Mickelson said in a statement posted on X.
I’m definitely disappointed that I will miss the season opener, but I took forward to playing in Adelaide.”
LIV Golf Riyadh will be played under the lights over 6-8 February.
The tournament is being played at night to try and tempt U.S. viewers to watch on Fox.
Mickelson has been replaced in the field by Ollie Schnierderjans.
Schnierderjans was named as a LIV Golf reserve after he came up short of securing a full-time spot on the PIF-backed league in their Promotions event last December.
The American – a former World No.1 amateur – is in good form having won the first International Series event on the Asian Tour last week.
Schnierderjans beat a field that included Bryson DeChambeau and Joaquin Niemann.
Mickelson joined LIV Golf for a reported $200m in 2022. Results since he joined have been mixed.
In the last season his best LIV result was only his single finish inside the top-10.
The gambling environment has allowed him to enter ten major tournament events despite having six unsuccessful attempts to make the cut.
During this time frame his most successful result was when he settled for second position in the 2023 Masters tournament.
Mickelson expressed confidence about a better playing condition during the current golf season.
McKibbin will step into the professional competition for his first appearance.
Last week the golfer Jon Rahm added Tom McKibbin to his LIV Tour team Legion XIII.
The golfer received advice against the move from his mentor Rory McIlroy but entered a two-year LIV Golf agreement allegedly valued at $5 million.