Phil Mickelson believes the sport of golf will be in a better place if the proposed alignment between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf ends up manifesting.

Speaking before this week's LIV event in Valderrama, Spain, Mickelson said he was pleased with how quickly an agreement came together between the tours and feels “confident with where the game of golf is headed in the future.”

“We felt like it was going to be about two years roughly before we got to that point. It took a year and a half or six months quicker than I thought it would be. Going forward, we're all very optimistic about where the game of golf, professional golf specifically, is headed.”

Mickelson controversially yet undeniably ignited major changes to the world of golf in the fall of 2021 when he posited that Saudi Arabia's interest in investing in golf — via their sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund — could be used as “leverage” to improve the PGA Tour while acknowledging the human rights atrocities linked to the Saudis.

Mickelson was the highest-profile defector to PIF-funded LIV, along with Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, and Dustin Johnson. Shortly thereafter, the PGA Tour announced a litany of changes, including increased purses and the introduction of designated events.

“A lot of the changes that have been made because of LIV were all very appreciative, both on the LIV Tour as well as the PGA Tour, and we're happy for the guys out there that they're having some positive changes there, as well,” Mickelson said.

Earlier this month, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan announced the framework of a partnership that would theoretically combine the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the DP World Tour under one entity — tentatively called NewCo — which would be financially backed by PIF but operated by the PGA Tour. On Wednesday, a few more details emerged about what the potential agreement could look like. According to the framework, the PGA Tour will eventually study the “empirical data” to determine the future of LIV.

“I think that right now we have basically an agreement to have an agreement,” said Lefty. “Everything over the last couple of years that we've been told … on LIV has come to fruition, so we have a lot of confidence in what they have been saying to us because everything has been happening.”

The first Senate hearing regarding the possible merger will take place on July 11.