The Loop

Phil Mickelson says return at CareerBuilder Challenge will be "a last-minute decision"

January 16, 2017
Phil Mickelson Torrey.jpg

Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Phil Mickelson's resurgent 2016 featured six top-five finishes, an epic near-miss at the Open Championship, and a strong showing in helping the U.S. regain the Ryder Cup. But it also featured two off-season hernia surgeries that put the early part of 2017 in doubt.

Now, though, comes a specter of hope from the 46-year-old Mickelson, who committed to this week's CareerBuider Challenge, and who tells Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte he hopes to tee it up on Thursday.

'I won't know till Tuesday evening or Wednesday," Mickelson told Rosaforte. "It'll be a last-minute decision."

Mickelson has extra incentive to make his 2017 debut this week at the former Bob Hope Classic, having replaced former President Bill Clinton as this year's tournament ambassador. Mickelson, who said he played his first full round of golf on Saturday, was named to that role last spring, but maintains it is different from that of tournament host.

“I view it differently than that,” Mickelson told the Desert Sun. I’m just really trying to help out. But it is not my tournament. What I am is trying to get this tournament to the status it once had.”