When LIV Golf filed for bankruptcy in September, most of the attention went to who was owed money. Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, and others turned up on the creditors’ list with millions in unpaid claims. Now, the league’s own financial disclosure shows the other side of that ledger, and one name stands out for what he was paid in a year he barely played: LIV Golf’s team captain and face of the league, Phil Mickelson.

Wall Street Journal editor Sujeet Indap spotted the entry and shared the page.

“Phil Mickelson played just one LIV tournament this year but still got paid out by the PPA,” the post read.

He also shared screenshots of Mickelson’s payment records, which were among thousands of pages LIV filed in its Chapter 11 case late Thursday.

One section of the filing lists payments to insiders in the year before the September 8 filing. Mickelson appears under the name “Pershing LLC Player,” with his relationship to the company listed as “Manager.” Every transaction is labeled as a PPA payment. PPA stands for Player Participation Agreement, LIV’s term for a player contract.

The filing shows five payments. The first was $1,232,933.14 on October 10, 2025. Then came $1,236,607.14 on January 12, $1,057,500 on March 13, and $1,236,607.14 on both April 16 and July 14. Together, they add up to $6,000,254.56.

Four of the five payments were made in 2026, totaling about $4.77 million, The transactions were spaced roughly a quarter apart, at around $1.2 million each. For scale, Golf.com reported that Jon Rahm’s PPA paid $4.946 million per quarter, amounting to nearly $20 million a year.

What makes Mickelson’s payments particularly striking is how little he played in 2026. He skipped LIV’s first four events in Riyadh, Adelaide, Hong Kong, and Singapore, citing a family health matter. He returned at LIV Golf South Africa at Steyn City on March 19–22, opening with a 75. He then shot 67 and 64 to finish seven under, tied for 48th with Ian Poulter. That remains his only start of the year.

Lefty’s slump on the course also predates 2026. His last individual LIV start before South Africa was the 2025 season finale.

So, why is Mickelson still getting paid despite such limited appearances? A PPA is a contract fee, not prize money, meaning payments do not necessarily rise or fall with results. The filing identifies his transactions as PPA payments but does not clarify whether his deal ties them to tournament appearances.

NUCLR Golf also described the money as “guaranteed” in a post on X. However, Mickelson’s contract has never been made public, and he has not confirmed the reported $200 million deal he signed in 2022.

The timing adds another layer to the disclosure. The payment listed in the filing came after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund said in April that it would fund LIV only through the end of 2026. Meanwhile, the same filings list unpaid claims from players, including Jon Rahm, owed about $7.5 million; Bryson DeChambeau, $5.7 million; Cameron Smith, $4.8 million; and Tyrrell Hatton, $3.4 million. These are players who have continued competing regularly on the LIV circuit.

As LIV prepares for its next phase, Mickelson’s future with the league remains uncertain. Sunday is the soft deadline for players to commit to the BC Partners-backed relaunch, and high-profile teammates Cameron Tringale and Brendan Steele have said they are staying. Mickelson, however, has yet to make his position public.

For now, the paperwork offers a glimpse into the contract payments Mickelson received during a season in which he barely played, even as other players sought to recover millions they say they are owed.

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