The Open Championship is underway at Royal Birkdale, and we have officially entered a new era.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are the two powerhouses in the field and the two favorites to win the Claret Jug this week.
The game has officially moved on from Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Neither is in the field this week, and we’ve hardly seen either all season long. The two superstars, with 21 majors between them, are now relics of a different time.
And if there was any doubt as to whether the game has finally transcended Woods and Mickelson, 2026 marks the first time their presence has been missing in golf’s biggest events in 37 years.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods don’t feature in a major for the first time in 37 years
Woods, recovering from yet another back surgery, hasn’t been in professional action in a number of years, despite appearances on TGL over the winter. He aimed to return to The Masters, but a driving incident weeks earlier meant he ruled himself out.
The 15-time major winner has taken himself away from the sport because of the incident, and hasn’t played in a major since the 2024 Open Championship.
Meanwhile, Mickelson has only played in one professional event all year, LIV South Africa. He’s been embroiled in off-course controversies, and he, too, hasn’t taken part in any of the major championships in 2026.
This year is the first time that neither Woods nor Mickelson have played in any of the majors since 1989. Mickelson made his major championship debut in 1989, and one of the two old rivals have played in at least one major in every year since.
Before this season, the last time that Mickelson and Woods didn’t play in the same major was the 2017 US Open. And this is the first Open Championship that neither have played since 1993, as Mickelson made his Open debut the following year.
It truly is the end of an era, and it’s a sad end at that.
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