Leave it to Phil Mickelson to ignite a fiery Golf Twitter debate that might stay lit right up until Masters Thursday, when he and the rest of the LIV golfers in the field at Augusta National finally meet up again with PGA Tour pros in a competitive setting.

Among those LIV golfers will be Joaquin Niemann, who, for the second straight year, was granted a special invitation into the season’s first major. Niemann has already proven that move by the ANGC to be a prudent one, winning for the fourth time on LIV in Singapore over the weekend.

Following Niemann’s victory, Mickelson logged into his X/Twitter account to pump up Torque GC’s best player. Torque GC’s main account posted that Niemann has “got to be a top 5 player in the world right now.” Mickelson’s response? “Top 5? Try #1.”

Knowing how Mickelson operates, he knew exactly what he was doing — riling up the masses. On one side, you have a group who thinks he’s the best player on the planet. On the other, a group that quickly, and perhaps rightfully, references the fact that in 22 career major appearances, Niemann has a grand total of 0 top 10 finishes.

That of course does not and should not tell the whole story of his career, which you could argue is still just getting started (Niemann is 26). Most sensible golf fans / ball-knowers will tell you Niemann is absolutely among the top 20 players in the world even though his Official World Golf Ranking read “82nd” (a different debate for a different day).

Even if you feel LIV events are not legitimately serious competitions, winning four of them, two in 2025 alone, is nothing to scoff at. Not to mention the fact Niemann has also tried his luck in numerous OWGR-counting events over the last handful of years since he joined LIV, winning two of them and finishing top five in a bunch more.

Now, does that put him on the same level as Scottie Scheffler? Rory McIlroy? Xander Schauffele? Fellow mid-20s-something Ludvig Aberg, who has already equalled Niemann’s PGA Tour win total in a fraction of the time?

Main Image: Thananuwat Srirasant