2025 LIV Golf Season Preview: HyFlyers GC

The 2025 LIV Golf League season starts Feb. 6 in Riyadh. Here’s a quick look at Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC.

OVERVIEW

Lineup

• Phil Mickelson (Captain), USA
• Andy Ogletree, USA
• Brendan Steele, USA
• Cameron Tringale, USA

Who’s New? No one. The roster returns intact from the 2024 season after Ogletree’s first full year in LIV Golf. Mickelson, Steele and Tringale are entering their third year together.

The Offseason: The big news was the recent announcement that Primo had become the team’s official golf apparel sponsor, extending the relationship between Mickelson and Primo’s owner, popular golf YouTuber Grant Horvat. The team even released an amusing video focusing on Primo’s golf joggers … In November, Mickelson and Horvat announced a new YouTube collaboration involving a 2v2 challenge series … Ogletree had wrist surgery in mid-October but is now fully able to swing … Tringale had a solid performance at the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, finishing tied for ninth with middle rounds of 65-66.

Going to be a good year if … Ogletree stays healthy, and Mickelson turns back the clock.

ALL-TIME RESULTS

Trophies Won

INDIVIDUAL (1)
2024 Adelaide - Steele

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Steady Cam – No HyFlyer has been more consistent the last two seasons than Tringale, who finished with points in 20 of 26 regular-season starts.

California attitude – Mickelson, Steele and Tringale all have California roots and a close-knit vibe.

Steele in Adelaide – Always good to have the defending individual champ in the team room.

OPPORTUNITIES

Phil’s due – Mickelson’s yet to make a serious back-nine challenge in LIV Golf but remains the eternal optimist at age 54.

Short-game woes – What should be a strength was a puzzling weakness in 2024, as the team finished last in the league in scrambling.

WORTH NOTING

ANDY’S WRIST. Andy Ogletree struggled through wrist problems in 2024, trying to rectify the problem with injections and therapy. He finally underwent offseason surgery in October and is hopeful about his game entering 2025.

"There was a spur in there that caused a lot of inflammation. It was hitting a tendon, and anytime that would get inflamed, it took me out for a couple days and it was tough to play through,” he said. “So, until that spur went away, it was just going to keep happening. I felt like I was playing catch up all year versus actually having it feel well and being able to control the controllables. So, looking forward to having a consistent swing and not having to day to day try to figure it out based on how I'm feeling.”

SHORT GAME. As mentioned, the HyFlyers had the league’s scrambling stats in 2024. Given that Phil Mickelson is golf’s master craftsman in that area, he and the rest of the team dedicated a large part of their offseason to fixing the issue. “A lot of the other areas we’re fine,” Mickelson said, “but we’ve been throwing a lot of shots away on short game.”

Mickelson finished 52nd in the league in scrambling, while Cameron Tringale finished 33rd, also surprising. “Having Phil and myself who are some of the best short games in the league, that’s unacceptable for us,” Tringale said. “That’s not where we want to be. So that’s become a focus for our team.”

Ogletree thinks his recovery from wrist surgery created a path for improvement, giving that his rehab time was initially limited to work on his short game without taking full swings. He ranked 45th last year, but he said his issues were caused by a drop in driving accuracy that left him in trouble. “I need to hit it better off the tee,” he said.

MID-FIFTIES PHIL. Mickelson turns 55 in June, but he’s only four years removed from his last major victory, the 2021 PGA Championship and less than two years removed from his T2 at the 2023 Masters. His teammates are confident that if any 50-something Hall of Famer can regain form, it’s their captain. “He’s unlike any other 54-year-old in the world,” said Steele. “He’s not limited by any of the things that you normally be limited by at his age.”

Mickelson’s T6 last year in Jeddah is his best individual result in LIV Golf. He continues to work as hard as ever to get back into contention. “These last couple of years where I haven’t really given myself the opportunities to win, I want to put in the work to get there because it’s so much fun,” Mickelson said.

THE PRIMO DEAL. Signing an official apparel partnership with Primo and its owner, YouTube golf star Grant Horvat, is a huge win for the HyFlyers. “It’s a good partnership as we both want to grow,” Mickelson said. “Our intent is to use YouTube as an added value for our partners rather than go out and get separate sponsors for that. We’ve had a lot of interest this offseason.”

USA! USA! The HyFlyers are the only team in which all four players were born in the U.S.

CAPTAIN’S LAST WORD