[PHOTO: Quinn Harris]

LIV Golf’s season-opening event this week will be played under lights in Saudi Arabia, but one of the tour’s brightest stars won’t be there.

Phil Mickelson announced overnight that he has withdrawn from the LIV Riyadh event due to a minor shoulder injury suffered in the gym recently. The six-time major champion plans to make his 2025 season debut at LIV’s event in Adelaide next week.

Mickelson will be replaced in the field by Ollie Schniederjans, who won the Asian Tour’s International Series India event on Sunday. It was the former world No.1 amateur’s first victory in nine years.

“While preparing for the season, I suffered a minor shoulder injury in the gym last week,” Mickelson wrote on X/Twitter. “I’m definitely disappointed that I will miss the season opener, but I look forward to playing in Adelaide. Ollie Schniederjans will tee it up for me this week and I will be pulling for my teammates from home.”

This is the first LIV event Mickelson, the captain of the HyFlyers, has missed. He’s coming off a disappointing 2024 season in which he had just one top 10.

The 54-hole event in Saudi Arabia will run from Thursday to Saturday, avoiding Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl.