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Phil Mickelson has been vocal with his praise of LIV Golf since joining the upstart circuit in 2022, celebrating its direction and what he views as forward thinking.

On Wednesday, Mickelson applauded the addition of promising young stars as LIV Golf begins to bolster its case for having the world’s best golfers.

“I think that we’re well on our way and not that far away from making that happen, and you’re seeing it with these good young players that are coming out,” the six-time major champion said. “If you look at the good young players from different parts of the world, not necessarily the United States, you’ve got Jose Ballester (Spain) and Luis Masaveu (Spain) and Tom McKibbin (Northern Ireland) and these young guys from other parts of the world are really interested in wanting to come to LIV and they get what it’s about.

“I think over time that’s just going to continue to grow just like it has exponentially in the last three years, and I think we’re not that far away from having it be what we all want it to be, which is all the best players in the world playing against each other.”

Ballester, the U.S. Amateur champion, signed a multi-year contract with LIV Golf on Wednesday.

Known as “Josele,” Ballester will make his professional debut this week at the Virginia event and be part of the Fireballs team captained by fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

Ballester, 21, will join Abraham Ancer, David Puig and Garcia on Fireballs.

Masaveu, 22, will remain in the Fireballs lineup this week for the team while Puig deals with a back injury.

McKibbin, 22, signed with LIV in January and joined Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt as part of the Legion XIII team.

–Field Level Media