Phil Mickelson is skipping the Masters for first time in nearly 30 years

The reckoning over Phil Mickelson’s embrace of the Saudi golf league continues, as the three-time champion won’t play the Masters this year for the first time since 1994.

The Masters is truly a tradition unlike any other: the Green Jacket, the azaleas, the white sand bunkers. These are the things that can be counted on when the golf world assembles every spring at Augusta National.

For the past 27 years, there’s been another certainty at the Masters, three-time champion Phil Mickelson stepping to the tee box on Thursday. But, amidst controversy over his flirtation with the breakaway Saudi golf league, that tradition will end this year.

Mickelson won’t be in the field when the Masters begins on April 7, Kyle Porter of CBS Sports confirmed on Monday, missing the tournament for the first time since 1994. His run of consecutive appearances was the third-longest active streak, behind only Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle.

Mickelson a fixture at Augusta National for three decades

Since first making the drive down Magnolia Lane at the age of 20 in 1991, finishing tied for 46th place, and earning a trip to Butler Cabin as low amateur, Mickelson has become as synonymous with the course and tournament as Bobby Jones and Rae’s Creek. His 15 top-10 finishes rank third all-time, behind only Jack Nicklaus and Beh Hogan; he trails only Nicklaus with 11 top-fives.

His win in 2004, leaping into the air on the 18th green after erasing the label “best player without a major,” became a moment etched forever in tournament lore. Mickelson was adored by the Masters patrons, and he returned the favor.

That has begun to change. Mickelson calling out the PGA Tour for “obnoxious greed” and his threat to bolt to the Super Golf League and take Saudi money, eroded the public’s trust in him. Sponsors began to drop him. Mickelson, once a beacon of public devotion, was suddenly a villain.

“I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be,” Mickelson said in a public statement released in February. He pointedly didn’t mention the PGA Tour and heaped praise on LIV Golf, the parent company of the SGL. He hasn’t been seen on tour since.

The last time Mickelson missed the Masters, Jordan Spieth was nine months old, Collin Morikawa hadn’t even been born yet, and Tiger Woods was still in high school. For as long as most of the current generation has been alive, Mickelson was a fixture as the Masters. Not this year.

Questions will surround him when he eventually does make a return. For now, he’s not ready to answer them.