Phil Mickelson is playing in the 2025 U.S. Open due to the exemption from his 2021 PGA Championship win, marking his last year of exemption, which has drawn gloomy attention. Renewed discussions about this stem from his comments ahead of the 2025 LIV Golf Virginia, where he referred to the U.S. Open as his last chance at a Grand Slam, saying, “I haven’t thought about it too much. There’s a high likelihood that it will be, but I haven’t really thought about it too much.” When asked if he would participate in open qualifying for future U.S. Opens if not exempt, Mickelson replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far.” Fans are concerned, but there is finally an update regarding this issue.John Bodenhamer, who oversees the USGA’s Open championships, is currently at Oakmont for the upcoming U.S. Open. Given Mickelson’s history with the tournament and the 2026 U.S. Open set for Shinnecock, Bodenhamer wasn’t ready to rule anything out when asked about Mickelson’s U.S. Open future on Wednesday.Talking about it, Bodenhamer said, “I’m happy to take it. Listen, the answer to that is Phil did receive one in 2021, and I’m a little sleep deprived, but counting my years backwards — it’s like anything; we would review things for Shinnecock ahead of next year and look at all of those possibilities and evaluate it from there.“I think the way that we would also think of Phil is we hope he earns his way in, and I think he’d tell you the same thing. That’s what he did last time. We gave him one and then he went out and won the PGA Championship. So wouldn’t put it past him.” This is a developing story…The post Heavy Blow for Phil Mickelson as USGA Gives Vague Statement on His Future at the Major appeared first on EssentiallySports.