Revenge, it is said, is a dish best served cold. If so, it’s appropriate that in the teeming rain, chilling winds and falling trees of Augusta National this weekend that Phil Mickelson got a measure of gotcha’ on the PGA Tour.

He could have staggered in the marathon of Sunday, as Masters organizers— who loath him— tried to catch up after weather delays, But from as low as even par on Sunday the 53-year-old ended tied for second behind Rahm at eight under. For a three-time winner of the green jacket that was probably not up to his expectations. But as a guy who could instead be playing the relaxed Champions Tour, just making the cut in the biblical storm conditions was an accomplishment.

Second? WTF? He set the record for the best finish by a golfer in his 50s or older. Where on Monday the golf world shunned him, by Sunday night they were eating from his hand again. But more than that for Mickelson— if it’s possible— he achieved the satisfaction of bringing his fellow LIV players into the heart of the PGA Tour’s belly and walking away tied for second with Brooks Koepka.

For the entire week, the debate had been how the rebel players would be greeted by the stuffy culture of Augusta National and the panjandrums of the PGA Tour. Would they be ostracized? Would they be shunned? Would they be given the cold shoulder at the Champions Dinner?

On Golfchannel the discussion was about the preparation the players had had on the LIV Tour, with its 54-hole tournaments, limited schedule, raucous presentation. Had players like Koepka, Cam Smith, former Masters winner Patrick Reed, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Abraham Ancer, Taylor Gooch and, yes, Mickelson had enough preparation for the diabolical examination of Augusta National. Were guys who jumped ship for the dough properly motivated now that they had financial security?

By Sunday night it was irrelevant. In all there were three LIV players (including Phil himself) inside the Top 16. Nine in the Top 40. Mickelson had been the face of the new league since it popped up last year, the focus of the wrath against it. Now he delivered. And so did his compatriots on the controversial rebel league.

Mickelson is never one to shy away from wearing the black hat. While Woods is now a “good guy” Phil has embellished his bad-boy reputation the past two years with inflammatory interviews, lawsuits, lost sponsors and prickly encounters with authority. Rumours of his financial peril and questionable personal behaviour were always in the background.

(In one Phil story he was playing a high-stakes money game with an NHL owner— who thought the round was a lark with the superstar. When the match ended with Mickelson winning a bundle, the owner thought Phil might just call it a wash. Uh, no. He insisted he be paid the entire amount— in cash. American dollars. The chastened owner had to send out for the money as Phil waited in the parking lot of the club.)

That will all be dismissed by the dominant performance of Mickelson and Koepka— who led virtually the whole way through storms, delays, wind and rain. While the liberal sports media still dismissed the LIV players for taking the evil Saudi petro dollars, the unity of the LIV crew at The Masters was underlined when those players on the grounds waited around to cheer their fellow LIV players on at the 18th green.

If the PGA Tour thought that this past weekend would drive fans away from LIV, the opposite is probably true. Seeing the quality of the players at Augusta will pique the interest of many fans. Seeing the PGA Tour’s biggest spokesmen in Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas both miss the cut also didn’t enhance the Tour’s invincibility.

Mickelson’s other revenge this past weekend came over his former rival Tiger Woods. For much of the quarter-century since they rose to prominence together Tiger was the athletic, trim superstar. The man with the steel-trap mind. The machine who churned out 15 majors.

Phil? Critics ripped him for denying his talent, his wavering inattention to fitness. They said he lacked seriousness. We will never forget being on PEI with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson as they ripped Mickelson’s mental game after he threw away the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot on the 18th hole.

But Sunday showed that Mickelson still has plenty of tread on his tires when it comes to his fitness. Having lost about 20 pounds, he had little problem walking the sodden, hilly layout. As Brandel Chamblee suggested on Golfchannel maybe Phil didn’t maximize his physical prime, but he didn’t punish himself as so many now do in the gym. Chamblee suggested Woods won’t be the only golfer with a wrecked body from over-training.

That was underlined by the pathetic sight of Woods—five years younger than Phil— dragging his battered right leg around behind him as he fought the extreme conditions. In the end he couldn’t manage the pain of plantar fasciatus , withdrawing Sunday morning when the leg would not respond to the hours of treatment he needs now to compete.

He looked a spent man. Yes, the leg injury was from his terrible car crash in Los Angeles in 2020. But even before that Woods’ body was failing him after years of punishing workouts. At one point he was doing Navy Seal training, emulating his father’s career. While Woods wouldn’t confirm it, his first serious knee injury was likely produced by this military conditioning. Next came back problems exacerbated by the stresses his bum leg caused.

Now, it appears that it’s all over for Woods as a competitive player if the Tour doesn’t allow him to ride in a cart. Mickelson— who has a lifetime Masters and U.S. Open exemption— will still find a way to match up with the young bucks of the Tour for a few more years. Other LIV stars will keep popping up— and perhaps winning— the majors under their exemptions. The PGA Tour will deny that LIV made them radically overhaul their business model. Sure.

It’s not a beautiful outcome. And Mickelson is hardly an Eagle Scout. But for four wet, miserable days in April he showed what hand is in the sports business. And that was worth the price of admission.

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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx

LIV & Let LIV: Phil Mickelson Gets His Revenge