Nobody apart from themselves really knew if Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods would take their places in Southern Hills next week.

• Related: ‘Go **** yourself Shark’ – Major champ’s scathing attack on Greg Norman

Whilst speculation was rife, neither player had made any firm commitment to the championship and Mickelson’s management team had always stated that, “Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play. Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made, but rather to keep all options open.”

• Related: Phil Mickelson’s latest Twitter activity suggests he’s not happy that he was ‘canceled’

The latest reports are that while Tiger will be teeing it up and is currently practicing on the course, but we now know that Mickelson will not be defending his PGA Championship this year at Oklahoma, the news broken by the PGA of America on social media on Saturday:

pic.twitter.com/KhZ01xWMSB

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 13, 2022

The news was a body-blow not only to the player himself, but to golf fans and the tournament, an event that saw the 51-year-old become the oldest ever major winner when victorious at Kiawah Island.

Of course, most thinking was that the withdrawal of Mickelson was linked to the initial LIV Golf event in London on June 9th.

However, despite applying for the requisite request for a release from the PGA Tour to play at the Centurion Club, neither the player nor chairman of the series, Greg Norman, have confirmed that Mickelson will end his (self-imposed?) exile in two weeks time.

Indeed, over the weekend, Matt Ginella of the Fire Pit Collective reported on the ‘San Diego rumor mill’, suggesting that Mickelson was not playing well at all in local events.

It’s a theme that appears to be backed up by 6-time major champ Sir Nick Faldo, who also suggested that the 51-year-old wouldn’t have had time to get his game in order with all the noise that’s been going on around him.

Either way, the 2022 PGA Championship goes ahead without its defending champion in sight.

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In 2019, Alex Cejka was disqualified mid-way through the Honda Classic for an infringement of the green-reading book, and three years later it has happened again.

• Related: Euro Tour pro disqualified for visiting restaurant

At PGA National, the 51-year-old German was guilty of using a greens guide that did not fit the “size to scale” of the new regulation books and, having again amended the rules, the PGA Tour Champions Rules Committee had no option but to disqualify the defending champion from the Regions Tradition after the third round on Saturday.

• Related: Symetra Tour player hit with baffling two-stroke penalty

At the start of the year, the ruling authorities agreed to limit the advice and detail in green-reading material, stating that it wanted the game to “return to a position where players and caddies use only their skill, judgment and feel along with any information gained through experience, preparation and practice to read the line of play on the putting green.”

Winner of two majors in 2021, the committee found Cejka guilty of using “a yardage book that had not been approved for the competition by the PGA Tour Champions Rules Committee.”

Cejka’s career record suggests that this latest transgression is the eighth time that he has been sent home early from a professional tournament. He would probably not have challenged here after a third-round 66, with Steve Stricker, his victim at last year’s play-off, going back-to-back for yet another title.

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It’s been a rough week for Greg Norman, and it hasn’t got much better over the weekend.

• Related: Greg Norman takes swipe at R&A on social media over Open Championship snub

Winner of the 1990 PGA Championship, Wayne Grady has ripped into compatriot Greg Norman on social media, saying, “Greg is only about Greg.”

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Norman, two-time winner of The Open Championship, has been headlining in the golf media for many months, his leadership of the Saudi Golf League, now the LIV Golf International Series, becoming further embroiled in rows between players and their respective authorities.

During interviews to further highlight the cause of the series, set to open at the Centurion Club in London on June 9th, Norman appeared to excuse the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, saying, “we all make mistakes.”

The comments appalled many, whilst Amnesty International called his comments “wrong and seriously misguided.”

However, Grady, co-runner-up with Norman when play-off losers behind Mark Calcavecchia at Royal Troon in 1989, did not hold back in such a diplomatic manner.

In the message posted on Facebook Grady makes two comments. The first is that Norman should stop saying ‘the PGA’ as opposed to ‘the PGA Tour’, the second that the Chairman of the LIV organisation has been “trying to take down the (PGA) tour for 30 years.”

Grady lets it all fly as he informs readers that, “the admiration I had for him (Norman) for what he has achieved and what he did for Australian golf is gone.”

He continues the rant, “For him to try and trivialize what the greats before him did to grow and create what the PGA Tour is today is an absolute disgrace.”

In conclusion, the 64-year-old two-time winner of the Australian PGA Championship, tells Norman that, “I went to Jack Newton’s memorial service yesterday and was surrounded by true professional golfers who believe in ,loyalty and history. GFY Shark.”

In a week that should see the joyful start of the second major, the PGA Championship, the impending release of Alan Shipnuck’s unofficial autobiography of Phil Mickelson, as well as speculation as to who has signed to play the first LIV event, looks like taking some of the limelight away from a tremendous looking field at Southern Hills.

That, for many, is unfortunate.

More from the 19th Hole

• ‘Hey Cypress, we took your best shot!’ – Golfer plays Cypress Point in 70mph howling wind
• The chaotic F1 season finale explained in golf terms is absolutely hilarious
• ‘Don’t drink and order Taco Bell on Uber Eats’ – John Daly’s Taco Bell order is pretty incredible