Thanks to a one-year change in the PGA Tour schedule, Phil Mickelson is skipping the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Northern Trust Open. Mickelson announced the news on his website.
Mickelson has played on the Monterey Peninsula each year since 1995 and is a four-time winner of the event, with the last coming in 2012. In the last eight years at Riviera Country Club, Mickelson has a Northern Trust Open win and a pair of runner-up finishes.
“Those are two of my favorite events, two of my favorite courses,” he said on his website, “but with the kids in two schools with different spring breaks, I’ll take that time off. They’ve accommodated my schedule enough over the years. It’s time for me to accommodate theirs.”
These two tournaments moved on the schedule this year, sliding into the spot held for a decade by the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship, which is shifting for 2015 to May so TPC Harding Park in San Francisco can host the 64-man event. Mickelson has skipped that tournament four of the last five years to be with his kids during their spring break.
Mickelson's 2015 kicks off next week at the Humana Challenge as the start of a three-week run, followed by the Waste Management Phoenix Open and Farmers Insurance Open.