RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – After making a successful debut in The International Series season opener in India, LIV Golf reserve player Ollie Schniederjans now gets the opportunity to ride that momentum into the league’s season opener this week at LIV Golf Riyadh.

Schniederjans will replace injured HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, the team announced Monday. It will be the first time the World Golf Hall of Famer has missed a LIV Golf event after joining the league in 2022 as one of its original – and certainly most accomplished – players.

The 54-year-old Mickelson said he plans to return for next week’s LIV Golf Adelaide in Australia.

“While preparing for the season, I suffered a minor shoulder injury in the gym last week,” Mickelson wrote on Instagram. “I’m definitely disappointed that I will miss the season opener, but I look forward to playing in Adelaide. Ollie Schniederjans will tee it up for me this week and I will be pulling for my teammates from home.”

Schniederjans, the former top-ranked amateur whose career has been slowed by injuries including double hip-replacement surgery, has made an impressive comeback the last two months.

In December, he tied for fourth at LIV Golf Promotions, earning full-time status for the 10 events on The International Series in 2025. And on Sunday, he won International Series India by four strokes over reigning U.S. Open champion and Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau, with Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann and Fireballs GC’s Abraham Ancer another stroke back in third.

After his victory, an emotional Schniederjans discussed the journey back to being competitive and producing winning golf.

“There were setbacks that took me years to get to this point,” he said. “This year has been good, I have been able to be on the course all year for a year now. I’ve been able to put everything together, and I knew something like this was coming.”

He’ll join Andy Ogletree, Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale on the HyFlyers for this week’s event in Riyadh, which starts Thursday under the lights at Riyadh Golf Club. The HyFlyers will be looking for their first team victory.