Mickelson leaves door open for move to Arizona

• By Jason Sobel
• Feb 2, 2013 7:45 PM ET

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – When Phil Mickelson maintained two weeks ago that he’ll need to make some “drastic changes” in his personal life due to new tax laws in California, many interpreted that message as a sign he will move his family to a state with no income tax sometime in the near future.

Here in Arizona, where he went to school at Arizona State University, would seem a logical choice should he deem that route necessary.

Following a third-round 64 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open that gave him a six-stroke lead, Mickelson was asked about that possibility.

“I'm not sure what we are going to do at the end of the year, but this is a town that, having lived here for 12 years, I really enjoy and miss the people and the friendships that we have here,” he said. “It's home to the first corporate deal or business deal that I ever did with Grayhawk Golf Club and we still currently have. It's my first golf course design up at Whisper Rock. I have all these ties. Plus my brother [Tim] is now the golf coach at ASU. 

“There is a lot of great things about this community that lure me, and certainly I come here three, four times a year to go to an ASU game, golf, see my friends, what have you. I don't know what's in the cards for that.”

Mickelson and his family currently live in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.