Since the beginning, Phil Mickelson has been the most prominent face for the critics of LIV Golf, the controversial golf tour backed financially by limitless Saudi money that lured some of the world’s best players away from the PGA Tour.

In the midst of the firestorm that ensued — as the likes of Mickelson and other PGA Tour stars Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV Golf and were subsequently banned by the PGA Tour — Mickelson was the player taking most of the bullets.

“Let’s just see how it plays out,’’ Mickelson calmly said on more than one occasion when he was grilled about the new tour and the negative ripple effect it might have on the sport. “Let it play out.’’

Well, it played itself out in stunning fashion on Tuesday when the PGA Tour and LIV Golf — bitter rivals on the golf course and in the courtrooms for the better part of two years — announced that they’ve come to an agreement to merge.

“Awesome day today,’’ Mickelson tweeted with a smiley face emoji shortly after the joint announcement was made about the merger.

That, however, was as far as Mickelson wanted to go on Tuesday.

When reached by The Post by text, Mickelson said he preferred to lay low and said he wasn’t prepared to expand with further comments about the merger.

Mickelson was at Los Angeles Country Club practicing for next week’s U.S. Open, and clearly wanted to avoid any perception of taking a victory lap in the wake of the announcement.

Mickelson was paid a reported $200 million guaranteed to join LIV Golf and was the first to be excoriated by much of the public for being greedy and taking what has been perceived as Saudi “blood’’ money.

He, too, was heavily criticized for abandoning the tour that made him rich and famous.

When he was quoted by author Alan Shipnuck from a conversation Mickelson said was a private phone conversation and not an interview calling the Saudis “scary motherf–kers,’’ that fueled the criticism of Mickelson for going ahead and joining LIV Golf anyway.

It was revealed exclusively by The Post in February 2022, before LIV Golf was officially announced as an entity, that Mickelson met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in the fall of 2021 with a proposal to create six or eight team events that would guarantee the top players playing together.

Everything to know about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger

PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ending a war — by joining forces.

The two golf leagues, along with the European DP World Tour, are merging into one company after a period of fierce rivalry, one where LIV Golf defectors were banned from competing on the Tour.

LIV, financed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and led by legendary golfer Greg Norman, lured some of the top names in golf last year with reported nine-figure contracts, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

Other huge golf names, however, like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, stayed loyal to the Tour, despite being offered a massive amount of money.

Norman said last year Woods turned down a payday in the range of $700 million-$800 million to stick with the PGA Tour.

With the merger, the Saudi-backed LIV and the Tour are ending an antitrust battle and agreed to end all litigation between the two sides.

“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model.”

The proposal, which included an investor who was prepared to put up $1 billion, was also supported by other top players. The catch was that those six or eight events would be player- and investor-owned, not owned by the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour refused to go for that proposal, telling the investor Mickelson had for the deal that anything not owned or controlled by the PGA Tour would be considered “hostile.’’

Now, two years later, the same PGA Tour commissioner and board members have gotten into bed with the very Saudi investors they denounced when LIV Golf introduced itself to the world.

n the meantime, the things Mickelson was fighting for — higher purses for the top players who attract the most eyeballs to the game on TV — came to fruition once LIV Golf was formed and paying its tournament winners $4 million. The PGA Tour reacted by creating “elevated’’ events putting players millions more in purses.

Not only was Mickelson’s proposal prescient to what has unfolded, but his words resonated.

“Let’s just see how it plays out.’’