Phil Mickelson Joins Saudi-Sponsored Golf Tour after Slamming Regime in Interview
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Six-time golf champion Phil Mickelson joined the Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf tournament on Monday after he criticized the enterprise and its ties to the quasi-authoritarian regime in an interview.
Greg Norman, former Australian player and now CEO of the LIV Golf series, secured Mickelson as one of the 48 competitors in its first event, which will take place June 9-11 outside of London, the New York Post first reported.
“Phil Mickelson is unequivocally one of the greatest golfers of this generation,” Norman said. “His contributions to the sport and connection to fans around the globe cannot be overstated and we are grateful to have him. He strengthens an exciting field for London where we’re proud to launch a new era for golf.”
LIV Golf Investments, the firm spearheading the tour, is supported by Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi regime’s sovereign wealth fund.
Mickelson is expected to play in the his first LIV tour event this weekend at the Centurion Golf Club outside of London, Sports Illustrated reported. He did not participate in the PGA’s Masters tournament in April nor did he defend his title at the PGA championship last month. In a statement posted to Twitter, Mickelson said he was “thrilled” to be joining the tour after a four-month hiatus from golf.
“I am thrilled to begin with LIV Golf and I appreciate everyone involved,” Mickelson wrote. “I also intend to play the majors. I fully realize and respect some may disagree with this decision and have strong opinions and I empathize with that. I have a renewed spirit and excitement for the game.”
Fellow major-winner Dustin Johnson reportedly signed a five-year deal with LIV for $100 million and Mickelson is expected receive a similar deal, SI reported.
Mickelson came under fire for comments he made to Alan Shipnuck, who wrote an unauthorized biography on the golfer, in which he slammed the PGA Tour and the Saudis. But while he was not sympathetic to the Saudi league in his comments, citing the regime’s human rights abuses, he said he entered it as a strategy to “reshape” the PGA Tour.
In the conversation, which Mickelson has assured was private, he called the Saudis “scary motherf—ers to get involved with.”
“We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates,” Mickelson allegedly told Shipnuck.
He said of those running the PGA Tour: “They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse.”
“The tour likes to pretend it’s a democracy, but it’s really a dictatorship,” Mickelson said in the report. “They divide and conquer. The concerns of the top players are very different from the guys who make their own situation better, but the top guys don’t have a say.”
“As nice a guy as he comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right,” he allegedly said of Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour. “And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”
“I’m not sure I even want it to succeed,” he allegedly said of the Saudi league. “But just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the [PGA] Tour.”
Monahan has threatened to bar players who play in LIV events from the PGA. LIV has eight tour events this year, five of which will be held in the U.S.
