Phil Mickelson was a legend of the PGA Tour. His 45 tour wins including 6 majors triumphs made him one of the best in the history of the Tour. But the 54-year-old’s image in the PGA has changed in the past couple of years.
Phil Mickelson’s spat with the PGA Tour has been in the news since 2022. His decision to back LIV Golf is still a bitter memory for many of his loyalists. Mickelson held strong opinions about the Saudi-backed league, so his involvement in the development of the latter had left many of his fans and colleagues shell-shocked. Hence, it won’t surprise anyone to learn what he had to say in one of his interviews about the PGA Tour 2 years ago.
Phil Mickelson’s ‘comments’ on the PGA Tour
Back in June 2022, Phil Mickelson sat down for a press conference at the Centurion Club. The primary topic of the interview revolved around Mickelson’s decision to join LIV Golf. But towards the closing session, one of the journalists asked Mickelson an intriguing question.
Is Phil Mickelson’s legacy tarnished beyond repair after his controversial move to LIV Golf and comments about Saudi Arabia?
Yes, he’s lost respect
No, he’s still a legend
It’s complicated
Not sure
“You said you didn’t want to air problems in public, but you mentioned problems with the PGA Tour. Are you prepared to give any sort of further examples of what those problems are? What are the main problems of the Tour as you see them?” asked one of the journalists. Mickelson was visibly annoyed with the question as he replied, “That would be counter-intuitive to what I just said about not talking about them publicly.” But the journalist didn’t budge as he was pushing Mickelson for an answer by saying, “I just wondered if you would give one or two overarching issues you think need to be tackled but you’re saying you don’t want to go into that at all.” The American golfer came up with a smart answer to the journalist’s persistence as he said, “I’m learning from my mistakes.”
The journalist came back with another question, “Secondly, what are you expecting to be punished by the PGA Tour for appearing at this tournament?” Although the question was about Mickelson, it still was related to the PGA Tour. Hence, the pro golfer replied, “Again, that would be commenting on a PGA Tour matter. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I’ll deal with that with the tour privately.”
We can assume the journalist didn’t get the answers he was looking for as the interview continued with other questions. But Phil Mickelson’s comments; or rather the lack of it, don’t come as a surprise to many. Especially considering what he had to say in confidence to his writer. Let’s shed some light on that.
Is Phil Mickelson’s legacy forever tainted by his controversial comments and decisions?
The controversies from 2022
Despite moving to LIV Golf in 2022, Phil Mickelson was still considered a well-respected man in the golf fraternity. That was until the launch of his book in May of 2022. The book included some very negative comments about the league he was playing for. Mickelson was quoted saying that Saudi Arabians were ‘scary motherf***ers‘ and also stated that they ‘execute people for being gay‘. Post his rant about the Saudi-based tour, he also replied to their offer to join the league. Mickelson said, “Why would I even consider it?” Mickelson accused the writer, Alan Shipnuck, of revealing confidential information that was supposed to be kept off the record. But Alan debunked Mickelson’s claims by sharing evidence of their conversation via email where Mickelson had given a heads up to the content.
This created a very bad public image of Phil Mickelson as he ended up losing most of his sponsors. The likes of Callaway, Workday, KPMG, and Heineken, who had been with the pro golfer for quite a few years.
Also, in one of the recent news about Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, it was indicated that LIV Golf’s investors were planning to reduce their investment stake in many of their international projects. They have decided to lower their international investments from 30% to about 20-18%. They have taken this step to increase focus on local development. Taking into account the controversies and PIF’s statement, things might change for the worse for Phil Mickelson. He may not get as good of a contract renewal deal from LIV Golf as the $200 million offer that he signed 2 years ago.
