- Slug: Sports-Mickelson Saudi Fallout, 1,119 words.
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By Gabe Swartz
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – As the outlook of the professional golf world’s future swirls with each new twist and turn, a 530-word statement released recently by PGA Tour star Phil Mickelson provided the next plot development. In it, the former Arizona State superstar and over three-decade fixture on Tour tried to justify the actions which created the firestorm around him, when he appeared to dismiss Saudi human rights abuses by supporting participation in a Saudi-backed Super Golf League.
Reaction was swift.
“It’s definitely odd,” three-time PGA Tour winner and Scottsdale resident Max Homa, 31, told Cronkite News. “I think when you grow up you’re a Tiger (Woods) guy or a Phil guy as a kid, but as I got older you started to see what Phil has done for the game, not only for the game but in the game. … I’m sure he regrets a couple of the things he said and the analogies that he’s made, but I really feel bad for fans that have followed him forever that might now feel like they are getting – that they have to read about someone that is their hero that is getting ripped to shreds. Phil is a good dude. Hopefully, he can fix this.”
Mickelson recently announced he would be taking time off and never mentioning the Tour by name.
“I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be,” Mickelson’s Twitter statement read. Within two hours of the release, KPMG – who sponsored the long-time star since 2008 – announced an end to its partnership with Mickelson. Workday and Amsel cut ties with him and Callaway announced it would “pause” its partnership with the Tour star.
The San Diego native has not played an event on Tour since competing in his hometown at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January. A week later, he competed in Saudi Arabia on the Asian Tour.
The Fire Pit Collective’s Alan Shipnuck, who is set to release a biography about Mickelson in May titled “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,“ published an early excerpt from his book on Thursday as the Tour got set for its latest stop at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. In it, Mickelson described the Saudi Arabian regime as “scary motherf—— 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 told Shipnuck during a phone call in November. “I’m not sure I even want (the SGL) to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the (PGA)Tour.”
A wave of PGA Tour players reacted to the comments from the six-time major winner.
World No. 5 ranked Rory McIlroy, who has made public for nearly two years that he would not be joining the SGL, told reporters at the Genesis Invitational he thought Mickelson’s words were “naive, selfish, egotistical (and) ignorant.”
Pat Perez, another former ASU standout, questioned the remarks.
“I don’t know what Phil is doing,” Perez told reporters at Riviera after Mickelson skipped for the second straight year the final event of the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing. The Genesis Invitational featured every golfer ranked in the Top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings, a week after the top of the leaderboard at the WM Phoenix Open was filled with marquee names. “I don’t know what he’s doing. I know he’s not speaking for me and, you know, I actually really don’t care what he has to say about anything because I just don’t. He doesn’t speak for me.”
Will golf fans forgive Mickelson? In some ways, the relation between knowledge of the situation and level of forgiveness may be inverse, with those unconsumed by “Golf Twitter” blissfully unaware of what one of the game’s most iconic players has done to his reputation.
The redemption arc of Tiger Woods’ career created a storybook moment at Augusta National during the 2019 Masters. Mickelson already had a fairytale win of his own; his coming in May of 2021 when he became the oldest major champion in golf history by winning the PGA Championship at 50. The possibility of his next redemptive opportunity coming as a future Ryder Cup captain exists after Mickelson served as vice-captain on the 2021 United States squad which won in record-setting fashion over Europe.
“Phil’s apology was him explaining himself,” said Raymond Ellis, a golf fan and 2017 graduate of Arizona State. Ellis said he grew up watching golf and saw Mickelson play at Pebble Beach as a teenager.
“His comments came across as naive and kind of out of touch,” Ellis said. “It felt like the entire interview was just an oxymoron, because he vacillated between how bad (the Saudis) are – and rightfully so – but then he also says ‘even though that’s a huge problem, I still want their money.’ It felt very oxymoronic and it felt tone-deaf.”
Because the Tour does not announce player suspensions, it’s unclear whether Mickelson’s announced break is self-imposed or that of a suspension from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. In May 2021, Monahan threatened a ban to those who joined a different league.
Whether or not Mickelson’s comments to Shipnuck have blown up the SGL for good remains to be seen, but in the days following Mickelson’s statement, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele – each ranked inside the top 12 in the OWGR and linked to the breakaway league in some capacity – made their own announcements reaffirming commitment to the PGA Tour.
When Mickelson returns Ellis said he will be rooting for him – likely alongside plenty of others – both as an ASU alum and a fan of golf.
“I 100 percent support him,” Ellis said. “My support is multi-faceted because I respect his greatness in the game. I like watching people be great. There’s that aspect, but there’s also the sentimental aspect. I graduated from the same university that the current No. 1 golfer in the world and one of the top probably 10 golfers to have ever played the game both went to.
“There’s some sentimental connection there so I always want to see him succeed. (Mickelson’s) friendly. He’s charismatic. I’m rooting for him as a person. He’s definitely going to have my support and I want him to be the Phil that he’s always been.”
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