Summary
- Phil Mickelson seeks waiver to play Saudi golf tournament
- Mickelson says he will look past Saudi human rights abuse
- Saudi golf tournament offers biggest cash prize in history
American golfer Phil Mickelson has requested a release from the PGA Tour to play in the first event of the LIV Golf Invitational Series in London in June 2022. The six-time major champion has also registered in the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
Steve Loy, Mickelson’s agent, said that he had no concrete plans to play in the events. The PGA Championship will be played from May 19-22 in Oklahoma while the U.S. Open will be played from June 16-19 in Massachusetts.
The deadline for requesting a waiver from the PGA for a conflicting event release was up on 25 April. The LIV event clashes with the RBC Canadian Open that will be played from June 9-12, which is why players applied for the release. In May 2021, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had cautioned players against joining the Saudi-financed league and had threatened them with suspension and a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour.
Ever since he was eliminated from the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January, Mickelson has taken part in any official golf tour. Mickelson attracted controversy when he had criticised the PGA Tour in a leaked excerpt from his unauthorised biography penned by Alan Shipnuck.
Mickelson admitted drawing up an agreement with the Saudi league, despite calling the Saudis ‘scary’. Mickelson said that to supplement the PGA Tour with the Saudi-financed breakaway league, he had looked past its litany of human rights abuse.
The comments attracted criticism from Mickelson’s peers from the PGA Tour, after which he apologised. His sponsors like KPMG, Workday, Amstel Light, and Callaway deserted him. The American Express tournament also ended its association with Mickelson.
The LIV Golf Invitational Series will be an eight-event series comprising seven-regular season tournaments compromising the largest prize purse in tournament history, according to league frontman, Greg Norman. The prize for the eight golfing events is $255 million.
The regular season tournaments will feature prizes of $25 million, of which $20 million will be for individuals and $5 million for the top three teams. Individuals ranking in the top three after the regular events will also share a bonus of $30 million on top of the individual prize.
The series finale will take place from October 27-30 at Trump National Doral, Miami, and will award prizes of $50 million in a knockout-style format.
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