Phil Mickelson is in Saudi Arabia this week for the penultimate LIV golf event of the season, his first visit to Saudi Arabia since his explosive comments about the country’s regime earlier in the year.
As the feud between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour rages on both in the courtroom and elsewhere, Mickelson insists he’s on the “winning side.”
“I think in the future you have to choose a side. You have to decide which side you think will be successful,” Mickelson said Thursday. “And I firmly believe that I am on the winning side as things continue to evolve and shape for professional golf in the years to come.
“We play against many of the best players in the world on LIV and there are many of the best players in the world on the PGA Tour. And… until both sides sit down and have a conversation and work something out, both sides will continue to change and evolve. And I can see LIV Golf is trending up, I can see the PGA Tour is trending down, and I love the side I’m on.”
LIV Golf is hosting one of its final two tournaments of the eight-event season in Saudi Arabia this weekend on the Royal Greens at King Abdullah Economic City. The league will then conclude at the end of the month at Trump National Doral in South Florida.
Dustin Johnson officially won the season-long league singles title after last week’s Bangkok event, earning him an $18 million bonus. He has nearly $31 million in earnings this season.
Mickelson and Johnson are among the biggest names on the circuit, which has 12 players currently ranked in the top 50 on the official golf world rankings. However, LIV Golf events are still not eligible to earn OWGR points, so players will continue to fall behind in the rankings – which could impact their ability to compete in major championships and elsewhere.
LIV Golf members are currently banned from the PGA Tour. The two sides are also still in a legal battle.
Mickelson: Golf is ‘very lucky’ to be funded by Saudi
Mickelson has perhaps drawn the most criticism for his involvement in the controversial Saudi-backed league.
He was among the first to express interest, conducting an interview with author Alan Shipnuck earlier this year that garnered a lot of attention after he called the Saudis “scary motherf***ers to get involved with”.
“We know they killed [Washington Post reporter Jamal] Khashoggi and have a terrible human rights record,” Mickelson said earlier this year. “They execute people there because they are gay. Knowing all this, why should I even consider it? Because this is a unique opportunity to transform the way the PGA Tour operates.”
Mickelson then retired from the tour and the public for several months before officially joining LIV Golf.
However, on Thursday Mickelson again insisted that he “never did an interview with Alan Shipnuck” and that his comments were shared without context before painting a very different picture of the country.
“I feel my experience with everyone associated with LIV Golf has been nothing but incredibly positive and I have the utmost respect for everyone I have dealt with,” he said.
As for the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund’s support for the league, Mickelson said he and the sport in general should feel “very lucky”.
“Now the United States and the United Kingdom are not sympathetic to that,” Mickelson said. “But all over the world LIV Golf is loved. And eventually they’ll come around and they’ll accept it.”
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