Phil Mickelson Signs with LIV Golf, Will Play Opening Event This Week
Phil Mickelson has signed a deal with LIV Golf Investments and will play the first Invitational Series event this week outside of London, ending a four-month break from golf that has seen him embroiled in controversy.
Mickelson, 51, will begin play Thursday in the $25 million, 54-hole event that will be played at the Centurion Golf Club, his first tournament action since he played in the Saudi International tournament in early February.
"Phil Mickelson is unequivocally one of the greatest golfers of this generation. His contributions to the sport and connection to fans around the globe cannot be overstated and we are grateful to have him," LIV Golf Commissioner and CEO Greg Norman said. "He strengthens an exciting field for London where we're proud to launch a new era for golf.
Mickelson joins other past major winners such as Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer among in the 48-player field that will also have a team component.
The winner of the event receives $4 million.
But Mickelson is apparently in for far more than that. Johnson reportedly signed a deal with more than $100 million for what is likely five years, and Mickelson can expect the same.
This is all in the aftermath of a Golf Digest interview in early February in which Mickelson cited the PGA Tour’s "obnoxious greed" for wanting to explore other options, some of which he said would benefit the Tour.
The winner of six major championships including last year’s PGA where he became the game’s oldest major winner, Mickelson has seen his image tarnished while several endorsers dropped him in the wake of those disparaging comments about the PGA Tour as well as the Saudi regime that is backing the LIV Golf series.
The Public Investment Fund, Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, is the primary backer of the series, which will see huge prize funds as well as guarantees to players, despite not having a television rights deal. It is expected that Mickelson has signed on for all eight of the LIV Golf Invitational Series events, five of which will be played in the United States.
That very well likely means his days on the PGA Tour are over. Commissioner Jay Monahan has not given conflicting-events releases for these tournaments, and has threatened penalties or even being barred from the Tour.
Mickelson’s history with the PGA Tour goes back more than 30 years. He won his first tournament as an amateur while a junior at Arizona State in 1991. That gave him PGA Tour membership, which he took up when turning pro prior to the 1992 U.S. Open.
But after opening the year by playing the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the American Express Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open – he missed the cut in the latter two – Mickelson did not play after a 17th-place finish at the Saudi tournament.
The three-time Masters winner skipped the tournament at Augusta National and also did not attempt to defend his title at the PGA Championship. No reason was given. In fact, Mickelson has not spoken publicly since issuing a lengthy apology on Feb. 22 in which he expressed regret for some of the things he said and suggested he needed to work on some personal issues before he returned.
Mickelson is expected to have a news conference at the LIV Golf event prior to the tournament.
Full Field
(48 players)
Oliver Bekker, South Africa
Richard Bland, England
Itthipat Buranatanyarat, Thailand
Laurie Canter, England
Ratchanon Chantananuwat (amateur), Thailand
Hennie Du Plessis, South Africa
Oliver Fisher, England
Sergio Garcia, Spain
Talor Gooch, USA
Branden Grace, South Africa
Justin Harding, South Africa
Sam Horsfield, England
Dustin Johnson, USA
Matt Jones, Australia
Sadom Kaewkanjana, Thailand
Martin Kaymer, Germany
Phachara Khongwatmai, Thailand
Sihwan Kim, USA
Ryosuke Kinoshita, Japan
Chase Koepka, USA
Jinichiro Kozuma, Japan
Pablo Larrazabal, Spain
Viraj Madappa, India
Graeme McDowell, Northern Ireland
Phil Mickelson, USA
Jediah Morgan, Australia
Kevin Na, USA
Shaun Norris, South Africa
Andy Ogletree, USA
Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa
Wade Ormsby, Australia
Adrian Otaegui, Spain
Turk Pettit, USA
James Piot (amateur), USA
Ian Poulter, England
David Puig (amateur), Spain
JC Ritchie, South Africa
Charl Schwartzel, South Africa
Travis Smyth, Australia
Ian Snyman, South Africa
Hudson Swafford, USA
Hideto Tanihara, Japan
Peter Uihlein, USA
Scott Vincent, Zimbabwe
Lee Westwood, England
Bernd Wiesberger, Austria
Blake Windred, Australia
Kevin Yuan, Australia