Phil Mickelson, before LIV Golf event in Saudi Arabia, said he's on 'winning side' in battle with PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson is in Saudi Arabia this week for the penultimate LIV Golf event of the season, marking his first time in the country since his explosive comments about the country’s regime earlier this year.
While the feud between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is still ongoing, both in the courtroom and elsewhere, Mickelson insists that he is on the “winning side.”
"I think going forward you have to pick a side. You have to pick what side do you think is going to be successful,” Mickelson said Thursday. “And I firmly believe that I'm on the winning side of how things are going to evolve and shape in the coming years for professional golf.
"We play against a lot of the best players in the world on LIV and there are a lot 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 are going to continue to change and evolve. And I see LIV Golf trending upwards, I see the PGA Tour trending downwards and I love the side that I'm on."
LIV Golf is hosting one of its final two tournaments of the eight-event season in Saudi Arabia this weekend at Royal Greens in King Abdullah Economic City. The league will then wrap up at Trump National Doral in South Florida at the end of the month.
Dustin Johnson officially won the league’s season-long individual title after last week’s Bangkok event, earning him an $18 million bonus. He’s now won nearly $31 million already this season.
Mickelson and Johnson are among the biggest names on the circuit, which has 12 players who are currently ranked inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings. LIV Golf events are still not eligible to earn OWGR points, however, so players will continue to fall in the rankings — which could impact their ability to compete in major championships and elsewhere.
LIV Golf members are currently suspended from the PGA Tour. The two sides are still in a legal battle, too.
Mickelson: Golf is 'very lucky' to have Saudi funding
Mickelson has drawn perhaps the most criticism for his involvement with the controversial Saudi Arabian-backed league.
He was among the first to express interest, and did an interview with author Alan Shipnuck earlier this year that drew plenty 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 horrible record on human rights," Mickelson said earlier this year. "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 then stepped away from the Tour, and the public eye, for several months before officially joining LIV Golf.
On Thursday, however, Mickelson again insisted that he “never did an interview with Alan Shipnuck” and that his comments were shared without context before he painted a very different picture of the country.
“I find that my experience with everybody associated with LIV Golf has been nothing but incredibly positive and I have the utmost respect for everybody that I’ve been involved with,” he said.
As for having the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund backing the league, Mickelson said he and the sport in general should feel “very lucky.”
"Now the United States and the U.K. are not favorable to this," Mickelson said. "But everywhere outside in the world, LIV Golf is loved. And eventually they come around and they will be accepting of it.”
