By Joel Beall
No player has been as outspoken against a Saudi-backed golf league as Rory McIlroy, and his candour has extended to those toying with jumping to the proposed breakaway circuit. One of those targets was Phil Mickelson, with McIlroy calling Mickelson’s now infamous comments “naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant” at the Genesis Invitational.

But in the wake of Mickelson losing the majority of his sponsors and becoming something of a persona non grata at the moment, McIlroy—speaking Wednesday ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational—took a more compassionate tone towards Phil.

“It is unfortunate. I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, still is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf,” McIlroy said at Bay Hill. “It’s unfortunate that a few comments that he thought he was making in confidence or off the record got out there and were, not used against him, but this whole situation is unfortunate.”

McIlroy continued that the players “want to see [Mickelson] back”—in a statement last week Mickelson alluded to taking time away from the sport—and that Mickelson has represented the game well throughout his career. McIlroy also preached forgiveness whenever Mickelson does return.

“Look, we all make mistakes. We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard,” McIlroy said. “But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.”

Already considered one of the sport’s more contemplative and astute voices, McIlroy has cemented that standing over the past two years in his remarks about the threat of a rival league to the PGA and European Tours, making his stance known long before others would directly address the issues at hand. It is also a standing helped by the fact that McIlroy is one of the game’s best performers. Asked if he would see himself still speaking out if he wasn’t a renowned golfer, McIlroy clarified he only speaks about what he knows.

“I’ll only voice my opinion on things that I believe I’m educated in and believe that I have a right to talk about. So there’s certainly things that I won’t get into just because I’m not completely educated on that topic and feel like giving an opinion probably isn’t the right thing to do,” McIlroy said. “But when it comes to golf and PGA Tour stuff, I feel like I’m pretty educated on that stuff. And I guess with that voice comes responsibility to try to do the right thing. That’s all I try to do. I try to make comments or speak about things to do the right thing, and that’s the reason I’m maybe a little more outspoken than other guys in our game.

“Again, it doesn’t go much further than the game of golf because I feel comfortable talking about that, but when you sort of delve into other things, I don’t think it’s my place to get into that.”

McIlroy, who won the API in 2018, tees off Thursday with Adam Scott and Sepp Straka at 8:27 a.m.

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By Tod Leonard
Phil Mickelson is out as host of The American Express that is played each January in California’s Coachella Valley. The Palm Springs Desert Sun reported on Saturday that the PGA Tour confirmed that Mickelson won’t be the future host after serving the event in that capacity for the past three years. The charitable arm of the tournament, the Mickelson Foundation, will also no longer be part of the event, the tour said.

The American Express moves come amid other sponsors distancing themselves from Mickelson this week after his confirmed involvement with the prospective Saudi-backed golf league and his controversial comments published by the Fire Pit Collective.

On Friday, Mickelson’s longtime equipment partner, Callaway Golf, said it was “pausing” its relationship with the six-time major winner, and Workday confirmed that it would end its relationship with Mickelson when his current endorsement deal expires in March. Heineken already had said it was cutting ties to the World Golf Hall of Famer.

Mickelson, 51, has been a key figure in the tour event in La Quinta, Calif., for two decades. He has made 19 appearances in The American Express (still known to many as the Bob Hope) and won it twice, in 2002 and 2004.

Mickelson said in a statement on Feb. 22 that he “desperately” needed time away from competition and there is no indication when he might return to the PGA Tour.

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By Shane Ryan
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.—Last October, Lee Westwood made it clear that he no longer sought the 2023 European Ryder Cup captaincy and preferred to focus on golf and making the team. He was considered by many to be the presumptive favourite for the captain’s seat, speaking as recently as August about taking the reins, and his withdrawal created a vacuum.

Now, according to multiple people involved in the process, that space has been filled by four primary candidates: Luke Donald, 44; Henrik Stenson, 45; Robert Karlsson, 52, and Paul Lawrie, 53. Of those three, Donald, Stenson, and Karlsson were vice-captains at Whistling Straits in 2021 while Lawrie hasn’t been a vice-captain since 2016 and sits on the board of the European Tour Group.

The next captain will be chosen by a five-person committee consisting of the last three captains (Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn, and Darren Clarke), European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, and David Howell, the chair of the tour’s tournament committee. The consensus is that a choice will be made by mid-March, with the possibility of an even longer delay—perhaps extending into April, after the Masters.

The PGA of America is set to announce on Monday its captain for the ‘23 Ryder Cup near Rome, and Zach Johnson is the reported choice.

Westwood, 48, has been consulted by that panel for his opinion on the candidates, and though he wouldn’t share details of that discussion publicly, he did seem to feel that for practical purposes, the field had been reduced to two.

“Donald and Stenson are probably the two who are out front at the moment,” Westwood said on Friday at the Honda Classic. “They’re a little bit younger and a little bit more in tune with the current players.”

The process on the European side has been slower by months than prior years. Harrington’s captaincy (for 2020, which was then pushed back by the pandemic to 2021) was announced in January of 2019, Bjorn emerged for 2018 in December of 2016, and Paul McGinley got the nod for 2014 in January 2013. The reason for the ongoing delay will not surprise anyone following golf for the past year: Here again, the threat of the Saudi Golf League has thrown a wrench in the works.

A source close to the European Tour said that there is serious concern about naming a captain and having him subsequently join the SGL. In this case, they are particularly worried about Stenson and have had ongoing discussions with him for the past few weeks. Stenson’s name has been mentioned in connection with the Saudi Golf League, and that has reportedly made European Tour leadership uncomfortable. Additionally, the various complications of the SGL have prevented figures such as Pelley from devoting as much time and energy to the Ryder Cup, which has furthered the delay. There is a sense, too, that there’s no pressing need to decide immediately, since the captain’s responsibilities aren’t particularly urgent at this point in the process.

At the Honda Classic, Harrington was adamant about staying silent.

“I have been specifically asked not to talk about it,” he said. “An actual do-not-discuss order. I’m not allowed to discuss the timeline; I’m specifically not allowed to discuss who’s in it. They won’t want opinions getting out there. There’s four guys in there with a chance and if I start talking about one, it could be misconstrued as me favouring them.”

Andrew Redington
Henrik Stenson of Europe sprays champagne as he celebrates after winning the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Stenson, though, was more open to speculating. This past Monday, he said, he sat down for a formal 45-minute discussion over Zoom with the panel (Guy Kinnings, the European Tour’s Ryder Cup director, also joined), and the other candidates have done likewise. He was asked to prepare some thoughts on his own leadership plan, and then fielded questions.

“It felt somewhere between a job interview and a school presentation,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve done that. They’ll take the conversation and digest that, and come back with an answer, and I think they’re looking somewhere towards mid-March.”

Ian Poulter is another name that was bandied about as a potential captain in Italy, and at 46 it’s not long before he’ll be a serious candidate. But, like Westwood, he’s chosen to devote himself to making the team for the current cycle.

“I’m definitely not one of the four,” he said. “I’m definitely not ready for it. The way I feel and the way I’m playing right now, if you’re around the top 50, are you going to want to have a distraction for 12 months, and all the obligations, and travel? It’s hard to do that and try to play properly.”

Poulter said that the four candidates were announced at a meeting in the past two weeks. He reiterated what Westwood said about Donald and Stenson being the two favourites, but, unlike Westwood, he was willing to share his preference.

“I would say Henrik,” he said. “From a perspective of having played a lot more golf in Europe in the last 10 years than what Luke would have done, and because of that he’s probably got a closer relationship with the younger players. And that would be my reason between him and Luke. The other two are great guys and very worthy players, but from a relationship standpoint, I think you still need to have a bond with players you’ve played with recently.”

While the source close to the European Tour emphasized that Stenson had not necessarily been a slam dunk before the Saudi complications, it appears that it did present a major obstacle to his candidacy. Whether that obstacle is overcome to the satisfaction of the European Tour could be the decisive factor in who is ultimately chosen.

“That’s more of a question for the panel,” Stenson said, when asked if it would affect his candidacy. “You have to ask them to see how they look at it. There’s been a lot of players in discussions.”

Westwood has also been tied to the Saudis and seemed concerned that it could impact his own chances.

“I don’t think it should have any bearing,” he said, “but it may have a bearing in the future, yes.”

Donald may end up as the beneficiary of all this complication and delay. On Thursday at the Honda Classic, he spoke about being one of the four candidates for the job, and almost seemed surprised that he was potentially so close to the top seat.

“I was told that they were doing something that stopped them making a decision until towards the end of March,” he said. “Certainly, being a candidate for being a captain is a little bit sooner than I thought I was in the pecking order.”

When pressed on the Saudi issue, he seemed to indicate that it could be a major problem, though he wouldn’t mention anyone by name.

“They made it pretty clear that if you were involved with the Saudis that you weren’t going to be part of the Ryder Cup,” he said. “The European and the PGA Tour have a strong alliance now, so that was the case. I think before that happened, obviously Westwood said he had a chance to play another one, and I’m not sure if it affected anyone else.”

A secondary difficulty in choosing the next captain is the sheer wealth of candidates available to the Europeans, and that will only become more challenging in the next decade. The generation of European golfers in their late 30s and 40s has been phenomenally successful, which means that the current candidates will be joined in the near future by players such as Westwood, Poulter, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, and others. Some, like Graeme McDowell, who at 42 was thought by some to be too young to be a major candidate this time around, and Martin Kaymer, who is 37 but has served as a vice-captain, will undoubtedly be in the mix in the next decade. The surplus of potential captains creates a bottleneck, and it’s inevitable that qualified candidates will have to be excluded—including, almost certainly, any of the four candidates who misses the cut this time around.

“That’s a part of why I was considering doing it at this stage,” Stenson said. “I’m three years younger than Lee and if he felt like he wanted to focus on the game, I’m even younger and also focused on my golf game. That was certainly one part of it—that we have a very strong generation. We’re not going to struggle to find strong candidates to lead Team Europe. If you get asked and you turn it down, that may be your only shot.”

“Somebody’s going to miss out, aren’t they?” Westwood said, putting it more bluntly. “Somebody who you think will get it will miss out. Will probably be my fault.”

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By Joel Beall
Phil Mickelson delivered a statement Tuesday afternoon—a statement that wasn’t so much an apology as it was a series of explanations and exposition. He acknowledged his comments in a November interview as reckless but said they were off the record. He was remorseful, not to the PGA Tour or its fans, but to the “visionaries” at LIV Golf Investments. He said he understood his words offended yet was quick to note criticism comes with the territory of being a disruptor. He gave sponsors his blessing to end their relationship and asserted, despite the optics, his actions are navigated by the best interests of the game. In short, there is a lot to unpack from his U-Haul.

Mickelson has made a career of escaping the inescapable, and we’re not referring to punch shots through Augusta National’s pines. Be it an insider trading scandal or purposefully hitting a moving ball or gambling ties to a mobster, Mickelson has managed to endure as one of golf’s most popular figures—a status seemingly permanently ensconced last May with his PGA Championship triumph at Kiawah Island. But that status, thanks to incendiary comments and a reported insurgency against the PGA Tour, feels very much in doubt.

Conversely, he is far from the first high-profile athlete to find himself in trouble and those believing this is the end of Mickelson are in need of a history lesson. Rare is the transgression in sports that doesn’t beget forgiveness or a second chance. The question isn’t will Phil be able to bounce back from this, but how?

Denise White is the CEO of EAG Sports Management and the go-to authority on athlete crisis management. Her work is so renowned that Netflix is working on a show about White’s life. Lacking as Mickelson’s answer may seem, White thinks it’s a start.

Speaking Wednesday about Mickelson’s effort to explain himself, White said, “For the most part it’s a good statement. He needed to apologize and take accountability, although he tries to explain too much and his accountability is a little lacklustre. But he gets his point across. He contradicts himself a couple of times, but I’m not gonna hold that against him. If I had been counselling him I would’ve made that statement much shorter, to the point, take accountability a bit more and apologize.

“You can tell he’s backtracking because all the people that he’s been in business with this Saudi league are probably furious. In one interview he killed a multi-million-dollar deal for not just himself but for a lot of other people, so I’m sure there are many unhappy people. He has a lot of clean up to do, and it’s not just his image.”

With his apology out of the way—or at least what Mickelson believes constitutes an apology—now what? To attorney Jay K. Reisinger, who has represented numerous Major League Baseball players (including Alex Rodriguez in the MLB’s investigation into his use of performance-enhancing substances), Mickelson’s next move is one he’s already telegraphed: take some time away. Whether that is his decision or a decision thrust upon him, from a crisis-management standpoint, is irrelevant.

“There are so, so few cases of an instance so bad that an athlete can’t return to the public. O.J. Simpson is not able to come back, that’s really about it,” Reisinger says. “Anything Phil has done is not a death knell. You lay low. You make your voice heard. He would be best to disappear for a bit. As long as he doesn’t repeat what he said, I don’t think what he’s done has permanently damaged [him].”

Ideally, this time would be one of reflection for Mickelson, and not just for PR’s sake. When athletes find themselves in trouble, there’s a tendency for the figure in question to be defensive. To some level they acknowledge they made a mistake, yet there’s also a belief they are being treated unfairly or the situation is being blown out of proportion. This can be destructive as it lays the brick to go down a similar path in the future.

For Mickelson, there needs to be an admission and education of what he did, what he said and how he said it was wrong, White asserts. And when he returns he needs to make that education known.

“He showed himself to be extremely greedy and insensitive,” White says. “He said he’s knowingly going into business with people he thinks killed someone. With people who are against gay people and women’s rights. Essentially, a group that is for all the things America is fighting against … and you’re going into business with them because, what, you’re trying to take down an organization [the PGA Tour] that built you into what you are? What does that say about your character? It’s not good. It’s hurting his reputation. To play the money card … much of America is middle class. So when you see a man making millions playing golf, it’s hard to sympathize when he says he’s not making enough.”

Sam Greenwood

“Some of the grievances have merit,” White continued. “But there are other ways to do it without tearing other people down. Nobody likes anybody trying to go up the ladder by pulling others down. He’s going to have to shut up and handle things behind closed doors. To realize the environment in which he said it. Golf is already a sport known for excluding people. To say what he said in the hopes of trying to get others to see his point … he barked up the wrong tree.”

Reisinger says this is a period of accountability, where toughness is paramount. “You’re going to have to take this on the chin,” he says. “People are going to want to see that you’re hurt for what you said, that you can take it. That’s easier said than done.” And part of this exodus is, well, to prevent further damage. “Even if he believes what he said to be true, part of his failing was that he was incomprehensible,” Reisinger says. “There are better ways to say what he was trying to say, better avenues to do what he’s trying to do. He needs to clean himself up.”

Another point imperative to this process is expecting, and accepting, the fallout. In Mickelson’s case he’s seen his colleagues denounce him and a couple of players linked to the Saudi-backed league instead state their intentions to remain with the PGA Tour following his comments. Two of his biggest sponsors have left and more could follow suit.

Echoing Reisinger’s earlier sentiments, White says now is not the time for rebuttal. “That’s the sacrifice that happens when you say these things,” White says. “No one wants to be associated with you.” Essentially, those are concepts contrary to Mickelson’s persona, as he has thrived off public favor and the idea he’s the smartest in the room.

To understand where Mickelson goes from here requires a bit of context as well. While not minimizing what he said and what he reportedly did in organizing a breakaway league, the experts say the game needs to recognize where Mickelson’s misdeeds fall on the transgression spectrum and how that relates to the public.

“There’s crisis management cases where it’s domestic violence, and that’s rough because that resonates with people because the public can’t conceive of laying hands on another person,” White says. “This wasn’t that. Phil didn’t get arrested. There was no drunk driving. He didn’t hurt an animal or child. There are levels of crisis management and this isn’t at the top.” White says look no further than Aaron Rodgers, who was a pariah early in the NFL season for lying about his vaccination status only to win MVP at the end of the season.

To an extent, Reisinger says there is a simple solution. “The greatest PR move he could make is to win tournaments,” Reisinger says. “Because when you start to play well in sports, it does wonders for your PR. When you play bad, the play is attributed to what you said.” But for Mickelson, who turns 52 this summer and has only one top-10 finish (the PGA win) in his last 27 starts, it may not be the most feasible option, and whatever window exists is closing fast.

Which leads to Mickelson’s road back. The best thing he can do is return to competition when the time is right. To be back in his comfort zone, inside the ropes.

Mickelson will have to play to the fans with his bravado, to acknowledge their presence in ways most professionals fail to grasp (no matter the sincerity or motive behind it). To Mickelson, especially, he already has a base that was willing to overlook his dealings in white-collar crime, a temper tantrum at the 2018 U.S. Open, and his belittlement of Tom Watson at the 2014 Ryder Cup. He has likely lost some zealous golf fans, and yes, there will be trolls who pepper him with insults. Yet many fans don’t follow the day-to-day transpirings of the sport, and a good contingent is likely unaware of the true nature of his current circumstance.

“They know Phil as the people’s champ, the guy who gives thumbs up,” Reisinger says. “The fan that knows Phil as that guy, the fan is still in his corner.”

But that is a day in the distance. For now the man known for his brazen escapes must stay put, held captive not by his words or actions but time. In White’s view, time is also what will set him free.

“It gets better every day,” White says. “From social media to the internet, the first day is the worst day. As long as nothing new comes out, it gets better and lesser, better and lesser. Eventually, something will overshadow it and it will be gone.”

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By Dan Rapaport
PGA Tour players and officials discussed a number of topics regarding the tour’s future in a mandatory players meeting on Tuesday ahead of the Honda Classic at PGA National.

According to a player in attendance, commissioner Jay Monahan spent roughly the first 10 minutes discussing the rumoured Saudi-backed golf league. In addition to reiterating the position that anyone who signs with the league would not be welcomed back to the tour, Monahan continued to portray the upstart circuit as being focused just about money.

“He basically was talking like it’s not going to happen, and that it’s time to move on and stop talking about it,” the source said.

After Monahan spoke, other senior tour officials were made available for a question-and-answer session. Topics discussed included potential changes to the fall schedule, which could be put in place for 2023.

One proposal, initially laid out at last week’s Player Advisory Council meeting in Los Angeles, would feature a series of events played internationally that would include the top 50 finishers in the prior season’s FedEx Cup. Simultaneously, players outside the top 50 would be able to play in a separate group of tournaments, but these events would not count toward the following year’s FedEx Cup points race.

Driving the conversation regarding a restructured fall schedule is the desire among top players to have a more defined offseason. The source said that the rank-and-file players generally agreed that golfers need a more extended break, and that separating any fall events from counting toward the FedEx Cup would allow players greater flexibility with setting their schedules.

“After Patrick Cantlay won the FedEx Cup, he and Xander Schauffele went to Napa just for fun—not to play in the tour event there,” the source said. “Those are not good optics. Guys should want to play in tour events.”

A common theme throughout the meeting was players expressing their desire for more transparency as far as the tour’s financials and dealings. Players were told that purses will continue to rise—the Players Championship will likely rise from $20 million to $25 million by 2025—and that they should expect major championships to keep pace with the Players’ purse increases.

The upcoming Netflix documentary series was also brought up, with a number of players expressing concern over who and what will be shown. Players were told that they would not be recorded without their consent and that the tour plans to send a memo to players laying out guidelines for how the show will proceed.

Tour officials also told players that the results of the controversial Player Impact Program are close to being finalised.

One topic that was not discussed was the statement from Phil Mickelson in which he apologised for his Saudi golf league comments published last Thursday. The statement was released during the meeting. A question about it was asked to officials, but they had not seen Mickelson’s statement and thus did not comment. The source said that once the question was asked, players immediately took to social media to read the six-paragraph statement.

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By Joel Beall
Billy Horschel joined the growing choir of players to criticise Phil Mickelson for the six-time major winner’s comments regarding the proposed Saudi-backed golf league.

Horschel, speaking on the Fairways of Life podcast, called Mickelson’s remarks to the Fire Pit Collective “idiotic” and untrue while asserting Mickelson has tarnished his legacy.

“They were a little bit idiotic to tell you the truth. I think some of the statements he made are lies, are false, are—I don’t know where he got his information from,” Horschel said. “It’s unbelievable that he would say certain things because I think he does understand how the PGA Tour works. He’s had obviously more experience and more time and more communications with Tim Finchem and Jay Monahan over the years.

“And so, for him to say certain things about obnoxious greed and the PGA Tour sitting on $20 billion to $30 billion and some of these other things, which are complete lies because I’m in the PAC meetings. I may not see all the numbers that a player director may see in board meetings, but I see enough to understand that the money is being used correctly and it’s being used how the PGA Tour says it is. It’s tough because this guy—I say this guy—Phil has done so great, and he’s been a great ambassador to the game of golf, and I honestly feel that he’s hurting his reputation and he’s tarnishing his legacy a little bit.”

Horschel, a six-time winner on tour and former FedEx Cup champ, went so far as to question if Mickelson has lost his long-presumed spot as captain of the United States captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Horschel continued. “Obviously, that’s a decision with the PGA of America and the former captains … I would say at this point right now, if that decision had to be made, if the Ryder Cup was next year for Bethpage, and we all thought he was going to get it and that decision was going to be made, it would be hard-pressed for me to see him actually getting that spot. I would think they would sort of say, Hey, we just can’t go down that route. But, you know, we’re three or four years away from that timeline, and things can be corrected, and people can admit wrong and do things the right way going forward. At the same time, how much does Phil actually want to be captain? That’s an honest question. … If that’s what he really wants to be is a Ryder Cup captain, maybe there’s some way for him to sort of fix anything that has hurt him from possibly being in that spot.”

Horschel’s statements echo the thoughts of Rory McIlroy, who said on Sunday at Riviera that Mickelson’s comments were “naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.”

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By Dan Rapaport
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Rory McIlroy harshly criticised Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments regarding the PGA Tour and the rumoured Saudi-backed golf league, calling them “naive, selfish, egotistical, arrogant.”

After shooting three-under 68 on Sunday to creep into the top 10 at the Genesis Invitational, McIlroy was asked a number of questions about the topic that has dominated conversation this week. On Monday, tour player Kramer Hickok claimed 17 players had already signed up for the league. Then Mickelson’s comments, given to Alan Shipnuck as part of an interview for his upcoming biography on Lefty, dropped on Thursday. Mickelson called the Saudi Arabians funding the proposed league “scary …..,” referred to the PGA Tour as a “dictatorship,” accused commissioner Jay Monahan of not doing the right thing unless he’s forced to and claimed to have recruited players and lawyers to draft up the league to create leverage and enact change on the PGA Tour.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously,” McIlroy said, “but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant. A lot of words to describe that interaction he had with Shipnuck. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

McIlroy’s words came hours after Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, who were considered prime targets for the upstart league, both committed their futures to the PGA Tour. To McIlroy, who serves on the PGA Tour’s policy board, those announcements have greatly diminished the threat of the possible rival league.

“Who’s left? Who’s left to go? I mean, there’s no one. It’s dead in the water in my opinion. I just can’t see any reason why anyone would go … I mean, Greg Norman [CEO of LIV Golf, the group pushing the SGL] would have to tee it up to fill the field. Like, I mean seriously? I mean, who else is going to do it? I don’t think they could get 48 guys.”

McIlroy said he was never truly worried about the Saudi league upending the world of professional golf because of poor leadership choices and never having Tiger Woods’ blessing—but he’s relieved to, at least in his opinion, have it now in the rearview mirror.

“I knew the way these guys have operated and it’s all been smoke and mirrors and they’ve created rumours and spread rumours and tried to play one guy off another and said one thing to one manager and said a different thing to another manager and just sort of created this chaos and confusion around that group, and everyone’s questioning everyone else’s motives so they’re just kind of playing everyone off one another. I think it’s nice now that we all can sit down and say, look, we’re all on the same page here.”

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By Joel Beall
If a through-line can be ascertained from Phil Mickelson’s criticism of the PGA Tour it is his contention with the organisation’s media rights. The tour, Mickelson asserts, is sitting on a pile of money like Scrooge McDuck from broadcasting deals and digital assets, money Phil believes belongs to the tour’s constituents.

“It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on,” Mickelson told Golf Digest’s John Huggan earlier this month. “But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat [from Saudi or anywhere else], they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel. … There are many issues, but that is one of the biggest.” Mickelson also claimed that the tour charged him $1 million each time he wanted to participate in “The Match” series, saying the tour’s “obnoxious greed” has forced him to look elsewhere.

The remarks were, to put it lightly, bombastic. And Mickelson shared similar complaints with the Fire Pit Collective in an interview published this week. The problem—well, one of the problems—is Mickelson’s failure to grasp a basic understanding of how media rights work.

Mickelson isn’t totally wrong; players do not have any ownership of the tour’s media rights. But no athlete participating in a major professional sports league does. Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association aren’t perfect analogs to the PGA Tour; in those sports a player is an employee of a team under a guaranteed contract. Part of that contract stipulates the team owns anything that player does on the field and anything that goes on their uniforms (save for shoes). That includes media rights.

Golfers, conversely, are independent contractors with no guaranteed contracts. Unlike other athletes, they can monetize their uniforms. Still, as members of the tour, they do assign the organization all of their media rights, giving the tour an aggregated bundle of intelluctual property. It’s this bundle that enables the PGA Tour to sell media rights to distributors. For example, if the tour’s media rights were fragmented—say, if CBS Sports didn’t have the exclusive rights to air this weekend’s Genesis Invitational and players could individually sell their live and archived broadcast rights—the TV deals would be worthless.

And those deals are worth a ton. In March 2020 the tour finalized a new nine-year media rights agreement with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN that went into effect in 2022 that will pay the tour $7 billion over this span. Mickelson, in a September podcast with Gary Williams, complained that only 26 percent of this revenue was being funneled back to the players. In truth, according to a memo from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan to players last November, 55 percent of revenue is going back to the players in prize money, bonus programs and other benefits. This 55 percent is in line with what NBA and NFL players receive from their respective leagues (MLB is currently in a labor dispute).

While it’s easy to correlate the purse and FedEx Cup prize increases this year as a response to the Saudi golf league threat, Monahan has said going back to 2020 the increases are a result of this new media deal. (Those deals did, however, allow for new bonus pools and the creation of the PIP initiatives.) In fact, due to the nature of how the PGA Tour is run—it is listed as a 501(c)(6) non-profit—the tour is obligated to flow the money back to the players, while allowing expenses of the company to be paid and also to accumulate a reasonable reserve of funds.

As the $7 billion figure over a nine-year span shows, Mickelson’s $20 billion claim is outlandish. However, there are more than live rights at play. The tour also owns the highlights and a treasure chest of archived assets. The tour is able to generate revenue from these rights, primarily by selling them with advertising or sponsorship against video on digital platforms. But, as Monahan has laid out, whatever is made from this endeavor is again funneled back into the pot for players, distributed in prize money or bonus pools.

Tour players do have some rights to their own media footage. Over the past decade the tour has become more liberal with how players can use video on their social feeds, having the ability to contact the tour to air highlights on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook to build their brands and fan bases so long as they don’t use a pre-roll of sponsorship or advertising before those highlights. The tour has actually increased its in-house player-content staff to help meet these growing demands. Additionally, players are also allowed—with certain restrictions—to have their own teams film them on tournament sites, including tournament rounds. A recent example is the viral video of Scott Stallings’ daughter giving her dad some encouragement during the Farmers Insurance Open, as the clip was not produced by the tour but Stallings’ team.

Oisin Keniry

Again, players do not have the right to sell their media rights for commercial use, but that is consistent across all professional sporting leagues in the United States. As for Mickelson’s gripe that he had to pay $1 million each time he was involved with “The Match” exhibition series—an agreement that falls under the purview of being a PGA Tour member—that’s not entirely true, either. Multiple sources confirmed to Golf Digest that Turner Sports, which has aired all five iterations of “The Match,” paid the $1 million fee, not Mickelson personally. Mickelson has also made millions from the franchise, with $9 million alone coming from his first battle against Tiger Woods in 2018.

This is not to say the PGA Tour’s media rights are perfect. How fans are consuming sports is constantly changing, as is the digital marketplace. The landmark changes in NIL legislation at the amateur level could spur more individual rights in the professional realm. Woods himself addressed the issue earlier this week when speaking at the Genesis Invitational.

“Media rights is a big thing,” Woods said on Wednesday.” A lot of us are concerned about what is the direction, where we’re going and how can we have more control over that. There’s been a lot of talk from whether it’s the PAC or the board or from players internally. Everyone has their opinion about it, but we need to come to a collective decision. Jay has taken it all in to try and figure out what’s best for each and every individual player because we’re all independent contractors, but what is best for the tour as a brand as well. Trying to put all that together, meanwhile still grow the tour at the same time and all the different media rights that have come about over the last 10 years, whether it’s streaming, which didn’t exist, where do you go on that, where does the tour go, who owns those rights, how much do you share of that, where does it go.

“Yes, there’s give and take, OK?” Woods continued. “We just need to find—there’s a balance of what’s best for the players and what’s best for the brand.”

But when it comes to Mickelson’s specific criticism, the argument is weighted with exaggerations and short on validity.

The post What Phil gets wrong about the PGA Tour’s media rights appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dan Rapaport
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Add Adam Scott to the list of players highly interested in the rumoured Saudi-backed golf league that hopes to lure stars away from the PGA Tour with huge paydays.

The 41-year-old said on Wednesday in advance of the Genesis invitational that he is “sworn to secrecy” as far as details, which would seem to suggest he may have signed some type of non-disclosure agreement. Lee Westwood said at last month’s Saudi International that he had signed an NDA and was not at liberty to discuss the specifics of his negotiations.

Scott, who tends to play less than average tour pro—roughly 20 events per year—finds the proposed league’s schedule particularly attractive. .

“I think the schedule they’re proposing is very appealing to probably most golfers,” he said. “Depending what your goals are in golf, I think the schedule is very appealing. From that side of things, I would consider doing that, for sure. From a lifestyle side of things, yes.”

Scott also addressed criticism about the source of the money.

“I think it’s a bigger discussion than just a quick quote from me up here, to be honest,” he said. I can understand obviously that angle. I think you can argue both sides of lots of things, but at the end of the day I think my general feeling on this at the moment is that it’s only a positive thing for professional golfers that there’s interest and money coming into the sport. And it’s also somewhat forced the PGA Tour to put more money into the professional golfers and we’re seeing that all around the world, too.

“They’ve put money into the European Tour. The LIV Golf Investments has put money into the Asian Tour. So at the moment that’s good for strengthening the professional game. How everything else pans out, I don’t know, but at the moment I think it’s good that these things are happening for golf professionals.”

The league, of course, does not exist yet. Greg Norman was officially named CEO of LIV Golf Investments in October and promptly announced $200 million investment from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund. That money, Norman said, would be used to fund a 10-event series on the Asian Tour, including the Saudi International. It is widely assumed, however, that LIV Golf Investments is planning a separate league that will play a limited schedule of events across the globe.

The league has dominated conversation this week after tour player Kramer Hicock claimed that 17 players had already signed up and went into detail about the tournament structure and schedule. Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy have all said they will not be leaving the PGA Tour.

Scott has expressed his issues with the PGA Tour schedule before, as the native Australian likes to head back home for large swaths of time and feels the current breakneck pace of the PGA Tour schedule does not allow him to do so. He played just nine times in 2020, when he initially opted to stay in Australia rather than return to the COVID bubble-era PGA Tour.

“When there’s only a proposed 14 events (on the new tour), let’s say, and you might pick to play some other events, there seems to be time for a legitimate offseason,” Scott said. “I think that’s really missed on the PGA Tour from all aspects, but certainly from the top players. I think we would all like to see a break, and a break where you’re not penalized for taking a break. I think that’s one of the big things.”

In a meeting on Tuesday night, the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council discussed rethinking the fall schedule to allow for the type of offseason that Scott is clamouring for. There is some momentum for fall events to not count toward the FedEx Cup or World Rankings, and to use the fall as a trial period for alternative-format and team-based concepts.

Scott is a two-time winner of the Genesis Invitational and enters this week with top-10s in two of his last three starts worldwide.

The post Adam Scott in talks with proposed Saudi golf league, jokes he’s ‘sworn to secrecy’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The threat of a competing Saudi Arabia-backed professional golf league has floated like a storm on the game’s horizon for the better part of two years. Due to an overabundance of rumour and lack of substantiation, that’s where the storm has stayed—in the distance. However, its thunder has never ceased, and in recent months it has gained strength in frequency and sound.

With the concept of a Saudi golf league becoming (seemingly) closer to reality, it’s time to catch up on what has transpired thus far, what we know and what we don’t, and the ramifications of a possible fissure in professional golf.

When did this begin?

The idea of a breakaway circuit from the PGA Tour is far from a novel idea; the PGA Tour itself came to pass after players split from the PGA of America in 1967 to form the Tournament Players Division. More recently, former World No. 1 Greg Norman and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch attempted to create a “World Golf Tour” in the mid-1990s featuring the top players competing in an eight-event series. A television contract with Murdoch’s Fox Sports was even secured. But the endeavour was squashed as then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem flexed both the tour’s legal chops and standing in the game. Other iterations of a world tour have come and gone without much fanfare.

However, the current framework began to arise in earnest in the fall of 2019, to the point that current PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan issued a warning in January 2020 that any player who sided with a rival league would face suspension and possibly a lifetime ban. In spite of Monahan’s threat, multiple players are reportedly weighing offers to join a fledgling league.

Who is challenging the PGA Tour?

Technically, there are two entities trying to rival the tour: the Premier Golf League and a Saudi-backed golf tour. The PGL was the first of the groups to coalesce in 2020, backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. However, the PIF—the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, which, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, has $580 billion in assets—eventually backed another entity in the newly formed LIV Golf Investments. LIV Golf aspired to have its own global professional tour, often referred to as the “Super Golf League.” The PGL attempted to achieve a partnership with the European Tour but failed, with the Euro Tour eventually agreeing to a “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour. Though the PGL still exists, and reportedly has reached out to the PGA Tour about forming a partnership, its prospects have faded with the emergence of LIV Golf.

Why is the Saudi golf league controversial?

The PIF is essentially the financial arm of the Saudi Arabia government, which has been accused of numerous human-rights violations. To improve its reputation, especially to the Western world, Saudi Arabia has heavily invested in various athletic organisations and events, a practice often referred to as “sportswashing.” This exercise, particularly when used by state-run groups, is considered a form of propaganda to distract the public from its abuses. The most famous example of sportswashing is when Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Saudi Arabia has recently hosted motorsports, soccer, boxing, tennis and wrestling spectacles. In October 2021, the PIF purchased an 80-percent stake in Newcastle United, a Premier League soccer club. Since 2019, the country has hosted the Saudi International, an event formerly sanctioned by the European Tour that has drawn some of the top names in golf, who are paid considerable appearance fees.

Luke Walker/WME IMG

What do we know about LIV Golf?

Founded in 2021, LIV Golf named the aforementioned Norman as its CEO in October, followed by a number of former executives from the PGA Tour and other sports affiliations. In February 2022, LIV Golf announced a $300 million, 10-year investment in the Asian Tour at the Saudi International (which now falls under the Asian Tour umbrella and is sponsored by PIF) that included a 10-event international series that will host tournaments in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

LIV Golf has targeted the sport’s marquee players to join its league, meeting with several highly ranked pros and their representatives throughout the year in their hometowns and at golf tournaments (most notably at the 2021 PGA Championship). “Pretty much every player in the top 100 has been contacted at some point,” Phil Mickelson said in February at the Saudi International. However, to this point, no player has announced that he would play in Saudi league if it was launched.

What don’t we know about LIV Golf?

Unlike the PGL—which has laid out its plans on its website—LIV Golf has not announced any formal blueprint for what a proposed league might look like. That means no official word on how many players will be involved, how many tournaments the league will put on, what formats the tournament will use, where the tournaments will be played or if the league has a broadcast partner. There’s been no indication that “Super Golf League” will even be its name.

While rumours are rampant, it bears repeating: To this point, exactly zero players have publicly committed to playing on a potenital LIV Golf circuit (more on this in a second). So, for the moment: no players, no league.

What do we think we know about a possible Super Golf League?

Again, we have no official word from LIV Golf, and there’s always the danger of unfounded gossip bouncing around in echo chambers. But there have been enough pieces dropped from players and sources involved or recruited to put together the outline of a puzzle.

To answer the question on why players would toy with jumping to the SGL: They have reportedly received eight-to-nine-figure offers to join the rival circuit. Like Norman’s World Golf Tour, the belief is the SGL would feature limited fields and likely host a dozen or so events—with some of the tournaments played in the United States (and for clarification, the Asian Tour/LIV Golf international series is believed to be different from the SGL). This speculation gained further traction with comments by PGA Tour player Kramer Hickok on the Stripe Show podcast in mid-February.

“You’re going to see a lot of big names jump over there. I think there’s already been 17 guys that have jumped over, and I can’t say who they are, but there’s going to be some big names going over there,” Hickok said on the Stripe Show podcast. “Look, from what I’ve heard the money’s very, very appealing. You’re only gonna have 12-14 events. Those events are gonna have purses. You’re not going to have to deal with missing a cut anymore; there’s only going to be 40 players. And 10 of those 14 events will be in the States. Signing bonuses, huge, huge purses—it’s going to be very appealing for some of these guys. Yeah you’ll see some big names for sure.”

As first reported by No Laying Up in 2021, former President Donald Trump’s golf properties have made a push to serve as SGL host sites, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was seen at the 2022 Saudi International near Dustin Johnson. Additionally, other venues near major U.S. cities reportedly have been targeted by the SGL.

In terms of potential broadcast partners, more than a few eyebrows were raised when former FOX Sports President David Hill was signed by LIV Golf; mentioned above, Murdoch’s FOX Sports was originally aligned with Norman’s WGT in the mid-1990s.

Jared C. Tilton

What players have been associated with LIV Golf?

Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau have been the two most prominent and closely associated names to the breakaway league. Mickelson has been adversarial toward the PGA Tour, claiming to Golf Digest the tour’s “obnoxious greed” has opened the possibility of playing elsewhere. DeChambeau, like Mickelson, has played in the Saudi International multiple times, and at last year’s PGA Championship said he had “people in the background” focusing on the SGL matter.

Lee Westwood has come as close as any player to publicly acknowledging his involvement. Though he hasn’t officially said he’s with the Saudi league, he did state he had signed an NDA during the Saudi International (Westwood also acknowledged at the 2021 PGA that a big offer would be tough to turn down at his age). Dustin Johnson echoed Westwood’s response when asked about receiving an offer at the Saudi International, while Adam Scott said at the 2022 Genesis he’s in talks with the Saudi league. Jason Kokrak is a Saudi Golf ambassador and recently told the Five Clubs podcast, “I’m going to try make as much money as I can in as little amount of time, so if the money’s right I would love to go play that tour and play against some of the guys that are going to go out over there.” A number of European Ryder Cuppers such as Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter are reportedly weighing offers, while Patrick Reed—a frequent competitor in the Saudi International—has also been in the mix.

Speaking of … by proxy, those who competed at this year’s Saudi International have seen their names linked to the SGL. This group includes Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Matthew Wolff, Bubba Watson, Cam Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Paul Casey and Marc Leishman.

What players have said they don’t want to be involved with LIV Golf?

Rory McIlroy has been the SGL’s most outspoken critic, stating he’s not comfortable with where the money is coming from. McIlroy reiterated his stance at the 2022 Genesis Invitational to Golf Digest. “Look, I’ve lived it—for the top guys, all that money really isn’t going to change their life,” McIlroy told Golf Digest’s Dan Rapaport. “I’m in a way better financial position than I was a decade ago and my life is no different. I still use the same three, four rooms in my house. I just don’t see the value in tarnishing a reputation for extra millions.”

World No. 1 Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka have also said they will not defect to the SGL. Perhaps most importantly, Tiger Woods pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour at the end of 2021.

“I’ve decided for myself that I’m supporting the PGA Tour. That’s where my legacy is,” Woods said in November 2021. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have won 82 events on this tour and 15 major championships, and been a part of the World Golf Championships, the start of them and the end of them. So I have allegiance to the PGA Tour.”

What has been the response from the PGA Tour?

Some observers believe the tour’s recent purse and FedEx Cup prize money increases are a direct response to the SGL threat; however, when the tour’s new media rights deal was announced in the beginning of 2020 (a nine-year agreement believed to be valued at $7 billion), Monahan promised the money would “put us in a position to significantly increase player earnings.” In that same breath, the tour enacted a Player Impact Program in 2021, an initiative aimed at compensating the game’s most popular names separate from how they perform on the course. Last year, $40 million was allocated for the top 10 players on the tour’s PIP standings, with $50 million assigned for 2022. The tour will also award a $50,000 bonus for those any player who reach 15 starts during the 2021-22 season.

As for the idea that players may be excommunicated from the tour if they join the SGL, Monahan remains steadfast in his declaration from January 2020: them or us. Per Monahan’s ultimatum from 2020: “If the Team Golf Concept [one of the other names used by the PGL] or another iteration of this structure becomes a reality in 2022 or at any time before or after, our members will have to decide whether they want to continue to be a member of the PGA Tour or play on a new series.” At a players meeting at the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, Monahan repeated his position: Any player joining the Saudi-backed golf league will face immediate suspension and possible expulsion from the PGA Tour. Though questions have arisen if the tour can lawfully ban a player for life, legal experts confirmed to Golf Digest that the PGA Tour would likely win any battle challenging its authority to do so.

What has been the response from golf’s other organisations?

With its strategic alliance, the European Tour—rebranded in 2022 as the DP World Tour—is in lockstep with the PGA Tour. Perhaps the biggest unknown is how Augusta National, the PGA of America, the USGA and the R&A will respond to players siding with the SGL; specifically, if SGL players will still be allowed to compete in the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and the Open Championship. Augusta National, the USGA and R&A issued statements supporting the PGA Tour and European Tour in May 2021, yet most of the statements didn’t address the playing status of those who defect. The PGA of America was direct in its answer, with CEO Seth Waugh stating at the 2021 PGA Championship that those players who joined the rival league would not be allowed in future PGA Championships or Ryder Cups.

“If someone wants to play on a Ryder Cup for the U.S., they’re going to need to be a member of the PGA of America, and they get that membership through being a member of the [PGA] Tour,” Waugh said. “I believe the Europeans feel the same way, and so I don’t know that we can be more clear than that. It’s a little murkier in our championship, but to play, from a U.S. perspective, you also have to be a member of the tour and the PGA of America to play in our championship, and we don’t see that changing.”

Why does all this matter?

Ethics and morals aside, a divided world at the sport’s top levels could have massive ramifications in the game. Should Mickelson, DeChambeau and many of the European names listed splinter, the PGA Tour would likely be fine; only DeChambeau qualifies as a player with notable accomplishments that remains in his prime. Essentially, the SGL would be a Senior Tour light with the addition of the polarizing 2020 U.S. Open champ.

However, should a high number of 35-and-younger players with playing pedigrees and popularity side with the Saudi-backed league, professional golf could transform into professional boxing, a sport whose competition has been watered down by rivaling governing bodies with conflicting financial interests. The sport’s relevance, and to an extent existence, would be at stake.

What comes next?

Aside from PR emails announcing new executive hires on a bi-weekly basis, LIV Golf Investments continues to operate in the shadows, so few are privy to when exactly a proposed league will launch. LIV Golf’s opaqueness, coupled with a robust participation in this year’s Saudi Invitational from tour players and matters like Westwood’s NDA and Mickelson’s comments, have spurred the belief that something is happening.

Conversely, it’s now been two years of rumours, creating a we’ll-believe-it-when-we-see-it assessment from some of the game’s top players.

“We’ve all heard rumours of this date, this date, in the future—I’m ready for it,” Morikawa said at the 2022 Genesis. “Why not, right? Like we’ll call them out, like what are they waiting for? I don’t know. I saw something this morning that said someone had an interview with a player and there’s other things said about players signing up. There still have been no names. Once again, we go back to evidence, right? Can we see concrete evidence of what’s going on? If we can, then people can make decisions. It’s an unknown, it’s a hidden thing. For me, it’s not enough.”

But if Hickok’s comments are correct, answers are coming and coming soon.

The post What we know, what we don’t and everything else you might not understand about the proposed new league appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.