Phil Mickelson, the second-highest-paid player in PGA Tour History, was recently involved in a scandal with the PGA Tour and a new Saudi-backed ‘Super Tour.’ Phil Mickelson has always been the number two to Tiger Woods in modern golf, but like how Woods’ reputation was tarnished in 2009, Mickelson is having his image destroyed as well.
About two weeks ago, many PGA Tour players were rumored to have accepted contracts to join the Saudi League, including players such as Collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson, and Bryson DeChambeau. These top-tier players were supposedly given insanely expensive contracts to advertise the new league. These contracts were of significantly greater value than the payout from PGA Tour tournaments. Before trying to leave, Mickelson spoke about the PGA Tour as having an “obnoxious greed,” which he thought was behind closed doors. This did not garner much attention from the media until Rory McIlroy, another top player, went on record to say that Mickelson was “selfish and ignorant,” along with many other negative comments.
Mickelson fell from grace when he was quoted saying the following about both the PGA Tour and the Saudi League behind closed doors: “They are scary ************* to get involved with [About Saudi Arabia]. We know they killed [Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. 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. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse.” With the current relevance of racial tensions and human rights, these comments have put Mickelson into the spotlight. In the following days, he lost numerous sponsorships. It was rumored that the PGA Tour might suspend him, but that has not yet happened. Some critics, including myself, believe that he instead wanted to join the Saudi League because of his gambling addiction. I believe that he wanted to pay off those debts through the contract with the Saudi League, but instead, he has lost millions of dollars due to his comments. Phil Mickelson looks to have fallen from grace.
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