Legendary American golfer and fan favorite Phil Mickelson pretty much triple-bogeyed the rest of his life this past week.
Mickelson, known as “Lefty” by his peers and adoring fans, came out of left field with a bizarre endorsement of a proposed Saudi Arabian world golf tour and, at the same time, threw the P.G.A. Tour (the organization that had enabled him to earn an estimated $400 million dollars) under the proverbial bus.
It appears that Phil has been working behind the scenes with the Saudis, for a reported $150 million retainer, to “front” the proposed world tour, design the format, do the organizational work, and recruit PGA Tour stars to jump ship to the new enterprise. The not-so-secret venture became public recently, before a single event was established, and Mr. Mickelson lashed out at virtually everyone (including his behind-the-scenes Saudi conspirators) and tried to paint himself as a true patriot and protector of the game.
The backlash from the PGA Tour and virtually every “big name” golfer was immediate: Phil Mickelson had stepped in his own poop. The PGA Tour announced that any player jumping to the Saudi league would be prohibited from playing in PGA events and most of the biggest names in golf publicly denounced the proposed Tour, Mickelson, and the Saudis.
As Phil noted in a hasty, but lengthy justification of his behavior, even he was repulsed by the blood-thirsty reputation of the Saudi royals who are bankrolling the proposed Tour. He mentioned the state-sponsored murder of Washington Post journalist Adnan Khashoggi a few years back and called the Saudis “mean motherfuc..ers”. But then moved on to talk about the “greed” of the PGA Tour while simultaneously decrying lost opportunities for PGA Tour players to monetize themselves. (Say, what?)
Excuse me: Phil Mickelson should be the last guy on earth to cry poor mouth. He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. His wealthy parents had a golf practice facility built in their backyard so young Phil could begin learning the game before he went to school. He has been a country club guy for his whole life. He’s worth almost a half a billion dollars.
Most people in the world are aware that not only are the oil-rich Saudi royals spoiled brats who think that they can do anything that they want without reprisal, but they rank just about last among nations in terms of human rights. And who can forget that 15 of the 19 Al Queda soldiers who perpetrated the 9-11 attack on America were Saudi Arabian citizens, that Osama Bin Laden was a Saudi, and that the funding for Al Queda came primarily from Saudi royal family princes.
These are Phil Mickelson’s would-be business partners. Or at least the greedy guy thought they were going to be before the wheels came off last week.
The PGA Tour, the organization that made Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and all the other greats very wealthy athletes, does not need Saudi blood money to succeed. The PGA Tour’s reputation is not just founded on the legacy of the greatest golfers in the world. Every PGA event (and there’s one virtually every week of the year) benefits a local charity and, over the decades, hundreds of millions of dollars have been generated to worthy causes. That’s why major corporations sponsor the PGA Tour: it’s solid reputation rubs off on them.
The PGA Tour is, thus, a force for good. This contrasts with the proposed new World Tour: a publicity stunt to make the Saudi royal family seem like good people. These rich lowlifes feel that they can spread money around and, presto, everyone will like them.
Make no mistake: the Saudis are not good people. And, the PGA Tour, its sponsors, its players, and its charities cannot afford the public relations black eye it would get if it associated, in any way, with the Saudis. Mickelson doesn’t see this; all he sees are endless ways to monetize his golf business and make another couple hundred million dollars.
Since the embarrassing blowup last week, Mickelson has retreated into isolation to figure out how badly he’s tripped over his Johnson and how he can resurrect his reputation. His public image, which had been very positive, is now in a shambles, and many of his major corporate sponsors are bailing out on him.
Phil would have probably been named Captain of the 2025 Ryder Cup team, which is a career-defining honor, but that distinction will now elude him, I’m sure. Should he play in another PGA Tour event, Mickelson can probably anticipate some very rude catcalls from the gallery as he goes into his backswing. I’m not sure that his ego could handle that.
Mickelson will still go down in golf history as one of the top ten players of all time: he’s earned that.
But he will also be remembered as maybe the greediest and soulless professional athlete that ever lived.
As someone once said, “Without your good name, what do you have?”