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 hiatus from golf that had him beaded into controversy.
Mickelson, 51, will start playing Thursday in the $25 million, 54-hole event to be held at Centurion Golf Club, his first tournament act since he played in the Saudi International in early February.
“Phil Mickelson is without doubt one of the greatest golfers of this generation,” said Greg Norman, commissioner of golf and CEO of LIV. “His contributions to the sport and his connection to audiences around the world cannot be overstated, and we are grateful to have him.” “It is strengthening an exciting field in London as we are proud to launch a new era of golf.
Mickelson joins other major winners such as Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charles Schwarzl and Martin Kaymer among the 48 players who will also have a team component.
The winner of the event receives $4 million.
But Mickelson clearly does much more than that. Johnson has reportedly signed a deal worth more than $100 million likely for five years, and Mickelson can expect the same.
All this on the heels of a Golf Digest interview in early February in which Mickelson cited the PGA Tour’s “odious greed” for wanting to explore other options, some of which he said would benefit the Tour.
The winner of six major tournaments including the PGA last year where he became the biggest major winner in the game, Mickelson saw his image tarnished as many supporters brought him down in the wake of those derogatory comments about the PGA Tour as well as the Saudi system supporting the LIV Golf Series.
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The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is the primary backer of the series, which will see huge prizes as well as guarantees for players, although there is no TV rights deal. Mickelson is expected to have signed for all eight of the LIV Golf Invitational Series events, five of which will take place in the United States.
Quite possibly, that means his days on the PGA Tour are over. Commissioner Jay Monahan has not released conflicting event statements for these tournaments, and has been threatened with penalties or even banned from the tour.
Mickelson’s history with the PGA Tour goes back over 30 years. He won his first amateur tournament as a junior in Arizona in 1991. This gave him PGA Tour membership, which he obtained when he turned professional prior to the 1992 US Open.
But after opening the year by playing the Guardian Championship of Champions, the American Express Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open – missing the cut in the latter two – Mickelson did not play after finishing 17th in the Saudi Championship.
The three-time Masters winner skipped the championship at the Augusta National and also didn’t try to defend his PGA Championship title. No reason was given. In fact, Mickelson has not spoken publicly since issuing a lengthy apology on February 3. 22 where he regretted some of the things he said and suggested he needed to work on some personal issues before he came back.
Mickelson is expected to give a press conference at LIV Golf before the tournament.
full field
(48 players)
Oliver Baker, South Africa
Richard Bland, England
Itthipat Buranatanyarat, Thailand
Laurie Kanter, England
Ratchanon Chantananuwat (amateur), Thailand
Henny de Plessis, South Africa
Oliver Fisher, England
Sergio Garcia, Spain
Taylor Gotsch, USA
Branden Grace, South Africa
Justin Harding, South Africa
Sam Horsfield, England
Dustin Johnson, USA
Matt Jones, Australia
Sadom Kaewkanjana, Thailand
Martin Kaymer, Germany
Phchara Khongwatmai, Thailand
Sihwan Kim, USA
Ryosuke Kinoshita, Japan
Chase Kupka, USA
Jinichiro Kuzuma, Japan
Pablo Larzabal, Spain
Viraj Madaba, India
Graeme McDowell, Northern Ireland
Phil Mickelson, USA
Jedea Morgan, Australia
Kevin Na, USA
Sean Norris, South Africa
Andy Ogletree, USA
Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa
Ormsby Valley, Australia
Adrien Otaegui, Spain
Leave Petit, USA
James Peut (amateur), USA
Ian Poulter, England
David Puig (amateur), Spain
JC Ritchie, South Africa
Charles Schwarzl, South Africa
Travis Smith, Australia
Ian Sneman, South Africa
Hudson Swafford, USA
Hideto Tanihara, Japan
Peter Oehlen, USA
Scott Vincent, Zimbabwe
Lee Westwood, England
Bernd Weisberger, Austria
Blake Winderd, Australia
Kevin Yuan, Australia