LIV Golf

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      What Is LIV Golf? It Depends Who You Ask.

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      Bold new project or crass money grab? Even golf’s best players can’t agree on the new Saudi-financed golf tour. Here’s what you need to know.The new Saudi-financed, controversy-trailed LIV Golf series, which is holding its first event this week at an exclusive club north of London, is the talk of golf. Not always, though, in the ways its organizers had hoped.But what is it? Who is playing it? What’s all the hubbub, and how can you watch it? Here’s what you need to know.What is LIV Golf?The new series, bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is billing itself as “an opportunity to reinvigorate golf” through rich paydays, star players and slick marketing. “Golf but louder,” goes one of its slogans.LIV Golf’s organizers hope to position it as a player-power-focused alternative to the PGA Tour, which has been the highest level of pro golf for nearly a century.Its critics, which include some of the world’s best players, have labeled it an unseemly money grab.How much money are we talking about?The LIV Golf events are the richest tournaments in golf history — this week’s total purse is $25 million, with a $20 million pot for the individual event and $5 million more to split in the team competition. The winner’s share this week is $4 million, and the last-place finisher at each event is guaranteed $120,000.And that is on top of the appearance fees and signing-on payouts individual players have accepted. Phil Mickelson is being paid a reported $200 million to take part, and Dustin Johnson, the highest-ranked player to sign up-to-date, is said to have been tempted by an offer worth $150 million. Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, two other top stars expected to compete in the next LIV series event in Oregon, will surely be expecting similar inducements to surrender their PGA Tour careers.Who are the players?The 48 players in the initial LIV Golf event were not exactly a who’s who of golf. There were, of course, big names and former major champions familiar to regular watchers of pro golf: Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio García, Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell.Sergio García eagerly renounced his PGA Tour membership to join the LIV Golf series.Paul Childs/Action Images Via ReutersBut the biggest names in golf stayed away: Tiger Woods said no despite an offer of nearly $1 billion, per Forbes, and Rory McIlroy has publicly rejected the idea. And a large number of the LIV players are probably strangers to even deeply committed golf fans: The American James Piot, for example, has only ever played in one of golf’s four majors, and missed the cut in it. David Puig is a 20-year-old Spanish amateur. Ratchanon Chantananuwat of Thailand is only 15.Not everyone is (or, rather, was) a PGA Tour member, either, which was why only 17 members of the LIV Golf Series were suspended by the tour on Thursday.Read More on Formula 1The 2022 season of the global motorsport, which is enjoying growing popularity and seeking to expand its appeal, is underway.Welcome to Miami: The city became the second U.S. city to host a Formula 1 race. The event featured massive parties, fashion shows and world-famous DJs.An American Conundrum: Liberty Media, which bought Formula 1 in 2017, wants to increase the sport’s popularity in the United States. Why, then, are there no American-born drivers?‘Drive to Survive’: The Netflix series about Formula 1 has been a hit. But the racer Max Verstappen has some bones to pick.Sharing the Spotlight: Drivers in the North America-based IndyCar racing series have welcomed Formula 1’s success. But some fear losing their fans to it.Why did the PGA Tour suspend them?The PGA Tour suspended the players because it requires members to request and receive a release to play in events that conflict with those on its schedule.The punishments were not a surprise: The PGA Tour had clearly signaled months ago that it would take action against any of its players who joined. So moments after the players hit their first shots in the debut event on Thursday, the tour dropped the hammer.“In accordance with the PGA Tour’s tournament regulations, the players competing this week without releases are suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play, including the Presidents Cup,” the tour said in a statement to its members. It said the suspensions also applied to any PGA Tour affiliates — circuits like the lower-tier Korn Ferry Tour, tours in Canada and Latin America and, notably for the older players who joined the LIV series, the PGA Tour Champions series for golfers over 50.In addition, the PGA Tour said, the players who have resigned their memberships in the tour will be removed from the FedEx Cup points list — essentially ruling them out of the multimillion-dollar season-ending championship series — and are ineligible to use side doors like sponsor’s exemptions or past champion status to get into tour events.But in a letter explaining the suspensions to other pros, the tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, also included a direct warning to any players weighing offers to play in LIV Golf events when the series shifts to the United States later this month.“The same fate,” Monahan said of the bans, “holds true for any other players who participate in future Saudi Golf League events in violation of our regulations.”How did the players react?With a mix of caginess, disappointment and disdain. While the bans were announced almost as soon as the players hit their first shots, a few did not learn about the suspensions until they had completed their rounds.Phil Mickelson, whose participation has aroused the most interest, refused to comment, and the former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell said he had expected the punishment, and had already been in contact with lawyers.Ian Poulter insisted that he and the others in the field had not done anything wrong, and said he would appeal. “It makes no sense how I’ve played the game of golf for all this time, I’ve had two tour cards and the ability to play all over the world,” Poulter told reporters. “What’s wrong with that?”Sergio García, the Spanish player who had renounced his tour membership when he joined the LIV Golf Series, essentially said he didn’t care what the PGA Tour did. “I resigned a week and a half ago,” he said, “so whatever the PGA Tour says doesn’t — doesn’t go with me because I’m not a member.”That led to the following exchange with a reporter:Are you banned anyway?No, I’m not banned because I’m not a member of it.Not according to Jay Monahan?Well he received my letter. That’s up to him. It doesn’t bother me.Phil Mickelson was the biggest name to join the new series, but his comments about its Saudi backers have raised eyebrows, and led him into at least one apology.Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesDo the players have genuine grievances?Some of the players who have signed up to the LIV series, and even many that have not, believe they are getting a raw deal from the PGA Tour. The biggest stars contend their earnings should be more commensurate with their status in the game, and they have pointed out how the best players in other sports earn far more than golfers do.Players and their representatives have often pointed out how golf’s main tours are able to secure hundreds of millions in television rights fees thanks to the star power of a handful of top tour professionals. But the money they make, however famous they are, has to be earned in the same way: through prize money. The career prize-money earnings of golf’s highest achievers, top stars like Woods or McIlroy, are equivalent to what the world’s best soccer players or an elite N.B.A. stars can earn from their teams in a single year. (To be clear: Both Woods and McIlroy have been able to make multiples of those on-course earnings through personal endorsements; Woods is reportedly now a billionaire.) Both have also earned sizable bonuses from the PGA Tour’s new program meant to measure a player’s appeal and popularity across the calendar year.But anger and action are different things: McIlroy is arguably the most high-profile opponent of the breakaway event among current tour players, and he has made several pronouncements that money should not be the main driver of golf’s development. And Woods also has spoken up in favor of the PGA Tour, reminding the world that much of his global fame is thanks to his achievements at tour events.How do the LIV Golf events work?LIV Golf has set up what are essentially shorter tournaments with smaller fields — three rounds instead of four, and with only 48 players competing instead of the rosters on the PGA Tour, which can be three times as large some weeks — and featuring concurrent individual and team play events.With the small field, there is no cut midway through the event to lop off the stragglers, and every round starts with a shotgun start, meaning players tee off from each hole on the course simultaneously and then proceed around the course’s layout from there.The LIV Golf individual competition will feel, in many ways, like a traditional golf event: three rounds, lowest score wins. The team event will see the players drafted by captains into four-man squads (teams with odd names, let’s be honest, like Fireballs and Majesticks) that will contest a separate competition, and for a separate prize pot, each week.This week’s leaderboard, for example, lists individual scores and team affiliations.How is that different from the PGA Tour?With rare exceptions, PGA Tour events generally consist of four-rounds of stroke play, in which players compete against one another to post the lowest score. And while the LIV Golf format might feel unusual for players and viewers, the ultimate goal — circle the 18-hole course in as few shots as possible — is the same.How many events are there?Eight this year, but plans to expand to 10 next year and even more in subsequent seasons are being drawn up. The first seven events this year make up what LIV Golf is calling its regular season. The eighth will be the team championship and include a four-day, four-round seeded match-play event.Those season-ending championships all include their own multimillion-dollar paydays for eligible players.Fans at the first LIV Golf event paid more than $80 each for the lowest-priced grounds passes.Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesWhat’s with that name?LIV (rhymes with give) Golf chose Roman numerals for its name. If it’s been a while since you studied those in school, LIV translates to 54, which is the number of holes each player will complete in each event’s three-round format, which is one fewer round than a typical PGA Tour workweek, but for a lot more money.(Before you ask: The most recent N.F.L. championship game was Super Bowl LVI, or 56.)How can I watch?Despite its high-profile golfers and its big-money backing, LIV Golf has not yet secured a broadcast rights agreement in the United States — the most lucrative market for televised sports — and will be shown on lesser-watched streaming services in much of the world. (Here’s a full list of non-U.S. options.) That doesn’t mean you can’t watch in the United States, though: This week’s tournament will be available via live streams on LIVGolf.com, YouTube and Facebook.Normally, television networks would have jumped at the chance to show live sports during slow times on the calendar; witness yet another spring football league being shown on television. But ESPN, CBS, NBC and Amazon are in the first year of a nine-year agreement that has them collectively paying hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the PGA Tour to show tournaments. Those networks may have their fill of golf. They may also not want to court controversy, nor anger their business partner, the PGA Tour.History suggests, however, that if LIV Golf does prove to be a success, major rights agreements won’t be far behind. With consumers continuing to slowly abandon pay television, live sports is just about the only type of programming that delivers large, and lucrative, audiences anymore. And the streaming services that are luring those consumers away know that live sports is one of the best ways to get new customers, and keep old ones.So is this just a vanity project for Saudi Arabia?Not exactly. We asked Ben Hubbard, who covers the Middle East as the Beirut bureau chief for The Times and has written a book on Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, to explain the kingdom’s motivations in a bit more depth. His response:Saudi Arabia’s backing of the new series is the latest example of the way oil-rich Gulf monarchies use their vast wealth to invest in sports and cultural institutions in hopes of raising their countries’ international profiles and shifting how they are viewed by people in Western countries.Saudi Arabia’s investments in international sports and culture have accelerated rapidly since 2015, when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began his ascent to become the kingdom’s de facto ruler and spearheaded a massive overhaul aimed at opening up its economy and culture.For more that a decade, that effort has included governments hosting Formula One races and professional boxing and wrestling matches; opening branches of world-class museums and universities like the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Georgetown University in Qatar; and buying up European soccer clubs. (Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which the crown prince leads as chairman, acquired the Premier League club Newcastle United last year.)Yasir Al-Rumayyan, in blue jacket, on Thursday. He is a governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is financing the LIV Golf series, and the chairman of the Saudi-owned Premier League club Newcastle United.Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesIn investing in golf, though, it appears that the Saudis are seeking to win over a different category of sports fan, according to Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, who studies Gulf politics at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.“They are looking for an older, more professional market to try to make inroads to, a wealthier demographic,” Ulrichsen said.That group includes fans of former President Donald Trump, and perhaps even Trump himself, with whom the crown prince enjoys a close relationship.Two of the LIV Golf Series events, in fact, will be at Trump-owned courses: the first in late July, at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., and the season-ending team championship in October, at Trump National Doral Miami.How has that gone over?Not always well. One of LIV Golf’s biggest signings, Mickelson, provoked outrage in February when he praised the series as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” even as he called Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights “horrible” and used an expletive to describe the country’s leaders as “scary.” The project’s main architect, the former player Greg Norman, made things worse a few weeks later when he dismissed Saudi Arabia’s murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi by saying, “Look, we’ve all made mistakes.”Not that the pro golf’s existing power structures, including the PGA Tour, hold the moral high ground.What’s next?The tour’s next four events are in the United States, starting with a stop at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside Portland, Ore., from June 30 to July 2, and then tournaments in New Jersey, Boston and Chicago. Trips to Thailand and Saudi Arabia follow, before the season-ending event in Florida. The full schedule is here.Kevin Draper contributed reporting. More

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      PGA Tour Suspends Players Who Joined Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Series

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      The PGA Tour commissioner said pros taking part in the new LIV Golf Series were now ineligible for his tour’s events, and he warned others thinking of joining that they would face the same discipline.ST. ALBANS, England — It was only after they hit their first shots on Thursday that the professional golfers taking part in the new Saudi-financed LIV Golf Invitational Series would have learned how high the stakes they were playing for really were.Moments after the players set off down the fairways for the first time at the exclusive Centurion Club just outside London, the PGA Tour suspended 17 of them and declared they were “no longer eligible to participate” in events on the American-based tour or any of its affiliates.The punishment had been expected, but it also served as a warning: Any player that joins the nascent league in the future, the PGA Tour’s commissioner said in a letter to the competition’s members, could expect the same sort of banishment.“These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons,” the commissioner, Jay Monahan, wrote in a two-page letter to tour players that oozed contempt for the rebel tour and its players. “But they can’t demand the same PGA Tour membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as you. That expectation disrespects you, our fans and our partners.”Before the event at the Centurion Club, a majority of players who had signed on with LIV Golf, including the PGA Tour veterans Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Na and Sergio García, said they had resigned from the PGA Tour, perhaps to avoid a suspension or lifetime ban. But Monahan’s letter said they faced excommunication anyway.LIV Golf organizers, who are expecting another wave of players to sign on to what is now the richest golf tour in history before the next stop of the eight-event series, in Oregon, later this month, quickly fired back with a statement of their own.“Today’s announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive, and it deepens the divide between the Tour and its members,” the LIV Golf statement said. “It’s troubling that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking golfers from playing. This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning as we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London, and beyond.”Some of the LIV Golf players, still completing their rounds after the event’s shotgun start sent every competitor off at the same time, only found out about the suspensions as they headed back toward the clubhouse.Britain’s Ian Poulter insisted that he and the others in the field had not done anything wrong, despite participating without the PGA Tour’s waiver. “Of course I’m going to appeal,” Poulter told reporters. “It makes no sense how I’ve played the game of golf for all this time, I’ve had two tour cards and the ability to play all over the world. What’s wrong with that?”Phil Mickelson, whose participation has aroused the most interest, and much controversy, refused to comment, saying he was not ready to discuss the PGA’s actions. Others, though, were more forthright, convinced that their banishment was related to golf’s established powers fearing competition. Graeme McDowell, who resigned from the PGA Tour 30 minutes before striking his first ball in the new tournament, said he had begun consulting lawyers in anticipation of what was to come.“We’ve spoken to the lawyers. We have the LIV legal team which are fantastic. We have our own legal team. Some players have decided out of an abundance of caution they were going to resign and just stay away from any litigation,” McDowell said.The PGA Tour memo acknowledged that many questions remained, such as whether it would eventually restore the eligibility of the players who have been lured to the LIV Golf circuit or those tempted to join them by the new tour’s huge appearance fees and a format that guarantees every entrant six-figure payouts at each event.Justin Thomas, No. 6 in the world, said he was “pleased” with the PGA Tour’s response.“Anybody that’s shocked clearly hasn’t been listening to the message that Jay and everybody’s been putting out,” Thomas said after his round Thursday at the Canadian Open. “They took that risk going into it, whether they thought it was a risk or not. Like I’ve said the whole time, I have great belief and great confidence in the PGA Tour and where we’re going and where we’re continuing to grow, and those guys just aren’t going to be a part of it.”The event itself, a curious mix of team and individual competitions, drew a crowd not dissimilar to other golf events, with many spectators dressed in golf attire and largely middle-aged or retired. A significant portion of the crowd took advantage of hundreds of free tickets that were given away by organizers.“Look at your audience here; it’s pale, male and stale like most sporting events in the U.K. So how is that growing the game of golf?” Robert O’Siochain, a sports marketing executive, said, questioning the claims made by the LIV Golf commissioner, Greg Norman, and others about how the new tour would revolutionize the sport.The buildup to the event has been overshadowed by questions over Saudi Arabia’s motives for investing $2 billion in the series, with players forced to defend themselves from accusations they have traded their reputations to burnish the image of Saudi Arabia in exchange for the biggest payday in their careers. Those issues were being volubly discussed by fans around the first tee, where the event’s two star attractions — Johnson and Mickelson — were preparing to find out just what they had gotten themselves into.Lee Westwood on the first day of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event outside London.Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMickelson’s involvement has proved to be the most controversial. He provoked outrage in February when it was reported that he had praised the series as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” even as he called Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights “horrible” and used an expletive to describe the country’s leaders as “scary.” Mickelson took himself out of the firing line, saying he would be taking a break from golf, before confirming his participation days before the start of the first LIV event. The impact of his behavior could most clearly be seen in his course attire. His trademark black outfit was missing the usual sponsor patches after most ended their agreements with him.Also stalking the first tee was Norman, the former world number one player who is LIV’s chief executive. Norman, accompanied by Majed Al Sorour, chief executive of the Saudi Golf Federation, embraced players after they had struck their first shots.For all of the discussions about Saudi Arabia’s involvement, there were very few signs of the kingdom’s relationship with the event. Instead, organizers, perhaps in an attempt to shift the attention away from the backers of the tournament, had dressed Centurion Club with British symbols. A military band dressed to resemble the red-coated guards stationed outside Buckingham Palace played popular standards, while a fleet of London’s famous black taxi cabs was hired to ferry players to and from the course.“We pick ’em up, drop ’em off and go home,” said John Davis, who has been driving cabs for 25 years. He said they had been recruited by a public relations company.The novelty of the event was apparent, with staff on site stressing they had just eight weeks to prepare. On the first hole, security staff and course volunteers were required to usher scores of spectators off the fairway as they trooped behind Mickelson after he had played his first shot. Others had difficulty following on-course developments because of a shortage of scoreboards, while even some of the most well-known names, including Lee Westwood of Britain, struggled to draw much of a crowd. Fewer than 50 people ringed the green as Westwood prepared to putt on the first hole.Despite the obvious growing pains and the opposition, the scale of Saudi Arabia’s investment suggests the established order is unlikely to see the back of the upstart anytime soon.“Eventually it will all go this way, the Saudi way,” said Tony Campbell, a retiree and a regular at international golf tournaments. “Why? Because they’re richer. Whoever is richer usually gets whatever they want.” More

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      Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf Series Upends Genteel World of Golf

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      By promising top players multimillion-dollar paydays to join its new tour, the kingdom moved beyond investing in a sport and instead made a play for control of one.LONDON — The golf champions were settled in their chairs at a news conference to promote their new Saudi-financed tournament when a reporter raised the uncomfortable question of the oil-rich kingdom’s human rights record. The 2010 U.S. Open champion, Graeme McDowell, to the obvious relief of the players sitting alongside him, took it on.“If Saudi Arabia want to use the game of golf as a way for them to get to where they want to be, and they have the resources to accelerate that experience,” McDowell said, “I think we’re proud to help them on that journey.”That journey, though, is the point: The Saudi-funded project, called the LIV Golf Invitational Series, which kicked off Thursday at an exclusive club outside London, represents nothing less than an attempt to supplant the elite level of an entire sport, taking place in real time, with golf’s best players cast as the prize in a high-stakes, billion-dollar tug of war.On Thursday, the PGA Tour answered that threat by suspending every player who is taking part in the London event and, in a move surely aimed at dissuading further defections, by vowing to do the same for any pro who joins later. In a letter to tour players laced with contempt for the renegade pros, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, said they were “no longer eligible to participate” in events on the tour or any of its affiliates.Unlike the vanity purchase of a European soccer team or the hosting of a major global sporting event, Saudi Arabia’s foray into golf is no mere branding exercise, not just another example of what critics say is a reputation-cleansing process that some deride as the “sportswashing” of its global image.Instead, Saudi Arabia’s sudden entry into golf is part of a layered approach by the kingdom — not just through investments in sports but also in spheres like business, entertainment and the arts — to alter perceptions of itself, both externally and internally, as more than just a wealthy, conservative Muslim monarchy.Those investments have accelerated rapidly since 2015, when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began his ascent to become the de facto ruler and spearheaded a massive overhaul aimed at opening up the kingdom’s economy and culture. And while it remains unclear to what extent they will be financially profitable — the new golf series has no obvious pathway to recovering its investment — they provide a number of other benefits. For one, high-profile endeavors, in sports especially, put Saudi Arabia’s name in the news in ways not connected to its dismal human rights record, its stalemated military intervention in Yemen or the murder by Saudi agents of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.“It is consistent with the way the Saudis have been using sport over the past five years, to try to project an image of the new Saudi Arabia, to change the narrative away from Khashoggi and Yemen and to talk about Saudi Arabia in a more positive light,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, who studies Gulf politics at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMatthew Lewis/Getty ImagesAt the Centurion Club on Thursday, the sights included the LIV Golf founder Greg Norman; a sprawling fan village; and costumed British guards.Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesBut in staging some of the most lucrative tournaments in golf history — the winner’s share this week is $4 million, and the last place finished in each event is guaranteed $120,000 — Saudi Arabia is also relying on a proven strategy of using its wealth to open doors and to enlist, or in a cynic’s view, buy, some of the world’s best players as its partners.Some of the touches at its debut on Thursday might have felt kitschy — red phone boxes, sentries dressed like British palace guards and a fleet of black cabs to deliver the players and their caddies to their opening holes — but there was no hiding what was at play: In its huge payouts and significant investment, the series’ Saudi backers have taken direct aim at the structures and organizations that have governed professional golf for nearly a century.While the Saudi plan’s potential for success is far from clear — the series does not yet have a major television rights deal, nor the array of corporate sponsors who typically line up to bankroll PGA Tour events — its direct appeal to players and its seemingly bottomless financial resources could eventually have repercussions for the 93-year-old PGA Tour, as well as the corporations and broadcasters who have built professional golf into a multibillion-dollar business.“It’s a shame that it’s going to fracture the game,” the four-time major champion Rory McIlroy said this week, adding, “If the general public are confused about who is playing where and what tournament’s on this week and, ‘Oh, he plays there and he doesn’t get into these events,’ it just becomes so confusing.”The pros who have committed to play in the first LIV Series event this week have tried (not always successfully) to frame their decisions as principled ones solely about golf, or as decisions that would safeguard the financial future of their families. Yet in accepting Saudi riches in exchange for adding their personal sheen to its project, they have placed themselves at the center of a storm in which fans and human rights groups have questioned their motives; the PGA Tour has announced draconian punishments for them and any other players who follow their lead; and sponsors and organizations are cutting ties or at least distancing themselves.All of it has opened rifts in a sport already grappling with its own longstanding image problems related to opportunity, exclusivity and race, but one that reveres decorum, and professes to be so wedded to values like honor and sportsmanship that players are expected to assess penalties on themselves if they violate its rules.The caddies for Sergio García and Ian Poulter, two of the best-known names in the LIV Golf camp.Paul Childs/Action Images Via ReutersSaudi Arabia is, of course, not the first country to use sports as a platform to burnish its global image. Its wealthy Gulf neighbors, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and most notably Qatar, which will host soccer’s World Cup later this year, all have invested heavily in international sports over the past two decades.But Saudi Arabia’s venture into golf may be the most ambitious effort yet by a Gulf country to undermine the existing structures of a sport: In effect, it is trying to use its wealth to lure players away from the most prominent tournaments and the most well-established circuit in golf, the PGA Tour, by creating what is an entirely new tour. Not that many of the players taking part this week were eager to talk about those motives.McDowell admitted as much in his meandering answer to a question that, among other topics, raised the Saudi-led war in Yemen and its execution of 81 people on a single day in March. “We’re just here,” he said, “to focus on the golf.”It has been, after all, a rocky start. Even before the first ball was struck this week at the Centurion Club just outside London, the cash-soaked LIV Series — financed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — had become a lightning rod for controversy. One of its biggest signings, Phil Mickelson, provoked outrage in February when he praised the series as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” even as he called Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights “horrible” and used an expletive to describe the country’s leaders as “scary.”The project’s main architect, the former player Greg Norman, made things worse a few weeks later when he dismissed Saudi Arabia’s murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi by saying, “Look, we’ve all made mistakes.”Most, but notably not all, of the world’s top players have rejected the new series out of hand: McIlroy, for example, derided the project as a money grab in February. And on Wednesday, while saying he understood the motivations of the players who had joined up, he made clear he would not take part.“If it’s purely for money,” McIlroy said, “it never seems to go the way you want it to.”Even the rare chances for LIV Series players to defend their decisions to reporters directly this week have often been tense. At a news conference on Wednesday, a group of players were asked if they would take part in a tournament in Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia or apartheid South Africa “if the money was right.” A day earlier, the Korean American player Kevin Na was caught on a live microphone saying, “This is uncomfortable,” as his news conference ended with a British reporter shouting over the moderator.Dustin Johnson, left, played during the pro-am with Yasir al-Rumayyan, a board member of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is bankrolling the series. Johnson resigned his PGA Tour membership to take part.Andy Rain/EPA, via ShutterstockMost of the players, though, seem to have concluded that the money was just too good to pass up. The reported $150 million inducement to Johnson, the highest-ranked player to jump to the new series, would be more than double the total prize money he has earned on tour in his career. The prize money on offer to the last-place finisher at Centurion this week is $120,000, which is $120,000 more than coming last in a PGA Tour event is worth. The $4 million check for the winner is about three times the winner’s share at this week’s PGA Tour event, the Canadian Open.The money, in fact, may be LIV Golf’s biggest lure at the moment: Two more major champions, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, were said to be close to accepting similarly large paydays to join the series when it shifts to the United States this summer, including a visit to New Jersey for the first of two scheduled events at Donald Trump-owned courses.Saudi Arabia’s embrace of golf is part of a wider focus on sport as a means for the kingdom to achieve the ambitious political and economic goals of the Saudi crown prince. Similar controversies involving Saudi interests have already stalked other sports, including boxing, auto racing and most notably international soccer.But where previous Gulf ambitions often took the form of an investment in a sport, the sudden push into golf by Saudi Arabia appeared to be an effort to control the top level of an entire sport, at any cost. Tiger Woods, for example, reportedly turned down nearly $1 billion to participate in the LIV Series, and other top stars have at least had their heads turned.García, like Mickelson, has been critical of the PGA Tour. “A couple of more weeks and I won’t have to deal with you anymore,” he hissed at an official last month after a dispute about a ruling.Andy Rain/EPA, via ShutterstockArguably the most high-profile and perhaps the most controversial figure to join the series is Mickelson, a six-time major champion who was for years one of the PGA Tour’s most popular and marketable players. He has made no secret of the fact that his interest was tied to his contempt for the PGA Tour, which he accused of “obnoxious greed.”Chastened by vociferous criticism of his headline-making remarks about Saudi Arabia earlier this year, and the decisions of several of his sponsors to sever ties with him, Mickelson on Wednesday re-emerged on the public stage but declined to provide details of his relationship with LIV or discuss the PGA.“I feel that contract agreements should be private,” said Mickelson, who reportedly is receiving $200 million to participate.Any hopes that Mickelson, his new colleagues or their new Saudi financiers may have had of the narrative shifting quickly to action on the course, though, are unlikely to be realized anytime soon.“I don’t condone human rights violations at all,” Mickelson said in one of the more uncomfortable news conference moments in a week filled with them.Soon afterward, dressed in shorts and a windbreaker, he was off to the first tee, where he and a board member of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir al-Rumayyan, headlined the opening group in the first LIV Series Pro-Am.Ben Hubbard contributed reporting from Beirut. 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      Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed Set to Join Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Tour

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      As recently as last week, DeChambeau denied being enticed by the massive payouts and appearance fees being offered to the world’s top golfers by the rival league.Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, and Patrick Reed, who won the 2018 Masters, are planning to join the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit that hopes to challenge the established PGA Tour, according to multiple reports.Both golfers, unlike the majority of the top players entered in this weekend’s inaugural LIV Golf event outside London, are still in the prime of their careers. DeChambeau, 28, has become one of golf’s most popular players because of his prodigious drives. Reed, 31, is an aggressive, feisty figure in the game known for quality performances in the biggest events. Reed has won 12 tournaments in the United States and Europe and finished in the top 10 at each of the four major golf championships.While DeChambeau and Reed are not in the field for the inaugural LIV Golf event, which begins Thursday, they join a growing list of PGA Tour players who have aligned with the upstart league and will play this week. That group includes Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Kevin Na, Martin Kaymer and Talor Gooch. Only two in that group are ranked in the top 30 worldwide: Johnson is 15th, and Oosthuizen is 21st.DeChambeau and Reed are expected to make their LIV Golf debut on June 30 in an event outside Portland, Ore. So far in 2022, both players have struggled. DeChambeau has missed the cut in four of his last five tournaments while Reed has missed the cut or finished outside the top 25 in 12 of the 14 events he has entered. Both players are expected to compete in next week’s U.S. Open in the suburbs of Boston. The United States Golf Association, which conducts the U.S. Open, said on Tuesday that players associated with the LIV Golf circuit who had already qualified for the U.S. Open, which includes DeChambeau and Reed, would be permitted to play.Patrick Reed has missed the cut or finished outside the top 25 in all but two events in 2022.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesThe Telegraph first reported that DeChambeau and Reed would commit to play in this year’s LIV Golf Invitational series. The next event for the circuit is outside Portland, beginning June 30.As recently as last week, DeChambeau denied being enticed by the mammoth upfront payouts and appearance fees being offered to the world’s top golfers by LIV Golf.“Me, there’s obviously a lot of conversation,” DeChambeau said at the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament. “For me, I personally don’t think that at this point in time I’m in a place in my career where I can risk things like that.”DeChambeau’s agent, Brett Falkoff, issued a statement to a handful of news outlets on Wednesday: “Bryson has always been an innovator. Having the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something unique has always been intriguing to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing, and it’s happening quickly.”DeChambeau and Reed will most likely be added to the list of tour members facing punishment from the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, who has said that players choosing to play in the LIV Golf events without the tour’s permission could face suspension from the PGA Tour or a lifetime ban. No tour player was granted a release to play in this week’s event outside London. More

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      Dustin Johnson Resigns From PGA Tour and Commits to Rival LIV Golf

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      Johnson’s resignation could help him avoid a suspension or a lifetime ban from the tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, who has indicated that punishment on that level was a possibility.Dustin Johnson, a two-time major golf champion, surrendered his PGA Tour status on Tuesday and said that for the immediate future he planned only to play in major tournaments and events sponsored by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.Appearing at a news conference in advance of the first of eight LIV Golf events in 2022 that will begin Thursday at the Centurion Club outside London, Johnson also occasionally used terms like “right now” and “for now” when describing his decision to bolt from the PGA Tour.“For right now, I’ve resigned my membership on the tour,” said Johnson, who joined the PGA Tour in 2008 and is ranked 15th in the world. He added that he would play the LIV tour, “for now, that’s the plan.”The breakaway tour headlined by Greg Norman has promised hefty appearance fees and a format that guarantees every entrant six-figure payouts, with 48 players competing for $25 million in prize money in a 54-hole format with no cut. A report last week in The Telegraph said Johnson was paid $125 million to join LIV Golf, whose major shareholder is the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia worth more than $600 billion.Johnson’s PGA Tour resignation could help him avoid a suspension or a lifetime ban from the tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, who has indicated that punishment on that level was a possibility. But so far, the United States-based PGA Tour has remained quiet as Johnson and others, such as Phil Mickelson, the six-time major champion who has earned more than $94 million at tour events, have signaled that they will play in this week’s LIV Golf tournament. Monahan’s lack of response may just be a bit of institutional timing. PGA Tour players are not in violation of any of the tour’s regulations until they actually play in a rival event without permission — and the tour has not given its consent for any players requesting to play this week in England.One thing is certain: Under current guidelines, if Johnson is not a member of the PGA Tour, he cannot play in the biennial Ryder Cup, a ballyhooed competition between top golfers from the United States and Europe with a history that dates to 1927. Johnson has played in the Ryder Cup five times, including last year when he was undefeated in five matches and helped lead the United States to a dominating victory.Golfers on the driving range Tuesday at the Centurion Club. They will play 54 holes, and there is no cut.Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBut on Tuesday, at least in his mind, the door was still open to play in the upcoming Ryder Cups.“Obviously all things are subject to change,” Johnson said. “Hopefully at some point, it will change and I’ll be able to participate. If it doesn’t, well, it was another thing I really had to think long and hard about. Ultimately, I decided to come to this and play out here.“The Ryder Cup is unbelievable and something that has definitely meant a lot to me. I’m proud to say I’ve represented my country, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that again. But I don’t make the rules.”Johnson’s eligibility for all the major golf championships is not a certainty, although on Tuesday the United States Golf Association released a statement that it would not bar any player who was eligible. “Our decision regarding our field for the 2022 U.S. Open should not be construed as the USGA supporting an alternative organizing entity, nor supportive of any individual player actions or comments,” the statement said. “Rather, it is simply a response to whether or not the USGA views playing in an alternative event, without the consent of their home tour, an offense that should disqualify them for the U.S. Open.” Johnson qualifies for a spot in the field in multiple ways, not the least of which being that he won the championship in 2016. The same is true for Mickelson, who already has a spot in the 2022 U.S. Open and in next month’s British Open.Johnson has also qualified for this year’s British Open because of his 2020 Masters victory. The Masters title would normally make him welcome at the Masters for many years to come, as well as at a fourth major, the P.G.A. Championship, for the next five years.But the Masters is run by Augusta National Golf Club, which has proved in the past that it would make decisions independently. The P.G.A. Championship is governed by the PGA of America. Before that event was held last month, the organization’s chief executive, Seth Waugh, pledged his loyalty to the established PGA Tour, which he referred to as part of golf’s existing ecosystem.“Our bylaws do say that you have to be a recognized member of a recognized tour in order to be a PGA member somewhere, and therefore eligible to play,” Waugh said, speaking of the P.G.A. Championship.Asked about the alternative LIV Golf tour, Waugh answered: “We think the structure of — I don’t know if it’s a league, it’s not a league at this point — but the league structure is somewhat flawed.”How easy it might be for players to try to jockey back and forth between the LIV Golf Invitational series and golf’s biggest events, including the PGA Tour, is not known. Professional golf is largely in uncharted territory, at least in modern times.The LIV Golf prize money and the reported upfront payments to Johnson, and to Mickelson who received a $200 million contract according to Golf Channel, are staggeringly large in comparison to payouts on the PGA Tour. Players scoring in the bottom half of the field after two rounds in most tour events typically earn nothing. And yet, the leading, young stars of the PGA Tour have nonetheless remained unwaveringly loyal.Louis Oosthuizen said on Tuesday that he planned to play only one more year on the PGA Tour.Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJohnson is one of only two top 30 players to join LIV Golf. (Louis Oosthuizen, ranked 21st, is the other.) But the overwhelming majority of the rest in the top 30, who are both the vanguard overtaking the game and generally in their 20s or early 30s, have stood with the PGA Tour.Johnson is 37, and Oosthuizen is 39 and said on Tuesday that he only planned to play one more year on the PGA Tour. In fact, many of the golfers who have committed to this week’s LIV Golf event have seen a declining world ranking lately: Sergio Garcia, 42, was ranked 10th in the men’s world rankings five years ago is now 57th; Graeme McDowell, 42, was ranked 15th in 2012 and is currently No. 374; Ian Poulter, 46, was ranked 12th a decade ago and is now 92nd; Martin Kaymer, 37, the world’s top-ranked men’s golfer in 2011 is now ranked 215th.There is no inevitability that the PGA Tour’s young guard will maintain their solidarity, especially after next month’s British Open, the last major of the season, is contested. The PGA Tour schedule winds down in August when it turns toward the season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs, which awards the winner an ample $15 million. But some tour players who do not qualify for those playoffs might be enticed to enter some of the final, lucrative LIV Golf events in September and October.That might especially be true for golfers with lesser tour status, but they would most likely still face a suspension from the PGA Tour that could continue into next year. And perhaps beyond. Is that worth it?The situation, and the professional golf landscape, is evolving. Johnson, a prominent figure in golf, and Mickelson, a fading, aging — albeit popular — golf personality, have seemed to turn their backs on the status quo. At least temporarily, to hear some of Johnson’s words.Mickelson, it is worth noting, insisted on Tuesday that he planned to keep the lifetime PGA Tour membership he has earned in his long career.If it sounds knotty, keep in mind it could become more tangled. The next stage of golf’s burgeoning face-off may be in court. More

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      Phil Mickelson Will Play LIV Golf Event That Starts Friday Near London

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      “I fully realize and respect some may disagree with this decision,” said Mickelson, who hasn’t competed since his comments about the contentious tour were reported in February.Phil Mickelson, who has not played competitively since incendiary remarks he made in support of a Saudi-backed golf league that hopes to rival the established PGA Tour were reported in February, will end his self-imposed layoff later this week by playing in the first event of the upstart LIV Golf circuit.Mickelson, the winner of six major golf championships including last year’s P.G.A. Championship when he became the oldest golfer to win a major, will be one of 48 players competing for $25 million in prize money when the tournament begins Thursday at the Centurion Club near London. Last week, Dustin Johnson, 15th in the men’s world golf rankings, also agreed to compete on the alternative tour. A report in The Telegraph said Johnson was paid $125 million to join LIV Golf, whose major shareholder is the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.The breakaway tour has also promised hefty appearance fees and a format that guarantees every entrant six-figure payouts.“This new path is a fresh start, one that is exciting for me at this stage in my career,” Mickelson, whose world ranking has slumped to 72nd, wrote on Twitter Monday. “I fully realize and respect some may disagree with this decision and may have strong opinions and I empathize with that. I have a renewed spirit and excitement for the game,” he added.Mickelson’s announcement will most likely lead to his suspension from the PGA Tour, which has paid Mickelson more than $94 million in tournament earnings for 30 years. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, has said players who choose to play LIV Golf events will be subject to discipline that could include suspensions or lifetime bans.Mickelson, with a reputation as a golf firebrand, might relish a court challenge to the PGA Tour’s right to ban him. Monahan has not flinched when asked if he had the authority to discipline players in that manner, insisting that the tour’s lawyers believe any punishment handed to golfers who play for the rival tour will withstand legal scrutiny.Mickelson, one of the most recognizable golfers of his generation, drew heavy criticism after he acknowledged Saudi Arabia had a “horrible record on human rights” — including the murder of a Washington Post journalist — but said he was still talking with, and aiding, the new tour because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Earlier this year, Mickelson, 51, accused the PGA Tour, where he has won 45 times, of “obnoxious greed.” He later said his remarks were “reckless,” but nonetheless several longtime corporate sponsors, including KPMG and Workday, ended their relationships with him.On Monday, Mickelson wrote: “I want to again apologize to the many people I offended and hurt with my comments a few months ago. I have made mistakes in my career in some of the things I have said and done. Taking time away and self-reflecting has been very humbling.”The tournament near London is one of eight events this year in the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Early this season, Mickelson competed in three PGA Tour events, missing the cut in two and finishing tied for 30th in the third.Although a three-time Masters winner, he skipped this year’s tournament. On Monday, however, Mickelson said he intended to play in future major championships. He is currently in the field for next week’s U.S. Open and next month’s British Open.Greg Norman, the chief executive and commissioner of LIV Golf, who said last week that “free agency has finally come to golf,” praised Mickelson.“His contributions to the sport and connection to fans around the globe cannot be overstated, and we are grateful to have him,” Norman said on Monday in a statement.Many of Mickelson’s colleagues on the PGA Tour, including his longtime rival Tiger Woods, have been critical of Mickelson’s adversarial stance toward the tour.“The viewpoints that Phil has made with the tour and what the tour has meant to all of us has been polarizing,” Woods said last month.Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner, called Mickelson’s comments, “naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.”Last week, McIlroy, who has been outspoken in his disdain for the LIV Golf venture, was dismissive of the catalog of players entered in the tournament to begin Thursday at the Centurion Club.“I certainly don’t think the field is anything to jump up and down about,” McIlroy said.But Monday on Twitter, Mickelson was cheerful.“I’m thrilled to begin with LIV Golf and I appreciate everyone involved,” he wrote. More

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      Dustin Johnson Joins Field for League Looking to Rival the PGA Tour

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      The two-time major winner, who had pledged loyalty to the PGA Tour, is among 42 golfers set to play in the first event for a series whose major shareholder is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.Dustin Johnson, who in February pledged his loyalty to the U.S.-based PGA Tour, will be the top-ranked golfer in the inaugural event of a Saudi-backed rival tour next week at the Centurion Golf Club outside London. Phil Mickelson, who recently expressed some measure of support for the alternative circuit, was not among those listed in the field for the tournament.Mickelson’s absence is a mild surprise, though there were still six spots available on Tuesday, so he could change his mind. Johnson’s inclusion is a breach in the broad solidarity expressed by the PGA Tour’s elite men’s golfers over the last six months.Johnson, 37 and ranked 13th in the world, was one of 42 players listed in the field for the first event of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, whose major shareholder is the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The upstart league offers no-cut tournaments with $25 million in total prize money at each, and guarantees top players millions in appearance fees regardless of their performance.Other players in the field were expected, with many — like Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter — older than 40. Overall, while there are 16 players in next week’s LIV Golf field ranked in the top 100, only two — Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen — are ranked in the top 30.The PGA Tour and the established European golf tour have denied releases for member golfers to play in LIV Golf, which is led by the retired major champion Greg Norman. PGA Tour officials have said that those playing in any of the breakaway circuit’s tournaments would risk punishment, which could include suspensions or a loss of tour membership.The next step in the clash may be in court. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has insisted that the tour’s lawyers believe any discipline handed to golfers who play for the rival tour will withstand legal scrutiny.Johnson, a two-time major winner who has accumulated more than $74 million in career earnings from the PGA Tour, said in February that he was “fully committed to the PGA Tour.” It was a sentiment echoed by every player in the top 10, and each of the leading golfers in a younger cohort that has dominated the PGA Tour in the last two seasons.Rory McIlroy, the four-time major champion, called the new rival league “dead in the water.”Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, issued a statement on Tuesday night: “Dustin has been contemplating this opportunity off-and-on for the past couple of years. Ultimately, he decided it was in his and his family’s best interest to pursue it. Dustin has never had any issue with the PGA Tour and is grateful for all it has given him, but in the end felt this was too compelling to pass up.”“Free agency has finally come to golf.,” Norman said in his own statement. “This is an opportunity to start a movement that will change the course of history by bringing new and open competition to the sport we all love. The desire shown by the players to participate in LIV Golf demonstrates their emphatic belief in our model and confidence in what we’re building for the future.”The LIV Golf series includes eight events from June to October, including one in Thailand and five in the United States. In late July, the host site will be the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.Saudi Arabia’s role in the new tour has already caused controversy. Mickelson set off a hailstorm of criticism in February after he acknowledged Saudi Arabia had a “horrible record on human rights” — including the murder of a Washington Post journalist — but said he viewed the new tour as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to apply pressure on the PGA Tour to increase player revenues. Mickelson later said his remarks had been “reckless.” More

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      Tiger Woods Calls Phil Mickelson’s Viewpoints ‘Polarizing’

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      In remarks before the P.G.A. Championship, Tiger Woods distanced himself from his longtime rival, Phil Mickelson, who stirred controversy with his support of an upstart Saudi-backed golf tour.TULSA, Okla. — On Tuesday, when Tiger Woods spoke publicly for the first time since his stunning comeback at last month’s Masters Tournament, the expected topic was to be his continuing recovery from a near-fatal 2021 car crash. Woods did indeed say his reconstructed right leg felt stronger as he prepared for this week’s P.G.A. Championship, which begins Thursday at Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club.But perhaps for the first time at any news conference in Woods’s 30-plus years in the public eye, he spent nearly as much time discussing a longtime rival, Phil Mickelson, as he did himself. And Woods was not usually chatting about Mickelson in flattering terms.Woods was emphatic about distancing himself from Mickelson, who will not defend his P.G.A. Championship title and has not played since he made incendiary remarks in February in support of a Saudi-backed golf league that hopes to rival the established PGA Tour.While Mickelson in the past has privately reached out to Woods during his struggles, which have included a sensational marital infidelity scandal in 2009 and the aftermath of a tumbling car crash on a Los Angeles-area boulevard last year, Woods said on Tuesday that he has not contacted Mickelson.“I have not reached out to him; I have not spoken to him,” Woods said. “A lot of it has not to do with, I think, personal issues. It was our viewpoints of how the tour should be run and could be run, and what players are playing for and how we are playing for it. I have a completely different stance on that, so no, I have not.”Woods added: “We miss him being out here. I mean, he’s a big draw for the game of golf. He’s just taking his time and we all wish him the best when he comes back.”A poster of Phil Mickelson, last year’s P.G.A. champion, greets spectators at Southern Hills. Mickelson will not play this year.Erik S Lesser/EPA, via ShutterstockBut after conceding that the social media landscape had escalated and quickly polarized the dispute between the PGA Tour and the breakaway league, Woods said: “And the viewpoints that Phil has made with the tour and what the tour has meant to all of us has been polarizing as well.”Mickelson applied for a release from the PGA Tour to play in the inaugural event of the upstart golf circuit, LIV Golf, next month outside London. The PGA Tour denied Mickelson’s request and any made by its members, and it has threatened to suspend or otherwise discipline players who play in the alternative tour’s events. In February, Mickelson provoked a hailstorm of criticism after he acknowledged Saudi Arabia had a “horrible record on human rights” — including the murder of a Washington Post journalist — but said he was still talking with, and aiding, the new tour because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to apply pressure on the PGA Tour. Earlier this year, Mickelson accused the PGA Tour of “obnoxious greed.” He later said his remarks were “reckless.”On Tuesday, when Woods was asked how his disagreements with Mickelson could be resolved, Woods replied: “I don’t know if he has to resolve it or not. I understand different viewpoints, but I believe in legacies. I believe in major championships. I believe in big events, comparisons to historical figures of the past. There’s plenty of money out here. The tour is growing. But it’s just like any other sport, you have to go out there and earn it.”When he wasn’t discussing Mickelson on Tuesday, Woods’s rebuilt right leg did look considerably stronger than it did last month when he labored to ascend seemingly every hill during the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. During a practice round in Tulsa, Woods actually half-jogged up a steep incline.During the final round of the Masters Tournament last month at Augusta National Golf Club, Woods used an iron to support himself as he walked. Doug Mills/The New York TimesWhen asked how much he had physically improved during the last five weeks of additional rehabilitation for the serious injuries incurred in his 2021 crash, Woods smiled.“The first mountain I climbed was Everest,” he said. “So, yeah, I’m better than the last time I played a tournament.” He added: “I still have tough days, and things aren’t going to be as easy as people might think. Still, I’m doing better — more positive days.”But tellingly, Woods, who used to be known for almost ceaseless practice, especially with his putter, scoffed when he was asked if he can now practice enough.“Practicing a lot? No, I don’t do that anymore,” he answered. “Bending over for a long time, hitting a bunch of putts like I used to? No, that doesn’t happen — not with my back the way it is.”Some things, however, have not changed. Woods never showed up for an event unless he believed he could finish first. That resolve has not wavered.“I feel like I can — definitely,” Woods responded when asked if he could win. “I just have to go out there and do it. Starts on Thursday and I’ll be ready.”Jon Rahm, who is the world’s top-ranked men’s golfer and also in this week’s field, said he was not surprised that Woods wants to win every tournament.“Hey, the world wants him to win,” Rahm said with a grin.In what will be an eye-catching grouping, Rory McIlroy will play in Thursday’s first round with Woods and Jordan Spieth, who has won every major golf title but the P.G.A. Championship. McIlroy expects to see an upgrade from the Woods who started strong at last month’s Masters but faded in the final two rounds.“It’s been six weeks or so since Augusta?” McIlroy asked. “Six weeks is a long enough time to recover from that week and then build yourself back up again.” More