Mickelson, Phil

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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

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      PGA Tour Denies Golfers Waivers for Saudi-Backed Tournament

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      The tour has made it clear it will suspend players who defect to Greg Norman’s rival LIV Golf series, which is set to make its debut in England next month.The PGA Tour has sternly refused to grant its membership the ability to play in the inaugural event of a rival Saudi-backed golf tour, which will make its debut next month outside London. The move, announced in a memo to tour members Tuesday night, was hardly a surprise — the PGA Tour is protecting its business — but in the most gentlemanly of sports, it exposed uncharacteristic rancor.It is also pressuring the world’s best men’s golfers, who are highly paid entrepreneurs, to choose sides over where they will collect their millions of dollars in compensation. And not inconsequentially, the focus of the dispute is often the source of the alternative golf circuit, LIV Golf, whose major shareholder is the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.The overwhelming likelihood is that only a small number of players with little standing on the established, American-based PGA Tour — plus a handful of golfers past their prime — will jump to the new golf series, which may not lack for money but currently lacks prestige, or even a TV contract.But if the start-up tour perseveres for years — also not a certainty — and keeps its promise to dole out purses that overshadow those on the PGA Tour, it could sow unrest down the line in a future generation of young pros, especially those raised outside the United States whose focus is not so centered on the PGA Tour.For now, scores of tour players, including everyone at the top of the men’s world rankings, have pledged their fealty to the PGA Tour.Several times, Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner who is ranked seventh in the world, has declared the breakaway tour “dead in the water.” He has also disapproved of its underpinnings, saying, “I didn’t like where the money was coming from.” Aligning with McIlroy, 33, have been some dominant new faces of the game, like Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.Caught in the dispute is one of the most renowned players in the sport, Phil Mickelson, who has stepped away from competitive golf for months since making comments in support of the breakaway league.Mickelson was one of several PGA Tour-affiliated players, including Sergio García of Spain and Lee Westwood of England, who applied for a release from the tour to play in the first event of a LIV Golf International Series at the Centurion Club near London from June 9 to 11.The tour is declining to grant those releases, which means players who choose to play in the LIV Golf event will be deemed in violation of tour regulations. Disciplinary action could include suspension or revocation of tour membership.Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, has made it plain to the players this year that the tour will suspend players who defect to the rival league. The same may be true for a player who wants to play even one tournament on the LIV Golf schedule, which 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 Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.Greg Norman, chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, at a news conference at the Centurion Club on Wednesday.Paul Childs/Action Images Via ReutersHours after the PGA Tour declined the players’ requests to play at the Centurion Club event, Greg Norman, a former major golf champion who is the chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, denounced the tour’s decision.“Sadly, the PGA Tour seems intent on denying professional golfers their right to play golf, unless it’s exclusively in a PGA Tour tournament,” Norman said. He added: “Instead, the tour is intent on perpetuating its illegal monopoly of what should be a free and open market. The tour’s action is anti-golfer, anti-fan and anti-competitive.”As if to up the ante, LIV Golf on Tuesday announced plans for more events from 2023 to 2025.The next step in the clash may be in court. Monahan has insisted that the tour’s lawyers believe its decision making will withstand legal scrutiny.While a court case will be less than riveting, the more compelling drama within the drama for golf will be Mickelson’s situation. He has only a few days to commit to playing in next week’s P.G.A. Championship, which he won last year when he became the oldest major champion at age 50. Mickelson has been linked to the LIV Golf circuit for months. In February, he was severely rebuked for incendiary comments attributed to him in support of the Saudi-backed tour.In an interview for a biography to be released next week, Mickelson told the journalist Alan Shipnuck that he knew of the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights,” but that he was willing to help the new league because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to drastically increase the income of PGA Tour players.Shortly afterward, Mickelson, a six-time major winner who has earned nearly $95 million on the PGA Tour, was dropped by several of his corporate sponsors. He apologized and called his remarks “reckless.”Next week, perhaps while Mickelson is making final preparations for his return to competitive golf at the P.G.A. Championship, Shipnuck’s book, “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” will be released. It is expected to shed light on Mickelson’s gambling habits, among other things.Sergio García at the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament this month in Potomac, Md.Mitch Stringer/USA Today Sports, via ReutersGarcía, another player who has long been considered a candidate to join the LIV Golf enterprise, recently expressed his support of the alternative tour in an unconventional way. Playing in last week’s PGA Tour event near Washington, García was apprised by a golf official of an on-course ruling that went against him. That decision was later determined to be erroneous (but not reversed). García, whose career PGA Tour earnings exceed $54 million, told the official, in a reaction picked up by a nearby television broadcast microphone: “I can’t wait to leave this tour.” He continued: “A couple of more weeks, I don’t have to deal with you anymore.”García, 42, represents the kind of professional golfer who might be most receptive to the promises of the LIV Golf enterprise. A Masters champion with 11 PGA Tour victories, he has been struggling to keep up with the more powerful, long-hitting young players taking over golf. His world ranking has slipped to 46th. He is also not American, like other golfers who are reported to have signed on with the breakaway tour. These players are most likely attracted to LIV Golf’s more global, and limited, schedule. Some players view the American tour as overbearing, restrictive and weighted toward events staged in the United States.In the meantime, there is a ruckus in the genteel world of golf. Its short-term impact is unlikely to rock the boat much. The question will be how long the rival tour can maintain sustainability, and whether that will be enough to seriously churn the sport’s customarily calm and lucrative waters. More

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      The Masters: 10 Most Memorable Shots

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      The tournament tends to inspire magnificent moments, and there have been many.The Masters, which begins on Thursday, never fails to deliver shots to remember, which generate roars from the crowd at Augusta National Golf Club.Gene Sarazen at Augusta National in 1935, when the tournament was known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.Augusta National, via Getty ImagesThis year will no doubt provide more shots that fall into that category and more thunderous roars. Most likely they will come during the back nine on Sunday, when, as the saying goes, the tournament truly begins.Here are 10 examples, in chronological order, of sensational shots by players who walked away with the title — and, since 1949, the coveted green jacket.1935: Gene SarazenThere’s no film of the shot that ranks as the greatest of all. That’s unfortunate.The Masters wasn’t known as the Masters then; it was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament and in only its second year.In the final round, Sarazen was trailing Craig Wood by three strokes. On No. 15, a par 5, Sarazen hit a 4-wood from about 230 yards away. The ball dropped into the cup for an incredible double eagle. Just like that, he was tied with Wood.Sarazen beat Wood by five shots the next day in a 36-hole playoff.1960: Arnold PalmerAfter making a long birdie putt on No. 17 to tie Ken Venturi, who had completed play, Palmer needed another birdie on the last hole to capture his second Masters title in three years.Mission accomplished.He nailed a 6-iron from the fairway to within five feet of the pin and then converted the putt.Palmer prevailed again at Augusta National in 1962 and in 1964, winning the last of his seven majors.Jack Nicklaus at the Masters in 1975.Augusta National/Getty Images1975: Jack NicklausHis tee shot at No. 16, a par 3, in the final round wasn’t what he was looking for, with the ball coming to a rest about 40 feet from the cup. He would, in all likelihood, get his par, but still trail the leader, Tom Weiskopf, by a shot.Forget about the par.Nicklaus knocked in the uphill putt for a birdie, lifting his putter in the air to celebrate. After Weiskopf and Johnny Miller missed their birdie attempts at 18, Nicklaus won his fifth green jacket.1986: Jack NicklausNicklaus, 46, was making an unexpected run on Sunday when he faced a second shot at the risk/reward 15th hole.The risk was worth the reward.From 202 yards away, he hit a 4-iron over the pond to about 12 feet from the pin.He converted the eagle putt and followed with birdies at 16 and 17 to win by a stroke. For Nicklaus, who fired a final-round 65 (30 on the back nine), it was his sixth Masters title and 18th, and final, major championship.1987: Larry MizeWhen a sudden-death playoff got underway, Mize was not the favorite. His opponents were Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros, future Hall of Famers.Yet it was Mize, an Augusta native, who came through, chipping in from about 140 feet on No. 11, the second playoff hole, to outduel Norman. Ballesteros, in pursuit of his third green jacket, had dropped out after a bogey on the first playoff hole.Mize went on to win only two more PGA Tour events.1988: Sandy LyleAfter hitting his drive on No. 18 into the bunker, Lyle needed a par to move to a playoff with Mark Calcavecchia, who was already in the clubhouse.From 150 yards away, Lyle, who couldn’t see the flag, proceeded to hit a magnificent 7-iron, the ball trickling down the hill to stop about 10 feet from the pin.Lyle, of Scotland, made the birdie putt to become the first player from the United Kingdom to win the Masters.Mark O’Meara with his caddie on the 18th green at the 1998 Masters.Augusta National, via Getty Images1998: Mark O’MearaThe tournament seemed destined for the first sudden-death playoff since 1990.O’Meara, who was tied with David Duval and Fred Couples, was lining up a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole.There would be no playoff.O’Meara, who had started the day two shots back, knocked it in for his first major title. He won his second major a few months later in the British Open.2004: Phil MickelsonWithout question, Mickelson’s 6-iron from the pine straw on No. 13 in 2010 deserves to be on the list, but his birdie on the final hole in 2004 also stands out.Tied with Ernie Els, Mickelson hit his approach to 18 feet from the hole. A playoff appeared to be a strong possibility, and similar to O’Meara in 1998, Mickelson, 33, was in search of his first major triumph. He had finished second three times.Jim Nantz, the CBS anchor, said it best as the ball edged toward the cup.“Is it his time? … Yes.”Tiger Woods faced his fans after winning the Masters in 2005.Icon Sport Media, via Getty Images2005: Tiger WoodsLeading in the final round by only one, Woods was in trouble after his 8-iron to No. 16 missed the green to the left. He had to aim about 25 feet from the cup to catch the slope at the perfect spot.He found the perfect spot, and the ball stayed on the edge of the cup for a second or two before tumbling in for a miraculous birdie.Woods secured his fourth green jacket on the first playoff hole against Chris DiMarco.2012: Bubba WatsonWatson, on the second playoff hole against Louis Oosthuizen, sent his tee shot into the pine straw on the right.Advantage: Oosthuizen. Not for long.Watson managed to hook his wedge shot to about 15 feet from the cup. He finished with a par, earning the first of his two Masters victories when Oosthuizen made a bogey.“As an athlete, as a golfer,” Watson told reporters at the time, “this is the Mecca. This is what we strive for — to put on the green jacket.” More

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      Older Players on the PGA Tour Are Looking Over Their Shoulders

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      A week ago, the top five players in the men’s world golf rankings were under 30 years old for the first time since the rankings began in 1986.PALM HARBOR, Fla. — On the eve of the PGA Tour’s Florida swing, a four-tournament series in March that sets the stage for four months featuring major golf championships, Rory McIlroy, 32, made a revealing observation.McIlroy, a one-time child prodigy turned four-time major winner, said the results of recent tour events were making him feel especially old.McIlroy was only half joking.But with Sunday’s conclusion of the Valspar Championship, the last chapter of the tour’s trip through the Sunshine State, McIlroy sentiments reflect an unmistakable reality: Men’s professional golf is being transformed by a sweeping youth movement.Even being a creaky 32 is enough to keep you out of the upper echelon. Sort of.A week ago, the top five players in the men’s world golf rankings — in order, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler — were under 30 years old, which was the first time that had happened since the rankings were instituted in 1986. While Cantlay turned 30 on Thursday, that does not diminish the headway the game’s youngest players are making.It is particularly noticeable because many of the most dominant names in men’s golf during this century are now farther from the top of the rankings than ever: Phil Mickelson is 45th, Justin Rose is 51st, Jason Day is 99th and Tiger Woods, who has not played a tour event in 16 months, is 895th.Moreover, no one expects the 20-something brigade to retreat.“I’ve been saying it since Day 1, the young guys, we all believed in ourselves when we got to the tour,” Morikawa, 25, said. “That’s not going to change. The recent play just shows how good the young guys who are coming out can be — how good this young pile is.”Collin Morikawa, 25, will attempt to defend his British Open title, his second major tournament victory, in July.Julio Aguilar/Getty ImagesThe remaking of the rankings has been most dramatic over the last several weeks.It began a week before the first PGA Tour Florida event this month when Joaquin Niemann, 23, won the Genesis Invitational near Los Angeles. It continued when Sepp Straka, 28, was atop the final leaderboard at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Next, Scheffler, 25, claimed the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. The following week, on the east coast of Florida, Cameron Smith, 28, won a Players Championship that was battered by bad weather over five days. Finally, on Sunday, near Tampa, Sam Burns, 25, won the Valspar Championship, a tournament he also won last year. Burns, who moved to 10th in the world with Sunday’s victory, defeated Davis Riley, 25, in a playoff. Justin Thomas, 28, and Matthew NeSmith, also 28, tied for third. Matt Fitzpatrick, 27, was fifth.Thomas, a former world No. 1, praised the growing accomplishments of this younger set even though the competition has helped push his current world ranking to seventh.“I’ve played some pretty damn good golf, but if you’re not winning tournaments now, you’re getting lapped,” Thomas said. “That’s just the way it is, which just goes to show the level of golf being played.“But the jealous side of me wants that to be me.”It is a reasonable expectation that youth will continue to have an impact heading into the four golf majors contested from April through July. While the truism is that experience matters greatly at the Masters, it is also worth remembering that Will Zalatoris, 25, finished second at last year’s Masters. Xander Schauffele, 28 and ranked ninth (one behind McIlroy), played in the final group on the last day of that Masters with eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama.At this year’s U.S. Open, Rahm, 27, is the defending champion. Scheffler, Schauffele and Morikawa were all in the top 10 last year, as were Daniel Berger, 28, and Guido Migliozzi of Italy, who is, of course, just 25. At last year’s P.G.A. Championship, Scheffler, Zalatoris and Morikawa were among the top 10 finishers; Morikawa is the reigning British Open champion. Oh, yes, at that event a year ago, Spieth was second and Rahm was third.There are a handful of theories to explain this youthful surge, and most center on the heightened professionalism that has become commonplace even in competitions for top golfers in their late teens or early 20s. That has in turn raised the caliber of golf at the American collegiate level, where rosters are also now frequently dotted with elite players from around the world.And since every conversation about modern golf must have a tie to Woods, there is also a belief that more agile and finely honed athletes have been flocking to golf for more than 20 years — a tribute to Woods’s effect on sports worldwide.Put it all together and those graduating from pro golf’s chief minor league, the Korn Ferry Tour, seem less intimidated by the big leagues and more ready to win, or at least contend, right away.“It’s a reflection of the system at work,” said Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner. “The athleticism, the youth, the preparedness, the system is working. You can talk about the top five, but you can extend it past the top five and into the top 30.”Jon Rahm, 27, won his first major tournament title at the 2021 U.S. Open.Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesSixteen of the top 30 golfers are 30 years old or younger.Scheffler gave credit to Jordan Spieth, who won his first PGA Tour event when he was 19 and nearly won the Masters when he was 20 (he finished second). Scheffler, like Spieth, attended the University of Texas.“It was one of those deals where I had a personal connection with him,” Scheffler said of Spieth, who is 28. “He gave a lot of the guys from Texas the belief that we can come out here and play well at a young age. You don’t have to wait until you’re 25 or 30 to get some experience under your belt.”The one aspect so far missing from golf’s youth movement is the kind of prominent rivalries that fuel any sport’s popularity. While television ratings for golf broadcasts have been surging since 2020, which could be because of the new faces at the top of leaderboards, pitched competition between familiar foes always helps.But if the cohort of 20-something golf champions has anything in common, it is their congeniality. Morikawa and Hovland were born 12 days apart, turned pro at the same time in 2019 and roomed together during their early days on the PGA Tour. Cantlay and Schauffele have vacationed together. Thomas and Spieth have been close friends since they were preteens.In that case, maybe the rivalries will have to be between the new guard and their elders — you know, those old guys in their early 30s. More

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      PGA Tour Commissioner Has Strong Words for Phil Mickelson

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      “The ball is in his court,” Jay Monahan said of the golfer who is taking a break from competition after saying he supported a rival, Saudi-backed league.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In his first meeting with reporters since Phil Mickelson’s controversial remarks about offering assistance to an upstart Saudi-backed golf league, Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, said on Tuesday that he had not talked with Mickelson but that he did not absolve him from future punishment for his comments.With Mickelson recently announcing he was taking a break from golf — an absence that includes the Players Championship this week — Monahan was asked if Mickelson had been suspended, or if he could have entered this week’s tournament.“He stepped away on his own accord, and he’s asked for time,” Monahan said. “He’s been given that time. We don’t comment on disciplinary matters, potential matters or actual matters. But every player is accountable for their actions out here.”Monahan added: “The ball is in his court. I would welcome a phone call from him. But it’s hard for me to talk about the different scenarios that could play out.“Listen, he’s a player that’s won 45 times on the PGA Tour. He’s had a Hall of Fame career. He’s won here at the Players Championship. He’s inspired a lot of people and helped grow this tour, his tour. So as difficult as it is to read some of the things that were said, ultimately a conversation will be had when he’s ready to have it, and I will be ready to have it as well.”In an interview for an unauthorized biography to be released in May, Mickelson told a journalist, Alan Shipnuck, the book’s author, that his intentional involvement with the new league was to use it as “leverage” to increase PGA Tour players’ income. Mickelson also talked about soliciting the aid of other golfers to pay for a lawyer to assist the rival league.In opening remarks before addressing reporters’ questions on Tuesday, Monahan indicated he had put the threat of the alternative league behind him. He also appeared to take a subtle jab at Mickelson.“We have too much momentum and too much to accomplish to be consistently distracted by rumors of other golf leagues and their attempts to disrupt our players, our partners and most importantly our fans from enjoying the tour and the game we all love so much,” he said. Monahan added, “We are and we always will be focused on legacy, not leverage.”Monahan was also asked about accusations by Greg Norman, who has become a face of leadership of the proposed new league, that the PGA Tour was bullying players to remain with the established circuit.“People know me and they know how I play and how we operate and the values that we stand for, and I don’t think there’s any question that that’s not how I operate,” Monahan responded. “I haven’t had a lot of people ask me about it because people know me. I’m right here.”Nearly all of the world’s top-ranked men’s golfers have pledged their loyalty to the PGA Tour, which has warned players that they would be prohibited from playing on the tour if they agreed to play events from the alternative league.Norman has insisted that the PGA Tour’s boycott would not hold up in court. Monahan disagreed. “Our rules and regulations were written by the players, for the players — they’ve been in existence for over 50 years,” he said. “I’m confident in our rules and regulations, my ability to administer them, and that’s my position on the matter.” More

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      Phil Mickelson’s Setbacks Keep Coming, and Tiger Woods Gets a Bonus

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      Mickelson previously boasted that he won the PGA Tour’s new program that pays the most popular pros, but the embattled golfer finished behind his rival once again.ORLANDO, Fla. — In an off-the-course chapter of the enduring rivalry between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Woods once again bested Mickelson.Woods, who has not played a tour event since the Masters in November 2020, earned the largest bonus payment from a new PGA Tour program meant to measure a player’s appeal and popularity across the calendar year. For 2021, as calculated by examining categories that included TV ratings, internet searches and social media posts, Woods garnered the $8 million top prize even despite not playing because of serious leg injuries he sustained in a February 2021 car crash. Mickelson will receive $6 million for coming in second.In December, Mickelson had surprised the golf community by announcing that he had won the top award for the tour’s Player Impact Program, or PIP.On Twitter, Mickelson thanked “all the crazies (and real supporters too)” for his first-place payout. On Wednesday, Woods had a comeback.For Mickelson, who became golf’s oldest major champion when he won last year’s P.G.A. Championship at age 50, receiving only a $6 million bonus may not qualify as bad news, but finishing second to a golfer who didn’t play all year felt like a setback in a turbulent few weeks for him.In mid-February, comments attributed to Mickelson in support of a breakaway golf tour backed by Saudi Arabia created controversy and backlash. Mickelson was quoted as saying he knew of the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights,” but was willing to help the new league because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to dramatically increase PGA Tour players’ income.The following week Mickelson said he regretted his remarks, which he called “reckless.” He added that he would take a leave from competitive golf. Within days, his chief corporate sponsors, including KPMG, Workday and Heineken/Amstel, announced that they were either ending or pausing their partnerships with Mickelson.On Wednesday, the tour also announced the other eight winners of the PGA’s popularity contest. Rory McIlroy came in third followed by Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, with each earning $3.5 million. The golfers from seventh to 10th — Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bubba Watson — will collect $3 million each.At a news conference, McIlroy was congratulated for finishing third. He shrugged his shoulders, grinned and offered a sheepish “thanks.”Asked if he felt there were any surprises in the top 10 money winners, McIlroy, who has been friendly with Woods for several years, answered: “Not really. I mean, you look at the 10 guys that are on there, and they’re the 10 guys that have been at the top of the game or have been around the top of the game for a long time. I feel like it’s a pretty self-explanatory system. That’s how the numbers sort of rolled out.”He added: “But it’s certainly not something that I’m checking up on every week to see where I’m at.”McIlroy, who has increasingly become a forthright voice in golf, has been strident in his criticism of Mickelson’s comments on the alternative Saudi-backed league last month, but on Wednesday he sounded conciliatory.“Look, we all make mistakes,” he said of Mickelson. “We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard. 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.” More

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      Phil Mickelson Apologizes for Support of Saudi-Backed Golf League

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      Mickelson called his recent comments “reckless” and said he will consider taking a break from competing as KPMG, his longtime sponsor, announced it would no longer represent the golfer.Phil Mickelson on Tuesday said he regretted his recent comments in support of a breakaway golf tour backed by Saudi Arabia and suggested he might take a leave from the golf course to “prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.”“I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions,” Mickelson said in a statement. “It was reckless, I offended people and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this.”A Statement from Phil Mickelson pic.twitter.com/2saaXIxhpu— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) February 22, 2022
      A proposed Super Golf League, whose main source of funding is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $400 billion, has tried over the last year to lure prominent golfers like Mickelson away from the long-established PGA Tour.In an interview for an unauthorized biography to be released in May, Mickelson told the journalist Alan Shipnuck, the book’s author, that he knew of the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights,” but said he was willing to help the new league because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to dramatically increase the income of PGA Tour players.In a story posted last week on The Firepit Collective, a golf website, Shipnuck quoted Mickelson, a six-time major golf champion, as saying the Saudi authorities were “scary” and using a profanity to describe them. Mickelson also noted the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist who was assassinated in 2018 with the approval of the kingdom’s crown prince, according to U.S. intelligence officials, and alluded to the criminalization of homosexuality in Saudi Arabia, where it is punishable by death.Mickelson’s comments spurred a vociferous backlash from the highest-ranking players on the PGA Tour, almost all of whom have publicly rebuffed the new, alternative league. Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner and one of the tour’s most respected players, called Mickelson’s remarks, “naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.”McIlroy’s contemporaries, a younger breed that now represents professional golf’s hierarchy, were similarly dismissive of the comments attributed to Mickelson, who is 51.“I don’t do this for the money, which to me is the only appeal to go over there,” Jon Rahm, 27, said of the upstart Super Golf League. Added Rahm, who is atop the men’s golf rankings: “They throw numbers at you that’s supposed to impress people. I’m in this game for the love of golf and the love of the game and to become a champion.”Mickelson’s longtime rival Tiger Woods also professed his fealty to the PGA Tour, which is based in America. And Mickelson’s comments may have fostered even more support for it as two more top golfers, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau — both of whom had been noncommittal about the new league — announced that they were sticking with the tour.Late Tuesday afternoon, KPMG, a professional services firm and a longstanding Mickelson sponsor, announced that it would end its relationship with Mickelson effective immediately.Mickelson’s statement on Tuesday could be an attempt to ward off a possible suspension from the tour. He said his actions had always “been with the best interest of golf, my peers, sponsors and fans.”He also implied that his remarks were “off-record comments being shared out of context and without my consent.”Minutes after Mickelson released his statement, Shipnuck, on Twitter, called Mickelson’s contention that his comments had been off the record “completely false.”While Mickelson’s statement on Tuesday was rambling, he seemed to be trying to make the case that alternatives to the PGA Tour were not without merit.Mickelson, surrounded by fans, shortly before winning the P.G.A. Championship last May.Erik S Lesser/EPA, via Shutterstock“Golf desperately needs change, and real change is always preceded by disruption,” he said. “I have always known that criticism would come with exploring anything new. I still chose to put myself at the forefront of this to inspire change, taking the hits publicly to do the work behind the scenes.”Mickelson, a popular player who won the P.G.A. Championship in 2021, addressed his corporate sponsors who may be unwilling to continue their relationships with him.“The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship,” he said, adding: “I believe in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract.”Mickelson concluded his statement with a discussion of his triumphs and setbacks.“I have experienced many successful and rewarding moments that I will always cherish, but I have often failed myself and others, too,” he said. “The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level. I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.” More

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      If Mickelson Bolts for Saudi-Backed Tour, Will Young Golfers Follow?

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      Mickelson, one of the game’s most popular players, has simultaneously spent nearly three decades vexing the sport’s leadership, while collecting nearly $100 million in earnings.It is hardly a surprise that Phil Mickelson is playing the provocateur in the growing drama over a proposed, breakaway Saudi Arabia-backed golf league that hopes to lure top professional golfers from the long-established PGA Tour. Mickelson, one of the game’s most popular players, has simultaneously spent nearly three decades vexing the sport’s leadership, whether it has been the august United States Golf Association or the PGA Tour, from whom Mickelson has collected nearly $100 million in career earnings.So Mickelson’s pedigree as a freethinking firebrand is well established. But even that reputation could not have forecast the striking comments attributed to him when discussing the proposed Super Golf League, whose main source of funding is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $400 billion.In an interview for an unauthorized biography to be released in May, Mickelson told journalist Alan Shipnuck, the book’s author, that he knew of the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights,” but was willing to help the new league because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to dramatically increase PGA Tour players’ income.In a story posted on “The Firepit Collective” golf website, Shipnuck quoted Mickelson as saying the Saudi authorities were “scary,” and used a profanity to describe them. He noted the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist who was assassinated in 2018 with the approval of the kingdom’s crown prince, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Mickelson also alluded to the criminalization of homosexuality in Saudi Arabia, where it is punishable by death.“We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights,” Mickelson was quoted as saying. “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.”Mickelson’s main target was Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, who he claimed would help players financially only if forced to do so. The upstart league, Mickelson said, gave the players new leverage. Earlier this month, in an interview with Golf Digest, Mickelson castigated the tour for its “obnoxious greed.”For Mickelson, who is 51 and a six-time major champion, his remarks will likely only further isolate him from the young golfers rising in the sport. For the most part, these new kingpins of golf have pledged their allegiance to the PGA Tour, which has vowed to suspend any player aligning with the alternative league., with lifetime expulsion from the PGA Tour also a possibility.Thursday at the Genesis Invitational, a tour event being played near Los Angeles, Justin Thomas, who is eighth in the men’s world golf rankings and active in helping set tour policies, was unsparing when discussing Mickelson.“Seems like a bit of a pretty, you know, egotistical statement,” Thomas said. Referring to Mickelson and any other players who want to defect from the tour, Thomas, 28, added: “If they’re that passionate, go ahead. I don’t think anybody’s stopping them.”While no tour golfer has committed to the upstart league, a few golfers, most of them over 45, have been noncommittal about it and offered mild praise for some elements proposed by the rival league, like fewer tournaments and appearance fees at events that are paid to top golfers regardless of how they perform on the golf course.But the split with the golfers born after 1985 could not be more conspicuous.Rory McIlroy, at the Genesis Invitational on Wednesday, said he is “so sick” of hearing about the Saudi-backed tour.Cliff Hawkins/Getty ImagesRory McIlroy, a four-time major winner, called the proposed new golf circuit “the not so super league.” He added: “I’m so sick of it.”McIlroy, 32, also suggested that it was only older players past their prime looking for a hefty payday who are weighing an exit from the PGA Tour.“I can maybe make sense of it for the guys that are getting to the latter stages of their career, for sure,” he said. “But I don’t think that’s what a rival golf league is really. That’s not what they’re going to want, is it? They don’t want some sort of league that’s like a pre-Champions Tour.”The Champions Tour is a scaled-down, separate wing of tournaments within the PGA Tour umbrella that is open to golfers more than 50 years old.“You’ve got the top players in the world saying ‘no,’ so that has to tell you something,” McIlroy said.Jon Rahm, the top-ranked men’s golfer, was also dismissive of the proposed league.“I don’t do this for the money, which to me is the only appeal to go over there,” Rahm, 27, said. “They throw numbers at you and that’s supposed to impress people. I’m in this game for the love of golf and the love of the game and to become a champion.”Perhaps the hottest young star, Collin Morikawa, 25, shook his head when asked where he stands on the potential for a new league.“I’m all for the PGA Tour, my entire life I’ve thought about the PGA Tour,” Morikawa, who has won two major championships in the last two years, said. “I’ve never thought about anything else; it’s always been the PGA Tour.”Many other players have expressed support for the PGA Tour, most notably the golfer who served as the idol for nearly all the young players now rising to the top of tour leaderboards.“I’m supporting the PGA Tour,” Tiger Woods said emphatically late last year when asked about the proposed venture. “That’s where my legacy is.”When pressed, Woods looked almost annoyed and insisted he had no interest in listening to discussions about a rival league.Tiger Woods, at the 2020 Masters tournament, has spoken in strong support of the PGA Tour.Doug Mills/The New York TimesAdam Scott, who is 41 and the 2013 Masters champion, did not close the door to joining the Saudi-backed league when asked about it this week. In the last decade, Scott has significantly reduced his playing schedule and fallen to No. 46 in the men’s rankings. Lee Westwood, who is 48 and a 25-time winner on the European Tour, said earlier this month that he had signed a nondisclosure agreement and could not discuss the projected new league.But most pros on the PGA Tour do not seem to expect a major disruption of the status quo.Pat Perez, an outspoken tour journeyman, believes Woods’s voice — not surprisingly — carries the most weight. The modern tour, after all, was built on the back of Woods’s towering successes. Perhaps one could consider this another chapter in the longstanding Mickelson-Woods rivalry.“I think the way Tiger’s approaching it is phenomenal,” Perez, 45, said Thursday. “He understands where he made all his money. I think these young kids, they’re backing Tiger. What he says is pretty much gold.”Perez continued: “If you don’t have the top kids doing it, I just don’t know how much water it’s going to hold.” More