Phil Mickelson has signed up for next month’s PGA Championship and the US Open in June, and his agents have requested a release from the PGA Tour so the six-time major champion can play golf in the first event of the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Invitational Series in London in June.
In a statement, Mickelson’s longtime agent Steve Loy of Sportfive said he still hasn’t decided whether he will attend any of the events.
“Phil doesn’t currently have any specific plans as to when or where he will play,” Loy said. “Any measures taken do not in any way reflect a final decision, but keep all options open.”
Monday was the deadline for players to request a conflicting event clearance from the PGA Tour to attend the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational June 9-11.
Mickelson, 51, has not played an official tour event since his missed cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines in late January. Mickelson has been embroiled in controversy since author Alan Shipnuck released an excerpt of his forthcoming unauthorized biography about him, in which Mickelson criticized the PGA Tour and said he was involved in drafting the working agreement for a breakaway league to be sponsored by Saudi – Arabia’s public investment is funded fund. In it, Mickelson described the Saudis as “scary” but said he was looking beyond their controversial history of human rights abuses to make an impact with the PGA Tour.
Mickelson’s comments drew widespread criticism, including from other PGA Tour pros, prompting him to apologize days later.
Several of his long-time sponsors, including Amstel Light, KPMG and Workday, ended their relationships with him. Callaway also paused his relationship with him. The American Express tournament said he will no longer serve as the host and will no longer be associated with his foundation.
Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, missed the tournament earlier this month for the first time since 1994. Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said Mickelson qualified to play as a former champion, but Mickelson chose not to compete. It would have been his 30th start in the Masters.
Mickelson is the defending champion of the PGA Championship, having unexpectedly become the oldest major champion in May 2021 at age 50 with his victory on the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
The PGA Championship will be held May 19-22 at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The US Open will be played June 16-19 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The LIV Golf Invitational Series, led by two-time Open Championship winner Greg Norman, announced in March that it will host an eight-event, seven-tournament regular-season series this year. The series will conclude Oct. 27-30 with a team championship matchplay final at Trump National Doral in Miami, owned by former US President Donald Trump, the series announced Monday.
Total prize money for the eight events is $255 million, according to LIV Golf Investments, and the seven regular-season tournaments will have total purses of $25 million, the richest with $20 million in individual prizes and $5 in professional golf it would be millions for the top three teams. The top three players after the seven regular season events will also share a $30 million bonus.
The end-of-season Team Matchplay Championship features an additional $50 million in prizes for 12 teams in a KO event. The four players on the winning team split $16 million, followed by $10 million for second and $8 million for third.
“There couldn’t be a more perfect location to host our biggest event of the year on a course with such a long history of featuring professional golfers, and we’re excited to add another piece of history to this iconic destination,” Norman said in a statement Monday. “I’m really looking forward to October to seeing these teams compete for the biggest prize pool in tournament history.”
With the LIV inaugural event in London on June 9-12 colliding with the RBC Canadian Open in Ontario, PGA Tour players would need to be released from the tour to play in the LIV tournament.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told players after last May’s PGA Championship that anyone who joins the Saudi-funded league would be suspended and potentially banned from the PGA Tour for life.