LIV Golf star Pat Perez has seemingly been left eating his own words after an old clip emerged of him on social meda hitting out at fellow rebel Phil Mickelson prior to his controversial Saudi switch.
Perez joined LIV Golf during its maiden 2022 campaign, and definitely enjoyed himself. The American made a staggering £6.7 million across eight events last year, as he went on to be crowned an inaugural LIV champion alongside his 4 Aces teammates.
The breakaway circuit champion has not always been a fan of the Saudi-funded series though, and more specifically the circuit's poster boy Mickelson.
Mickelson's move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf was far from a quiet one, after famously taking aim at the American-based circuit whilst also defending the state of Saudi Arabia, despite the Middle Eastern nation's poor human rights record. The six-time major champion's controversial comments came one year ago, four months before LIV's first ever tournament at the Centurion Club.
Unsurprisingly the American received widespread criticism, and his once glittering PGA Tour legacy was left in tatters. One man who quick to hit out at Mickelson in the aftermath of his comments was now fellow LIV roster member Perez.
In an old episode of Golf.com's 'Sub Par' Podcast, Perez said: "He [Mickelson] could have done this in such a different way. He could have gone you know what 'I have been a force on the PGA Tour. God bless the PGA Tour for taking care of me and giving me a place to play.
"But I feel I want to go down this other route to kinda close out my career. Thank you everybody, it has been phenomenal." Of course Mickelson's exit was far from that, and was no doubt a sad and abrupt ending for one of the Tour's - and golf's - greatest ever competitors.
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Remarkably though just months later, one man who followed was his critic Perez whose exit was also much less dignified than the one he called on Mickelson to carry out. In the resurfaced clip, the 4 Aces star is also heard digging out his now employers at LIV Golf, claiming Greg Norman and co would be left 'disappointed' with the players they would sign.
"I think the SGL (Saudi Golf League - what we now know as LIV Golf) are going to get some players, but they are going to be disappointed with who they get," he added. They are going to get some older players like my age, that are looking for a cheque, don't really care about playing on the Tour anymore."
