Like everyone else involved, Phil Mickelson is now sprinting away at full speed from his comments about a potential breakaway Saudi-funded golf league.
In a blatant attempt to strongarm the PGA, Mickelson told writer Alan Shipnuck that the Saudis are “scary motherf-----s to get involved with” and pointed out that they “execute people over there for being gay.” But to Mickelson, getting in bed with Saudi money would be worth it for the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
Mickelson’s peers bashed him as “naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant” as even the golfers rumored to be joining him fled from the concept, seemingly killing it on arrival.
Now Phil is very sorry — to the Saudis who he openly said “have a horrible record on human rights” — and to his current sponsors who fill up his bank account.
“My experience with LIV Golf Investments has been very positive,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “I apologize for anything I said that was taken out of context.”
Mickelson blamed the reporter for accurately quoting him. He said that Shipnuck’s story was “off-record comments being shared out of context,” which Shipnuck immediately said was “completely false.”
The 51-year-old Mickelson blamed vague “pressure and stress” for his unusually frank comments about the Saudi league.
“I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and many have been shared with the public,” he said in Tuesday’s statement. “The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level. I know have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on the man I want to be.”
