Mickelson almost cancelled LIV Golf before it began with damning Saudi comments
Phil Mickelson came close to finishing LIV Golf before it had even taken off, after the six-time major champion's controversial comments about Saudi Arabia in February 2022.
Mickelson has been with the LIV setup ever since its inception last summer, having become one of the first PGA Tour players to show an interest in working with the Saudi-funded breakaway league. Months before his LIV switch, Mickelson raised eyebrows after discussing his reasoning for wanting to work with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF).
In an interview with Fire Pit Collective for his biography written by Alan Shipnuck, Mickelson famously described the Saudi state as 'scary motherf******', before defending the Middle Eastern state's sportswashing accusations in a bid to gain leverage over the PGA Tour.
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Referencing Saudi Arabia's 'horrible' human rights record and the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Mickelson told Shipnuck: " They’re scary motherf****** to get involved with. We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights.
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"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." In the aftermath, Mickelson issued an apology for his comments before going into a four-month exile prior to his official LIV Golf announcement in June of 2022.
Following the backlash a whole hoar of PGA Tour stars were quick to rule themselves out of aligning with Mickelson and the Saudi-backed league, which almost ended LIV Golf's rise before it had even had chance to take off. Per Shipnuck's latest book 'LIV & Let Die', a LIV executive said: "We first heard about it [Mickelson's comments] on Twitter.
"It was complete and total panic and chaos. We went from the verge of launching to feeling like, 'Hey, it was a good run, but now its over'." Four months later this was not the case though, as LIV was eventually born following its maiden event at Centurion Club in St Albans.
And as well as Mickelson, a number of PGA Tour stars who had initially played down their interest in the rebel league amid the American's controversial comments were involved too, most notably two-time major champion Dustin Johnson. An ugly 12-month dispute followed between the Tour and the LIV setup, but it appears this feud is set to come to an end.
In June the PGA Tour announced it had reached a framework agreement with PIF, which would see them unite with their LIV rivals as well as their allies, the DP World Tour. What the proposed merger means for professional golf remains to be seen, with details surrounding the deal still unclear.
In recent weeks doubt has been cast on golf's peace treaty, after a number of reports claimed that the December 31 deadline set for the deal to be finalised is to be missed, with negotiations taking longer than expected. As things stand both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are set to operate as normal in 2024, with any changes expected to come into effect the following year.
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