Four months after churning headlines first reported that Phil Mickelson was considering working with a new Saudi-backed breakaway league, the golf star has officially signed up to compete at its first event.
The golfer, whose professional career spans three decades and includes six major championship wins and 45 titles on the PGA Tour, signed a reported $200 million contract on Saturday night to play with LIV Golf. His participation at the league’s invitational series—set to begin this Thursday in London—was first reported by the New York Post. The size of his contract was reported minutes later by sports journalist Brentley Romaine.
“I am ready to come back and play the game I love but after 32 years this new path is a fresh start,” Mickelson wrote in a statement posted to his Twitter on Monday, “one that's exciting for me at this stage of my career and is clearly transformative, not just for myself, but ideally for the game and my peers.”
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He will tee up against 47 other players in London, including a pair of two-time major winners and a handful of other golfers with at least one championship under their belts.
Mickelson, 51, sparked controversy in February after remarking to a journalist that he consider playing for the Saudis—despite their history of human rights abuses—to force the PGA Tour to adapt.
“They’re scary motherfuckers to get involved with,” he told author Alan Shipnuck, who was working on an unauthorized biography of Mickelson. “They killed [Washington Post reporter Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. 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.”
A number of his longtime corporate sponsors dropped him after his comments came to light, and he skipped the Masters for the first time in 28 years in April. Mickelson apologized for his words in February, and again on Monday.
“I have made mistakes in my career in some of the things I have said and done. Taking time away and self-reflecting has been very humbling,” the golfer said. “I need to start prioritizing the people that I love the most and work on becoming a better version of myself.”
Mickelson added that he still plans to compete in other major championships, telling Sports Illustrated in an interview that he was looking forward to playing the U.S. Open later this month. He has remained cagey about his future participation in the PGA Tour.
“I have not resigned my membership,” he told SI. “I worked really hard to earn that lifetime membership. And I’m hopeful that I’ll have the ability to play wherever I want, where it’s the PGA Tour, LIV or wherever else I want.”
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has made it clear that players who jump ship to the LIV roster will be suspended, and possibly slapped with lifetime bans. The LIV circuit’s schedule will include eight events around the world from June to October, including one hosted at Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf club.
“Phil Mickelson is unequivocally one of the greatest golfers of this generation,” Greg Norman, LIV’s CEO, said in a statement announcing Mickelson’s signing. “His contributions to the sport and connection to fans around the globe cannot be overstated and we are grateful to have him.”
The league had also attempted to entice Tiger Woods, Norman, himself a golf legend known as “the Shark,” told The Washington Post in an interview on Sunday. Woods was unmoved by a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer in the “high nine digits,” according to Norman.
At least one other A-list golfing pro has agreed to play in London this week, with reports circulating that Dustin Johnson had accepted a contract offering him roughly $125 million.
Others, like Woods and fellow stars Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith, and Justin Thomas have signaled their loyalty to the PGA. “You know, [Mickelson] has his opinion on where he sees the game of golf going. I have my viewpoint on how I see the game of golf,” Woods said in May, explaining that there was a “legacy” to playing the PGA Tour.
“I understand different viewpoints, but I believe in legacies,” he added.
