The fallout surrounding Phil Mickelson’s allegiance to a Saudi-backed breakaway golf league continued Tuesday with news that one of his top endorsement deals has ended.
KPMG announced Tuesday afternoon that it concluded its relationship with the six-time major champion, a deal that reached back to 2008. Although the release said the two sides had “mutually agreed” to end their partnership, it was clearly a reaction to eroding support for Mickelson in the face of disparaging comments about the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi-backed super golf league made to Alan Shipnuck that surfaced this week.
“The Tour likes to pretend it’s a democracy, but it’s really a dictatorship,” Mickelson told Shipnuck. “They divide and conquer. The concerns of the top players are very different from the guys who are lower down on the money list, but there’s a lot more of them. They use the top guys to make their own situation better, but the top guys don’t have a say.”
Mickelson also told Shipnuck that he was willing to deal with “scary motherf—-rs” in Saudi Arabia in order to gain leverage on the PGA Tour despite human rights abuses by the Saudis.
Soon after, Tour players began refuting Mickelson’s comments, including Billy Horschel, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” McIlroy said of Mickelson’s comments. “It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”
Not long after KPMG announced the split, the company had noticeably pulled all content involving Mickelson from its website. This move could signal the beginning of a groundswell, which the 51-year-old noted in his post.
“I have incredible partners, and these relationships mean so much more to me than a contract. Many have been my most influential mentors and I consider all to be lifelong friends,” Mickelson said via social media. “The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship as I understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances. I believe in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract.”
Other companies attached to the former Arizona State star include Workday, Callaway, Rolex, Amstel Light, menswear company Mizzen+Main, Intrepid Financial Partners and Instajet. Mickelson also co-founded the company Coffee for Wellness in 2020.
While players are paid handsomely for winning tournaments — for example, Mickelson made $2,160,000 by edging Louis Oosthuizen for the 2020 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island — the biggest paychecks come from sponsors, many of whom attach themselves to a star’s perceived personality and likability.
According to Forbes, Mickelson was 29th on the list of the world’s highest-paid athletes during the 2020-2021 season, amassing around $40 million in endorsement deals. Overall in his career, the 45-time PGA Tour champ has taken home about $800 million in endorsements. He’s earned less than $100 million in golf purses.
Will other companies follow suit and drop the aging star? That’s yet to be seen. As of late Tuesday, Callaway and others still had pictures of Mickelson on their websites, and calls to his sponsors went unanswered.
While the ramifications will almost certainly accelerate in the short term, it’ll be interesting to see if Mickelson can rehabilitate his image over the long haul.
For example, blue-chip sponsors such as AT&T and Accenture dropped Tiger Woods in 2009 when news of his sex scandal broke, but he’s back atop the golf world when it comes to endorsements, with 2K Sports, Bridgestone, Centinel Spine, Discovery Communications, Inc, Full Swing, Hero Motocorp, Kowa Company Ltd., Monster Energy, Nike, Rolex, TaylorMade and Upper Deck in his stable. According to Forbes, Woods pocketed an impressive $60 million in endorsement deals during the 2020-21 season.
That was down from the $70 million Woods made in endorsement deals in 2008, before news of the scandal surfaced. At the time, Woods was far and away the most handsomely compensated spokesperson in golf.
Second that year? None other than Mickelson, with more than $52 million in endorsements.
It remains to be seen if that one-two combo remains in place in the future.
