Phil Mickelson almost ended the Saudi involvement in golf before it had began with a damaging interview which had potential PGA Tour rebels rethinking their decision.
In February the six-time major winner stated the Saudi chiefs were 'scary motherf*****s' after admitting he was talking with the controversial Saudi Golf League (SGL), now commonly known as LIV Golf.
This was at the time when a new rebel series being led former world No 1 Greg Norman, with the mega-money funding of Saudi-backed company LIV Golf Investments, was looking to lure some of the game’s best players away from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
Mickleson has since claimed that he 'never did' the interview with his biographer Alan Shipnuck which caused panic amongst those planning on joining LIV Golf. 'Big Phil' described the Middle Eastern bosses as ' scary motherf*****s', referring to the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, and the kingdom's horrific treatment of the LGBT community.
Majed Al Sorour, who is worth approximately £500billion, and is the CEO of the Golf Saudi Federation and Newcastle United director, has now revealed the damage Mickleson's comments made as players were prepared to walk away from the new series.
Speaking to The New Yorker he recalled the conversation he had with Public Investment Fund (PIF) kingpin Yasir Al-Rumayyan. "They called me a scary motherf******," Sorour said. "We don’t kill gays, I’ll just tell you that.
“I called the boss Rumayyan, I said, ‘Everyone’s walking away. Do you want to do it, or not?’ ” Rumayyan replied: “Get the biggest mediocres, get the ten that we have, get you and I, and let’s go play for $25million.”
Rumayyan decided to press ahead and announce the LIV Golf launch immediately. Mickleson was accused of hypocrisy after going back on his comments when he joined the Saudi-backed rebel tour ahead of their inaugural event in St Albans in June. However, that was only after he'd taken a prolonged break from the sport letting tempers calm.
It seemed as through Mickleson was torn between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour during his February interview also slamming the traditional tour as "manipulative and coercive". However, four months and six LIV events on, the former Masters and PGA Championship winner denies making the comments in February claiming he 'never did' an interview with Shipnuck and is a major supporter of the rebel series.
