Phil Mickelson has doubled down on his claims surrounding the finances of the PGA Tour, after his long-time rival Tiger Woods was questioned on the matter at this week's Hero World Challenge.
In February Mickelson shocked the golfing world by taking aim at the tour in which he had spent almost all of his professional playing career. In interviews with both Golf Digest and Fire Pit Collective , the six-time major champion slammed the PGA Tour from withholding media rights from players, which proved financially beneficial to Jay Monahan and co, whilst leaving playing members out of pocket.
Mickelson alluded to this point when justifying Saudi Arabia's new-found funding into the sport, which later formed LIV Golf who the American has since joined forces with.
One man who has found himself on the other side of the battle between LIV and the PGA Tour is Woods, and ahead of his hosting duties at this week's Hero World Challenge he was once again questioned on Mickelson' comments. Since the emergence of LIV, the PGA Tour have responded by increasing their own funding into their competitions.
Many have claimed this was in part down to Mickelson, who 'shook the tree' thanks to his damning comments earlier this year. Woods was presented with this idea on Tuesday, to which he responded: "No, absolutely not, no.
"We took out an enormous loan during the pandemic in which that, if we had another year of the pandemic, our Tour would only be sustained for another year. So we took out an enormous loan. It worked, it paid off in our benefit, hence we were able to use that money to make the increases that we’ve made.”
The PGA Tour have since rubbished Woods' claim of the use of a loan, instead telling Sports Illustrated's Bob Harig that the funding came via the circuit's 'reserves' and ''mitigating actions'. The contrast in Mickelson and Woods' comments was highlighted by CBS reporter Kyle Porter, who was quick to acknowledge that the former had referenced the PGA Tour were 'sat on £800 million', whilst the latter highlighted the American-based circuit required the use of the alleged loan.
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Mickelson however has stood by his claims, and was quick to respond to Woods' comments, and Porter's post on Twitter by revealing the hefty backings available to the Tour. He tweeted: "Pga tour IRS 990 form from 2018, 1.6 billion in stocks, 700 million in cash, 1.15 billion in non liquid assets.
"This is from the non profit section. The for profit section hasn’t been stated since 2012 but was more than the non profit part at that time. This can all be googled." Mickelson was named as one of 11 LIV Golf members who had taken legal action against the PGA Tour, after all those who defected were suspended from the circuit.
The 52-year-old however has since withdrawn himself from the lawsuit, but both rivalling tour's still find themselves battling out their differences legally, with the case between the PGA Tour and LIV still ongoing.
