12 months ago the world of golf was a very different place. The phrase LIV Golf was yet to be heard (publicly) and the idea of a ‘Saudi Golf League’ was just a minor rumour. One year later though the sport has been split in two, with the LIV Series proving a fierce rival to golf’s traditionalists.
One man who has often been at the centre of the civil war is Phil Mickelson. Once a happy-go-lucky fan favourite, the six-time major champion’s legacy could now not be further away from what it once was.
The latest chapter in Mickelson’s rollercoaster 2022 came on Thursday, when the American claimed professional golf was ‘very lucky’ to receive the funding and the backing of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
There is no doubt the game of golf has felt drastic change since the inception of LIV. Firstly financially. The breakaway circuit has seemingly given the opportunity for nearly all professional golfers to earn finances that often only offer the game’s extreme elite.
Take 22-year-old Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra as a prime example. In the space of four months Lopez-Chacarra has been able to turn professional and earn over £5 million in winnings following his win in Bangkok, seemingly setting up his life and career for good - an opportunity which would have been near impossible anywhere else in the world of golf.
This change has also been felt across the Saudi-backed circuit’s rivals, having forced the PGA Tour to play their hand in redesigning their format and prize pool in an effort to stop more of the world’s top players from making the LIV leap. Seemingly in a bid to keep up with the breakaway circuit’s new way of thinking, the game’s traditionalists have also made sure their reshuffle is a modernised one too.
Amongst the PGA Tour’s changes is the formation of TGL Golf, a never been seen before ‘innovative golf league’ set up by arguably the game’s two biggest names in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Granted many of the changes have had a positive impact on the sport, and may well not have happened with the formation of the LIV Golf setup.
However, like is often the case with Saudi Arabian funding within professional sport, the issue lies not with what is being done with Middle Eastern money, but more where the finances are coming from. The idea that Mickelson believes golf is ‘lucky’ to have sportswashed funding pumped into its professional game shows just how out of touch the American is to the matter at hand.
Do you think golf is 'lucky' to receive the backing of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund? Let us know in the comments section below.
Just a day before his outlandish statement, Lefty was asked by human rights activists group Reprieve to speak out on the sentencing of 20-year-old Abdullah al-Howaiti to death row in Saudi Arabia, after he was forced to confess to a murder at 14 after being tortured. Whilst it was most probably a tall order to get the American to speak out on the case - due to his LIV allegiances - the fact six-time major winner praised the Saudi’s sportswashing efforts within the world of golf proved all the more worrying.
There is no doubt the Middle Eastern funding has led to real change in professional golf across the whole board, whether that be eye-watering prize money being on offer or modernising formats. But, to say the sport is ‘lucky’ to have it could not be further from the truth.
