When the LIV series for professional golfers, inflated to an impressive volume by royal Saudi millions, starts, one of the scene’s superstars will also tee off: Phil Mickelson returns especially for the controversial million-euro event.
US golf star Phil Mickelson now wants to start at the opening tournament of the controversial new Tour LIV Golf Invitational Series. “I’m thrilled to be joining LIV Golf,” the six-time major winner said on Twitter. “I’m ready to come back to play the game I love. But after 32 years, this new path is a fresh start.” The first of eight tournaments on the tour financed by Saudi Arabia starts this Thursday in London. Germany’s top golfer Martin Kaymer is also on the starting list for the opening event of the multi-million dollar tour.
For the 51-year-old Mickelson it is the first golf tournament since he took a break at the beginning of February. “First and foremost, I would like to once again apologize to the many people I offended and hurt with my comments a few months ago,” Mickelson wrote on Twitter. The Californian had previously broken with the North American PGA Tour and toyed with starting on the new LIV Tour. He criticized the US tour for too little change and accused her of “disgusting greed”.
The new Golf series is criticized because of the million-euro investment from Saudi Arabia. The background is that the country, which has been criticized for human rights violations, is trying to improve its image with lucrative sporting events. The invitational tournaments of the competitive series for the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) are played over three days instead of four. In addition, the events come with very high prize money. The tournament in London alone is endowed with 20 million US dollars – the winner gets four million US dollars. For comparison: At the PGA Championship played at the end of May, one of the most important tournaments on the PGA Tour, winner Justin Thomas had to play four rounds to leave with $2.7 million at the end.
Kaymer, without a win on the tour for eight years, does not deny the financial incentive, but explains his main motivation differently: “I see the possibility of making golf more interesting for young people with shorter tournaments. I just want to see how a such a tournament feels like.”
Two billion dollars are available for Saudi Arabia’s dubious image campaign on the finest golf courses in the world. The dubious propagandist and face of the new tour is Australia’s golf idol Greg Norman. The 67-year-old Queenslander brushes aside all political reservations about his Arab financier. “Every one of us makes mistakes,” the former “Great White Shark” commented on references to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on behalf of the government. And even after the many executions in March, friends and acquaintances encouraged him to “just keep going”. Because the former number one in the world, who has long been a multimillionaire himself, sees himself on a remarkable mission with the project: “Tell me the last time someone managed to get a two billion dollar investment in the Gulf.”
The PGA and the DP World Tour had already threatened to sanction participants in the LIV series. How these penalties could turn out is still open.
