Phil Mickelson’s comments about the Saudi Golf League brought a lot of attention to the highly-criticized upstart league. Now, former pro golfer and CEO of LIV Golf Investments Greg Norman is claiming the negative attention caused many golfers to back out of project.
Two days before the proposed February launch of the Saudi Tour — which is which is financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — Mickelson said he would only get involved in the Saudi league to gain leverage over the PGA Tour.
Many of the golfers who set to be involved with the league pulled out before its 14-event schedule and roster were released.
“There’s no question [Mickelson’s comments] hurt,” Norman said, per ESPN. “It hurt a lot of aspects. It hurt the PGA Tour. It hurt us. It hurt the game of golf. It hurt Phil. So yeah, across all fronts. It wasn’t just specifically to us. But it definitely created negative momentum against us.”
Mickelson aslo nonchalantly began dropping human rights abuses the Saudi government has committed.
“They killed [Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights,” Mickelson said in an interview with Alan Shipnuck. “They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
The six-time major champion was blasted by top golfers including Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm, who affirmed their commitment to the PGA Tour. According to Norman, at least 30 percent of the world’s top players had committed to the league before Mickelson’s comments.
“We had enough players in our strength of field, or minimal viable product, ready to come on board. And when all of that happened, everybody got the jitters, and the PGA Tour threatened people with lifetime bans and stuff like that,” he said.
“To this day, we still have players under contract and signed,” Norman added. “The ones who wanted to get out because of the pressure of the PGA Tour gave back their money and got out. Guys had money in their pockets.”
Despite this, Norman claims LIV Golf still has more than 200 registration requests for its first tournament — including one from Mickelson, who is keeping “all option open,” according to his agent — which will take place in London from July 9-11. He added that this list includes around 15 of the current world top 100 and two players who were formerly ranked No. 1. Forty-eight players will compete in teams of 12 at Centurion Golf Club.
PGA tour players who plan on competing at the inaugural event must be granted a release to participate as the tournament conflicts with the RBC Canadian Open. In May 2021, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan informed players that anyone who joined LIV Golf would be immediately suspended from the tour and would potentially be banned for life from the PGA Tour.
“I can only speak on information given to me by our legal team, and I have an extremely talented legal team in antitrust and anti-competitive laws, and we believe we’re in the right position,” Norman said.
“We believe the players are independent contractors and have a right to go play wherever they want to go play.”