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Sam Greenwood/Getty Pictures
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson will not play within the famed Masters Match this 12 months, the primary time he hasn’t swung a membership within the contest since 1994.
Information of the shocking absence got here one month after Mickelson publicly apologized for controversial feedback he made about Saudi Arabia and a brand new Saudi-backed golf league and introduced he wanted “a while away.”
The Masters lists Mickelson, 51, underneath the class of “previous champions not taking part in” on its web site. He additionally missed the Gamers Championship earlier this month.
In February golf author Alan Shipnuck printed an excerpt from his upcoming biography of Mickelson by which the legendary golfer speaks candidly in regards to the Saudi-backed Tremendous Golf League, an upstart group attempting to attract in a few of the sport’s high expertise.
“They’re scary motherf****** to get entangled with,” Mickelson stated within the interview posted on the golf web site Fireplace Pit Collective.
“We all know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible file on human rights. They execute individuals over there for being homosexual. Figuring out all of this, why would I even take into account it?” he went on. “As a result of this can be a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
Mickelson additionally stated PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan “will not do what’s proper” with out leverage, which Mickelson stated the Saudi financing offered. “I am undecided I even need [the SGL] to succeed,” he added, “however simply the thought of it’s permitting us to get issues performed with the [PGA] Tour.”
After the interview turned public in February, Mickelson stated his feedback have been “reckless” and that he was “deeply sorry for my alternative of phrases” whereas nonetheless noting that “golf desperately wants change.”
Amongst Mickelson’s criticisms is the refusal of the PGA to share income from the affiliation’s broadcast rights and digital property with the gamers on the tour.
Talking to the press earlier this month, Monahan declined to touch upon any disciplinary issues associated to Mickelson and stated he would welcome a dialog with Mickelson about his return to the PGA Tour.
“Hear, he is a participant that is gained 45 instances on the PGA Tour. He is had a Corridor of Fame profession. He is gained right here on the Gamers Championship,” Monahan stated, in keeping with Golf Digest. “He is impressed lots of people and helped develop this tour, his tour. In order tough as it’s to learn a few of the issues that have been stated, in the end a dialog shall be had when he is able to have it, and I shall be able to have it, as nicely.”
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