It's Not Even Friday Yet: Mickelson Loses Another Sponsor Along With Greg Norman's Favorite Cool Kids

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After KPMG and Phil Mickelson agreed to part ways, Amstel Light makers Heineken confirmed to Sportico they had dropped the embattled golfer.

A spokesman for Amstel parent Heineken told Sportico on Tuesday night: “We made the decision to go our separate ways and end Amstel Light’s partnership with Phil Mickelson. We wish him all the best.”

Mickelson’s bio remains on Callaway’s website but some noticed a scrubbing of his likeness from other web pages. The company has not commented on Mickelson as a Friday news dump possibility looms.

The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay looked at the “bleak” matter of sportwashing and Mickelson’s mistake in not understanding the consequences of saying the quiet part out loud.

The New York Post noted Mickelson’s lastest block: the influential Paige Spiranac. I don’t this is going to help him win a second PIP.

Most painful of all may be Greg Norman’s favorite influencers at PGA Memes mocking Mickelson. Yes, the same PGAMemes Norman mentioned four times in his recent Saudi Arabia press conference as the future of the game. You know how the old saying goes, when you lose the meme makers…

Meanwhile, in other news of the bizarre, Instagram star-of-The-Villages Greg Norman thinks he’s Churchill taking on the Nazi’s.

And finally, from Find The Fairway, an alternative look at the Saudi Golf League:

Mickelson Apologizes And Manages To Make Things Worse

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Mickelson: "I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be."

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Issued on Tuesday of Honda Classic week days after a book excerpt revealed deep disgust with the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson has apologized.

In the statement released by his agent and on Twitter, Mickelson says his interview with Alan Shipnuck for a forthcoming book was off the record, though in a Fire Pit Collective podcast, Shipnuck described how the interview proceeded and never was the status of the call discussed.

There are also inferences that his corporate partnerships may be in jeopardy. I have reached out to Workday, KPMG and Callaway and have not received a reply to multiple requests for comment.

Phil Mickelson Statement: 

Although it doesn't look this way now given my recent comments, my actions throughout this process have always been with the best interest of golf, my peers, sponsors, and fans. There is the problem of off record comments being shared out of context and without my consent, but the bigger issue is that I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this.    

Golf desperately needs change, and real change is always preceded by disruption. I have always known that criticism would come with exploring anything new. I still chose to put myself at the forefront of this to inspire change, taking the hits publicly to do the work behind the scenes.   

My experience with LIV Golf Investments has been very positive. I apologize for anything I said that was taken out of context. The specific people I have worked with are visionaries and have only been supportive. More importantly they passionately love golf and share my drive to make the game better. They have a clear plan to create an updated and positive experience for everyone including players, sponsors, networks, and fans.     

I have incredible partners, and these relationships mean so much more to me than a contract. Many have been my most influential mentors and I consider all to be lifelong friends. The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship as I understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances.  I believe in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract.   

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and many have been shared with the public. My intent was never to hurt anyone and I’m so sorry to the people I have negatively impacted.  This has always been about supporting the players and the game and I appreciate all the people who have given me the benefit of the doubt.    

Despite my belief that some changes have already been made within the overall discourse, I know I need to be accountable.  For the past 31 years I have lived a very public life and I have strived to live up to my own expectations, be the role model the fans deserve, and be someone that inspires others. I’ve worked to compete at the highest level, be available to media, represent my sponsors with integrity, engage with volunteers and sign every autograph for my incredible fans. I have experienced many successful and rewarding moments that I will always cherish, but I have often failed myself and others too.  The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level.  I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be. 

R.I.P. The Saudi Golf League

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The Saudi Golf League, a short-lived effort to reinvent the model of professional golf backed by a murderous dictator via the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, has died. It was barely six months old.

The league passed away after legendary golfer Phil Mickelson gave two interviews revealing an almost incomprehensible level of greed, rage, hypocrisy and avarice aimed at the same PGA Tour that helped him amass millions. Authorities speaking on the condition of anonymity have identified Mickelson as a “person of interest” in the league’s demise. Law enforcement has been unable to locate him at his California or forever-future Florida residences.

Authorities say golfers Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau played a role in the league’s demise by issuing statements Sunday suggesting they would remain on the PGA Tour. They are not expected to face charges as accessories to the League’s passing.

When he resurfaces, Mickelson may need protective custody due to future safety concerns regardless of whether charges are filed.

Besides Crown Prince of Mohammed bin Salman, whose Fund is now saddled with $300 million in obligations to the Asian Tour over the next decade, Mickelson’s role could cost multiple players to potentially miss out on millions of dollars in advance checks. Nineteen sources with knowledge of his thinking who are unwilling to experience a public beheading, suggest retired golfer, mass market vintner and Macy’s clothier Greg Norman is also expected to want a piece of Mickelson.

The Saudi effort to sportwash was lifted from a concept originally envisioned by the World Golf Group-turned-Premier Golf League and faced growing prospects for success after several noted veteran stars became smitten with a limited event schedule and massive advance checks. A partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an investor in multiple American corporations and supported by former President Donald Trump, proved to be a morally bankrupt concept in the eyes of Rory McIlroy and a handful of other players. Many others entertained the concept.

Not until Mickelson opened his big mouth while playing the recent Saudi International did others realize the depth of narcissism or greed involved. Nor did many seem to understand the gravity of partnering with the Kingdom’s investment fund. Mickelson even shrugged off the Kingdom’s history of murder, bigotry and murderous bigotry in the name of leverage, issues that became apparent when a second interview from last November with writer Alan Shipnuck revealed new levels of delusional thinking by the current PGA Champion. In the interview, Mickelson intimated the entire effort was a leverage play to profit off digital rights and to avenge Commissioner Jay Monahan’s negotiating tactics.

Since then, a series of players who were long silent about the league have announced their intention to remain on the PGA Tour. Johnson and DeChambeau delivered the final blows Sunday as league founder Norman remained silent.

The League is survived by LIV Golf Investments, bin Salman, Norman and the Public Investment Fund. Due to COVID and fears of more beheadings, services will be very, very private.

Can Phil Mickelson Return To The PGA Tour? Captain A Ryder Cup?

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Unhinged comments from forthcoming Alan Shipnuck book appear to be disqualifying on many fronts. As in, eery really doing any of the usual things a player of his magnitude does as their playing career winds down.

What a bizarre thing to kill your legacy over. My latest Quadrilateral viewable for all.

Harrop's Latest Hit (Job) Single: Growing The Game

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I know it’s predictable to say this is Sam Harrop’s finest work to date, but his take on Phil, Bryson, Greg and Saudi Arabia set to America’s A Horse With No Name really is magnificent. I believe this debuted after Phil Mickelson blocked Harrop on Twitter during the recent binge.

Give Sam a follow on Twitter if you haven’t already.

Here is the YouTube option:

Quadrilateral: Phil Mickelson's Block Binge

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Freaking out over critiques of his anti-PGA Tour comments and Saudi support, Mickelson dismantles his good-guy image in a matter of months.

His latest block binge while supposedly on vacation skiing suggests a rocky road for his future as an elder statesman. My Quadrilateral latest that includes a robust free preview for all.

Bohannan: This Time The Tour Is Listening To Players But In NIL World Is That Enough?

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The Desert Sun’s Larry Bohannan considers the latest players v. brass showdown in golf. He highlights some of the differences between the last 1960’s battle the players had with the PGA of America that led to the breakaway PGA Tour and brings up a key point.

While the stakes and issues have changed—no TikTok and NFT’s back then—Bohannan notes that this time the leadership has listened and made adjustments with more money that comes in going out to players. While it’s debatable whether PIP’s and Comcast Biz Solutions Top 10’s do much to make the sport more fan friendly, they have satisfied some players into supporting the PGA Tour model.

However, something else may be driving player thinking (or greed?).

Mickelson’s point is that images of Mickelson, or any player playing in a tour event, are controlled by the PGA Tour. If you want to use a photo of a PGA Tour player for commercial purposes, well, the PGA Tour controls that image, not the player. So the tour has to be paid for use of the image.

That might seem normal, since other sports have similar regulations. But in a day when college athletes are making hundreds of thousands of dollars since the U.S. Supreme Court announced it is the athletes that control their name, image and likeness, should PGA Tour players have the right to control their NIL rights, or is that something the tour must control to operate successfully?

It’s a bizarre conundrum since players want the perks of guaranteed money and more control while remaining independent contractors. But to have the opportunity to profit off their success in new media, it also costs money to put on the show making them NIL-worthy.

Whether Mickelson is an outlier in not having a good sense of this is increasingly unclear. He’s not spoken about how this is about the future and his desire to see the next generation better taken care of, suggesting he’s more interested in short term gain.

But if there are more thinking like him based on the anecdotal NIL situation, this may be the deciding factor for players on the fence about trusting Greg Norman with their future.

PGA Tour Executives Respond To Mickelson...Anonymously

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Golf.com’s James Colgan spoke to multiple PGA Tour executives who took issue with Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” remarks from that liberal democracy, Saudi Arabia. But at least he signed his name to his opinions even if they suggest he’s only about the money at this point.

A rebuttal was surely warranted given some obvious fibs and exaggerations by Mickelson. Yet not finding one Tour executive willingly going on the record highlights how much the organization is all bluff and no backbone. Given Mickelson’s hostility, the Tour would be well within their rights to push back on the record.

As with giving players waivers to play in Saudi Arabia with almost no meaningful strings, rebutting anonymously only says to the world: Phil was wrong but not wrong enough to sign our names to it.

Regarding the Global Home’s return volleys, Colgan writes:

In conversations with GOLF.com, PGA Tour executives painted a far different picture of the economics of golf’s largest professional tour, characterizing it as a highly successful, multi-billion-dollar business model built around its media-rights deals — and with constituents who’ve largely been content with that structure. (It should also be noted that the Tour operates as a federally registered non-profit, which means though it donates large sums to charity it also is sheltered from paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.)

“I’ve never seen anybody be really interested in how we generate the money,” one Tour executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told GOLF.com. “There’s some conversation about it now because, you know, Phil’s making stuff up that’s just not true. But in general, they’re happy that there’s a lot of money that comes from it.”

While it would be tough to call a generational star a liar and sign your name to it, if ever there were a time, it might be when the entire enterprise is facing disruptive forces who will chop you up and incinerate the remains.

Predictably, Mickelson’s assertion that he had to pay $1 million each time to play in The Match was refuted, as it should have been.

As Mickelson rightfully pointed out at the Saudi International, the Tour charges a fee for those who wish to stage a golf telecast outside of the Tour’s media partners, as was the case with The Match. But, the Tour confirmed, Turner Sports paid the $1 million rights fee, not Mickelson himself, as he alleged. It’s even possible Mickelson profited from that rights fee, a Tour source said, because more than half of such fees are added to the revenue pool that the Tour redistributes to players. The same would be true for the Tour’s new Netflix series or any other media-rights deal.

There was also this clear rebuttal to Mickelson’s crypto-craze fueled claim of $20 billion in digital rights for the taking if only the Tour would get out of the way.

“Whatever gets generated goes to the players, the same way all other media rights do,” the executive said. “If we could make $20 billion on it, we would, believe me. But no one’s figured out how to do that exactly just yet.”

And they won’t.

Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, February 10, 2022

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In this week’s Quadrilateral, I follow up on last weekend's events with some player moves and claims of obnoxious green analyzed.

Plus, a very historic Augusta National image sells and I’ve got a few more details on the recent course work courtesy of John Boyette, who debuts a much needed pre-Masters newsletter.

Plus, Masters v. Super Bowl tickets, Old Course-adjacent real estate moves and a bunch of Reads.

More on The Quadrilateral here.

And the free sign up page is here.

"For Mickelson, actions will speak louder than words"

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AP’s Doug Ferguson put Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” remarks into context and it’s time for him to put up or shut up, ish.

Mickelson is not at the Phoenix Open this week. He was headed to Montana to ski. Setting a schedule is what golf affords, not to mention the ability to compete at a high level for 25 years — or in his case, win a major championship at age 50 — all while accruing an enormous pension.

It’s a lot to digest. Mickelson conceded as much when he said he wasn’t sure where it was headed because of so much that needed to be addressed. He has served on the tour’s Player Advisory Council twice in his 31 years, most recently in 2001.

Ultimately, though, he felt it would end on a positive note.

Most telling was when Mickelson was asked for a general comment on Golf Saudi. He applauded the group for its support of the players, for sponsorship of Ladies European Tour events and for creating leverage for the players to try to improve the PGA Tour.

If that’s what this is about — leverage — then maybe Norman is the one who should be worried.

Bamberger: "If Mickelson really wants to affect change..."

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Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger assessed Phil Mickelson’s attack of the PGA Tour and majors making money off the player backs and suggests Lefty’s never talked better but also may be going about this the wrong way. In making his point, Bamberger also inadvertently hinted at another potential problem Mickelson created for himself.

The fellas playing MLB, in the NFL and in the NBA, have an appealing level of individuality, but they are union workers playing team sports. They have, really, a completely different mentality.

If Mickelson really wants to affect change the most effective thing he could do is get 150 or so Tour players to stage a sit-down strike on the eve of, say, the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Then get that group to agree on media rights, purse distribution, governance structure and a million other things.

Good luck with that.

There has been some talk about Phil getting Tony Romo money to talk golf on TV. He’d be good at that, but it would bore him. It’s easier to imagine him as the commissioner of a golf league. Which one is hard to say just now.

Except that with his latest “obnoxious greed” charge leveled at the Tour and indirectly at The Masters, Mickelson all but ruled himself out of a TV job unless it’s covering Saudi Golf League events. I’m not sure he’s ever really wanted to take on such a job, and the tone of his recent remarks all but rules out CBS or NBC who were already unlikely to pay NFL money to analyze for a much smaller audience.

Winners And Losers: The Clash With The Clambake

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A predictably awkward week from the Monterey Peninsula to the Red Sea claims its share of victims. I kind of rank them from least harmed to most harmed, ish.

What would Der Bingle say about all of this. But hey, at least CBS had some stellar production values and Spieth made it interesting.

Early Reviews Are In And Phil's Obnoxious Greed Comments Going Over Like You'd Expect

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Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” claims have not gone over well in a variety of ways, namely that he’s in Saudi Arabia collecting a hefty appearance fee from some pretty shady characters.

His comments were posted on Golf Digest’s Instagram account and earned this reply from Brooks Koepka:
DK if I’d be using the word greedy if I’m Phil…🤔”

The Daily Mail offered this headline to Derek Lawrenson’s story, which ran for some time on its home sports page.

After his opening 67 in the PIFSIPSIA, Mickelson was sort of asked about his comments to Golf Digest.

Q. There's a lot of buzz this week; is the sport itself the true nature, the competition, something to lose, to gain?

PHIL MICKELSON: You know, there's a lot of complexities that are working themselves out right now in the sport of golf. Because of some opportunities that create leverage for the players, we have a chance to get in a more equitable position with other major sports.

We're so far behind because we don't have player representation like the players Association and the collective bargaining and all those things, and we have such differing views, and for the first time in my 30 years there's some leverage. I don't know where we're headed, to answer your question. I don't know, because there's so many different parts that need to be addressed.

I think in the end, all the things are going to be very positive, but there's a lot going on, which is a good thing.

Oh, just tremendously good.