Phil Mickelson said the “obnoxious greed” of the PGA Tour is leading him to seriously consider other playing opportunities, including the proposed Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League that would rival the PGA Tour.
Mickelson, speaking with Golf Digest at the Saudi International, where he is receiving a seven-figure appearance fee, said the PGA Tour’s ownership of media rights, among other issues, has him looking elsewhere.
“It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on,” Mickelson told Golf Digest. “But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat, they could just hand back the media rights to the players.
“But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel.
“There are many issues, but that is one of the biggest. For me personally, it’s not enough that they are sitting on hundreds of millions of digital moments. They also have access to my shots; access I do not have. They also charge companies to use shots I have hit. And when I did ‘The Match’ – there are have been five of them – the Tour forced me to pay them $1 million each time. For my own media rights.
“That type of greed is, to me, beyond obnoxious.”
The PGA Tour declined comment on Wednesday.
Last November, however, in a memo sent to players, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said 55 percent of the Tour’s revenue in 2022, which is expected to be $1.522 billion, would be allotted to the players
The FedEx Cup bonus pool will increase from $60 million to $75 million, with the winner receiving $18 million. The Comcast Business Tour Top 10 will increase from $10 million to $20 million; and the new Play15 Bonus Program, which pays players who play at least 15 PGA Tour events, is $10 million.
Official prize money will be $427 million, up from $367 million in 2021. Average purses will increase by more than $1 million to $9.1 million, with the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Memorial Tournament, and the World Golf Championship rising to $12 million.
And the Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, will feature a purse of $20 million, up from $15 million in 2021.
As well, the Player Impact Program will hand out $50 million to the top 10 players who produce the most engagement and raise the most attention for the Tour. It should be noted that last year, the PIP gave out $40 million. Mickelson, who became the oldest player to win a major in last year’s PGA Championship, said he was the winner and will receive $8 million; the Tour has not released the payouts.
While the Tour wouldn’t respond to Mickelson’s comments, four-time major winner Brooks Koepka weighed in. On Golf Digest’s Instagram feed, Koepka responded to a quote of Mickelson’s about the Tour’s obnoxious greed by posting: “Dk if I’d be using the word greedy if I’m Phil.”
Mickelson, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who has won 45 PGA Tour titles including six majors, is definitely considering playing in the proposed Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led golf league that would rival the PGA Tour. Norman and LIV Golf Investments is funded by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund. Saudi Arabia has been harshly criticized for its human rights record and the country is among the top executioners in the world; people are put to death annually, some in public beheadings.
LIV Golf Investments has pledged $300 million into the Asian Tour. The Super Golf League, which would be based on team competition, would offer hundreds of millions more in guaranteed purses.
“I’m not sure how this is going to play out,” Mickelson said. “My ultimate loyalty is to the game of golf and what it has given me. I am so appreciative of the life it has provided. I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know where things are headed. But I know I will be criticized. That’s not my concern.
“All that would do is dumb down one of the most intricate issues in sports. It would be so naive to not factor in all of the complexities. The media rights are but a small fraction of everything else. And it is the Tour’s obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere.”