Mickelson makes U-turn joins Saudi-backed golf series

 

Phil Mickelson confirmed on Monday he has signed up to play in the lucrative Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series.

The six-time major winner will be in the field of 48 at the controversial new tour’s inaugural event in London this week.

“I am ready to come back to play the game I love but after 32 years this new path is a fresh start,” Mickelson wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.

Mickelson has not played since the publication of comments in February in which he criticized the PGA Tour and the Saudi backers of LIV Golf.

In an interview with author Alan Shipnuck, the 51-year-old American left-hander said the Saudi-funded LIV Golf was an opportunity to gain leverage over the PGA Tour.

However, Mickelson described the new venture’s backers as “scary” with a “horrible record on human rights.”

Mickelson, a 45-time winner on the PGA Tour, later issued an apology after his remarks were made public and said he would take some “desperately needed time away” from the sport.

He subsequently skipped both the Masters and the US PGA Championship during his self-imposed exile.

“Taking time away and self-reflecting has been very humbling,” Mickelson said. “I’ve been engaged and intentional in continued therapy and feel healthy and much more at peace. I realize I still have a long way to go but I am embracing the work ahead.”

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During his absence, however, the rise of LIV Golf has continued to tear at the fabric of world golf, with dozens of household names joining the new tour.

Last week, former world number one Dustin Johnson was confirmed as having signed up to play the money-spinning new series, whose tournaments will offer some of the richest purses in the history of golf.

This week’s event teeing off at Centurion Club at St Albans, north of London, will have a $25 million purse  almost double that of any major, with $4 million going to the winner.