Phil in field for first event of rival league
Phil Mickelson, a chief recruiter for a Saudi-funded rival league to the PGA Tour, ended his four-month hiatus by adding his name to the 48-man field for the LIV Golf Invitational that starts Thursday outside London.
Mickelson will join Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and three other former major champions in a 54-hole tournament that features $25 million in prize money, with $4 million going to the winner.
‘‘I am ready to come back to play the game I love, but after 32 years this new path is a fresh start, one that is exciting for me at this stage of my career,’’ Mickelson said in a statement posted on social media.
He also said he would play in the last two majors of the year, starting June 16 in the U.S. Open outside Boston.
Mickelson said the ‘‘transformative’’ new league would allow him to focus on a healthier approach to life on and off the course. He didn’t mention the signing fee, which is likely to be every bit of the $125 million reportedly paid to Johnson.
It will be Mickelson’s first time playing since Feb. 6 at the Saudi International, where he first began to draw attention to how he was leaning when he accused the PGA Tour of ‘‘obnoxious greed’’ in an interview with Golf Digest.
Two weeks later, Alan Shipnuck published excerpts from his unauthorized biography on Mickelson in which the six-time major champion acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s human-rights atrocities but said it was worth getting involved if it meant gaining leverage to make changes on the PGA Tour.
Mickelson also said he and three other top players paid attorneys to write the operating agreement for the new league. He later apologized for what he said were reckless comments but didn’t mention the PGA Tour.
Then he was out of view for four months, skipping the Masters and the PGA Championship, which he had won last year at age 50 to become the oldest major champion in history.
Mickelson apologized for his comments again in his statement Monday.