MICKELSON’S MONEY-MAD RANT

Phil Mickelson’s career earnings on the PGA Tour stand at just under £75million. his tour pension pot must be worth at least £100m. The sponsorship money that has flowed his way is estimated at a stunning £370m. Bear that in mind when taking in an extraordinary interview the 51-year-old has just given to Golf Digest while playing in this week’s saudi international. in it he rants about the ‘obnoxious greed’ of the PGA Tour in not allowing him to earn far more, saying it is a key factor as to why he is ‘looking at opportunities elsewhere’. Mickelson’s big complaint concerns media rights. ‘it’s not public knowledge all that goes on,’ he began. ‘if the tour wanted to end the saudi threat, or from anywhere else, they would just hand the rights back to the players. But they would rather throw $25m here or $40m there than give back the roughly $20billion in digital assets they control.’ Are you in Phil’s corner so far, as he details what must be the ultimate in First World grievances? or feeling like this is yet more evidence that the saudi money is causing some of the top players to lose their minds? For the PGA Tour’s part, they politely point out that the digital assets are not all about Mickelson. They stress their business model is consistent with other professional sports in relying on media assets to maximise revenue. Around 55 per cent of the tour’s revenue will be directed back to the players. on the course in saudi Arabia, italian Matteo Manassero shot a fine 62 to upstage the lavishly-paid star names to lead by two shots. Meanwhile, scotland’s scott Jamieson made another fast start to share the lead with Germany’s sebastian heisele after the opening round of the inaugural Ras Al khaimah championship in the United Arab emirates.