Phil Mickelson requests PGA Tour release to play first Saudi-backed event
Phil Mickelson has requested a release from the PGA Tour to play the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event in June.
The six-time major winner has also registered for May’s US PGA Championship at Southern Hills – where he will be the defending champion – and the US Open at Brookline, which takes place the week after the event at Centurion Club outside London.
Mickelson has not played competitively since February, when he announced a break from golf amid the fallout from his explosive comments about the PGA Tour and the Saudibacked breakaway, which has been spearheaded by Greg Norman.
The 51-year-old accused the PGA Tour of “obnoxious greed” and acting like a “dictatorship”, and admitted he was well aware of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record but was using the threat of a breakaway to “reshape” how the Tour operates.
In a statement released on Monday, Mickelson’s agent Steve Loy said: “Our client Phil Mickelson is officially registered to play in the PGA Championship as well as the US Open.
“We have also filed a request on his behalf for a release to play in the first LIV Golf Invitational in London, 9-11
June. This request complies with the deadline of 25 April set forth by the PGA Tour to compete in a conflicting tour event.
“Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play,” Loy added. “Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made, but rather to keep all options open.”
Mickelson lost several sponsors as the result of his comments, and with Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau quickly joining the game’s biggest names in pledging their loyalty to the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy felt the proposed breakaway was “dead in the water”.
However, with a potential league shelved until 2024 in favour of hugely lucrative individual events, some players have been tempted to seek releases from the PGA and DP World Tours in order to play at Centurion Club, situated close to St Albans in Hertfordshire.
While those releases may be reluctantly granted this time, several future LIV Golf events are scheduled for the United States and PGA Tour rules state that its members cannot play in a conflicting event in North America.