Mickelson opts to pull out of PGA

Phil Mickelson withdrew Friday from the PGA Championship, electing to extend his hiatus from golf following his incendiary comments he made about a Saudi-funded rival league he supports and the PGA Tour he accused of greed.

Mickelson authored one of the most stunning victories last year when he won the PGA at Kiawah Island, at age 50 becoming the oldest champion in 161 years of the majors.

The PGA Championship starts Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

Mickelson has not played since Feb. 6 at the Saudi International, where he accused the PGA Tour of “obnoxious greed” in an interview with Golf Digest.

Two weeks later, in an excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s unauthorized biography to be released next week, Mickelson revealed how he had been working behind the scenes to promote the rival league funded by the Public Investment Fund and run by Greg Norman.

Mickelson dismissed Saudi Arabia’s human rights atrocities, including the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, by saying it was worth it if it meant gaining leverage to get the changes he wanted on the PGA Tour.

Mickelson met the deadline to sign up for the PGA Championship on April 25, though his manager said it was more about keeping his options open. He also entered the U.S. Open, and said he would ask for a conflicting event release to play the LIV Golf Invitational in London, the first of Norman’s $20 million tournaments.

The tour said earlier this week it would not grant any releases.

Mickelson is the first major champion not to defend his title since Rory Mcilroy at St. Andrews in 2015 because of a knee injury from playing soccer.

He is only the third PGA champion not to defend his title in the last 75 years. Tiger Woods missed in 2008 while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, and Ben Hogan couldn’t play in 1949 while recovering from his car getting struck by a bus.

Mickelson’s issues were self-inflicted.

“I personally think it’s an unbelievable mental challenge to come back and play after what he’s put himself through,” six-time major champion and CBS analyst Nick Faldo said. “I don’t think it’s as easy as just getting back on the bike and arriving at a golf tournament and playing. The attention is going to be monumental.”

• Ryan Palmer, one of the Dallas-area players in the shadow of Jordan Spieth and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler at the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson, shot a 10-under 62 and was tied for the lead at 15 under with Sebastián Muñoz (69) and 40-year-old tour rookie David Skinns (63).

• Australian Minjee Lee flirted with the best round on tour this season before settling for a 9-under 63 and a three-shot lead at the halfway point of the LPGA’S Cognizant Founders Cup in Clifton, N.J. Lee had a 14-under 130 total at Upper Montclair Country Club.

• Ukrainian amateur Lev Grinberg became the second-youngest player to make a cut on the European tour at the Soudal Open in Antwerp, Belgium. At 14 years, 6 months, Grinberg added a secondround 2-under 69 to his opening 70 in his tour debut on his home course, Rinkven International. He cleared the cut line at 3 under by two strokes.

German Matti Schmid produced the lowest round of the day to share the halfway lead with English duo Dale Whitnell (69) and Sam Horsfield (69). Schmid shot 7-under 64 lifted him to 8 under overall.

• Steve Stricker shot a 4-under 68 to maintain a two-stroke lead over Scott Mccarron (65) and Padraig Harrington (66) in the second round of the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala., the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors.

NFL Receiver Landry joins Saints

Free agent wide receiver Jarvis Landry, a five-time Pro Bowler, is joining the New Orleans Saints. The eight-year veteran confirmed the move on Twitter.

Landry spent his first four pro seasons with Miami before joining the Browns. He led the league in receptions in 2017 with 112, his final season with the Dolphins.

Landry, 29, is coming off his worst season as a pro. He missed time in 2021 with a knee injury and finished with career lows in receptions (52), yards (570) and touchdown catches (2).

• The girlfriend of Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy asked a judge to dismiss a misdemeanor case against him stemming from a dispute between them.

The woman, who has a monthold child with Jeudy, told Judge Chantel Contiguglia that she did not feel threatened during the incident and made contact with authorities to “monitor the situation,” The Denver Post reported.

Jeudy, 23, was arrested Thursday at the couple’s suburban Denver home after his girlfriend reported that he had locked some of her belongings and items for the baby in his car, preventing her from returning to Virginia. He was arrested on suspicion of second-degree criminal tampering with a domestic violence enhancer, a misdemeanor, and had to spend the night in jail until he could appear before a judge because of the enhancer.

MOTORSPORTS Power gets Indycar GP pole

Will Power used the final lap of qualifying to move past five drivers and take the pole for the Indycar Grand Prix in Indianapolis.

The Australian will start from the No. 1 spot for the 64th time in his career after going 1 minute, 9.7664 seconds on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 14-turn, 2.439mile road course. He’s now three short of tying Mario Andretti’s Indycar career record after knocking defending series champ and points leader Alex Palou to second after the Spaniard went 1:09.8090.

• Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force broke both ends of the track record at Virginia Motorsports Park in qualifying for the Virginia NHRA Nationals. Force had a 3.710-second run at 335.82 mph. She has nine of the 10 fastest runs in Top Fuel history.

TENNIS Djokovic in Rome semifinals

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic brought the Foro Italico crowd to its feet with several memorable points in a 7-5, 7-6 (1) win over Felix Auger-aliassime to reach the Italian Open semifinals in Rome.

While he is still seeking his first title of the year, Djokovic was ensured by the win of holding the No. 1 ranking for another week and have the top seed at the French Open.

Djokovic’s semifinal opponent will be Casper Ruud, who beat Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7), 7-5.

Fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Jannik Sinner 7-6 (5), 6-2 to reach his third consecutive Masters semifinal on clay.

Tsitsipas will face Alexander Zverev in their third semifinal over the last month after the 2017 champ beat Cristian Garin 7-5, 6-2.

In the women’s event, Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 26 matches by beating former U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu 7-6 (2), 6-0. Swiatek is attempting to win her fifth straight tournament and defend her title in Rome.

Swiatek’s semifinal opponent will be third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who rallied past Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her first win over the American in five tries.

Also advancing was recent Madrid Open champion Ons Jabeur, who rallied past Maria Sakkari, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 for her 10th straight win. Jabeur will face Daria Kasatkina, who advanced when Jil Teichmann retired due to a left thigh injury with Kasatkina ahead 6-4, 3-2.

MISCELLANY Griner detention extended

The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner said her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month.

Alexander Boykov said he believed the relatively short extension indicated the case would come to trial soon. She has been in detention for nearly three months.

Griner was detained at a Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

• Former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan, 35, announced his retirement from boxing after a career that also included a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Khan retires with a record of 34-6. He won the silver medal in Greece at age 17.

• Pierre-luc Dubois scored twice and led defending champion Canada to a 5-3 victory over Germany in in their opening Group A game at the world ice hockey championship in Helskinki, Finland.

The United States jumped to a commanding 3-0 lead over Latvia after the opening period and cruised to a 4-1 victory in their Group B opener in Tampere. Captain Seth Jones had a power play goal and added an assist on a shorthanded goal.