I have stated in the past I’m a Phil Mickelson (Callaway Chrome Soft X) fan and a member of Facebook Fan Club site dedicated to him, but what has been happening with him in recent weeks, in particular his ardent support of the Saudi Super Golf League, has me at a philosophical crossroads.
On the one hand, I support the right of free speech for anyone, so long as they don’t fan the flames of hatred toward anyone.
On the other hand, I don’t agree with Mickelson – and for purposes of this particular blog I will put aside my partisan support and not call him Lefty – because I think he is fundamentally making a mistake.
Everything Mickelson has accomplished in his career is due to hard work and an understanding he doesn’t have to be overly aggressive in his play to do well. Call it maturity or an overall realization of how he could succeed with changing his mindset and doing away with a derring-do attitude, a gunslinger approach if you will.
And because of that he started to win, in particular in majors.
His win in the 2021 PGA Championship represented one of the biggest moments in modern sports history. Yes, it was that important because the world was in the midst of a pandemic that changed the way we live and interact with one another. The victory coincided with the PGA Tour allowing people to attend its events again, albeit limiting it to 10,000. Turning back the clock with steady play and a kind off Zen-like attitude he had developed, Mickelson became the eldest player to win a major at age 51. As he moved toward the 18th green, fans lining the course ran with unbridled glee to embrace him. There was no security in place to stop them, but it created a special moment in history than in the overall context of world and sports history won’t be repeated.
This was arguably Mickelson’s greatest career victory, though some may say it was his win in the 2010 Masters after taking time off from the Tour to support his wife, Amy, who had been battling breast cancer. That, too, was a moment that tugged at your heartstrings.
But Mickelson has also been prone to unnecessary outbursts. He has always been critical of the United States Golf Association and the way it has set up the U.S. Open, forcing players to essentially play trick shots on slick greens. When he made a putt in the 2018 edition that ran by the hole and rushed to stop it with his putter, he committed the ultimate sin of either haughtiness or stupidity that resulted in a two-stroke penalty. Had he temporarily lost his cool or simply didn’t care because he wanted to prove a point? Either way, it was a blight on his career and resulted in justified criticism.
But winning the PGA Championship basically put a clean coat of paint over it.
Then came the controversy last July when a newspaper report ahead of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit dug up an old story about a connection to an alleged mob bookie who bilked him out of $500,000. The timing was indeed curious and infuriated Mickelson so much he publicly stated he would never return to the Detroit tournament again. But a day later after taking the time to think about it, he said he would consider returning if people signed an online petition that was started by a co-founder of Metro Detroit Golfers and committed to an act of kindness. He and Amy made a $100,000 donation to a children’s charity. This was not the first time Mickelson dug into his pocket to donate to charity.
When Mickelson developed the idea for The Match, a televised tournament beginning with Tiger Woods in 2018 and later involving other golf stars and high-profile people from other sports, he created an innovative and interesting way to publicize and promote the sport.
So here we are and once again Mickelson is making news, bashing the PGA Tour claiming it is depriving him and other players of opportunities to make money by denying them use of their likeness. This falls under the category of intellectual rights.
The PGA Tour has listened to golfers and boosted money for events this year and the final of the FedEx Cup. Most of the elite golfers on tour supported this move.
Mickelson has become like a rogue shark, seeking to make money of a new tour by pumping significant skin into appearance fees and with a limited schedule. Mickelson is the only high-profile PGA Tour player to pledge his support, which has caused all kinds of issues. Many players – Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade TP5X), Jon Rahm (Callaway Chrome Soft X) and Dustin Johnson (TaylorMade TP5X), to name a few – have said they are sick of talking about the breakaway tour and have pledged their support to the PGA Tour. But one major player, Adam Scott (Titleist Pro V1), has said he is at least willing to listen to what the league has to offer.
There has been a school of thought the new tour will benefit players past their prime or currently playing on the PGA Champions’ Tour or the European Tour. Mickelson is already playing some events on the Champions’ Tour and is clearly good enough to beat the competition. But winning an event for players 50-and-older does not have the profile and purses of the PGA Tour. In other words, it lacks cache.
The Saudi Super Golf League offers him untold riches, but the competition won’t be the same. Maybe that doesn’t matter to Mickelson, who has done enough in his career to put that aside.
But what of his legacy? Can you put a price on that? And what about respect? When the same PGA Tour players that have commended him for what he’s done in his career are now criticizing him, is it worth the fight? There is also talk the PGA Tour may suspend him.
Some people say Mickelson has become a martyr. Maybe he is.
In the absence of getting Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour B XS) to support its breakaway Tour, the Saudi Super Golf League has targeted the next player with the highest profile. That’s what it needs to do make a big splash, and so far it has done that. It doesn’t really care about Mickelson. It is willing to buy his support and he is willing to give it.
But is Mickelson making money his sole priority? How much does he really need?
This just add another layer to his polarizing personality, one which has been explored in a new unauthorized biography that has some unflattering material in it.
It’s just not a good thing, in my opinion, but at the end of the day Mickelson only has to answer to himself and his family and the hell with what other people think.
