Phil Mickelson has said the prospect of players defecting to the Saudi-backed Super Golf League (SGL) has given them more leverage with the PGA Tour; Bryson DeChambeau used social media to issue the briefest of denials to a report that he had been offered £100m to join the SGL
Friday 4 February 2022 13:09, UK
Brooks Koepka has taken a pointed swipe at Phil Mickelson after the six-time major winner criticised the PGA Tour for its "obnoxious greed", while Bryson DeChambeau denied reports he has been offered £100m to join a Saudi breakaway tour.
Mickelson made the comments in an interview ahead of the Saudi International, where he is among a host of top players receiving huge appearance fees and being courted by a potential rival league backed by Saudi cash.
Responding to a post about Mickelson's comments, Koepka wrote on his Instagram account: "DK (don't know) if I'd be using the word greedy if I were Phil. . ." followed by five 'thinking face' emojis.
According to the PGA Tour website, Mickelson's career earnings on the circuit total £70m, a figure which does not include sponsorships and other off-course earnings.
The 51-year-old, whose win in the 2021 US PGA Championship made him the oldest ever men's major champion, also declared himself the winner of £5.9m in December for topping the Tour's Player Impact Programme, a bonus scheme designed to reward its most popular stars.
Mickelson admits that the prospect of players defecting to the Saudi-backed Super Golf League (SGL) has given them more leverage with the PGA Tour, but complains in the interview with Golf Digest that the organisation's "obnoxious greed has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere".
"It's not public knowledge all that goes on," said Mickelson, whose biggest complaint surrounds media rights.
"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 20bn in digital assets they control."
DeChambeau, who withdrew from the Saudi International before the start of his second round due to hand and hip injuries, also used social media to issue the briefest of denials to a report that he had been offered £100m to join the SGL.
Breezy Golf posted an image of DeChambeau on Instagram with the words, taken from a Golf Monthly tweet, "Bryson has reportedly been offered $135m (£100m) to become the face of the rumoured Saudi Super League."
DeChambeau commented on the post, simply saying: "Wrong." It is unclear if the 28-year-old is saying the figure of £100m was wrong or if it was wrong to say he has been offered any deal.
Former world No 1 Lee Westwood believes players from other tours will see the big-money investment into the Asian Tour as a threat to the sport.
The Asian Tour is undergoing a major overhaul thanks to a $300m investment by LIV Golf Investments, fronted by Greg Norman and backed by the Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), with a 10-event International Series including an England-based tournament for the first time.
The tournament also has the Saudi International as its flagship event, previously part of the DP World Tour, where massive appearances fees have helped attract a world-class field to Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
Westwood has signed a non-disclosure agreement about any possible participation in any proposed Super Golf League (SGL), while Dustin Johnson said he is "not allowed to disclose" whether or not he has received a multi-million-pound offer to contest the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.
"The players of the other tours see the Asian Tour as a threat now, don't they, because of the huge investment," Westwood said ahead of the Saudi International.
"It's kind of like a game of poker really where the European Tour and the PGA Tour have had the biggest hand, and now there's somebody else come to the table with more chips, so everybody is on their guard and very defensive and are clearly seeing the Asian Tour as a threat. Nobody can deny that.
"There wouldn't have been all this trouble with releases and things like that if that wasn't the case. I can see why they feel threatened, but at the same time, the PGA Tour and the European Tour have gone into areas I suppose in the Asian Tour's path over the years and never had any problem playing tournaments all over Asia and the Middle East, which I think has probably cost Asia, as well.
"Now that the Asian Tour has this backing, it appears to me like they're just doing what the PGA Tour and the European Tour have been doing the last 25 years."
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