Phil Mickelson: Saudis are "scary motherf***ers, we know they killed Khashoggi"
Phil Mickelson reportedly made these remarks to Alan Shipnuck as he put the finishing touches on his book due out soon.
Phil Mickelson admits the Saudis are "scary mother f***ers" to get involved with in a new book shedding light about his issues with the PGA Tour.
Alan Shipnuck has written a book entitled "Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar".
Shipnuck states he had a phone call with Mickelson last November as he was putting the finishing touches on his book where Lefty explained his position with the PGA Tour and its commissioner Jay Monahan.
The author, who interviewed more than 200 subjects for the book, claims Mickelson told him that he didn't pretend to be excited about "hitching his fortunes to Saudi Arabia".
Furthermore, he claims Mickelson admitted the SGL was nothing more than what he called "sportswashing" by a brutally repressive regime.
More: Jon Rahm refuses to discuss SGL anymore
"They're scary motherf***ers to get involved with," Mickelson allegedly said.
"We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights.
"They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.
"They've been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse.
"As nice a guy as [PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won't do what's right.
"And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I'm not sure I even want [the SGL] to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the [PGA] Tour."
Pre-order here.
Read the full article here.
Next page: Saudi Golf League to kick off during Players week?
Ben joined GolfMagic as Content Executive in September 2021 just before the Ryder Cup and has contributed significantly to the growth of the site. Ben now assumes our Content Manager role, specialising in PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf content.
