Phil Mickelson is tainting his legacy for blood money
“They’re scary motherfuckers to get involved with. We know they killed 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.
The above quote is from legendary golfer Phil Mickelson. In a short statement, he managed to trash both the Saudis and the PGA Tour management. Good job, Phil. You managed to piss off both entities that put major bucks in your pocket.
In spite of calling the Saudis 'motherfuckers', he has no issue with taking a two hundred million dollar signing bonus to be the face of their new golf tour. Let's see what that looks like in numeric figures...$200,000,000, WOW! That's a lot of blood money!
Phil hasn't played a golf tournament since he made the controversial statement back in February. He missed The Masters, which he has won three times. He missed the PGA Championship, in which he was the defending champion. He said he was trying to reassess his life. He was focusing on what was important, such as getting closer to his family.
Apparently, he's accomplished these goals because it's now time to get back to the links. Phil's ready to play golf again. He'll tee it up later today in London. Mickelson will be playing in the inaugural event of the LIV tour.
The purse for this tournament is twenty million dollars. Four million of that goes to the champion. Compare that to the eight-million-dollar purse on this week's stop on the PGA Tour, The Canadian Open. That's a twelve-million-dollar difference. Man, that's a lot of blood money.
You can easily make a case for Mickelson being one of the greatest golfers of all time. As an amateur, he won three NCAA individual national championships, while attending Arizona State. He also led them to a team national title. He followed up by winning the U.S. Amateur title, in 1990. He won his first PGA Tour title while still an amateur, at age twenty.
On the PGA Tour, he won forty-five titles, including six major championships. In 2021, he became the oldest player to win a major title when he won the PGA Championship, at age fifty.
Golf historians should be able to lead with all these accomplishments when the name of Phil Mickelson is mentioned. Instead, they'll write about how he got in bed with the people who brutally murdered and dismembered Jamal Khashoggi. Instead, they'll write about how he's in bed with people who arrest those that support basic women's rights. Instead, they'll write about how he's in bed with people who impose flogging as a punishment. Instead, they'll write about how he's in bed with people who execute their own citizens without giving it a second thought.
I guess Phil figures for two hundred million in blood money, he could look past all the atrocities. I guess he figures for two hundred million in blood money, it doesn't matter what it does to his reputation and his legacy. But, if I was Phil, I'd watch my back. You don't want to get on the bad side of the Saudis. After all, they are scary motherfuckers.
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