“I’m thrilled to be joining LIV Golf”shared the six-timer major-Winner via Twitter With: “I’m ready to come back to play the game I love. But after 32 years, this new path is a fresh start.” The first of eight tournaments on the tour financed by Saudi Arabia starts this Thursday (June 9th, 2022) in London. Germany’s top golfer Martin Kaymer is also at the openingevents of the multi-million dollar tour on the starting list.
Broken with PGA Tour
For the 51-year-old Mickelson it is the first golf tournament since he took a break at the beginning of February. “First and foremost, I would like to once again apologize to the many people I offended and hurt with my comments a few months ago.”, Mickelson wrote on Twitter. Previously, the Californian with the North American PGA-Tour broken and flirted with a start in the new LIV-Tour. He criticized the US tour for too little change and threw it, among other things “obnoxious greed” before.
Saudi Arabia wants to improve its image
The new Golf series is due to the millioninvestments from Saudi Arabia under criticism. The background is that the country, which has been criticized for human rights violations, is trying to improve its image with lucrative sporting events.
The invitational tournaments of the competitive series for the PGA Tour and the DP world tour (formerly Europe Tour) will be played over three days instead of four. In addition, the events come with very high prize money. The tournament in London alone is worth 20 million USdollar endowed – the winner gets four million US dollars. The PGA and the DP World Tour had already threatened to sanction participants in the LIV series. How these penalties could turn out is still open.
Source: dpa