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‘It was reckless’ – Mickelson posts apology for ‘off record’ Saudi remarks; KPMG and Phil split

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On Tuesday, Phil Mickelson made a lengthy apology for comments that he made regarding the Saudi Golf League that had recently gone viral.

The comments were made to journalist Alan Shipnuck, who shared them last week ahead of the release of his unauthorised biography of Mickelson, with Lefty allegedly saying he used the Saudi project as leverage against the PGA Tour.

In a statement released today, Mickelson wrote:

“Although it doesn’t look this way now given my recent comments, my actions throughout this process have always been with the best interest of golf, my peers, sponsors, and fans. 

There is the problem of off record comments being shared out of context and without my consent. but the bigger issue is that I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. 

It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this. 

Golf desperately needs change, and real change is always preceded by disruption. I have always known that criticism would come with exploring anything new. 

I still chose to put myself at the forefront of this to inspire change, taking the hits publicly to do the work behind the scenes. 

My experience with LIV Golf Investments has been very positive, I apologize for anything I said that was taken out of context. 

The specific people I have worked with are visionaries and have only been supportive. More importantly they passionately love golf and share my drive to make the game better. 

They have a clear plan to create an updated positive experience for everyone including players, sponsors, networks and fans. 

The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to puase or end relationships as I understand it might be necesarry given the current circumstances. 

I believe in these people and companies in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract. 

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and many have been shared with the public. 

My intent was never to hurt anyone and I’m so sorry to the people I have negatively impacted. 

This has always been about supporting the players and the game and I appreciate all the people who have given me the benefit of the doubt. 

Despite my belief that some changes have already been made within the overall discourse, I know I need to be accountable. 

For the past 31 years I have lived a very public life and I have strived to live up to my own expectations, be the role model the fans deserve, and be someone that inspires others. 

I’ve worked to compete at the highest level, be available to media, represent my sponsors with integrity, engage with volunteers and sign every autograph for my incredible fans. 

I have experienced many successful rewarding moments I will always cherish, but I have often failed myself and others too. 

The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level. 

I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.” 

I have incredible partners, and these relationships mean so much more to me than a contract. 

Many have been my most influential mentors and I consider all to be lifelong friends.”

Amy Rogers of Golf Channel broke the news on Tuesday evening that sponsor KPMG and Mickelson had mutually agreed to part ways tweeting:

In response to Mickelson’s apology, Shipnuck has refuted Lefty’s claims that the comments were made off the record:

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

27 Comments

27 Comments

  1. Pingback: ‘I think he hurt the game of golf’ – Greg Norman on Mickelson’s Saudi comments – GolfWRX

  2. Henry R Fitzgerald

    Feb 28, 2022 at 7:42 pm

    Shipnuck? Another media hack.

  3. Henry R Fitzgerald

    Feb 28, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    Phil exposed the PGA Tour Mafia and now the Boss Monahan and his little millionaire Capos are piling on Phil.

    The PGA Tour is going to need good lawyers because they are going to get hammer with antitrust lawsuits.

    Why is the PGA Tour afraid of? Nobody is going to take their right of saving tee times honoring convicted wife beaters or crackhead, like George Floyd.

  4. geohogan

    Feb 26, 2022 at 11:28 pm

    Now that Phil is loosing all his sponsors, his USA income: KPMG, Barclays, Callaway?, Exxon? Amgen? …..

    Is move to Saudi a forgone conclusion.

  5. geohogan

    Feb 25, 2022 at 12:56 pm

    “(The PGA Tour’s) brought millions and millions of dollars to communities, it’s brought great competition, great television,” Nicklaus said. “Why would I not support that? Instead, I’m going to go support for my own benefit, see 40 guys break away from the PGA Tour at the whim of an advertising agency in Saudi Arabia?

    so says the G.O.A.T.

  6. Speedy

    Feb 24, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    Phil, Greg, Tiger off into the sunset.

  7. Jack Nash

    Feb 24, 2022 at 8:48 am

    Looking in the wrong direction with Phil here. It’s all about revenge for Norman and rightly so. When he was at the top of the heap he suggested to the top brass about Tourneys for the top golfers with big cash payouts. The PGA said get lost and life moved on. Then shortly after Tiger arrived the WGC events started(1999) with the “Top Golfers” and Big Cash” prizes. Seemed that’s what Norman suggested years prior, so Any chance he gets to take a jab at the PGA he will. The new League would feature big cash payouts and even “Team” events which the viewers seem to be clamoring for. The League won’t likely get off the ground but guess what? The PGA has initiated bigger cash payouts, and go figure some “Team” events scheduled this fall. Who woulda thunk it that the PGA was that forward thinking. All they needed to be was pressured. So maybe Phil wasn’t that wrong? As for demonizing the country the league is started from, maybe some of the pros And PGA should see what’s happening with NBA pros and their, lets say equipment brands, and where they’re made? You see a lot of swoosh’s out there.

  8. Pingback: Things somehow just got worse (and a bit more embarrassing) for Phil Mickelson – GolfWRX

  9. Professor

    Feb 24, 2022 at 1:41 am

    So, apparently, Phil called Shipnuck last fall (2021) and just started talking about LIV and the Saudi League. It all comes out and Phil tries to say it was off the record?’ C’mon man! And then, Phil calls Shipnuck last week and tries to backtrack saying it was off the record. But at the end of the day this is Phil being Phil. We all saw this coming when he threw Tom Watson under the bus after the Ryder Cup loss. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong but Tom Watson didn’t hit a shot in that Ryder Cup did he? This was just arrogance gone unchecked. But on a serious note, is Phil going to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life? He was right about the Saudis being scary @$&*%^s. They do kill people.

  10. Michael

    Feb 23, 2022 at 8:33 pm

    Gambling Phil has relapsed. Kept doubling down with his mouth and ego and lost.

    The final chapter of your career pretty much rewrites the others with people who thought they knew you.

  11. Speedy

    Feb 23, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    SGL, Norman, Mickelson, Trump golf courses seem a bad mix.

    Regarding occasional world tour or super golf league chatter over the years, Norman seems ready to fail again.

    • geohogan

      Feb 25, 2022 at 12:52 pm

      MBS, Trump, Mickelson, Norman…..Narcissists are US

  12. Mike Culp

    Feb 23, 2022 at 4:11 pm

    It seems to me there are several people on here that have never said or done something that they wish they hadn’t.

    • geohogan

      Feb 25, 2022 at 1:00 pm

      No worries…MC. Its “off the record”.. boot licker

  13. geohogan

    Feb 23, 2022 at 9:44 am

    Phil didnt intend to reveal, one more time, how self serving
    an A hole he is and has always been.

    • Ted

      Feb 23, 2022 at 12:56 pm

      Kiss up to evil for paper you don’t need. Check
      Get criticized in twitter for kissing up and insatiable greed. Check
      Get triggered. Check
      Go on twitter ban binge. Check
      Still get criticized for kissing up and censoring. Check
      Fake damage control deflecting blame. Check
      Ruining your product and reputation. Check

      Just don’t come back Phil. Done.

  14. Tony Rocket

    Feb 23, 2022 at 9:20 am

    Golf Channel are doing their bidding for the PGA tour. Talk about throwing someone under the bus. It is quite clear the tour is afraid of competition, much like every crony corporation these days. It’s quite rich that the tour and OEMS care so much about human rights while being in bed with China. What a joke?

    • Tom

      Feb 23, 2022 at 11:23 am

      Yes. Such a joke that some think they must choose one evil or the other evil.

    • Professor

      Feb 24, 2022 at 1:55 am

      Are you saying Golf Channel is throwing Phil under the bus because they’re reporting this story? I’m sorry friend but Phil has done a pretty good job of that all on his own. Again…

  15. Henry R Fitzgerald

    Feb 23, 2022 at 12:21 am

    Wow, I see the GWRX wokesters are deleting posts, lol….

    • joe

      Feb 23, 2022 at 1:07 pm

      dumb posts should be deleted. time to marginalize the cray cray. you’ve had your few years of blurting out insanity

  16. Henry R Fitzgerald

    Feb 22, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    What a goof! I have no respect for Mickelson.

    A man who can’t stand by his convictions for a dollar is not a man worth listening to.

    I could care less what happens to this coward.

  17. toyzrx

    Feb 22, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    Gotta love Phil though for always being authentic and wild, coming back across from 2 fairways over trying to make a great save.

  18. Paul Runyan

    Feb 22, 2022 at 6:42 pm

    I think there are slightly more import things to be concerned about other than a narcissist golfer…

    • geohogan

      Feb 27, 2022 at 8:58 am

      @PR; like concern about narcissist leader(s)

      “So Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine,” Trump continued. “I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen.”

      He then called Putin a “very savvy” person whom he claimed to know “very, very well.”

  19. Tom

    Feb 22, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    Too late Phil. You should have done the math first. It takes 10 years to build trust and 10 seconds to destroy it.

    Good bye.

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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.

From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

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SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

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Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

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