"Obnoxious greed" Phil Mickelson drops huge bombshell (!) on PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson reveals yet more secret details about the PGA Tour over the past 24 months.

28 Oct 2023

"Obnoxious greed" Phil Mickelson drops another huge bombshell (!) on PGA Tour — "Obnoxious greed" Phil Mickelson drops another huge bombshell (!) on PGA…

Phil Mickelson has dropped yet another bombshell by declaring the PGA Tour had multiple opportunities to avoid division in the world of golf back as far back as October 2021 but "obnoxious greed blinded their judgement".

Mickelson, who joined LIV Golf in the summer of 2022 for a reported record $200m, took to Twitter on October 27 to reveal the "three opportunities" the PGA Tour had to prevent division in the world of professional golf the past 24 months.

The six-time major champion tweeted in response to reading an ESPN article that focused on Endeavor (the parent company of WWE, the UFC and sports agency IMG among others) confirming the PGA Tour had recently turned down their offer to work together in light of their framework agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (Saudi PIF).

Endeavor is understood to have wanted to expand its body of work with the PGA Tour, which already includes selling commercial rights and managing tournaments.

Mickelson, 53, wanted it to be known "for clarity's sake" that Endeavor did not try to invest in the PGA Tour two years ago but that it was global private equity firm, Silver Lake.

Scroll down for Mickelson's bombshell...

Lefty's lengthy tweet explained how Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel wanted to run eight elevated events back in October 2021 and the players and Silver Lake would own these new elevated events 50/50 in a separate entity.

PGA Tour chairman Ed Herlihy is said to have hit back at these proposals because he wanted them to be 100% owned by the PGA Tour.

Four months later in February 2022, Silver Lake went back to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to inform him a new Saudi-backed golf league was "going to happen" and that these eight elevated events "could prevent players from leaving" the PGA Tour.

Monahan, according to Mickelson, responded: "The players won't go, they know what we will do to them."

Silver Lake then went back to Monahan one last time in May 2022 to have the exact same conversation, but Monahan shook his head once more.

Mickelson then concluded his tweet:

"Let's get the fact straight. All of this is in discovery of the civil case if it can be obtained. If not, I have it too."

Here's Mickelson tweet in full:

For clarity’s sake, Endeavor didn’t try to invest 2 years ago, SilverLake did. Ari and Endeavor were to run 8 elevated events and the players and SilverLake would own the new elevated events 50/50 in a separate entity. October 30,2021 Ed Herlihy said the Tour would take a hostile… https://t.co/OhDwfCnaLD
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) October 28, 2023

Mickelson tweeted:

"For clarity’s sake, Endeavor didn’t try to invest 2 years ago, SilverLake did. Ari and Endeavor were to run 8 elevated events and the players and SilverLake would own the new elevated events 50/50 in a separate entity. October 30,2021 Ed Herlihy said the Tour would take a hostile view and shut this down if it’s not 100% owned by the PGA Tour. Then in February of 2022 SilverLake went back to Monahan and said The League was going to happen and these new elevated events could prevent players from leaving and Jay said “the players won’t go, they know what we will do to them” so we won’t be doing this. SilverLake went back to Jay again May of 2022 and the same conversation took place. Jay and Ed had 3 opportunities to have elevated events that would be fully funded and could prevent division but their need to control everything(obnoxious greed) blinded their judgement. Let’s get the facts straight. All of this is in discovery of the civil case if it can be obtained. If not, I have it too."

According to Sportico, Endeavor CEO Emanuel nearly invested $1 billion into LIV Golf earlier this season.

He decided to withdraw his offer at the request of Monahan, who Emanuel is a friend.

Bloomberg reported earlier this month the ongoing framework agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF is likely to be pushed back due to a range of issues."

READ MORE ON THAT HERE

These range of issues, per the report, include regulatory concerns in the United States as well as a demand by Tour players such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy for a stake in the newly-formed entity.

Monahan recently claimed talks are progressing nicely, it would seem like a deal is still far from complete as the Tour and PIF respond to a US Justice Department probe over antitrust concerns while working with Tour players on how much control they will have when a new alliance is formed.

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced plans for its shock merger with PIF, which currently bankrolls the LIV Golf League, in June 2023.

What do you make of Mickelson's latest bombshell? Will the PGA Tour's deal with Saudi PIF come to light in 2024 or will it break down? Share your thoughts and comments over on the GolfMagic social media channels.