Phil Mickelson to return to the golf course in LIV Tournament
Yahoo Finance Live reacts to golfer Phil Mickelson's return to the sport for the LIV Tournament.
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SEANA SMITH: Phil Mickelson making his return to the golf course. LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed golf league, announcing that the six-time Major winner will play in its inaugural event at the Centurion Club in England this week. Now, Mickelson taking the course at a Pro event for the first time since January, following his controversial comments about the PGA TOUR and the Saudi Golf League, spearheaded by Greg Norman.
Now, Mickelson confirming the news in a statement, saying that, quote, "I'm ready to come back to play the game I love, but after 32 years, this new path is a fresh start, one that is exciting for me at this stage of my career and is clearly transformative, not just for myself, but ideally for the game and my peers."
Now, Mickelson is one of 11 players in the LIV Golf event who's qualified for next week's US Open. Dave, this is a very interesting decision here from Phil Mickelson. What do you make of it?
DAVE BRIGGS: It's not entirely surprising, given that he did not return to the PGA Championship. That's the moment he should have come back. I think fans would have embraced him wholeheartedly. I don't think they care at all what he said about the Saudi government.
Now, what's amazing about this is the money they are throwing at players. We don't have any details about Lefty. We do know that they threw $125 million at Dustin Johnson to come over. That is life changing money. Who is to say anything about that? Don't know what they paid Kevin Na. Greg Norman, in charge of the tour, said they offered Tiger a high nine-figure deal.
SEANA SMITH: Wow.
DAVE BRIGGS: High nine figures to come over. He said no. I don't believe in the long-term success of this tour, but they are throwing out some serious cash. Rachelle, what do you think?
RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, when you look at some of these numbers, like you said, this is life changing money. But you have to think about how some of these players are trying to balance some of these other sports relationships. Is it worth it? Yes, obviously. Nine figures obviously definitely sounds worth it. But in terms of the relationships you might lose, some of the backlash that you might get, perhaps, he's like, it's just not worth it.
DAVE BRIGGS: Golf fans will stick with the PGA TOUR. That much, I can tell you.