On the 2nd, the Saudi
International (total prize money of 5 million dollars), an Asian professional golf tour tournament, opens in Saudi Arabia on the 2nd. A large number of players from LIV, a golf league led by Saudi capital, will participate. 52-year-old Phil Mickelson (USA) is also included.
Mickelson met a strong backlash at this tournament a year ago by uttering vicious words, saying, “The greed of the PGA Tour is disgusting.” He even skipped the Masters and PGA Championship majors as he issued an apology and had a period of self-reflection. Then, in June of last year, he appeared in his first LIV competition, and last year he competed in 7 LIV competitions. He only finished in the top 15 once, but his performance was poor.
He has been consistent with careful and ambiguous answers in recent press conferences and interviews, and in an interview with Sports Illustrated (SI) published on the 31st, he revealed his true feelings in relatively detail. In his 32nd season after his professional debut, and his second season in LIV, he showed confidence, saying, “I lost more than 9kg over the winter and returned to my weight when I was a college student,” and “I am in very good shape.” “I am stronger now than ever in my career,” he said, “and I am more flexible and recover faster.” 토토사이트
Mickelson said, “I will participate in all major competitions for the next three years,” and “I think there will be a chance to win one or two times.” With six career major wins, he set the record for the oldest major win ever at the 2021 PGA Championship. He said, “I think I can do what happened at Kiawah (2021 PGA Championship Course) again,” and “I am ready to do something that no player my age has ever done before.”
Banned from PGA Tour events as a reward for joining LIV, he said, “Even if I never compete on the PGA Tour again, I’m completely comfortable.” He said, “The tournament to leave footprints is a major tournament, and winning a major makes unforgettable memories for the rest of my life.” Having achieved 45 wins (including majors) on the PGA Tour, he said, “The place I really want to do well is major tournaments.” did.
He said that the current world ranking system, which does not reflect LIV tournament performance, has “lost credibility” and that “there will be another, more reliable ranking system that includes all golfers in the world.” Continuing to use the current world ranking system, which does not include all of the best players, as a criterion for qualifying for majors would do more harm to the event than to the player, he said.
“So far, no one has ever come up to me and commented negatively about LIV,” he said. The PGA Tour recently tightened its treatment of players to avoid losing players to LIV, and Mickelson claims that there are quite a few PGA Tour players who credit him for making some of those changes.