EXILE CONTINUES

Phil Mickelson to Skip Masters After Backlash Over Saudi Support

Mickelson had said in an interview that he could look past the Saudi regime’s human rights abuses if it meant reforming golf.

Golf legend Phil Mickelson will skip the Masters tournament for the first time in 28 years after he expressed support for a Saudi-funded golf league, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Mickelson was widely condemned last month after he said he could look past human rights abuses by the Saudi regime—including the killing of Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as U.S. intelligence officials alleged—if it meant reforming the PGA Tour, which puts on the U.S.’ major golf tournaments. “They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse,” he said in an interview. Mickelson later offered a half-baked apology—only after he was dropped by American Express and other sponsors—by claiming the conversation was off the record, which the journalist who interviewed Mickelson denied. His last tournament was at the PIF Saudi International last month.