June 7, 2022

"They’re scary motherf-----s to get involved with. We know they killed [Khashoggi] and have a horrible record on human rights."

"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." 

Said Phil Mickelson, quoted in "Dustin Johnson quits PGA, joins Phil Mickelson on Saudi-backed tour" (WaPo).

29 comments:

Sebastian said...

"Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates."

Soon to be followed by Joe Biden seeking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape his presidency by a Saudi rescue.

Question: how did Kashoggi become a "journalist" with a gig at the WaPo? Really, how did that happen?

RideSpaceMountain said...

Phil Mickelson did not kill himself.

Beasts of England said...

Did Phil also mention his $200M windfall from the new tour?

Butkus51 said...

or its that theyre whores.

Mickleson has to pay off all those gambling debts dont ya know. Its never enough, is it?

So yeah, I'll go with whores.

Leland said...

WaPo demands golfers explain their association with Saudi Arabia, while Biden destroyed our energy independence and now begs Saudi Arabia for more oil to help him and Democrats get elected. I'm glad WaPo has its priorities. I don't blame the golfers for doing what is best for their families while Saudi Arabia is flush with cash from Joe Biden.

Jupiter said...

Oh, bilge. He has 150 million reasons.

Maynard said...

I doubt very much if the decisions made by Phil and Dustin are about anything other than money, lots and lots of money.

gspencer said...

"When your Muslim players are all dressed in thobes while trying to play golf, the game's in the bag."

Here's the team from Medina High,

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a5ea57eef2933569e57def4d248f79ba-lq

rcocean said...

Man, is Phil an idiot. But we already know that. Anyway, who cares if Phil or Justin are on the Saudi golf tour?

Good Grief, if Saudi Arabia is/was good enough for every US President since Ike, it should be good enough to host a golf tour. I love how we keep flipping back and forth between pretending this or that Country is MORALLY GOOD and that Country is MORALLY BAD depending on how convient it is for USA interests.

Is Turkey still morally Good or have then gone back to the BAD category?

rcocean said...

BTW, wimbolten is still banning Russian tennis players because "TAKE THAT PUTIN".

David Begley said...

Traitor.

Phil is supposedly a big gambler who has lost millions. He is doing this to recover his gambling losses.

David Begley said...

“ In an excerpt from golf writer Alan Shipnuck’s Mickelson biography published to FirepitCollective.com, Shupnick estimates that Mickelson accrued gambling losses upwards of $40 million between 2010 and 2014. In 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Mickelson made nearly $1 million off a stock tip, using the gains to pay off a gambling debt.”

Buckwheathikes said...

Dustin Johnson was literally asked at his press conference why he chose "money over country."

Are we at war with Saudi Arabia? Did our President announce two weeks ago he would travel to the Kingdom? Do we not send Saudi Arabia hundreds of billions of dollars a year for oil? Did we not construct their oil fields for our benefit?

I'll quote the NY Times from literally 5 days ago, since that's apparently still read here: "Biden to Travel to Saudi Arabia, Ending its Pariah Status."

So which is it? Biden ended their pariah status. Or nah?

PS: Johnson's reply: "I do what's best for myself and my family."

Because, you know, he's not running the country. He just plays a game for a living.

EAB said...

Mickelson doesn’t have time to earn back what he lost via gambling. He’s too old. It’s not about PGA; it’s about money. For all of them, it’s not about wanting to golf and costing against the best, it’s about wanting a guaranteed salary because they know they can’t win enough anymore. That includes Dustin.

I couldn’t help but think of the quote at the end of Ilya Shapiro’s resignation letter. ““Live not by lies,” warned Aleksander Solzhen­it­syn. “Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”” All these golfers in LIV are advancing a lie. And they know it but don’t care.

Christopher said...

In some ways the Dustin Johnson move is worse than Phil's. Johnson abandoned his own sponsor and thus the sponsor of the Canadian Open after already having made a commitment to play there.

Phil is a very complicated guy, and apparently the Shipnuk book includes tales of his lavish lifestyle, his continued gambling addiction (I'm going to call it) that fuels his need for cascading mountains of cash--and acts of real generosity and charity.

Apologies for not having read this WaPo story (I'm in hiding from Felicia Sonmez), but apart from the tastelessess of the Kashoggi comment, what drove him off the rails was indeed his never-ending crusade for mo' money, wherever. He goes on and on about how the PGA is cheating players, and as stand-alone analysis it's not all nuts. Things like the PGA making millions of off replays of his most famous shots, and the players not being able to cash in on things like that.

The problem is, it's Phil Mickelson, who wouldn't have had a massive fortune in the first place without the PGA.

So it's all nuts.

Leland said...

Some comments here read like they were written by Felicia Somnez.

robother said...

Sooner or later, you get in bed with scary motherfuckers, you end up with a goalpost view of every Giants game in the Meadowlands. Lefty might find himself pushing up azaleas at some Medina replica of Amen Corner.

Jupiter said...

I should make clear (not that anyone cares), I don't blame him. If there are people so bored, crazed or deluded that they will pay hundreds of millions of dollars to watch someone else play golf on TV, I see no reason why he shouldn't accept their money. But "reshape the PGA tour"? Why not reshape something useful? Like a toilet, for instance.

Jupiter said...

I'm not following how taking money from Saudis to play golf makes a man a traitor. Last time I checked, they were our allies. For that matter, I don't follow why using gambling winnings from the stock market to pay off gambling losses from some other racket is problematic. If you aren't a gambler, why do you care? If you are a gambler, who are you to complain?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity"

to get a lot of money.

I don't mind the greed. I do mind the hypocrisy and dishonesty

Howard said...

Apparently you Trump Cucks forgot Saudi Arabia was behind 911. Not the Iranians, not the Syrians, not the Iraqis and not the Afghanis.

MikeR said...

"PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has said any golfer who joins LIV Golf could be permanently banned, and the tour did not give its golfers permission to play in this week’s event. Greg Norman, the LIV Golf commissioner and chief executive, has countered that Monahan cannot legally ban players who wish to play on different tours." IANAL, but sounds like Monahan is risking a lawsuit that would destroy his organization.

Ampersand said...

Golf makes characters like the amazingly talented Phil. He's a lefty, but he's won lots of bets playing right handed because he's basically ambidextrous, and he loves to gamble. He's lived his life since 7 years old in the weird cocoon of junior golf, college golf, and the PGA. The PGA is an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen. They basically lock up every major golfer, so that nobody can (absent antitrust) make deals with third parties to do what Dustin and Phil seem poised to do.
I have no idea where this will end, but it surely is fascinating.

mccullough said...

Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

These are the golfers who made the PGA Tour what it is.

Mickelson and Johnson can be the greatest players ever on The Saudi Tour. They can make The Saudi Tour into the third best tour in the world.

Best of luck to them.

gadfly said...

First of all, famed sports bettor, Billy Walters, was found guilty of insider trading in a scheme that brought to light ties to Lefty Mickelson, who at one time owed $2 million in gambling debts to Walters, according to published reports. Mickelson avoided criminal charges while Walters was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10 million – but only after a protracted legal fight. Donald Trump granted clemency to Walters on his way out of DC.

So, Phil the Golfer was a Pete-Rose-type unable to control his urges to gamble against all odds. Now he gambles again that Crown Prince MBS will put away his surgical saw. Of course, he knows that some Trump-owned courses will be part of the Saudi tour, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, got $2 billion from Saudi royalty without having to finish 20 under for the tournament. Rumor has it that the Saudis and the charming Crown Prince are "willing to up the ante if needs be and lose” $3 billion over three years.

wendybar said...

Joe Biden made deals with China. So good for Phil. I don't care anymore, when people like Biden and the Clintons can do whatever they want to sell us out and people don't care.

boatbuilder said...

Phil likes to gamble. But apparently the PGA is just fine with gambling, since the network broadcasts include announcers and prominent graphics touting betting sites and lines on the players.

mikee said...

Shorter explanation: "$$$$$$." NTTAWWT.

wendybar said...

Why not?? The NBA is in bed with China.