New Shipnuck Book Details Negotiations Between Mickelson and Saudis Pre-LIV

Golf writer and author Alan Shipnuck has written plenty on Phil Mickelson, and now thanks to an excerpt from his new book, we’re getting some details into Mickelson’s negotiations to leave the PGA Tour in 2021.

Vanity Fair published the excerpt from the book, “LIV and Let Die,” where Shipnuck infers that Mickelson was going to join a rival golf league—but not necessarily the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf. 

Shipnuck writes that Mickelson was negotiating with a group called the Premier Golf League out of England and an unnamed bigwig in the world of sports to start their own league that would’ve been similar to what LIV turned into. 

To some, it was inevitable that Phil Mikelson would be wooed away from the PGA Tour. The question was who’d go along with him.

Click to read more on the golf legend’s backdoor dealings with the Saudis’ LIV Golf superleague: https://t.co/7COZg5Wty5

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 16, 2023

“After a dalliance with the PGL and amid a flirtation with the Saudis, Mickelson, incredibly, began pitching yet another breakaway tour, this one largely underwritten by a billionaire from the sports betting world and the private equity behemoth Silver Lake. The unnamed league proposed an eight-event team series that would be tucked into the PGA Tour schedule. Six of the events would have $20 million purses, while the other two would offer $50 million. Half of the league would be owned by investors and half by players. If this sounds familiar, it’s because, a PGL source says, “Phil got access to all of our work and started shopping it around.” Talks went as high as Monahan and Ed Herlihy, the chairman of the PGA Tour’s board of directors.”

The article also talked about Mickelson’s impeccable timing. Shipnuck reported from a source that Lefty’s deal with the Saudis went from three to four years for double the dollars after Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship at the age of 50. 

Your 2021 PGA Championship winner….

PHIL MICKELSON. pic.twitter.com/HQ2KZA1rPv

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 23, 2021

The book implies that Mickelson was the catalyst for LIV’s creation and helped recruit other players behind the scenes to join the new venture. 

“LIV and Let Die” is being released on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Cover Image via CNBC