Phil Mickelson claps back at Tiger Woods' comments on LIV Golf, PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson hit back at Tiger Woods' comments stating that the PGA Tour took out an 'enormous loan' during the pandemic.
Earlier this year, in an interview with Alan Shipnuck, Phil Mickelson suggested that the PGA Tour could offer higher prize purses and that the organization had a good amount of reserve. Very soon after the inception of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour upscaled its prize money purse.
Mickelson said,
“They (PGA Tour) are already sitting on an $800 million cash stockpile. How do you think they’re funding the PIP? Or investing $200 million in the European Tour?"
However, Tiger Woods denied the notion that the PGA Tour holds a lot of reserves in a lengthy press conference ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge. Tiger will play the role of a host and will not participate in the annual event. He recently withdrew from the event citing a foot injury in his right leg.
Tiger Woods denies an apology to Phil Mickelson
During the lengthy press conference, Tiger addressed a couple of issues with one of them instilling a Phil Mickelson appearance.
Woods discussed his health and plans to return to the course, and eventually spoke about the PGA Tour finances.
In the midst of the conference, Tiger was questioned whether his long-time rival, Phil Mickelson, deserved an apology given the extra money his actions have ensured for the PGA Tour players. The move is credited to Mickelson for 'shaking the tree' by joining the cash-rich LIV Golf league and shedding light on the PGA Tour finances.
Woods was asked,
"Part of those changes you talked about, there's a lot more money coming in at tournaments from the Tour that weren't available before LIV came around. A guy like Mickelson, for example, obviously is the face of that, and he took a lot of criticism and he's taken most of the bullets for that and he was criticized heavily by players on Tour for it who now will be making a lot more money at tournaments because of him shaking that tree. Do you feel like to some degree they owe an apology … "
Tiger Woods denied the notion that the PGA Tour has a lot of money and also denied an apology to Mickelson.
“No, absolutely not, no,” Tiger said. “We took out an enormous loan during the pandemic in which that, if we had another year of the pandemic, our Tour would only be sustained for another year. So we took out an enormous loan. It worked, it paid off in our benefit, hence we were able to use that money to make the increases that we’ve made.”
This also led to CBS Golf writer Kyle Porter tweeting: "Phil: 'They’re sitting on $800M.' Tiger: 'We took out an enormous loan during the pandemic.'"
Phil: "They're sitting on $800M."
Tiger: "We took out an enormous loan during the pandemic."
In response to this tweet highlighting the difference between Tiger’s comments and his on the reserves, Mickelson immediately responded by saying that the Tour has more than $2 billion in assets.
@KylePorterCBS Pga tour IRS 990 form from 2018
1.6 billion in stocks
700 million in cash
1.15 billion in non liquid assets.
This is from the non profit section. The for profit section hasn’t been stated since 2012 but was more than the non profit part at that time.
This can all be googled
Later, Woods' statement also contradicted Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who said that the Tour did not take out a loan and relied on its reserves during the pandemic. The Tour also clarified that Tiger might be referencing a dip in the amount of the reserves.
Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson has been on a silent break on Twitter ever since he apologized for his comments on LIV Golf.