On February 23, Beijing time, the famous American golfer Phil Mickelson issued a statement on the recent speeches about the PGA Tour and the Saudi Premier League. The full text is as follows:
(Translation for reference only)
Translations are for reference only
In his statement, Mickelson apologized for his excessive remarks and said the intention was not to hurt anyone. He said he had given sponsors the option to suspend or end their relationships.
Mickelson's collaboration with KPMG dates back to 2008 (Photo: Today's Headlines)
Almost at the same time as Mickelson issued this statement, KPMG, Almy's longtime partner, also issued a statement announcing that it and Mickelson had "mutually agreed" to end the sponsorship relationship, effective immediately, and said it would continue to support the men's and women's sub-golf tour.
The full text of the statement is as follows:
KPMG USA and Phil Mickelson have mutually agreed to terminate our sponsorship with immediate effect. We wish him every success.
KPMG continues to sponsor the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour brand ambassadors and is the title sponsor of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the main event of the LPGA Tour.
We are also proud to continue to provide advanced analytical methods for the LPGA Tour through KPMG Performance Insights and to host the KPMG Women's Leadership Summit and the KPMG Future Leadership Program in conjunction with sponsoring the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
Phil Mickelson, 51, joined the PGA Tour in 1992 and has won 45 PGA Tour victories to date, including six Grand Slam titles (3 Masters, 2 PGA Championships and 1 British Open title), becoming the first player in history to win a Grand Slam title in the past 50 when he wins the PGA Championship in 2021. In the 2019 Forbes global athlete revenue card list, Mickelson ranked 19th with an annual revenue of $48.4 million.
The PGA Tour alone earned $94.96 million, or about 600 million yuan. Last year, the PGA Tour unveiled a "Player Impact Ranking" award, setting a total prize of $40 million to 10 players, and the selection criteria are based on a comprehensive measure of player popularity through indexes such as website search frequency and Nielsen brand exposure, even if they do not participate in a game. The first year's rankings were not officially made public on the PGA Tour, but Mickelson declared himself number one and received $8 million in prize money.
LIV Golf Investments is a newly formed company with former world number one and "Jaws" Greg Norman as CEO. Funding has been poured into the Asian Tour, but the bigger plan is to create a golf "Super League." But for now, first-tier stars such as Tigers, Wheat, DJ, Deschamps and Colin Morikawa have all spoken out in support of the PGA Tour.