Greg Norman says top golfers backed out of Saudi-backed upstart golf league after Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments

Greg Norman’s new golf league was prepared to launch the same week in February that Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments about the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia were published, which caused many committed players to back out.

At the time, Norman told ESPN on Monday, at least 30% of the top 50 players in the world had committed to play in the new league.

“There’s no question [Mickelson’s comments] hurt,” said Norman, a two-time winner of The Open and CEO of LIV Golf Investments. “It hurt a lot of aspects. It hurt the PGA Tour. It hurt us. It hurt the game of golf. It hurt Phil. So yeah, across all fronts. It wasn’t just specifically to us. But it definitely created negative momentum against us.”

Norman said the proposed league, which was being financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was prepared to launch its 14-event schedule and roster of committed players during the week of the Genesis Invitational, Feb. 17-20. But author Alan Shipnuck published an interview related to his upcoming unauthorized biography of Mickelson on the website FirePitCollective.com on Feb. 15.

In the interview, which Shipnuck said took place in November, Mickelson called the Saudi Arabians “scary motherf—ers” and said he was only willing to get involved with the new league to have leverage with the PGA Tour.

“… They killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights,” Mickelson said in the interview. “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.”

Mickelson was heavily criticized for the comments, and several PGA Tour stars, including Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and others, pledged their loyalty to the tour in the next few days.

“Quite honestly, we were ready to launch on the Tuesday or Wednesday of Genesis,” Norman said. “We had enough players in our strength of…