Current PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson, who has not played competitively for more than three months, will not defend his title next week at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
PGA of America announced on Friday that Mickelson has withdrawn from the PGA Championship.
“We have just been informed that Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from the PGA Championship,” the statement said. “Phil is the defending champion and is currently eligible to be a member of PGA Life and we would welcome him to participate. We wish Phil and [wife] Amy is the best and I’m looking forward to his return to golf. “
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Last month, Mickelson, a six-time grand champion, missed the Masters, an event he has won three times, for the first time since 1994.
Mickelson became the oldest major golf champion by winning the PGA on the island of Kiava in South Carolina at the age of 50 last year. He did not play in the PGA Tour after missing the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines in late January.
Mickelson is moving away from golf after his conflicting comments about the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabian financiers on the breakaway chain were published by author Alan Shipnook, whose unauthorized biography of the golfer known as the Left will be released next week.
Mickelson criticized the PGA Tour for its “greed” and said he was looking beyond the alleged human rights violations of the Saudi Arabian monarchy to gain influence with the tour.
“They’re scary mothers to mess with,” Mickelson told Shipnuck during a conversation in November. “They killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Kashogi and have a terrible experience in human rights. They execute people there for being gay. Knowing all this, why even consider it? Because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the way the PGA Tour works. “
Mickelson later apologized for his comments.
Longtime sponsors Amstel Light, KPMG and Workday have ended their relationship with him. Callaway, who signed a contract with Mickelson in 2017 until the end of his playing career, has terminated his relationship with him.
PGA Tour pro Charlie Hoffman, who also grew up in San Diego and is one of Mickelson’s closest friends, told ESPN on Wednesday that he would be surprised if Mickelson played in the Southern Hills.
“I think mentally Phil is probably in a really good place right now to be honest with you,” Hoffman said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t play. I don’t know if he wants to deal with [the media]. He has done it all his life. I think he has enough respect for the game he’s going to play, but he won’t surprise me if he doesn’t. I don’t think he wants to deal with that. “
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Mickelson is only the fourth golfer in 50 years not to defend his major title next year. Rory McIlroy was the last in 2015 when he missed the Open after injuring his ankle while playing football shortly before the tournament. Tiger Woods missed the PGA Championship in 2008 after winning it in 2006 and 2007 as he was still recovering from knee surgery. Payne Stewart, the 1999 US Open champion, died in a plane crash in October 1999.
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