Pro golfer Phil Mickelson faces backlash for comments about Saudi-backed golf league

Pro golfer Phil Mickelson has apologized for comments he made supporting a Saudi Arabia-backed golf tour, after they appeared to cost him one his biggest sponsors.

Professional golfer Phil Mickelson has apologized for comments he made supporting a Saudi Arabia-backed golf tour, after they appeared to cost him one his biggest sponsors.

The global tax firm KPMG said Tuesday it had dropped its sponsorship of Mickelson in the midst of Mickelson's ongoing feud with the PGA Tour over a controversial splinter league backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

The move follows the publication earlier this month of backlash-inducing comments Mickelson made in November to author Alan Shipnuck, in which Mickelson expressed no reservations about working with the Saudis despite the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which a United Nations probe determined was a "premeditated execution" for which Saudi Arabia was responsible.

"They're scary ... to get involved with," Mickelson told Shipnuck about working with the Saudis on the new league. "We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. 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."