Phil Mickelson, Callaway ‘pause’ their partnership after Lefty’s comments on Saudi, PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson has been the leading spokesman and the face of Callaway since he signed an endorsement deal with the California-based equipment maker in 2004. He has appeared in television and print commercials, worked with the company’s designers to create products and his name even appears on some patents for the company’s clubs.

But after remarks the 51-year-old made regarding the PGA Tour and the Saudi Golf League emerged this week, Callaway has told Golfweek that Mickelson and the brand are taking a break.

From Callaway:

“Callaway does not condone Phil Mickelson’s comments and we were very disappointed in his choice of words – they in no way reflect our values or what we stand for as a company.

“Phil has since apologized and we know he regrets how he handled recent events. We recognize his desire to take some time away from the game and respect that decision. At this time, we have agreed to pause our partnership and will re-evaluate our ongoing relationship at a later date.”

In 2017, Mickelson signed a lifetime endorsement deal with Callaway, but on Friday, the 2021 PGA Championship winner’s image was removed from the roster of Callaway staff players on the company’s website. It had been prominently positioned alongside Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, and Xander Schauffele, the 2020 Olympic gold-medal winner.

While Mickelson appeared on Callaway commercials Friday on The Golf Channel during coverage of the Honda Classic, it will be interesting to see if new versions of Callaway ads without Mickelson will start running in the days and weeks to come. Mickelson assuredly had played a large role in Callaway’s promotional plans for May’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. At this point, the timing for his return to golf is not clear, nor is what his status with Callaway might be when he comes back.

Earlier on Friday, Workday, another Mickelson sponsor, announced it would not renew its contract with the golfer. On Tuesday, KPMG and Amstel cut Mickelson loose also.

This was all in the wake of Mickelson’s disparaging comments about the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi-backed super golf league made to Alan Shipnuck that surfaced this week.

“The Tour likes to pretend it’s a democracy, but it’s really a dictatorship,” Mickelson told Shipnuck. “They divide and conquer. The concerns of the top players are very different from the guys who are lower down on the money list, but there’s a lot more of them. They use the top guys to make their own situation better, but the top guys don’t have a say.”

Mickelson also told Shipnuck that he was willing to deal with “scary motherf—-rs” in Saudi Arabia in order to gain leverage on the PGA Tour despite human rights abuses by the Saudis.