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Phil Mickelson was not disinvited from 2022 Masters, Augusta chairman says

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Phil Mickelson won’t be competing within the 2022 Masters at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership, a part of an prolonged depart following controversial feedback he made in current months. 

However the three-time Masters champion isn’t skipping the event this week as a result of he was informed to remain away, Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership chairman Fred Ridley revealed Wednesday. 

“We didn’t disinvite Phil,’’ Ridley mentioned at a information convention. “Phil is a three-time Masters champion and is invited in that class and plenty of different classes. He’s the defending PGA champion.”

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Mickelson reached out to Ridley in late February or early March to tell him that he would not be taking part in within the event, the chairman mentioned, marking the primary time the golfer will probably be absent from the sector in almost 30 years.

Phil Mickelson speaks after successful the PGA Championship golf event on the Ocean Course, Sunday, Might 23, 2021, in Kiawah Island, S.C.
(AP Picture/David J. Phillip, File)

“Phil reached out to me … and let me know that he didn’t intend to play. That was by means of a textual content. And I thanked him for his courtesy in letting me know. I informed him that we definitely appreciated that and informed him that I used to be definitely keen to debate that additional with him if he’d like. And he thanked me, and we had a really cordial trade,” Ridley added. 

Mickelson hasn’t performed because the Saudi Worldwide in early February. He skipped the Gamers Championship in Ponte Vedra Seashore, Florida, final month.

Phil Mickelson watches his tee shot on the sixth gap in the course of the first spherical of the Wells Fargo Championship golf event at Quail Hole on Thursday, Might 6, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. 
(AP Picture/Jacob Kupferman)

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Mickelson has been on the heart of controversy after he reportedly criticized the PGA Tour and backed a proposed golf league being financed by Saudi Arabians. Mickelson described the Saudis as “scary” however famous he might look previous their historical past of human rights abuses if it meant an opportunity to vary the PGA Tour.

He made the feedback in an interview with writer Alan Shipnuck, whose e book, “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colourful Famous person,” is scheduled for a Might launch. The Hearth Pit Collective printed Mickelson’s feedback in February. 

Mickelson later apologized and introduced he would be taking a leave from the game. He claimed his feedback have been off the document and weren’t meant to be shared publicly. 

Phil Mickelson walks off the 14th inexperienced after lacking a birdie putt in the course of the third spherical on the PGA Championship golf event on the Ocean Course, Saturday, Might 22, 2021, in Kiawah Island, S.C.
(AP Picture/David J. Phillip, File)

“There’s the issue of off document feedback being share out of context and with out my consent,” Mickelson mentioned in a February assertion. “However the larger concern is that I used phrases I sincerely remorse that don’t replicate my true emotions or intentions.”

Mickelson has made 29 begins on the Masters, and it will likely be his first time not competing within the event since 1994. He beforehand received the Masters in 2004, 2006, and 2010. 

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“He made a private determination and I do not know something past that,” Ridley added. “I do know that Phil has been an actual fixture right here on the Masters for a lot of, a few years. He is been an enormous a part of our historical past. I definitely and we definitely want him one of the best kind of working by means of the problems he is coping with proper now.”

The event begins Thursday.

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