Phil Mickelson's Partnership with Callaway Paused After Saudi League Comments

Callaway Golf has paused its partnership with Phil Mickelson following his comments about the Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League, it announced Friday. 

Workday, KPMG and Heineken/Amstel are among the companies to have ended their relationship with Mickelson entirely, according to Joel Beall of Golf Digest. It's unclear if Callaway has plans to completely drop Mickelson in the future. 

Mickelson recently voiced his opinion about the Super Golf League, making controversial comments, to author Alan Shipnuck, who posted an excerpt from his upcoming book, Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar, per ESPN's Mark Schlabach:

"They're scary motherf--kers to get involved with. ... They killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights," Mickelson continued, in an interview that Shipnuck said took place in November. "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 recently apologized for those comments in a Twitter post:

Mickelson has been criticized by many of his peers on the PGA Tour, including Rory McIlroy, who told Schlabach:

"I don't want to kick someone while he's down obviously, but I thought [Mickelson's comments] were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant. A lot of words to describe that interaction he had with Shipnuck. It was just very surprising and disappointing. Sad. I'm sure he's sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here."

The Super Golf League was trying to poach several of the PGA Tour's biggest stars in recent weeks. However, many of those stars have recently denounced any interest in joining the Saudi-backed league. Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm have all reiterated their commitment to the PGA Tour in recent weeks. 

After the current Honda Classic comes to an end, the next PGA Tour event is the Arnold Palmer Invitational.