In a report by The Guardian, Phil Mickelson informed the R&A that he did not wish to attend either the celebration of champions four-hole challenge on Monday or the following evening’s champions’ dinner, with The 150th Open Championship getting underway on Thursday.
Along with Mickelson, LIV Golf CEO and two-time Claret Jug winner, Greg Norman, will not be at St Andrews on Monday and Tuesday, nor will the Australian be in attendance for the rest of the week as he was informed by the R&A that he would not be welcome at the tournament.
Perks of winning The Open
Mickelson is still in the field for The 150th Open Championship, with it possible that he is skipping the champions' dinner due to his involvement in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series, tournaments that the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have been firmly against.
Because of his involvement in LIV Golf, Mickelson has lost sponsors like Workday and KPMG; Callaway have paused their relationship with the six-time Major winner. It is also worth noting that Mickelson's apparel at the LIV events no longer sport any brand names.
As mentioned above, LIV Golf CEO, Greg Norman, will also not be at St Andrews, with the R&A releasing a statement that said: "In response to enquiries regarding The R&A Celebration of Champions field and the Champions’ Dinner, we can confirm that we contacted Greg Norman to advise him that we decided not to invite him to attend on this occasion.
Mickelson speaks with Norman ahead of the 2022 Saudi International
"The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the Championship and its heritage. Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend. We hope that, when circumstances allow, Greg will be able to attend again in future."
Both men are previous winners of The Open, with Norman securing the Claret Jug in 1986 and 1993, and Mickelson claiming the title in 2013 at Muirfield.
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