Callaway and others distance themselves from Phil Mickelson

Several more companies have distanced themselves from Phil Mickelson in the wake of recent comments made by the American.

As first reported by Golf Digest, Callaway has “paused” its relationship with the six-time major champion, whilst Workday and Heineken / Amstel have ended their altogether.

They follow finance giant KPMG, who dropped the 51-year-old on Tuesday shortly after he made a public apology for controversial comments he made about both the PGA Tour and the so-called Saudi Golf League, with whom he appeared to have aligned.

Mickelson, who had previously accused the PGA Tour of “obnoxious” greed, told the journalist Alan Shipnuck that the people behind the proposed breakaway circuit are “scary mother****rs”.

He added: “We know they killed [journalist Jamal] 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.”

Those remarks were widely condemned, including by several of Mickelson’s fellow PGA Tour pros.

In an apology posted on social media on Tuesday, he wrote: ““I know I have not been at my best and desperately need some time away to prioritise the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.”

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Within hours, KPMG announced that it was ending its 14-year association with the current US PGA champion and, soon after, had removed all content featuring Mickelson from its website.

Now, others have followed suit.

On Friday evening, a spokesperson for Callaway – which has sponsored Mickelson since 2004 – said: “Callaway does not condone Phil Mickelson’s comments and we were very disappointed in his choice of words. They in no way reflect Callaway’s values or what we stand for as a company.

“Phil has since apologised and we know he regrets how he handled recent events. We recognise 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.”

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Hours earlier, Workday, an American on‑demand financial management and human capital management software vendor, said that they and Mickelson “mutually and amicably agreed to not renew our brand sponsorship that ends this March”.

Heineken / Amstel dropped Mickelson late on Wednesday.

As of Saturday morning, Mickelson can count only Rolex, menswear company Mizzen+Main, Intrepid Financial Partners and Instajet as remaining sponsors.