Phil Mickelson has become the highest-profile name to ask for his release in order to join the rival breakaway golfing league.
Mickelson has asked the PGA Tour for a release that would allow him to play the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event near London in June.
Interestingly, however, he has also registered his name to play in the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
The move seems to stem from PGA’s guidelines as players had until Monday to submit a request to the PGA Tour to compete at a conflicting tour event.
The first LIV Golf Invitational of the controversial Saudi-backed league will be held from June 9-11 at the Centurion Golf Club outside London.
The upstart organization run by Greg Norman says more than 70 players have registered for the initial tournament including 15 who are ranked among the top 100 in the world.
Due to player confidentiality agreements, the names of the players are not being released.
The six-time major champion also submitted his application for next month’s PGA Championship and June’s U.S. Open.
Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship last year for his sixth major title.
“Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play,” Steve Loy, co-president of Sportive, said in a statement.
“Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made, but rather to keep all options open.”
Phil Mickelson has not been seen in the public eye since announcing in February that he was taking a break from the sport after critical comments he made in an interview about the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league surfaced.
The 51-year-old also missed this month’s Masters tournament for the first time since 1994.
