Collin Morikawa puts majors before any breakaway plans

Open champion Collin Morikawa insists winning major titles will always matter more than money as a series of new Saudi-backed events gains momentum.

Phil Mickelson's agent revealed on Monday that the six-time major winner has requested a release from the PGA Tour to play the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event in June.

Mickelson has been taking a break from golf since the fall-out from his explosive comments about the PGA Tour and the rival tournaments spearheaded by Greg Norman, which boast a prize fund of £25million.

The 51-year-old accused the PGA Tour of "obnoxious greed" and acting like a "dictatorship", while also admitting he was well aware of Saudi Arabia's human rights record but was using the threat of a breakaway to "reshape" how the Tour operates.

Mickelson lost several sponsors as a result and with top stars pledging their loyalty to the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy felt the proposed breakaway was "dead in the water".

However, with a league shelved until 2024 in favour of hugely lucrative individual events, 15 of the world's top 100 players have reportedly sought releases from the PGA and DP World Tours in order to play at Centurion Club from 9-11 June.

Asked on a teleconference to promote his Open title defence at St Andrews if he was intrigued by the ongoing situation, Morikawa said: "No.

"I said at Riviera earlier this year (in February) that my alliance is to the PGA Tour. Will I still watch what's going on? I mean, yeah. You're curious to what's going on. But do I care who's going to be playing or do I care who's going to be making money? No, not at all.

"At the end of the day I'm here to win majors. I'm here to win PGA Tour tournaments. Hopefully return and defend my Race to Dubai title. There's a lot of other