Mickelson Super League motives laid bare

Phil Mickelson's motives for potentially joining a breakaway golf league have been laid bare in an extraordinary extract from a new biography of the six-time major winner.

Mickelson is one of the players most closely associated with the possible rival to the PGA Tour, which is being spearheaded by Australian former world No.1 Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

The 51-year-old has previously admitted the threat of a new league has given the players leverage to squeeze more money out of the PGA Tour, and admits he is not even certain he wants the breakaway to succeed.

In an interview with Alan Shipnuck for his forthcoming book, "Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar", Mickelson also claims the new league is an attempt at "sportswashing" by the Saudi regime.

Ahead of February's Saudi International, Amnesty International UK's CEO Sacha Deshmukh urged players to understand that the tournament "is part of a wider Saudi attempt to use the excitement and glamour of sport to distract from the country's appalling human rights record."

Mickelson admitted he has concerns about Saudi Arabia's human rights record in a telephone interview with Shipnuck last November, adding: "They're scary mother******* to get involved with.

"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.

"They've been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as [PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won't do what's right.

"And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I'm