A note on sponsorship and ethics

Phil Mickelson, Grayhawk Golf Club and career decisions against cold dead professionalism.

The first collaboration between Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona and Phil Mickelson started back in 1992.

It was Phil Mickelson’s first sponsorship, on a basis of $10k for 3 years straight. Come 1995, Mickelson had already become one of the biggest stars of the Tour with 4 wins. As their original agreement approached its closure, the club thanked Mickelson for their collaboration and the exposure it offered and wished him the best thereafter. Moving forward, they could clearly not afford the sponsorship rates of a PGA Tour superstar.

But Mickelson objected. Weighting heavily upon the club’s belief in his potential and the support at an early stage, he informed them that he intended to honour his part of the agreement throughout his career, for the originally agreed annual amount of money.

Even if quite a few have recently criticized Mickelson’s decision to join and support LIV Golf, this doesn’t change the fact that, to this day, the logo of Grayhawk Golf Club poses in the front of his golf bag. And has remained there even when sponsors such as Rolex and KPMG were onboard.

We raise our glass to those collaborations that only need a head nod to seal.-