Rory McIlroy hopes people will “forgive” Phil Mickelson for his comments on the Saudi-backed separatist tour, saying “everyone makes mistakes.”
Mickelson took a break from golf and lost several sponsors over his comments that he was willing to overlook human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and join the company in lobbying the PGA Tour.
McIlroy originally called Americans “naive, selfish, selfish (and) ignorant.”
However, before the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill, Florida, the Northern Irishman stated that he believed the players wanted the left-hander to return to the tour, asking for “forgiveness” to Mickelson.
“It’s unfortunate,” McIlroy said of Mickelson. “I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf and continues to be a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf.
“Look, Phil will be back. I think the players want to see him back. He has done a wonderful job for golf and represented it very, very well throughout his entire career.
“We all make mistakes. We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that sense.
“But we should be allowed to make mistakes. We should be allowed to say sorry and have people forgive us and move on.
“Hopefully he’ll come back at some point, he will, people will welcome him and be glad he’s back.”
Mickelson claimed that he had made his comments off the record to Alan Shipnuck, but the American writer has denied that claim, suggesting that the golfer had “not once” asked not to be quoted during their conversation.
Shipnuck is compiling a biography of Mickelson, who last year became the oldest major champion in history with a victory at the 2021 US Open.
McIlroy hopes to secure the trophy and commemorative red sweater at the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second time, having finished three strokes ahead of Bryson DeChambeau in 2018.
“This is a course that has caught my attention since the first time I played here,” McIlroy said before the first round in suburban Orlando.
Defending champion DeChambeau is absent from the event due to injury.
