Phil Mickelson biographer who published the golfer's infamous comments showed up to the LIV Golf event and produced the most dramatic shot of the day

• Phil MIckelson biographer Alan Shipnuck says he was "physically removed" from a post-round press conference at the inaugural LIV Golf event.
• Shipnuck told LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman what happened, and Norman claimed he wasn't aware.

LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed challenge to the PGA Tour, kicked off its first event on Thursday with a shotgun start at the Centurion Club just outside of London.

While 48 players teed it up on the course, the most eye-catching moment of the day came not from the golf, but from a post-round press conference with Phil Mickelson, where golf writer Alan Shipnuck said he was "physically removed" by security.

Golf fans might remember Shipnuck as the reporter who published Mickelson's incendiary comments on the new league that nearly derailed LIV Golf before they even held an event.

"They're scary motherfuckers to get involved with," Mickelson told Shipnuck of the Saudis backing LIV Golf in a conversation in November 2021. "We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. 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."

Shipnuck, who was working on a biography of Mickelson at the time, decided to publish Mickelson's comments in February, as LIV Golf was preparing to announce players and events for its inaugural season.

Mickelson offered a tepid non-apology and retreated from the world of golf, even skipping the PGA Championship, which he won just a year ago. With LIV Golf suddenly facing a Mickelson-sized hole in its roster, both as a golfer and a PR machine, the future of the breakaway league appeared to momentarily stall.

But in the weeks and months that followed, LIV Golf went on, announcing a series of eight events and eventually, some of the players that would make up its inaugural field, including Mickelson.

On Thursday, Shipnuck was in attendance for the first day of action at the Centurion Club, following Mickelson's group and live-tweeting much of the round. His day of news-gathering was cut short though at Mickelson's post-round presser.

As he showed in a series of tweets, after Shipnuck was removed, he contacted LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to tell him what had happened. Norman said he "did not hear" about the incident, but in the video that Shipnuck later received and posted, Norman is clearly visible in the background of the encounter.

Shipnuck showed Norman as much in a follow-up message.

Shipnuck was not the first member of the media to have a confrontation with LIV Golf security. Earlier in the week, AP reporter Rob Harris was escorted out of a press conference before being allowed back in.

LIV Golf did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.