While You Were Asleep: Mickelson to end hiatus, France held Croatia in Nations League, Denmark edge Austria after power outage
Golfer Phil Mickelson will return to competition this week as the six-times major champion has been added to the field for the opening LIV Golf Invitational Series event outside London, the Saudi-backed league said on Monday.
Mickelson has been linked to LIV Golf for months but began a self-imposed hiatus from the sport in February — even skipping his title defence at the PGA Championship — amid backlash over comments he made about the breakaway tour.
The 51-year-old’s public image took a hit when the author of an unauthorised biography said the American golfer told him he was willing to look past Saudi Arabia’s human rights record to gain economic leverage over the PGA Tour.
Among the other golfers already confirmed for the 48-player event being held June 9-11 at Centurion Club are former world number ones Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer as well as 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia.Best of Express PremiumPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
Mickelson, however, has long been one of the biggest drawcards in the game, capable of driving up television ratings almost single-handedly when in contention for one of golf’s bigger events, and his presence at Centurion could offer a boost to the first of eight LIV Golf events this year.
Reshuffled France held Croatia in Nations League
A reshuffled France drew 1-1 away to Croatia in their second Nations League game on Monday, four days after an opening defeat Denmark.
The defending champions went ahead through Adrien Rabiot’s goal early in the second half but Andrej Kramaric’s late penalty gave the hosts a deserved draw.
World champions France, who slumped to a 2-1 home loss to Denmark in their opening match, were without Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema at the start as coach Didier Deschamps made 10 changes to Friday’s team.
Deschamps was back on the bench after he missed Friday’s game against Denmark following the death of his father.
Denmark edge Austria after power outage in Vienna delays game
Jens Stryger Larsen’s late winner guided Denmark to a nervy 2-1 win over Austria in their UEFA Nations League group match on Monday after kickoff was delayed 90 minutes due to a power outage in Vienna.
When the kick-off was delayed between Austria and Denmark tonight due to a power outage, the stadium entertainment team got creative.
A Mexican wave, with mobile phone lights, set to Johann Strauss. Enjoy a bit of culture! 🇦🇹🎶📱🔦pic.twitter.com/xBdLxspyaX
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) June 6, 2022
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The game eventually kicked off at 10:15 p.m. local time after power was restored, but not before the fans at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion entertained themselves with a Mexican wave using the lights on their mobile phones.
After a cagey start, Denmark took the lead in the 27th minute when midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg started the move with a pass out to the right flank and sprinted into the box to get on the receiving end of Rasmus Krensen’s cross to score.
The result moved Denmark to the top of Group A1 with six points from two games while Austria are second after France were held to a 1-1 draw away at Croatia earlier on Monday.
