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Biographer claims this is the shock real reason why Mickelson and caddie Bones split

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According to an upcoming biography, Phil Mickelson lost an astounding $40 million gambling between 2010 and 2014.

Later this month, the biography called  “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar” will be released. The biography is written by Alan Shipnuck and will chronicle many of Mickelson’s financial escapades.

The biography will also include an analysis of  documents that were compiled when government auditors conducted an investigation into Mickelson’s finances during the time he was entangled in an insider trading case involving professional gambler Billy Walters. In the case, Mickelson wasn’t accused of wrongdoing but was ordered to pay back a portion of his stock gains based on a tip he recieved from Walters who was sentenced to five years in prison,

Shipnuck concluded that during those years, Phil lost most or all of his yearly earnings gambling.

“In those prime earning years, his income was estimated to be just north of $40 million a year,” Shipnuck wrote. “That’s an obscene amount of money, but once he paid his taxes (including the California tariffs he publicly railed against), he was left with, what, low-20s? Then he had to cover his plane and mansion(s), plus his agent, caddie, pilots, chef, personal trainer, swing coaches and sundry others.

“Throw in all the other expenses of a big life — like an actual T. Rex skull for a birthday present — and that leaves, what, $10 million? Per the government audit, that’s roughly how much Mickelson averaged in annual gambling losses. (And we don’t know what we don’t know.) In other words, it’s quite possible he was barely breaking even, or maybe even in the red. And Mickelson’s income dropped considerably during his winless years from 2014 to ’17.”

Another fascinating tidbit of information Shipnuck offers is the reasoning for Phil’s split with his longtime caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay in 2017. The author states that disputes over hundreds of thousands of dollars that Mickelson owed Mackay were at the heart of the separation.

In an excerpt of the book recently published at the Fire Pit Collective, Shipnuck writes:

“Bones had fired Phil at the ’17 Memorial, over a series of simmering grievances, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in overdue back pay.”

Shipnuck also speculates that the “real motivation” behind Mickelson’s involvement in the LIV Golf Series was the amount of money that Phil could make by joining, considering his finances from all of the gambling losses.

Mickelson has been of the grid since the controversy regarding his involvement with the Saudi backed golf league, and it’s unclear whether or not he will attempt to defend his title at the PGA Championship later this month.

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19th Hole

‘F*** around and find out’ – Phil Mickelson fires warning shot over LIV’s access to majors in since-deleted tweet

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On Sunday, the social media account “Flushing It” made a post about the importance of LIV Golf ensuring that their players have major championship eligibility going forward.

“LIV can have the grandest of plans for their future but getting players access to major championships should be their number 1 priority. Especially with the major exemptions running out fast and nearly all player contracts up for renewal this year and next.”

Phil Mickelson then responded to the post, warning the golf world that excluding LIV players from majors will have unintended consequences, saying “FAAFO” which means “f*** around and find out”.

“Maybe some LIV players won’t be missed. But what if NONE of the LIV players played? Would they be missed? What about next year when more great players join? Or the following year? At some point they will care and will have to answer to sponsors and television. FAAFO”

His post has since been deleted, but there are plenty of screenshots out there.

It will be easier said than done, but it does appear that some sort of agreement between LIV and the majors could be coming in the future if the PGA Tour and LIV aren’t able to mend fences.

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Greg Norman reveals plan for LIV to own all their golf courses and each team to have a home venue

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In an interview with Bloomberg, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman discussed the current state of LIV and what it means for the future of professional golf.

In the interview, Norman said he believes that LIV has been welcomed with “open arms.”

“Our product is received with open arms by many, but a few want to try and stop us for all the wrong reasons. They haven’t been able to sustain their position in the game of golf. What we have done brilliantly is injected more capital. Golf is finally looked upon as an asset class.”

Interestingly, Norman also revealed future plans for LIV to own all the courses they play and have home courses for each team.

“Man United owns their stadium. Indian Premier League, they own their stadiums. NFL, they own their stadiums. Think about LIV owning all their own golf courses, each team having a home venue and they host. And now you can build out around that. It’s not just a golf course. You bring in education, you bring in hospitality, you bring in real estate, you bring in merchandise, you bring in management, you bring in all these other different opportunities that the game of golf has to deliver to a community, to a region. We are gonna be doing that.

“The Philippines are very keen to get us there. Golf in the Philippines is doing very well. We are not just sport, we’re sports and entertainment and culture. So no matter where we go in the world, we adjust what we need to deliver from an entertainment standpoint.”

Norman also talked about his time as the number one player in the world when the best players in the world didn’t always play on the same tour.

“That never happened anyway. Right? I was number one player in the world. Very seldom did I go and play in the United States or Europe or Asia or anything. Did I play against the best in the world outside the four majors and maybe the TPC? They’re the five, right? So very, very seldom did that happen. We got all paid appearance money to go play somewhere.”

Norman added that LIV “isn’t going anywhere.”

“My boss told me LIV is not going to go anywhere. It will be well and truly in operation, running well past his death – he’s a young guy.”

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“Is it a Titleist?” – Jerry Seinfeld shares never-before-heard details of iconic scene

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On Thursday, legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld joined the Rich Eisen Show and shared an awesome story from a “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Marine Biologist.”

In the episode, a golf ball goes into the blow hole of a whale. According to Seinfeld, that was never in the episode’s script.

Seinfeld recalls saying the night before the filming of the episode, “What if what puts the whale in distress is Kramer’s golf ball?”

“He’s hitting golf balls at the beach. George is at the beach with a girl, we haven’t connected them!”

“We write that speech the night before at two o’clock in the morning…The sea was angry that day my friend.”

 

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A post shared by Rich Eisen (@richeisen)


Kramer finishes the iconic scene by asking “Is it a Titleist?” Seinfeld told Eisen the show sought Titleist’s permission to mention its name, saying the ball had to be a Titleist. Fortunately for lovers of the iconic show, the company agreed.

If (somehow) you’re unfamiliar with the scene, check it out below.

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