19th Hole

Major champ shares wild Phil Mickelson gambling story from Presidents Cup

Published

2 years ago

May 16, 2022

A few weeks ago, an excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s new book titled: “PHIL: The Rip-Roaring (Unauthorized) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar” was released.

Related: The rumored real reason why Phil Mickelson withdrew from the PGA Championship

Many were shocked to learn that Mickelson reportedly lost $40 million from gambling throughout the prime years of his career, according to Shipnuck.

Related: Phil Mickelson’s latest Twitter activity suggests he’s not happy that he was ‘canceled’

Ahead of next week’s release of the book, the author has released an excerpt to The Times of London which discusses how gambling affected Lefty during the course of his career.

The article shockingly states that Mickelson “more concerned” with checking the box scores and “covering the spread” while he was playing in tournaments.

Steve Flesch, who was paired with Mickelson on a Sunday during the Hyundai Team Matches, told Shipnuck that every hole Mickelson “was checking like a beeper or something.”

“He could not have cared any less about what we were doing on the golf course. He was definitely more concerned about who was winning the football games and who was covering the spread.”

Tom Lehman also had a similar story for the book. He told Shipnuck that Mickelson was checking scores football during the Presidents Cup in 2000.

The United States won the Presidents Cup handedly that year, but Mickelson had little to do with it.

Lehman was paired with Phil and their opponents were Mike Weir and Steve Elkington.

The 63-year-old told Shipnuck: “Phil is hitting it everywhere — he’s barely finished a hole through the first eight holes. He keeps saying, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll show up eventually.’

“On the ninth hole he buries it in the front bunker and is out of the hole again. He walks way back into the trees and is sitting on a stump with his back to everybody and his head down.

“I think he’s giving himself a pep talk, so I go over there to try to make him feel better and he’s got his phone out and he’s checking the football scores.”

Mickelson’s downward spiral since he made comments about the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed” has been fast and furious. His withdrawal from this week’s PGA Championship is more evidence that all of the bad publicity is having a severe impact on the 51-year-old.

Report: Greg Norman spotted following a surprise grouping on Thursday at the Masters

Published

2 hours ago

Apr 12, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Greg Norman is at this week’s Masters tournament but found himself in a situation where he had to buy himself a ticket to enter the grounds.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Norman explained why he was at Augusta National:

“I’m here because we have 13 players that won 10 Masters between them. So I’m here just to support them, do the best I can to show them, ‘Hey, you know, the boss is here rooting for you.’ ”

So who was Norman following during the opening round of this year’s Masters? Well the answer may surprise you.

Per Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig, Norman was spotted following the LIV-less grouping of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.

Spotted in the gallery at Augusta: Greg Norman following Rory McIlroy ? (and Scottie and Xander)

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) April 11, 2024

We’ll find out a little later today whether Norman will make his third appearance in as many days at this year’s opening major.

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19th Hole

Collin Morikawa makes surprising late putter switch at Masters

Published

1 day ago

Apr 11, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Collin Morikawa has had plenty of success with a blade in his hands over the course of his young career, but after a lean spell on the greens lately, it appears that the 27-year-old is ready to try something new.

Related: Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia make significant equipment changes as 2024 Masters looms

The California-native began the year with his TaylorMade TP Soto before switching to a Logan Olson proto last month. Now at this week’s Masters, Morikawa has been spotted with a Spider Tour X, the same flatstick that Scottie Scheffler will be using at Augusta.

The move would represent a big change, but it has been a very frustrating year on the greens for Morikawa, who will hope the TaylorMade mallet can offer him a similar upturn in fortune to that of Scheffler. In 2024, Morikawa ranks 164th for Strokes Gained: Putting, and 157th for Total Putting.

We’ll keep an eye whether Morikawa puts the mallet into action on day one of the Masters.

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19th Hole

Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters

Published

2 days ago

Apr 10, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Fresh off of winning $2.76 million on UConn’s victory over Purdue on Monday night, Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy has just placed a massive bet for this year’s Masters.

Tweeting on Wednesday morning, Portnoy revealed that he has placed $300,000 on Scottie Scheffler to win this year’s Masters at odds of +450.

Should he win, that’d be a total payout of $1.65 million.

Keep the momentum. For people who wanted me to hedge for is why I didn't. So I could take another shot at glory. #DKPartner #scotty pic.twitter.com/X9a0X8HOTZ

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 10, 2024

Scheffler is one of the shortest priced favorites of recent times at the Masters, and is looking for what would be his third win in his last four events.