19th Hole

Pat Perez reveals his ‘hatred’ of Phil Mickelson after Lefty committed ‘unforgivable’ act

Published

1 year ago

Nov 10, 2022

Jason Daniels

Pat Perez has had one hell of a time on the LIV Golf series.

Related: Pat Perez’s wife goes on wild rant after husband joins LIV Golf

In March he told reporters he was doubtful that the tour would go ahead, yet a few weeks later signed to the Greg Norman-led tour, prompting his wife, Ashley, to take to social media and tell the haters exactly what she thought.

Related: Cam Smith accuses Phil Mickelson of ‘gamesmanship’ during LIV showdown

Take it back to an early episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast, and the 46-year-old told Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that Phil Mickelson’s infamous apology was, “such horseshit.”

“In the fact that he thought he was trying to make it better for the players. He was in it for one reason. If anybody thinks he wasn’t in it for his own pocket, and his pocket only, is (blanking) high. They are (blanking) crazy.”

“He was in it for himself. Why he went down two different avenues and basically buried himself on both, I can’t figure it out.”

Either way, Perez has done rather well for himself.

Despite not finishing closer than 15th in any of the limited-field events, Perez finished 8th in the end-of-series table racking up a total of $8 million, the vast majority of that being made up by being a member of the all-conquering 4Aces GC, led by series winner Dustin Johnson, and comprising Patrick Reed (2nd in the table) and Talor Gooch (3rd).

Next season, however, DJ has made a change, with Peter Uihlein replacing Gooch – Perez, however, seems to be staying.

After the season had finished, Perez joined Claude Harmon on the Son of a Butch podcast to discuss the series and, particularly, his long-term ‘hate’ of Mickelson.

The three-time PGA Tour winner admitted that Mickelson’s comments on the Saudi regime nearly ruined what has become something of a money-pit for the players, and how Lefty committed an unforgivable act against him:

“When it comes to Phil, I have a different hate for Phil than most people. People won’t know the story. I’m not going to go into the story again, but Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable.

He knows that he screwed up. He apologised for the accident, but I cannot forgive him for it because I’ve known Phil for a long, long time. I’ve known the guy forever.”

Perez continued:

“And the fact that when he made this action, not only was it – he had intentions of doing it. He was already – he knew it was going to happen before it happened and when he did it – I was hurt for one. I was like, ‘how can this guy do this?'”

I didn’t really go into it on Colt’s thing (Colt Knost), but I told Colt and said ‘you’ve cut out all the reasons of why I don’t like Phil’ – the other side of the coin is that everyone thought that Phil was greedy. No, he wasn’t greedy.”

If anybody knows what’s going on, Phil has been in the top 50 his whole career. He’s been involved in all these teams and all the things that are going on, on the Tour. He is very knowledgeable about what is going on, on the Tour and he voiced his displeasure at what is going on, on the Tour.”

Perez was one of 11 players named on an ‘anti-trust’ lawsuit served upon the PGA Tour, but has now pulled out, having not thought it through. Mickelson has since also followed many of his LIV colleagues in removing his name from the court case, set to begin in a year’s time.

Relaxing his clear animosity towards the six-time major champion, Perez did believe Lefty was correct in some way, although could have been the downfall of many of the current playing staff.

“He (Phil) is 100% correct in the fact that the way the Tour is the way they are. They are for themselves, they are not for the players. They are not for growing anybody else except their own pockets.” Perez said.

“They all call themselves a non-profit (organisation) yet all they have is profit, so how does that work? The thing about what I was saying is Phil, yeah, Phil almost ruined the thing completely because of his comments about the deal.”

“Then guys got scared and were like ‘well this isn’t going to work now, Phil’s obviously turned, he’s saying this and this’. It couldn’t have been worse timing for the LIV group in that deal.”

“But like I said in my [previous] interview, I’m behind the Tour because I didn’t get an offer. I’d never talked to the LIV group in my entire life and then Tiger was against it – I’ve always looked up to him, but he wasn’t for it. But I didn’t have a deal.”

Money talks, however:

“Like I said, you offer me a good deal and I’m going because at this point in my life, at 46, you offer me enough cash – and I don’t have to play as much anymore, I’m out of there.”

“Phil and I had a little talk, funnily enough, the week before that all happened. Before all those comments came out, right after I did the podcast with Colt was when I think Phil was starting to get word on things that I knew. It’s not that I was really against or for it, I didn’t know enough about it and I wasn’t even considering it because I didn’t have an offer and I didn’t talk to anybody.”

Perez admitted, “Other than you [Harman] and DJ (Dustin Johnson), that’s the only reason I knew that something may have come in my direction.

“But the whole thing about me wearing out Phil has way more to do with the interaction or problem we had as opposed to him trying to beat up the Tour and going after a lot of money. That’s what needs to be clarified.”

‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage

Published

14 hours ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

Over the past year or so, PGA Tour star Patrick Cantlay has taken a great deal of criticism for his pace of play.

Now, Cantlay is once again under fire for a questionable decision he made on Sunday at the RBC Heritage.

After the horn sounded to suspend play due to darkness, Cantlay, who’s ball was in the fairway on the 18th hole, had a decision to make. With over 200 yards into the green and extreme winds working against the shot, conventional wisdom would be to wait until Monday morning to hit the shot.

On the other hand, if he could finish the hole, he may just want to get the event over with so he could get out of Hilton Head.

Curiously, Cantlay chose neither of those options. After hitting 3-wood into the green, and still coming up short, the former FedEx Cup champion chose to mark his ball and chip and putt on Monday morning.

Ian Woosnam, who was watching from home, took to X to give his thoughts on Cantlay’s decision making.

Can’t believe my eyes watching Patrick Cantlay why on earth would you hit your second shot then mark your ball absolutely crazy, maybe says a lot ?

— Ian Woosnam (@IWoosnam) April 22, 2024

Cantlay would end up getting up and down for par when play resumed at 8:00 am Monday morning.

Following his round, Cantlay explained his decision to wait to hit his third shot the next morning:

“I really did want to finish last night, so I felt like if I could get the ball up there maybe in an easier spot, maybe I would have finished, but as I got the ball up near the green, I realized it would be easier to finish this morning. That’s what I decided to do.”

GolfWRX has reached out to Patrick Cantlay’s management team for a response to Woosnam’s comments.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

15 hours ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under

Published

15 hours ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.

For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.

The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.

The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.

*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*

Past Winners at LIV Adelaide

2023: Talor Gooch (-19)

Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami

Green in Regulation

Richard Bland
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey

Fairways Hit

Abraham Ancer
Graeme McDowell
Henrik Stenson

Driving Distance

Bryson DeChambeau
Joaquin Niemann
Dean Burmester

Putting

Cameron Smith
Louis Oosthuizen
Matt Jones

2024 LIV Adelaide Picks

Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)

When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.

At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.

The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.

Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)

Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.

In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.

For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.