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An explosive tell-all book is set to lift the lid on the extraordinary (and alleged) bets placed by Phil Mickelson throughout his golf career – including some wagered on events he was playing in.
The six-time major champion has made around $92 million in prize money from his career, as well as raking in the cash from an array of sponsorship deals with the likes of Rolex and KPMG.
So ‘Lefty’ has had plenty of cash on his hip for decades – and he’s not been shy in trying to grow his bankroll further via a hefty series of bets.
That’s according to Billy Walters, anyway. He’s the professional gambler that’s releasing a book, Gambler: Secrets from a Life of Risk, later in August, which contains a number of paragraphs dedicated to the (alleged) sports betting exploits of Mickelson.
Miracle at Medinah
Walters claims that Mickelson tried to place a wager on the 2012 Ryder Cup – the biennial event between the United States and Europe that he was playing in.
Lefty wanted to bet $400,000 on Team America winning, according to Walters, who fielded a phone call from his friend to place the wager with a sportsbook. Apparently, Walters refused – citing the famous example of Pete Rose, the MLB coach who was banned for life for betting on his own team.
So serious are the allegations that Mickelson himself has already taken to social media to refute the claim he placed such a bet or even tried to. “I never bet on the Ryder Cup. While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course, I would never undermine the integrity of the game,” he wrote.
I never bet on the Ryder Cup. While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course, I would never undermine the integrity of the game.
I have also been very open about my gambling addiction. I have previously conveyed my remorse, took responsibility, have…
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 10, 2023
It’s perhaps a good job he didn’t. Although the United States romped into an early lead, Europe came roaring back on the Sunday, winning many of the crucial singles ties to walk away with a one-point victory – the ‘Miracle of Medinah’ was born.
The Billionaire’s Club
Walters and Mickelson enjoyed a ‘betting partnership’ and friendship that went back many years, although their kinship turned rather sour when the former was sent to prison for insider trading – a charge he would have gotten away with, Walters claims, had Mickelson provided supporting evidence in court.
So perhaps the accusations in this new book should be treated with a pinch of salt – although Walters has stood by the accuracy of what he has written.
Apparently, Mickelson wagered more than $1 billion over a 30-year period, with limits as high as $400,000 on NFL games with some offshore bookmakers. His losses exceeded $100 million.
Walters, one of the most successful gamblers on the planet, had his accounts limited so severely by the bookies that he had to partner up with others just to get some skin in the game – linking up with perennial losers like Mickelson helped him to avoid detection.
“In all the decades I’ve worked with partners and beards, Phil had accounts as large as anyone I’d seen,” Walters writes. “You don’t get those types of accounts without betting millions of dollars.”
Meeting His Match
In 2018, Mickelson and his old nemesis Tiger Woods met in a contest known as The Match, an 18-hole shootout from which the winner would walk away with £7 million. Not bad for an afternoon’s work….
As well as the huge purse on offer, the pair also engaged in a series of side bets – Mickelson wagering $200,000 (around £160,000) as early as the first hole that he would make birdie. He didn’t – and Tiger was unable to stifle his laughter after Phil had goaded him into doubling his initial $100k stake.
The passage of time has not dimmed Mickelson’s love of a punt either – according to his LIV Golf running buddy Bryson DeChambeau.
They played in a nine-hole exhibition event alongside Anirban Lahiri and Cameron Tringale earlier in August, with a whopping $1 million (nearly £800,000) on the line in a head-to-head matchplay scrap between Mickelson and Bryson.
And even though DeChambeau would scorch records by firing a final round of 58 to win the LIV Greenbrier event that followed, he was on the wrong end of defeat to Mickelson in their knockabout and was forced to hand over the cash.
“It was on my YouTube channel, we got a match between myself and Phil. He took some money off me that day, so that gave me some passion to kick his ass in the week,” Bryson confirmed.
