Phil Mickelson returned to aggressive golf on Friday at LIV Bedminster, a day after new allegations surfaced involving his gambling historical past.
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BEDMINSTER, N.J. — It would have been the elephant in the room, have been the elephant not Phil Mickelson and the room not the LIV event at Trump Bedminster.
But as Secret Service vans surveyed the property on a sweaty Friday afternoon, Mickelson’s newest spherical of controversy appeared to not be a supply of angst and even awkwardness for many of the few thousand in attendance. No, the allegations that Mickelson had gambled greater than $1 billion and misplaced greater than $100 million in the throes of a corrosive dependancy was as an alternative fodder for light-hearted quips — not solely by these in the gallery but in addition by Mickelson himself.
On his stroll to the ninth tee field on Friday, the six-time main champion chuckled. This was shortly after a fan had proposed a $1,000 wager on the end result of the following gap.
“I would, but I’m not a gambling man,” Mickelson mentioned via a smile.
Fans laughed, and for a second so did Mickelson.
But the laughter belied a extra sobering actuality, as a result of Mickelson, of course, is — or was — a gambling man.
And a prolific one at that, in keeping with an excerpt from previous pal and legendary bettor Billy Walters’ forthcoming ebook, Gambler, which was published by Golf Digest Thursday. Mickelson has already acknowledged his gambling dependancy, however Walters’ account offers extra shade as to the scope of Mickelson’s behavior. Walters alleges that Mickelson wagered upward of 9 $110,000 bets a day, and on one event positioned 43 bets on Major League Baseball video games in the similar day. More troubling nonetheless, Walters claims to have fielded a request from Mickelson to position a $400,000 guess on the 2012 Ryder Cup, at which Mickelson competed on the U.S. crew.
Walters says he refused to take the motion, and Mickelson says he by no means positioned the guess — however the mere allegation that Mickelson supposed to wager on an event in which he was taking part in calls to thoughts one other sports activities legend with a style for making issues fascinating: Pete Rose.
Rose was essentially the most prolific hitter in baseball historical past when he was unceremoniously banned from the game on proof that he guess on video games whereas taking part in for and managing the Cincinnati Reds. In a press release saying Rose’s lifetime ban, then-MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti spoke unequivocally concerning the seriousness of these allegations and what they meant for the game writ massive.
“I believe baseball is an important, enduring American institution,” Giamatti wrote. “It must assert and aspire to the highest principles — of integrity, of professionalism of performance, of fair play within its rules.”
The establishment of golf aspires to those self same beliefs. Ask Mickelson, who, in his Thursday statement in which he mentioned he didn’t guess on the Ryder Cup, added, “While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course, I would never undermine the integrity of the game.”
But that is the place issues get difficult, as a result of Mickelson’s relationship with gambling is extra nuanced than Rose’s. Betting is in the material of golf — at least at the leisure stage — and in addition has been a revered half of Mickelson’s public persona. Over the years, tales of his wagers have develop into golf lore, if not been flat-out lauded. Just days in the past, Mickelson’s pre-match bookmaking was the topic of a viral video with fellow LIV professional Bryson DeChambeau.
Also softening the alarm round Mickelson’s hefty wagers is that sports activities gambling has been exploding in the United States, the profit of latest laws in a number of states. Behavior that was as soon as reserved for buddies’ journeys to Vegas and off-shore web sites has now been downloaded instantly into the pockets of sports activities followers, together with these of the PGA Tour. The enterprise of betting is much extra accepted conduct than it was in Rose’s heyday.
In his assertion, Mickelson famous that he has acquired remedy for a gambling dependancy, and that the remedy has “positively impacted” his life. But to at least some followers, Phil will at all times be Phil, and to take away Phil from gambling could be to take away Phil from Phil.
At Bedminster on Friday, the gang and Mickelson chuckled their means via the afternoon, their playful barbs a reminder that even a day after the most recent Mickelson controversy, some shades of Phil will at all times be inexperienced.
“PHIL! A thousand says you make this putt!” screamed an over-served college-aged fan in a pastel pink hat.
“PHIL! I bet everything on the HyFlyers!” provided one other onlooker with a HyFlyers brand tattooed on his thigh underneath a bible verse.
A 3rd fan, pointing to his two younger daughters clad in jet-black HyFlyers capes, hollered, “PHIL! Win us some money!”
The love Mickelson feels from the LIV contingent isn’t common, of course. On the PGA Tour, he stays golfer non grata for his disloyalty, and after Thursday’s information some of his previous Tour buddies weighed in.
“I mean, I would say some people were surprised by the amount of…” Jordan Spieth mentioned, his voice trailing off earlier than he accomplished the thought.
Rory McIlroy was extra slicing: “At least he can bet on the Ryder Cup this year, because he won’t be part of it.”
These are the implications of life as Phil, who on Friday, as he did a day earlier, declined to talk to media. The similar will doubtless be the case via the weekend, and, who is aware of, maybe for the following month-plus. The subsequent LIV event isn’t till Sept. 22-24, in Chicago.
At Bedminster on Friday, the crowds spoke for Mickelson, and a number of other followers weren’t shy about voicing how they perceived the allegations lobbed towards him.
The loudest of these messages got here on the seventeenth inexperienced, the place Mickelson confronted a testy par strive in the early night. It had been a shaky few holes — quintessentially topsy-turvy — however after a stubbed strategy from the left tough, Mickelson stared down a 10-footer, needing it to maintain a bogey-free back-nine going.
When Mickelson poured in the putt, the gang erupted. As Mickelson walked away from the outlet, a fan seated in the grandstand stepped ahead.
“THE GAMBLER!!!” he bellowed.
Mickelson didn’t face the person.
He simply smiled.
