It was the Thanksgiving weekend of 2009 and although most of the world of golf was in the midst of its winter hibernation, Tiger Woods was making news on the front page news, sports section, and tabloids. The world’s number one golfer as well as the world’s best known athlete was embroiled in a sex scandal that made headline news. Tiger had accumulated 14 major titles, was worth close to one billion dollars, and yet was fighting for his reputation.
At the same time Phil Mickelson was the anti-Tiger. He was a fan favorite who was oftentimes compared to Arnold Palmer when it came to fan-friendliness. He had a peddle-to-the-metal style of play that fans of the game loved. Phil was “everyman” while Tiger was the distant figure with the unfriendly caddie. Phil was even beloved by the New York area golf fans.
It’s now 14 years later and my how things have changed. Tiger is considered the elder statesman of the game and is the role model for a whole generation of 20-something pros. He has survived a debilitating car crash, has a colorful relationship with his adolescent son, and is the voice of the PGA Tour. Time does heal and Tiger is once again highly regarded.
Meanwhile Phil Mickelson has been highly critical of the PGA Tour’s structure and management, has bolted from that tour to tee it up for guaranteed millions offered by the Saudi Arabian government, and now he is mired in a scandal of his own doing that includes everything from gambling heavily on sporting events to his involvement in SEC insider trading to the possibility that he just may have wanted to place a bet to the tune of $400,000 on the 2012 Ryder Cup. Phil was on Team USA in 2012 and this smacks a whole lot like Pete Rose. Is it possible that perhaps the most beloved golfer of the last decade has morphed into the pariah of the links? Is it possible that the elder statesmen of golf have now switched roles? Tiger continues to support the tour that made him while Phil has turned his back on his past.
Earlier this week Simon and Schuster released “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk” by noted professional gambler, Billy Walters. Walters is one of those high stakes gamblers who excels at sports betting, whether it’s knowing how to bet the over and under for first half punts in the Bengals-Steelers game to who will win the Super Bowl next February . He has won hundreds of millions, has lost hundreds of millions, and is nonetheless worth hundreds of millions.
Walters has his fair share of golf connections and he has used them to compete as an amateur in the world of PGA Tour pro-ams. Walters first met Mickelson during the fourth round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February of 2006. Billy was the amateur partner of Frederick Jacobsen and Phil was in their foursome that day. They talked sports during that round. By the end of their day at Pebble, Walters had developed into a big time Phil fan. He was intrigued by the nature of his game. Walters wrote that “Phil was willing to put it all on the line and risk losing a golf tournament to hit one miraculous shot. A man after my own heart.”
It was a little more than two years later when Phil and Billy connected again at the pro-am prior to the PGA Tour event in Charlotte. Mickelson knew that Walters was a big time gambler and suggested that they form a gambling partnership. Walters had the gambling knowledge with a reputation for unbridled success. Phil had the access to make big money bets that Walters couldn’t. Bookies and casinos were wary of Waters ability to consistently win and they put limits on his betting numbers. For instance, Billy was limited to bets of $20,000 on college football games and $50,000 on the NFL. Phil was regarded as an emotional gambler who wasn’t all that successful. His gambling limit was $400,000 on college and pros. The plan was for Phil and Billy to work together, have Phil make the bets based on Billy’s advice, and split the profits. The bookies wouldn’t know that Walters was involved. It ended up being a five year partnership of great success. Walters writes that “the first six months of our agreement ran like Secretariat.” Yet as time went on the bookies began to suspect that Phil was getting quality advice and closed out his big money accounts.
Walters and Mickelson played a lot of casual golf in Southern California. According to Walters, they didn’t gamble all that much on the golf course, normally to the tune of $10,000 bets. During one of their “friendly” rounds, Phil told Billy that he was worth $250 million and that his annual endorsements were valued at $50 million. Walters assessment of Phil was “He’s a big time gambler and big time gamblers make big bets.”
The most shocking admission from Walters’ book occurred in September of 2012. Phil was at Medinah for the Ryder Cup Matches and he called Billy, stating that he wanted to make a $400,000 bet on Team USA to win the Cup. Walters was shocked by Mickelson’s request and he reacted by saying “Have you lost your (expletive) mind? Don’t you remember what happened to Pete Rose?” Billy says that he never placed the bet for Phil. Phil denies it all.
The gambling relationship between Walters and Mickelson ended in the spring of 2014. By then they were involved in an SEC investigation regarding insider trading. Walters would end up serving five years in federal prison and paying a $10 million fine for the offense while Mickelson would avoid prosecution. Nonetheless Mickelson had to pay back the $1.1 million he had made in the scheme. During their time together, Walters contended that Mickelson made 1,115 bets of $100,000 and 858 bets of $200,000. He estimated that Phil made close to $1 billion in bets and lost $100 million. In 2011 Mickelson made 3,154 bets. On June 22nd of that year Phil made 43 bets on major league baseball games and lost $143,500 that day.
While all of this is difficult to stomach, it is important to note that Billy Walters is a felon who is attempting another big payday with the release of his book. On the other hand, he isn’t the first person in Mickelson’s orbit to tell tales about his gambling appetite. Some golfers went to the Saudi backed LIV Tour because their careers were coming to an end (Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter) while others feared injuries could hamper their futures (Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau). The guaranteed money was too good to pass up when there were zero guarantees they could make that kind of money in America or Europe. It didn’t make all that much sense for Phil to join LIV, especially in light of his victory in the 2021 PGA Championship. Now we know that he joined LIV because he really did need the money. For those of us who used to be Phil fans, Walters concludes it all by stating, “Phil is not the person he seems to be.”
