Phil Mickelson has admitted to having a “reckless and embarrassing” gambling problem, but insists that his $200 million deal to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series has nothing to do with lost bets.
Alan Shipnuck, Mickelson’s biographer, reported last month that the PGA legend squandered away as much as $40 million between 2010 and 2014.
Mickelson was probed about his money in an interview with Sports Illustrated after joining the LIV tour this week, stressing that his family is not in financial distress while admitting to making a number of “bad mistakes” in the past.
‘My gambling had gotten to the point where it was reckless and disgraceful,’ Mickelson told Sports Illustrated. ‘I had to deal with it.’ And I’ve been working on it for a long time. Hundreds of hours of counseling, too. I like where I’m at right now. For a long time, my family and I have been financially stable.’
As Mickelson explained, quitting gambling was difficult, in part, because he had been doing it for so long.
‘Gambling has been part of my life ever since I can remember,’ he continued. ‘But about a decade ago is when I would say it became reckless. It’s embarrassing. I don’t like that people know. The fact is I’ve been dealing with it for some time.
‘[My wife] Amy has been very supportive of it and with me and the process. We’re at a place after many years where I feel comfortable with where that is. It isn’t a threat to me or my financial security. It was just a number of poor decisions.’
Mickelson was asked directly if the still gambles on golf, which he didn’t deny.
‘On the golf course, it’s creating competition,’ Mickelson said. ‘But it’s the anxiety, the other things that come across with gambling off the course and addiction off the course that I really needed to address.’
Mickelson reportedly used his phone to make ’50 bets’ on college basketball in a matter of ’20 minutes,’ according to John Hawkins, a longtime golf correspondent for publications including Golf World and Golf Digest.
Hawkins told Shipnuck, ‘It felt like he was bragging.’
Mickelson landed himself in the middle of golf’s biggest debate this week when he announced his decision to join the LIV Golf Series, defying PGA commissioner Jay Monahan’s refusal to allow tour members to compete on a rival circuit.
Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, and Lee Westwood, previous European Ryder Cup team members, are all set to compete in the LIV series’ debut event this weekend in London, the first of eight tournaments worth a total of $255 million in prize money. According to Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine, Mickelson received a roughly $200 million contract to join the Saudi tour in addition to the prize money.