Book: Mickelson had $40 million gambling losses
Federal auditors investigating Phil Mickelson’s role in an insider trading scheme found his gambling losses totaled more than $40 million from 2010 to 2014, according to an excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s forthcoming biography.
Shipnuck posted the excerpt on his “Firepit Collective” site Thursday. His unauthorized biography on Mickelson is to be released May 17 during the PGA Championship.
Mickelson has been out of public view since the final round of the Saudi International on Feb. 6. A short time later, Shipnuck posted explosive comments from Mickelson on his involvement in Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed golf venture.
Mickelson dismissed Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, including the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, by saying it was worth getting involved with the Saudis if it meant gaining leverage to get what he wanted from the PGA Tour.
Mickelson was a relief defendant in 2016 in the insider trading case that sent noted gambler Billy Walters to prison.
In the most recent excerpt on the $40 million in gambling losses, Shipnuck wrote that government auditors investigated Mickelson’s finances over four years from 2010 to 2014. The author cited a source with direct access to the documents.
Mickelson’s annual income in 2012 — the time of the Dean Foods stock deal that netted Mickelson nearly $1 million in one week — was estimated at about $48 million.
Shipnuck also said money was largely behind his split with longtime caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay in 2017. He wrote that Mackay left Mickelson after the Memorial that year over a series of “simmering grievances,” including hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay.
Mickelson was seen as a chief recruiter for Norman and his Saudi-funded LIV Golf Investments. He told Shipnuck in a November interview — that excerpt was published in February — that he recruited three players who paid attorneys to write the operating agreement of the new league.
Mickelson’s agent said he has asked the PGA Tour for a conflicting event release to play in the first LIV Golf Invitational series to be held June 9-11 outside London.
The Telegraph in London cited sources as saying Mickelson has received $30million up front and must appear in each of the eight events that make up the LIV Golf Invitational series.
PGA Tour
Three years and 364 days since his last victory, Jason Day describes himself as “obsessed” with honing his new swing and improving his results, even if he never gets back to No. 1 in the world.
There wasn’t much room for improvement as Day shot a 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead at the Wells Fargo Championship. Joel Dahmen was a shot back at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, with rain, wind and unseasonably cool temperatures in the forecast through Sunday.
Day, 34, has been working with instructor Chris Como on a swing that will protect his chronically balky back, and he says it feels solid with every club except the driver. His renewed dedication and relative good health are encouraging signs from a player who won eight times in a 15-month span in 2015-16, including the PGA Championship and the Players Championship.
Matthew Wolff, Denny McCarthy and PGA Tour rookies Aaron Rai, Callum Tarren and Paul Barjon were two shots back.
DP World Tour
Thorbjorn Olesen shot a 6-under 66 to share
the lead after the opening round of the British Masters in his bid to end a four-year title drought and get his career back on track after a damaging court case.
Olesen’s last win was at the Italian Open in June 2018. He was suspended by the European tour the following year after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman and being intoxicated on a flight following a World Golf Championships event in Tennessee.
Olesen was acquitted by a court in December after saying he had no memory of his behavior because he had been drinking alcohol and taking sleeping tablets. The Danish player said the case had a “devastating impact” on his career, having plunged down the ranking from his position at No. 62 at the time of the incidents.
Now ranked No. 376, Olesen hasn’t finished higher than a tie for 12th in any of his seven events on the European tour this year but made a strong start in this week’s tournament at The Belfry. Olesen was tied for the lead with Ryan Fox of New Zealand.