Mickelson’s love of gambling is fundamental to understanding his style of play as a golfer. It might also explain the Saudi seduction. Based on his comments to me, he clearly enjoyed the idea of sticking it to the PGA Tour, but the real motivation was plainly the funny money being offered by the Saudis. Why was Phil so eager to cash in, at the risk of alienating so many fans and endorsement partners? The massive scale of Mickelson’s gambling losses has never before been made public, but, as noted in the book, during the Billy Walters insider trading investigation, government auditors conducted a forensic examination of Phil’s finances.
According to a source with direct access to the documents, Mickelson had gambling losses totaling more than $40 million in the four-year period (2010–14) that was scrutinized. In those prime earning years, his income was estimated to be just north of $40 million a year. That’s an obscene amount of money, but once he paid his taxes (including the California tariffs he publicly railed against), he was left with, what, low-20s? Then he had to cover his plane and mansion(s), plus his agent, caddie, pilots, chef, personal trainer, swing coaches and sundry others. Throw in all the other expenses of a big life—like an actual T. Rex skull for a birthday present—and that leaves, what, $10 million? Per the government audit, that’s roughly how much Mickelson averaged in annual gambling losses. (And we don’t know what we don’t know.) In other words, it’s quite possible he was barely breaking even, or maybe even in the red. And Mickelson’s income dropped considerably during his winless years from 2014 to ’17.
I'm sure whatever rule book they've setup is heavily tilted towards whatever the founding players want.This doesn't even make sense. Is the Saudi Tour going to implement its own rulebook? Is the kingdom notoriously lenient towards rule-breakers? I don't think so.
Everyone knows Phil has a major gambling problem... but wow. I wonder if I can get a bet with him that the Saudi tour fails?Phil racked up $40 million in gambling losses from 2010-2014.
I don't get it. The penalty shouldn't have counted, but we're going to count it anyway. Just a "whoops...refs missed the call...sorry" kind of thing? Seems like in golf of any sport, they can adjust after the fact (they do this sometimes when a player SHOULD have been penalized). Yeah it affects the final leaderboard. Oh well.PGA with a statement that Garcia shouldn’t have been penalized but the penalty still stands.
View: https://twitter.com/pgatourcomms/status/1522379898270236672?s=21&t=Sbem1ovh1x5wMgSCDJ8dxQ
What’s your proposal? Should he try his best to recreate that lie Friday morning before the first group tees off 10 and have him finish the hole for potentially a score worse than par?But he signed his scorecard already!!!!
I misread the above and more just wanted to mock the scorecard signing DQ that comes up once every other year.What’s your proposal? Should he try his best to recreate that lie Friday morning before the first group tees off 10 and have him finish the hole for potentially a score worse than par?
What's to mock? There's not really another solution. The player is the only one that knows his intent and intent is really, really important to keeping score in golf. You could asses a penalty once it's discovered, but if it was a player close to the lead, his posted score would impact the way other players play their round. You'd probably play the 72nd hole differently if you thought you had a 2 stroke lead instead being tied or 1 stroke back.I misread the above and more just wanted to mock the scorecard signing DQ that comes up once every other year.
Yeah, that's not true at all. Here's just one scenario. A player hits his ball into the tall grass, takes a swing and no ball comes out. Did he take a stroke at the ball? He's the only one who knows the answer to that question. There are a lot of other scenarios as well. Opposite events and 2nd/3rd courses aren't scored nearly the same way as primary PGA TOUR events. All of the scoring data is entered by a herd of volunteers. Their ability to enter data accurately is variable. What you see on TV is really only an echo of the official data and is manipulated manually for every shot shown on screen and then discarded as soon as the graphic is gone. The vast, vast majority of shots are not on TV so even if it were fed back into the scoring systems it would cover very little of a tournament.Eh, Tour players keeping their own scorecards in 2022 is kind of absurd.
Everyone watching knows every score on the course but the players need to break out their little pencil after every hole and keep tabs.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/sport/greg-norman-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-golf-intl-spt/index.html“This whole thing about Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi and human rights, talk about it, but also talk about the good that the country is doing in changing its culture,”
Look, we’ve all made mistakes and you just want to learn by those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.”
“I haven’t had a personal conversation with MBS, I’ve never met the guy, but at the same time I do read that the Saudi government has made their statements and comments about it and they want to move forward,” Norman said Wednesday.
The only player who has really spoken about this is Westwood. When pushed on taking Saudi money, his response has essentially been (paraphrasing) "Formula 1 races here. They own Newcastle United. They have darts and snooker here too. Why are we the ones that catch heat?"The Q&A did indeed move on, to the topic of Saudi Arabia’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. “I’m not sure whether I even have any gay friends, to be honest with you,” he said.
Wont become a star. Will become wildly rich. I won't pretend that I would not be tempted if I was an LIV target.I think this will still go off. They'll get the pre-Champions tour guys as Rory calls it. I think they'll try and leverage the guaranteed money to entice KFT/NCAA players and hope the find a star or two. Whether it's possible for a player to become a star playing on this circuit is another story.
Nope. I am a little surprised the Tour didn't leak it given the fan and media support is firmly on the Tour's side.Is there a list of players who asked for their release for the June event?
Or second tier pros that struggle to make a living will def hop over if it's easier to make money.Wont become a star. Will become wildly rich. I won't pretend that I would not be tempted if I was an LIV target.
It's going to be hard to become a star beating Westwood, Poulter, Kaymer, Garrigus and fringe KFT players every couple of weeks. I'm sure there are some really good athletes playing Canadian football, but I'm not sure any of them are "stars".I think this will still go off. They'll get the pre-Champions tour guys as Rory calls it. I think they'll try and leverage the guaranteed money to entice KFT/NCAA players and hope the find a star or two. Whether it's possible for a player to become a star playing on this circuit is another story.
I would say Phil likely won a bet with Greg but that's not something Phil does too wellIt's like Mickelson paid Norman to be a distraction.
Just brutal. He was tied for first and now he might not be in the top 20. In 2 holes.The Varner implosion (4 putts from 15 feet, next tee shot in the water) over the last 5 minutes has been painful to watch.
Well, that would suckHe’s a rumored LIV guy
I’m with you. Seems like a real good dude, I always pull for him when he is in the mix. Could be way off on the LIV stuff but he did win the Saudi tourney this year.Well, that would suck
I wonder how much of his triple was caused by waiting forever for Stallings. I mean, I know he mucked up before that wait, but it couldn't have helpedI’m with you. Seems like a real good dude, I always pull for him when he is in the mix. Could be way off on the LIV stuff but he did win the Saudi tourney this year.
Scheffler has hit a million really impressive par puts on the back nine, including on 18.Burns may win in regulation
I once shot 38-57-95 in a tournament round. (Downwind going out, into the wind coming back.) But then, I'm not a PGA Tour pro...I wonder how much (if any) scar tissue that round is going to leave on Varner going forward.Varner shoots a standard 39-39-78 on Sunday and it's no big deal ... he fell off the board. But he shot 33-45, which seems really difficult to do
A lot of tissue. Varner has had a lot of these types of collapses over the past few years. Yesterday was definitely the worst one, of course. He was leading and then he was not in the Top 10 in 2 holes. He's a great player but his closing ability is poor at the present time.I once shot 38-57-95 in a tournament round. (Downwind going out, into the wind coming back.) But then, I'm not a PGA Tour pro...I wonder how much (if any) scar tissue that round is going to leave on Varner going forward.
So you're saying he's a lot like Marcus Smart ... taking too many shots when it counts?He was leading and then he was not in the Top 10 in 2 holes. He's a great player but his closing ability is poor at the present time.