Phil Mickelson sparked a major outrage last year after his biographer Alan Shipnuck revealed the golfer’s “scary mother****ers” comment about the Saudis. The big comment came ahead of the former PGA Tour star’s big-money move to LIV Golf and it had several implications in the golf world. Now, Shipnuck has opened up on the difference Mickelson’s comment had on LIV.

According to Shipnuck, Mickelson’s controversial remarks slowed down LIV’s growth in some way. He was speaking in an interview with Golfweek, when the LIV star’s biographer addressed the issue.

Shipnuck opined that the Saudi-backed series would’ve had big-name players like Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in the event’s inaugural field if it wasn’t for the harsh comments.
However, he further noted that that the current pro golf dynamic and framework had only minimal difference due to Mickelson’s statement. He went on to state that LIV eventually got all the players they wished to have onboard despite the heat.

Commenting on the effects of Phil Mickelson’s ‘scary mother****ers’ quote, Alan Shipnuck was quoted as saying by the above-mentioned publication:

Phil Mickelson denies making the ‘scary mother****ers’ comment on the Saudis

It is pertinent to note that Phil Mickelson never admitted to making the big ‘scary mother****ers’ comment on the Saudis. The former PGA Tour star was quick to deny making the statement after he announced his move to LIV Golf.

The golfer denied doing an interview with Shipnuck and dismissed all of the latter’s claims. The 2021 PGA Championship winner said that he had “utmost respect” for the Saudi Arabian administration and others involved with the series.

The game of golf encompasses various types of shots played from different locations with distinct clubs, and somehow, Phil Mickelson seems to be the master of them all. The golf wizard has executed a wide array of shots to absolute perfection throughout his career.

The left-handed golfer is currently competing in the LIV Golf Series event in Chicago, and it’s needless to say that he is captivating audiences with his phenomenal skills showcased on the golf course. His mastery over the flops has ironically been a hit.

The Flop hit by Phil Mickelson

The PGA Tour defector sported a stylish ensemble, featuring black shoes, black shorts, a white T-shirt, and a white cap. And, of course, Phil Mickelson’s iconic black sunglasses completed his look on this sunny day in Chicago.

The left-handed golfer faced a challenging situation when his ball landed in a patch of rough near the green. Fortunately, the ball had a good lie, not buried in the grass but resting on top, providing an ideal setup for a flop shot.

A recent report from Alan Shipnuck’s “LIV and Let Die” has yet again stirred some new controversies in the golf realm. The author and his book have been making buzz in the golf world because of the behind-the-scenes content that the sports reporter has been putting forward through his work.

Last week, the book gave readers a new perspective on the ugly rumors around Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and the 2022 Open Championship dinner controversy. Now, the author has reported on yet another questionable event in the golf world related to Mickelson’s money over a legacy feud that has the community in surprise, questioning the truth and the remains of the narrative.

Alan Shipnuck’s take on Phil Mickelson’s PGL advocacy

As per Alan Shipnuck, reportedly, Phil Mickelson played a significant role in advocating for the Premier Golf League (PGL) in competition against the PGA Tour.

Last year in February, PGL wrote letters to PGA Tour players and made substantial offers to top golfers, including $200 million to Tiger Woods and $50 million each to Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, and Rickie Fowler.

PGL writing letters to PGA Tour was common news. Everyone knew about the incident, but now Shipnuck book has unveiled a new side to the story where it is reported that Mickelson had a problem with the amount Woods was offered but later supported the PGL and thought the League would get all players on board once they signed Woods.

It was also revealed that after PGL lost support, Mickelson was in talks with LIV Golf and was negotiating with the Saudis while on the side also pitching his own breakaway tour, which proposed an eight-event team series underwritten by investors. This plan, similar to the PGL’s, was ultimately blocked by PGA Tour officials Jay Monahan and Ed Herlihy, per the Twitter handle.

As these revelations from Shipnuck’s book came forth highlighting Phil Mickelson’s probable plan and the supposed league that was in making, it is salient to note that these big proposals weren’t the only thing unveiled. In fact, the author’s BTS about the 2022 Open Championship Woods and Mickelson feud has left the golf town confused.

Backstory to the changed dynamics between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, post LIV Golf

An excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s “LIV and Let Die” has revealed that in the enduring golfing rivalry between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, a significant shift occurred with the coming of LIV Golf, leading to strained relations between the two legends.

The LIV Golf initiative was met with skepticism by Woods, who declined a $800 million offer to join the venture, reportedly. This skepticism transformed into active opposition during the 2022 British Open champion’s dinner. Taking place shortly after LIV Golf’s inaugural event in June, tensions were already high between traditional golf tours and the new venture.

Woods, feeling strongly against Mickelson’s involvement with LIV Golf, took matters into his own hands and reportedly reached out to fellow past champions, seeking their support, and then approached the organizers, the R&A, to express his concerns. With the backing of other champions, Woods ensured Mickelson’s exclusion from the dinner

After getting this back info on the incident, the once-friendly rivalry between Woods and Mickelson has now transformed into a battle of ideologies, with established players like Woods resisting the changes brought about by LIV Golf, leading to divisive moments within the golf community.

Phil Mickelson has burned a few bridges. Some he might have a little regret about, and some he is extremely proud of. The biggest bridge that he burned, and indeed one he can boast about, is the one with his older self. The Mickelson of the early 2000s and the 51-year-old golfer who is playing at LIV Jeddah have one huge difference. The latter is fit, healthier, and stronger. But it was not always so.

Mickelson was at the receiving end of persistent ‘fat-shaming’ since his poor eating habits started reflecting on his body. The media was ruthless when he welcomed his daughter Amanda in 1999. A journalist quipped, “Was it Phil or Amy who was pregnant?” Two decades later, the table has turned. Lefty is perhaps the fittest 40+ golfer, making everyone wonder what’s the secret to his weight loss journey.

Phil Mickelson followed this diet to get back in shape

The secret to Phil Mickelson’s weight loss is intermittent fasting. It’s a dieting regimen, except that there is little to no ‘diet’ at all. Instead of fasting for a day, during intermittent fasting, you fast for a stretch of five to six days, feeding only a liquid diet to your body.

According to an article in Forbes, your body starts digging into the stored energy reserve to supplement the deficiency. In short, it’s a process of burning fat by fasting. It has found some backing in the athletics world. Most notably, MMA legend George St. Pierre has revealed that he intermittently fasts three to five times a year, drinking only water.

Gary Player, a nine-time major champion, recently got into a conversation with Sportskeeda. In it, he talked about Phil Mickelson’s decision to leave the PGA Tour and its aftermath, especially in regard to the Ryder Cup Team USA selection.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Player was questioned about Mickelson’s chances of competing in the biennial tournament if he hadn’t quit the PGA Tour.

To this, Gary Player replied that Mickelson is fine with his decision to leave the tour. He even has hopes of the golf world getting united.

Phil Mickelson left the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf in 2022. This, in turn, caused him to discontinue participating in PGA Tour events. He hasn’t even earned any OWGR points since then.

The 53-year-old did not receive a captain’s pick and was not included in the automatic qualification selection for the Ryder Cup.

If there is one thing other than the competition that the sports world proudly embraces is family! Athletes are mostly out of their homes to compete in various tournaments and spend a lot of time away from their families. In a way, their fellow players become their unsaid family. A golfer or any other sportsman requires the strength and support of his or her family when they are competing in tough tournaments. Usually, fans get to see partners, kids, parents, and siblings of golfers outside of the ropes, supporting them, but there are times when a golfer’s family is not able to make it to the tournament’s venue for any reason!

But if there is one golfer whose family has barely made any appearance in the past two years on the course is veteran, Phil Mickelson. This raises a lot of questions as to what the reason might be that fans have not seen Amy Mickelson on the course. Does she not like her husband’s decision? Does she have anything against LIV Golf?

Why is Phil Mickelson’s wife always a no-show at LIV Golf’s events?

In 2022, Phil Mickelson announced that he was leaving behind his PGA Tour legacy to move to LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded backway league. Although the move was criticized a lot amongst the golf fraternity, the contract worth $200 million might have just cooled down some of the burns that he would have experienced.

If reports are to be believed, Mickelson received half of his contract money upfront. Mickelson was one of the biggest fishes that the former rival tour had captured, and his exit from the PGA Tour was a big shock. Before the switch, in 2021, Phil Mickelson was the proud vice-captain of the USA Ryder Cup, and he looked delighted to be there with all of his compatriots, and his beloved wife, Amy.

Phil Mickelson has always been obsessed with money, owing to a life of conspicuous consumption (his own Gulf-stream IV, etc.), a visceral hatred of paying taxes, and a self-described gambling addiction. In 2013, he made a flippant comment to reporters bitching about California’s state income tax, touching off one of the many uproars in his messy public life. Mickelson’s next stop on the PGA Tour after that comment went public was at a pretournament press conference at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California. Before going into the media center, he huddled in the parking lot for nearly an hour with his publicist and a couple of Tour officials, plotting the best way to talk himself out of yet another jam of his own making.

One of the other assembled men said, “The problem, Phil, is that fans don’t want to hear complaining from a guy making forty million dollars a year—”

Mickelson cut him off: “It’s fifty million.”

Mickelson had good reason to keep track of every dollar. In 2016, he became ensnared in the insider trading case of the renowned gambler Billy Walters. Named as a relief defendant, he repaid to the government $932,738.12 for his “alleged ill-gotten gains” plus $105,291.69 in interest but was never charged with wrongdoing. As part of their investigation, government investigators conducted a forensic audit of his finances from 2010 to 2014. According to a source with direct access to the documents, Mickelson had claimed $40 million in gambling losses during that period. That may or may not explain why he chased the PGL money and then the Saudi dough so hard.

But Mickelson had other motivations for wanting to watch the PGA Tour burn while siding with the guys holding the matches. He had long butted heads with Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and his successor, Jay Monahan. He hated how bloated the Tour had become. Brandel Chamblee recalls a long-ago B.C. Open at which he and Mickelson had been paired. “Knowing that I was on the Player Advisory Council,” says Chamblee, “he spent the whole time in my ear saying the PGA Tour should be reduced to only thirty players—nothing but the stars. He was totally oblivious to the fact that it would eliminate my job.” Mickelson hated the opposite-field events conducted for the Tour middle class in the same weeks as the World Golf Championships, rightfully pointing out that they diluted the Tour’s overall product. He hated putting on a show for the fans for two practice rounds and two tournament rounds, all the while signing a million autographs but not earning a dollar in the weeks he missed the cut. He really hated that the PGA Tour barred players from accepting appearance fees, whereas every other major circuit allowed the top players to scoop them up. He hated that in his best year he had earned “only” $6.9 million on the Tour while the stars in team sports were making five and six and seven times that. As he became a snarky social media presence, he came to hate the Tour’s stringent media rights policies, which prevented him from monetizing his own highlights. He hated that the NBA was making money for its players by selling NFTs while the Tour, per usual, lagged behind. Both in public and in private he raged against all of that, but Finchem and then Monahan simply patted him on the head and sent him on his way like a petulant child. Mickelson longed to be validated and even celebrated as an agent of change. He needed to be right and for the world to know it. The Saudis were the perfect bedfellows: desperate for star power and leadership to launch their breakaway league, they were happy to give Mickelson everything he had always wanted.

Phil Mickelson describes himself on his Instagram account as a “Husband, Lefty, LIV Golfer”. The 45-time PGA Tour winner has a 27-year strong relationship with his wife Amy Mickelson. The love he shares for his partner can be seen via the various mentions he has made throughout his career.

While now the golfer is boasting the clean-shaven look, in 2022 he had grown his beard and mustache just to please his wife. So, what changed? His decision to get rid of his beard can also be attributed to his wife.

Is Phil Mickelson beardless because of his wife?

In the 2022 US Open, it was the first time LIV Golf detectors appeared in a major since joining the rebel league. During a heated press conference, one reporter tried to lighten the situation and asked Phil about his growing beard.

Throughout his career before, Mickelson wasn’t even seen sporting a beard. Mickelson revealed the beard was there because his wife liked it. His comment highlighted the nature of the relationship they share.

But that was 2022. Of late Phil has not been seen wearing a beard. It appears Mrs Mickelson has changed her mind about the beard book. Commendably, the couple have been together for the last 27 years through thick and thin.

Phil Mickelson and Amy over the years

The duo got hitched in 1996 and have three children together. Whether it was when Mickelson took a much-needed break to be there for his wife while she battled cancer or when Amy stood by him as Lefty recovered from his betting addictions, they’ve seen all the hardships and went through them hand in hand.

Sharing his gratitude on Instagram while confessing the dark past, Phil said, “She has loved me and supported me through my darkest and most difficult times…Because of her love, support, and commitment, I’m back on track to being the person I want to be.”

Their relationship has indeed stood the test of time. Everyone deserves a relationship as pure and strong as that of Phil and Amy. The golfer is currently preparing for the LIV Golf Jeddah.

Team US lost the Ryder Cup in a saddening manner. The loss raised a few questions about the team’s leadership, missing key players from LIV Golf, and lack of teamwork. The public and experts alike wondered what was missing in the team that the Europeans had. Was it Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm?

Hunter Mahan, the three-time Ryder Cupper, shared his thoughts on what Team US lacked. He said there was a missing leader like Phil Mickelson at the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup.

Hunter Mahan calls Phil Mickelson an “Incredible leader”

Hunter Mahan and Phil Mickelson’s friendship goes back to the early days of his career. Mahan made his debut in 2003 and has won one Ryder Cup through his 3 appearances. He was on the 2008 Ryder Cup team with Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, and Rickie Fowler at Valhalla when Team US dominated team Europe and won by 16 1⁄2 and 11 1⁄2 score. Coincidentally, Team US lost by the same points at this year’s Ryder Cup.

The veteran made an appearance on the Golf Digest podcast Loop and shared an element that was missing and which caused the US Team’s upsetting loss. Mahan explained the importance of having a leader other than the captain. He said having a player who can say, “Are you bleeping ready to go?” is crucial for a team’s spirit and momentum.

While discussing about excluding players from LIV Golf affected American gameplay, He reminisced over one player whose addition had benefitted the team. And who came out as the leader at the 2010 Ryder Cup? It was none other than Phil Mickelson. Mahan claimed Mickelson to be an “Incredible and credible leader.”