Phil Mickelson allegedly wagered over $1 billion, wanted to bet on Ryder Cup
NEW YORK — Golf great Phil Mickelson gambled more than $1 billion over a three-decade span, during which he once wanted to wager on a Ryder Cup he competed in, an upcoming book alleges.
“Gambler: Secrets from a Life of Risk,” authored by pro gambler Billy Walters, claims Mickelson lost close to $100 million through his persistent betting, according to an excerpt published online Thursday by The FirePit Collective.
Walters says he began a betting partnership with Mickelson — a six-time PGA major winner — in 2008 and maintained it through 2014. Mickelson made more than 7,000 bets on football, baseball and basketball from 2010 to 2014, regularly wagering more than $100,000, according to the book.
In 2012, Mickelson asked Walters to place a $400,000 bet on his U.S. team winning the Ryder Cup, the book asserts.
“I could not believe what I was hearing,” Walters wrote. “‘Have you lost your f------ mind?’ I told him. ‘Don’t you remember what happened to Pete Rose?’ The former Cincinnati Reds manager was banned from baseball for betting on his own team. ‘You’re seen as a modern-day Arnold Palmer,’ I added. ‘You’d risk all that for this? I want no part of it.’ ”
Mickelson responded, “Alright, alright,” according to Walters, who wrote he doesn’t know whether the golfer took the bet elsewhere. Europe won that Ryder Cup in comeback fashion.
The 53-year-old Mickelson declined comment Thursday at the LIV Golf Bedminster tournament in New Jersey, according to Newsday. “I’m going to pass today,” Mickelson reportedly said.
The golfer’s bets totaled more than $1 billion over the last three decades, alleges the book, which comes out Aug. 22. Mickelson’s decision to join the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour prompted speculation he needed money due to gambling.
“My gambling got to a point of being reckless and embarrassing,” Mickelson told Sports Illustrated last year. “I had to address it. And I’ve been addressing it for a number of years. And for hundreds of hours of therapy. I feel good where I’m at there. My family and I are and have been financially secure for some time.”
Mickelson continued, “Gambling has been part of my life ever since I can remember. 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.”
Walters was found guilty of insider trading in 2017 and sentenced to five years in prison. He claims Mickelson could have prevented his prison sentence but “refused” to tell the truth.
“I never told him I had inside information about stocks and he knows it,” Walters wrote. “All Phil had to do was publicly say it. He refused,” Walters wrote. “The outcome cost me my freedom, tens of millions of dollars and a heartbreak I still struggle with daily. While I was in prison, my daughter committed suicide — I still believe I could have saved her if I’d been on the outside.”
