Phil Mickelson asked me to put $400K Ryder Cup bet in for him: book
Phil Mickelson asked legendary sports gambler Billy Walters to bet $400,000 for him on the US team in a Ryder Cup in which he was playing, Walters claims in his new book.
Walters’ book, “The Gambler,” written with longtime investigative journalist Armen Keteyian, will be released on Aug. 22.
The bombshell allegation is detailed in a book excerpt
“Have you lost your f–king mind?” Walters recalls asking Mickelson. “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,” Walters said. “You’d risk all that for this? I want no part of it.’’
Walters noted that he was unsure if Mickelson went through with the bet using another source.
Mickelson declined comment on the accusations Thursday while leaving Trump National Bedminster after an LIV Golf pro-am.
This alleged request came in the 2012 Ryder Cup in Chicago, which the US lost after Europe overcame a 10-6 deficit on the final day.
According to Walters, this request came several years into a partnership, where Walters would supply Mickelson with sports betting plays, and Mickelson would place the bets.
As Walters described it, Mickelson’s reputation as a losing gambler enabled the golfer to have access to place large wagers with bookmakers who would severely limit the size of Walters’ bets because he was a known winner.
“My reason for partnering with him was simple. Given my reputation in the gambling world, my limits with Phil’s two bookmakers were roughly $20,000 a game on college and $50,000 on the pros,” Walters wrote.
“Even after our fifty-fifty split, Phil’s limits of $400,000 on college at offshore sportsbooks and another $400,000 on the NFL enabled me to at least double my limits. Phil also had a $100,000 limit on college over/under bets with each book, twenty times my maximum.”
Walters was convicted in 2017 of insider trading on the Dean Foods stock, and believes that if Mickelson testified a “simple truth” that he would not have faced time in prison.
Walters, who has denied wrongdoing in the case, was granted clemency by President Trump on his final day in office in 2021.
