Phil Mickelson DENIES $400,000 bet on 2012 Ryder Cup amid explosive claims from former partner Billy Walters: ‘I would never undermine the integrity of the game’
Phil Mickelson has claimed he failed to place bets on the 2012 Ryder Cup in the wake of a book published by renowned sports bettor Billy Walters.
In that book, Walters claims that he and Mickelson discussed betting on the tournament in Medinah – something Mickelson denied. in a statement to Sports Illustrated.
“I never bet on the Ryder Cup,” said Mickelson. “While I am known to always enjoy a friendly bet on the court, I would never undermine the integrity of the game. I have also been very open about my gambling addiction.
“I’ve apologized before, taken responsibility, gotten help, fully committed to therapy that has had a positive impact on me, and I feel good about where I am now.”
Mickelson is currently competing in the LIV Golf event in Bedminster, New Jersey and he declined to speak to reporters.
Phil Mickelson has denied in a statement to SI that he placed a bet on the 2012 Ryder Cup
Mickelson’s former gambling partner Billy Walters (pictured) has opened up about their relationship in his autobiography – he claimed the golfer bet $400,000 on the Ryder Cup
The six-time Grand Champion, pictured with wife Amy, is believed to have placed 858 $220,000 bets and 1,115 $110,000 bets between 2010 and 2014.
Walters, one of the most successful American sports bettors in history, opened up about his relationship with the golfing legend in his autobiography “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk,” via Golf overview.
Citing betting and two “highly reliable” sources, the Las Vegas businessman claims that Mickelson made 858 $220,000 bets and 1,115 $110,000 bets between 2010 and 2014, while estimating his total losses over the past 30 years exceed $1 billion.
“The only other person I know who topped that kind of book is me,” he said.
Walters also claims that Mickelson, who has won six major championships during a glittering golf career, even attempted to place a $400,000 bet on his own US team to win the 2012 Ryder Cup.
“Phil called me from the Medinah Country Club just outside Chicago, the site of the 39th Ryder Cup games between the United States and Europe,” he recalls.
He was confident that the American team led by Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson and Phil himself was on the verge of winning back the trophy from the European Championship. He was so confident that he asked me to place a $400,000 bet so he could win on the US team.
“I couldn’t believe what I heard.”
Walters, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 for insider trading, says he then angrily asked Mickelson, “Have you lost your mind?” before the California golfer backtracked on his request. He remains unsure whether he placed the bet elsewhere.
Walters claims Mickelson, one of the most successful golfers of modern times, has earned nearly $100 million in gambling losses in 30 years
He even claims that the American wanted to bet $ 400,000 on his own American team to win the Ryder Cup in 2012.
That year, Team USA suffered one of the biggest collapses in Ryder Cup history as Europe staged a miraculous comeback in Medinah.
After first crossing paths in 2006 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Northern California, Walters and Mickelson met again two years later at another Pro-Am in Charlotte, where the latter planted the seeds of a potential gaming partnership.
The pair then entered into that partnership, split all profits 50/50 and deposited an equal share of the money to ensure an equal amount of risk and reward over the course of five years.
But Walters added, “Phil said he had two offshore accounts that would require major action from him. In all the decades I’ve worked with partners and beards, Phil had accounts as big as anyone I’d seen.
“You don’t get accounts like that without putting in millions of dollars.”
Walters further revealed that Mickelson made 3,154 bets in 2011 alone, amounting to nine a day.
On one particular day that year, he made 43 bets on major league baseball games, resulting in a loss of $143,500.
The 53-year-old also made a whopping 7,065 bets on football, basketball and baseball.
Walters says he knocked out Mickelson immediately, but he’s not sure if he placed the bet elsewhere
Mickelson’s struggles with sports betting have been well documented over the years, with court documents from a 2015 money laundering case showing that nearly $3 million was transferred from him to an intermediary of “an illegal gambling operation.”
And six years later, the Detroit News revealed that court documents also linked him to an alleged Mafia bookmaker in a 2007 trial.
While he was not charged in either case, Mickelson’s gambling habits have remained in the public domain throughout his golf career, during which he amassed $97 million in PGA Tour earnings on the course.
He also penned a lucrative multi-year contract with Saudi-funded rebel tour LIV Golf, believed to be worth $200 million.