Phil Mickelson claims he ‘hasn’t gambled in years and is almost a BILLIONAIRE’ as LIV Golf star brags in Twitter thread
- Phil Mickelson was reportedly paid a whopping $200 million to join LIV Golf
- And he’s been more fiscally responsible lately through his own Friday narration
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After wrestling with a gambling problem for years, Phil Mickelson claims he has the matter under control – and is reaping the benefits of his expensive LIV Golf contract.
Mickelson was reportedly paid $200 million last year to join the Saudi-backed breakaway golf league, but the three-time Masters winner hasn’t always been financially responsible.
According to Alan Shipnuck, who wrote a biography of the golfer, Mickelson lost more than $40 million gambling between 2010 and 2014.
“In those high-earning years, his income was estimated at just over $40 million a year,” Shipnuck wrote in an excerpt from the biography published at The Fire Pit Collective.
Now, however, Mickelson says things have changed.
Phil Mickelson claimed in a Twitter thread on Friday that he was about to become a billionaire
Responding to a Twitter user that asked him how his gambling addiction was going, said Mickelson, ‘I haven’t gambled in years. Almost a billionaire now. Thanks for asking.’
Another person shot back at the site, “I need to call bs here. This means that Phil does not play for money during practice rounds and loose rounds. That’s gambling.’
“Then there’s a *,” Mickelson acknowledged. “We cap it at 1k. I would say that creates competition. But you could certainly argue the opposite.’
The golfer’s claim came after responding to Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch, after the writer tweeted out a column titled “Phil Mickelson’s Twitter gibberish can’t distract from his reality as a shameless pawn for killers.”
Mickelson responded to that post saying that Lynch needed “professional help” for his “obsession” with the golfer, which spilled over into the aforementioned Twitter user asking if Mickelson would get “professional help” regarding his gambling.
The 52-year-old spoke Sports illustrated about his gambling problem last year.
Mickelson hits from the bunker to the 18th green during day two of the LIV Golf Invitational – DC at Trump National Golf Club on May 27
“My gambling became reckless and embarrassing,” he said. “I had to deal with it. And I’ve been doing it for several years now. And for hundreds of hours of therapy. I feel good where I am there. My family and I have been and have been financially secure for some time now.
“Gambling has been a part of my life since I can remember. But about ten years ago, I’d say, it got reckless. It’s humiliating. I don’t like people knowing,” he continued.
‘The fact is that I’ve been working on it for a while. Amy has been very supportive with me and the process. We’re at the place after many years where I’m comfortable with where that is. It is not a threat to me or my financial security. It was just some bad decisions.’
Contrary to Mickelson’s claims that he is close to being a billionaire, Mickelson’s net worth is estimated to be around $400 million according to Golf Monthly.