Controversial Golf Writer Behind Phil Mickelson’s Woes Became a Thorn in Legend Vijay Singh’s Path Years Ago

The amount of ruckus writers can cause has been evidently proven in the golf world. Back in 2023, Alan Shipnuck claimed that Phil Mickelson had been telling people that Jon Rahm would be joining LIV Golf in 2024. Now you must be wondering where the chaos is in this. Because Jon Rahm did indeed join LIV Golf. But basically, this news came out before Rahm had confirmed any shifts to the breakaway league. This caused Lefty to get furious.

He not only blocked Shipnuck but also lashed out and wrote, “This isn’t true, and I don’t know anything. I don’t want to know anything, and I haven’t said anything. Alan is the worst liar and a pathetic human,” on his official X account. Shipnuck jumped back at him, calling him a bullsh*t artist. Shipnuck’s and Mickelson’s rivalry goes a long back. This was just one instance. Now, as it turns out, Phil Mickelson was not the only person he had offended. He had done pretty much the same thing with the PGA Tour legend Vijay Singh. Here’s what happened.

At the 2000 Masters, Vijay Singh defeated Ernie Els by a whopping 3 strokes and grabbed the Green Jacket. But when he was asked to give details about it at the press conference, he only gave very little away. In the No Laying Up Podcast, they said, “As he got up to leave, he mumbled, ‘Kiss my a**, everybody,’ and the press seemed to share the sentiment.”

Thus, with not much to go ahead with while writing about his Masters win, they mostly covered the cheating allegations that were pressed against him back in 1985. He was suspended from the Asia Golf Circuit after allegations of doctoring his scorecard. And well, Alan Shipnuck, of course, had to exaggerate things. As mentioned in the podcast, he wrote, “Once a cheater, always a cheater when referring to Singh.”

While Phil Mickelson had to defend himself by tweeting things about Alan Shipnuck, luckily enough, Vijay Singh did not have to do that. He was already defended by a fellow Tour player. The moment Ernie Els came across the quote, he was left furious.

Ernie Els was enraged by Alan Shipnuck’s verdict

He wrote a letter to the editor of the piece. It said, “Sports Illustrated ended up ruining my reaction to reading this. What was disgusting? Why would someone say that about it? Vijay has triumphed in the Masters. Why would SI’s article in the first major of the 21st century not confine itself to Vijay’s magnificent victory? Why did instead the writer dredge up an unsubstantiated allegation about an event that may or may not have occurred 15 years ago? Why paint an unflattering picture of Vijay?

Vijay Singh swings the golf club with the mechanical precision of Iron Byron, and at times, his public persona has seemed just as devoid of emotion. Over the past two decades, he’s been golf’s international man of mystery—racking up victories across five continents but attracting only a handful of supporters along the way. In the article as well, his personality was described as Iron Byron, and he was called unapproachable.

Defending him, Els added, “I’ve probably played more with VJ over the past 10 years than anybody else in all parts of the world, and I know and respect him as a good friend, a great family man, and an ultimate professional. Sure, he works long and hard at his game, but that is something to be admired. Anyone who knows VJ would tell you that there’s a lot more to the man”.

Ernie Els even stated that every person should be able to make a perception of their own, and it should be only based on fact. He also shared how much he loves Singh’s company. And well, after all, he did defeat one of the greatest players on the toughest course.

What are your thoughts on Vijay Singh? Let us know in the comments section below!