Phil Mickelson, who is currently the focus of a lot of controversy, has yet again successfully garnered the attention of the golf community with a $1 billion gamble revelation from the past. This has been disclosed by his friend Billy Walters in his upcoming book: “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk.” 

While his Ryder Cup chances are at stake with this latest disclosure, another wager report comes to the surface that takes fans back to a moment when Mickelson surprised Tiger Woods five years ago with an interesting wager.

Phil Mickelson once baited the fifteen-time major winner with a wager

It is already known that Phil Mickelson is a man for head-to-head 1 vs. 1 matches. Recently, we have seen an instance of that where Mickelson and DeChambeau had a face-off over nine holes amid the LIV Golf Greenbrier. Now, these short entertainment matches are an easy way to lucrative payouts if one knows how to gamble.

One such match took place five years ago at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas, Nevada. This Thanksgiving weekend experiment match was between two renowned rivals, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. In addition to this, ‘The Match’ was an unofficial PGA Tour event with a payout of $9 million with the winner getting the entire prize money. 

According to a report, amid the match, Mickelson baited Woods with a bet on the first hole, saying, “I feel like the first hole is a great hole for me,”. Then he added, “And I believe — in fact I’m willing to risk $100,000 that says I birdie the first hole. So that’s how good I feel heading into this match”, thus putting $100,000 at risk if he could birdie the first hole. 

Mickelson made it clear that Woods didn’t have to accept this, but the 15x major winner said, “So you think you can make birdie on the first hole?” To this The Lefty replied, “I know I’m going to make birdie on the first hole.” Woods, not ready to back down, responded, “Double it”. Thus, the final bet money stood at $200,000. 

Who won the Woods vs. Mickelson match?

Lefty took the match quite personally and said, “He came along and broke every single record I had,”. He also added, “Junior records, college, U.S. amateur: I won one, he won three. At Shadow Creek, I shot the course-record 61. A couple of years later, you shoot 60.” Thus, he let out all the exasperation he had felt throughout the years. 

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Winning that Friday match meant everything for Mickelson. “This is a unique opportunity to do something that I’ve had a hard time doing, which is to get a leg up on Tiger even if it’s just one day”. 

At one point, both players’ scores were tied after 18 holes. They played an extra four holes, and finally, Mickelson won the match. 

What do you think of Phil Mickelson’s gambling expeditions? Let us know in the comments below. 

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