Phil Mickelson Has a Tiger-Like Problem

1. Phil Mickelson Has a Tiger-Like Problem

2. Words cannot convey how shocking it was to learn this week that Phil Mickelson consorts and cavorts with high-stakes bookies. Nearly $3 million transferred from golfer Phil Mickelson to an intermediary was part of ‘an illegal gambling operation which accepted and placed bets on sporting events,’ according to two sources and court documents obtained by Outside the Lines.

3. Mickelson, a five-time major winner and one of the PGA Tour’s wealthiest and most popular players, has not been charged with a crime and is not under federal investigation. But a 56-year-old former sports gambling handicapper, acting as a conduit for an offshore gambling operation, pleaded guilty last week to laundering approximately $2.75 million of money that two sources told Outside the Lines belonged to Mickelson.

4. Bear in mind that Baseball banned Pete Rose for life for gambling peanuts by comparison. What’s more, SB Nation reports in its June 29 edition that Phil’s gambling on Golf “is the stuff of legend.” Frankly, it’s fair to assert that learning this about Phil is even more shocking than learning years ago that Tiger Woods consorts and cavorts with prostitutes.

5. The saga of Tiger as cheetah has become such a cultural phenomenon that even the most inane and innocuous tidbits about it are still leading the evening news… With a menagerie of 15 women, including porn stars and prostitutes, coming out of the woodwork to share salacious kiss-and-tell details about their assignations with him, Tiger Woods prostitutesclearly felt compelled to issue another statement… Of course, anyone who has read anything about the sexcapades of professional athletes (yes, even golfers) knows that, if 15 women are talking, there are at least 150 who aren’t.

6. As a libertarian, however, I take exception to passing moral judgments on their extracurricular activities. And don’t get me started on the puritanical absurdity of criminalizing victimless crimes like prostitution and gambling. This, notwithstanding the affect these vices could have on personal relationships – as evidenced by Tiger’s cheating causing the breakdown of his marriage to Elin Nordegren in 2009, as well as the breakup of his relationship with Lindsey Vonn earlier this year; and, more on point, by Ben Affleck’s gambling causing the breakdown of his marriage to Jennifer Garner just this week.

7. I just wonder if being outed in this fashion will affect Phil’s golf game, the way it has affected Tiger’s – who has not won a Major since 2009. Not least because this hit on Phil’s squeaky-clean image could be every bit as damaging to his psyche as that hit on Tiger’s domineering reputation has clearly been to his. Not to mention what must now be Phil’s anxiety over how reports about his gambling might affect his many lucrative endorsements.

8. After all, recall what happened when reports about Tiger’s cheating went viral: sponsors began dropping him like the proverbial hot potato, and commentators began hailing this very Phil Mickelson as the anti-Tiger, presumably, for having the kind of personal character and family life off the course all professional athletes would do well to emulate. Ha! Incidentally, it speaks volumes about the marketability Tiger once enjoyed that, despite losing so many lucrative endorsements (including for Gatorade, AT&T, and Gillette), he still topped Golf Digest’s 2014 money list with $54,500,000 off course, while earning just $610,775 on course. Not surprisingly, Phil was second on the list with $48,500,000 off course, while earning $2,238,019 on course.