Phil Alfred Mickelson, nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships: three Masters titles, two PGA Championships, and one Open Championship.
Phil Mickelson: 2014 ryder cup press conference| Affair
2014 ryder cup press conference:
“I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and many have been shared with the public. My intent was never to hurt anyone and I’m so sorry to the people I have negatively impacted. This has always been about supporting the players and the game and I appreciate all the people who have given me the benefit of the doubt.”
Mickelson reiterated his belief “golf desperately needs change” and described his partnership LIV Golf Investments, the Greg Norman-led group backed by Saudi money, as “very positive”.
“The specific people I have worked with are visionaries and have only been supportive,” Mickelson said. “More importantly they passionately love golf and share my drive to make the game better.”
Affair:
First a little background. After two years of inquiry, Mickelson last month was named in a federal civil suit involving the nation’s most-notorious sports gambler, high-stakes Las Vegas legend Billy Walters. The case involved an alphabet soup of investigatory agencies, including the FBI and SEC, yet the acronym known as the PGA did what it does best.
It kept as quiet as a greenside gallery at Augusta National, continuing its long history under Finchem of burying its collective head in the sand as it relates to bad news, player discipline or public discussions of black-eye episodes. The tour’s mealy-mouthed reaction was condemned by some as another in a series of predictably blind P.R. moves.
FBI agents first showed up at the 2014 Memorial Tournament to question Mickelson about the Walters case, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the feds, Mickelson admitted to using a tip from Walters to buy stock that increased in value 40 percent overnight, and used the proceeds to repay debts owed to Walters from unspecified gambling losses.
