Phil Mickelson has pulled out of next month’s Open Championship as he faces explosive allegations on a PGA Tour-approved website that he showed a lewd picture to the wife of a fellow golf professional.
Telegraph Sport has learnt that the 2013 Open winner has withdrawn from the British major, which takes place at Royal Birkdale from July 16, and despite this being the first Open he will miss in 17 years, there can be little surprise after these fresh accusations.
The claims cast a shadow over the six-time major champion’s reputation, coming a few weeks after it was reported that Mickelson’s home course in San Diego had expelled him as a member last year after alleged inappropriate sexual conduct towards a female employee.
The accusations appeared on Skratch, a publication set up by the tour and run by the same company that made the Netflix Full Swing series. In the article written by Alan Shipnuck, he claims to have interviewed 19 sources who describe alleged lewd language and unwanted advances by Mickelson, 56, and behaviour that led to his departure from two additional country clubs.
In the piece, Ashley Perez, the ex-wife of former tour winner Pat Perez, discusses an alleged incident with Mickelson in 2015. Mickelson allegedly invited the Perezes to stay with him during a tournament near New York and after Pat had “excused himself to use the rest room”, Shipnuck claims Ashley told him that “Mickelson took out his phone and showed her a full-body picture of himself naked”.
“Phil says to me, ‘I’m going to leave my bedroom door open tonight’,” Ashley is quoted as saying. “When Pat falls asleep I want you to come see me. We were staying next door to Phil, and Pat still had to play in the tournament.” The article said she told her husband when the tournament was over and Mickelson later apologised to Pat.
In 2022, Pat went on golf pro Claude Harmon’s podcast. “I have a different hate for Phil than most people,” Perez said. “Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable. He knows he screwed up. He apologised for the action, but I cannot forgive him.”
For her part, Ashley has explained why she has come forward.
“There is a culture of silence that keeps women from coming forward,” Ashley said. “I want to give other women the courage to share their truth. With Phil, I feel like the pattern has been there for years but people have been afraid to go public because it’s Phil Mickelson. We give these golfers so much adulation and money, they think they’re gods.
“They think they’re untouchable. Being a pro athlete doesn’t exempt you from behaving respectfully in society. With Phil, you’re dealing with an egotistical narcissist. Phil will keep going until he gets caught. If Phil’s behaviour is ever going to change, he has to understand the trauma he has caused so many people in so many parts of his life.”
The piece also lists more accusations of inappropriate behaviour and quotes from sources who depict a father-of-three out of control.
Telegraph Sporthas sought comment from his management group but his lawyer, Tom Clare, declared as a veteran US defamation attorney, released a statement to Skratch.
“Some of the allegations circulating about Mr Mickelson are false, and others revisit mistakes he has already acknowledged, publicly or privately,” the statement read. “Stacking the disputed claims next to the ones he has owned does not make them credible. It instead contributes to a false and misleading narrative.
“No person, no article, and no book can present an accurate, complete, or personal story of the life Mr Mickelson and his family have lived. His story, struggles, and recovery belong to him and to the people who have shared it closely alongside him.
“Recovery is not a straight line. Throughout their 35-year relationship, his wife, Amy Mickelson, has supported Mr Mickelson and their family with extraordinary grace, unwavering love, and the belief that people are measured not only by their failures, but by what they do to make them right.
“Mr Mickelson’s priority is to become the husband, father, and man his family deserves. Right now, that means giving his full attention to a private family health matter. He understands that parts of his life are public, but his family’s private matters are not.”
Mickelson has previously acknowledged an “embarrassing and reckless” gambling addiction, but has never admitted to any sexual transgressions.
These latest claims will only increase speculation as to why Mickelson has not appeared competitively since March and why he has missed the season’s first three majors – and now the Open as well. The explanation given is that it is a “private family health matter”.
The last time he missed the Open – on what was until this year, his one and only absence since his debut in 1994 – was in 2009. Mickelson skipped Turnberry to be with Amy, his wife and mother of their three daughters, who was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
Shipnuck is the journalist whose best-selling biography, Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorised!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colourful Superstar, delayed the launch of the LIV Golf League in 2022 as it contained quotes from Mickelson declaring that he was joining the Saudi-funded venture “to gain leverage” out of the PGA Tour, calling the kingdom “scary motherf***ers to get involved with”. The LIV plan almost died on the spot but the Saudis eventually pressed on.
The report could hardly come at a worse time for LIV as the executives seek a financial path to survival. After ploughing in more than US$5 billion ($8.86b) to the breakaway circuit, the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced two months ago that it would withdraw funding at the end of this season. It is understood that LIV has set itself a September deadline.