Phil Mickelson uncovered by Alan Shipnuck’s receipts in Twitter battle

Final week, throughout the Thanksgiving vacation, Phil Mickelson took to social media to reveal his true emotions about famend golf author Alan Shipnuck.

Mickelson referred to as Shipnuck the “worst liar and a pathetic human.” He then referred to the creator as a ‘mendacity POS’ in a since-deleted publish.

Shipnuck, in fact, has authored a few best-selling books over the previous two years. He wrote an in depth, sincere, and at some factors scathing biography on Mickelson, which included the six-time main winner calling the Saudi Arabians “scary motherf***ers.”

Shipnuck then wrote an intensive recount of golf’s nice schism, titled LIV and Let Die, detailing the continuing warfare between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Being a central character within the growth of LIV Golf, Mickelson additionally performed a job inside that e-book.

So, on Monday, Shipnuck determined to fireside again and he introduced receipts. He posted electronic mail exchanges between him and Mickelson from late 2021 when he was ending up Mickelson’s biography.

Shipnuck wrote to Mickelson indicating that the e-book was full. In doing so, the creator famous that “your many followers are going to like it.” As somebody who has learn the e-book, it’s certainly an exciting learn with many wonderful tales instructed inside.

But, earlier than publishing, Shipnuck, true to journalistic requirements, needed to make clear 4 factors with the left-hander.

He requested what Mickelson did along with his golf flags as a substitute of lending them to his former caddy, Jim “Bones” McKay. Usually, when a participant wins a significant golf match, the caddy takes the 18th flag residence as a degree of satisfaction. Look no additional than the 2021 Masters, when Hideki Matsuyama’s caddy, Shota Hayafuji, famously bowed to the course at Augusta Nationwide after eradicating the flag.

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Alas, Shipnuck introduced up the time when McKay and Mickelson parted methods. The 2 had been collectively for 20 years, which included 5 main victories, however the electrical combo didn’t half amicably—a departure from what was initially reported.

Then, Shipnuck had a query about Billy Walters, the famend gambler who accused Mickelson of wagering near $1 billion over the previous three a long time.

Lastly, Shipnuck requested a fragile query about a person’s sexuality. That individual had ties to Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom that “executes individuals for being homosexual,” in accordance with Mickelson. However Shipnuck eliminated that line about this particular person inside the e-book, per Mickelson and his lawyer’s request.

But, as a substitute of receiving a direct response from Mickelson himself, one in all his alleged attorneys, Pat Swan Jr., replied to Shipnuck, saying, “Phil has requested me to speak to you about your inquiries under.” These two then had a dialog on Jan. 1, 2022.

Mickelson famously mentioned he needed “to reshape how the PGA Tour operates” when speaking with the Saudi Arabians all through 2021 and 2022. Therefore, Shipnuck included a response to his authentic publish, indicating that Mickelson needed to speak about “[PGA Tour Commissioner Jay] Monahan and the Saudis.”

Maybe most significantly, inside all of this seesawing, are these strains that Shipnuck included inside his publish Monday morning:

“After his feedback had been printed in an excerpt on FirePitCollective.com, creating an intense controversy, Mickelson claimed our dialog had been off-the-record,” Shipnuck mentioned.

“I had beforehand requested him 3 times face-to-face to sit down for interviews; we each knew this cellphone name was for the e-book, and the whole lot he instructed me was moving into its pages. He by no means requested to go off the report. If he had, I might have pushed again arduous as a result of this was my one probability to interview him for the e-book. In October ’22, Mickelson made one other confounding assertion: ‘So I’ll reiterate, I by no means did an interview with Alan Shipnuck.’”

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Clearly, Mickelson has been the middle of quite a few controversies throughout his profession. Whether or not it’s his playing accusations, his alleged position in insider buying and selling, the post-tournament press convention on the 2014 Ryder Cup, or his assist for LIV Golf, Mickelson is undoubtedly one of many extra contentious, but influential, figures in all of sport, not to mention golf.

However he has repeatedly referred to as out Shipnuck for his supposed fallacies.

“Phil can say no matter he desires, however that doesn’t make it true,” Shipnuck added in his prolonged publish on Monday.

“He has lied maliciously about me and I feel his present feedback needs to be seen via that lens.”

Humorous sufficient, this spat derived from the rumors of Jon Rahm heading to LIV Golf. Shipnuck indicated to his viewers that Mickelson has mentioned “Rahm to LIV” was a completed deal. And that’s when ‘Lefty’ referred to as Shipnuck’s integrity into query.

Who is aware of if this back-and-forth will proceed, however one factor stays sure: a supply can by no means say a dialog was off the report after the actual fact.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. Make sure you try @_PlayingThrough too.