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Phil Mickelson has wagered more than $1 billion over the last three
decades and wanted to place a $400,000 bet on the 2012 Ryder Cup while
playing for Team USA, according to a much-anticipated book by renowned
gambler Billy Walters.

Mickelson denied ever betting on the Ryder Cup.

“While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the
course, I would never undermine the integrity of the game,” Mickelson said
in a statement Thursday.

The stunning betting estimates Walters provides — from his own detailed
record and from what he describes as two reliable sources — are detailed
in an excerpt of Walters’ book, “Gambler: Secrets from a Life of Risk.”

The book is scheduled to be available on Aug. 22. The Fire Pit Collective obtained the excerpt.

Walters is widely regarded as America’s most famous gambler who claims to
have a winning streak of more than 30 straight years.

He said he ended his betting partnership with Mickelson in 2014. Two years later, Mickelson was a relief defendant in Walters’ insider trading case. Mickelson was never charged and had to repay about $1 million he made off
a stock deal. Walters was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.
He said he could have avoided prison if Mickelson had told a “simple
truth.”

Walters said he never told Mickelson he had inside information on Dean
Foods stock.

“All Phil had to do was publicly say it. He refused,” Walters wrote. “The outcome cost me my freedom, tens of millions of dollars and a heartbreak I still struggle with daily. While I was in prison, my daughter committed
suicide — I still believe I could have saved her if I’d been on the
outside.”

Walters said Mickelson told him he had two offshore accounts, and that Mickelson had limits of $400,000 on college games and $400,000 on the NFL.

He said based on his detailed record and additional records provided by sources, Mickelson’s gambling between 2010 and 2014 included:

— Betting $110,000 to win $100,000 on 1,115 occasions, and betting
$220,000 to win $200,000 on 858 occasions. That alone comes out to just
over $311 million.

— Mickelson in 2011 made 3,154 bets for the year and on one day (June 22)
he placed 43 bets on Major League Baseball games that resulted in $143,500
in losses.

— He placed 7,065 bets on football, basketball and baseball.

“Based on our relationship and what I’ve since learned from others, Phil’s gambling losses approached not $40 million as has been previously
reported, but much closer to $100 million. In all, he wagered a total of
more than $1 billion during the past three decades,” Walters wrote.

“The only other person I know who surpassed that kind of volume is me.”

In his statement, Mickelson said he has been open about his gambling
addiction. In an interview with Sports Illustrated last year, Mickelson referred to it reaching a point of being “reckless and embarrassing.”

“I have previously conveyed my remorse, took responsibility, have gotten
help, have been fully committed to therapy that has positively impacted me
and I feel good about where I am now,” Mickelson said.

Walters said they met for the first time at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach
Pro-Am, and formed a betting partnership two years later.

Most stunning to Walters, he writes in the excerpt, was a phone call from
the Ryder Cup in 2012 at Medinah. He said Mickelson was so confident he
asked Walters to bet $400,000 for him on the U.S. winning.

“I could not believe what I was hearing,” Walters wrote. “‘Have you lost
your (expletive) mind?’ I told him, ‘Don’t you remember what happened to
Pete Rose?’ The former Cincinnati Reds manager was banned from baseball
for betting on his own team. ‘You’re seen as a modern-day Arnold Palmer,’
I added. ‘You’d risk all that for this?’ I want no part of it.”

He said Mickelson replied, “Alright, alright.”

“I have no idea whether Phil placed the bet elsewhere. Hopefully, he came
to his senses,” Walters wrote.

Europe rallied from a 10-6 deficit on Sunday, staging the greatest
comeback by a visiting team. Mickelson and Keegan Bradley won three
straight matches before Mickelson urged U.S. captain Davis Love III to
rest them Saturday afternoon. Mickelson lost his singles match to Justin
Rose, a pivotal moment in Europe’s comeback.

The PGA Tour suspended Mickelson in early 2022 for helping Saudi-backed
LIV Golf recruit PGA Tour players. He signed with LIV for a bonus reported
to be upward of $150 million.

Walters was so successful with his gambling operation that bookmakers
often limited the amount of his wagers. He would partner with others who
had larger limits. He wrote his partnership with Mickelson was a 50-50
split.

“In all the decades I’ve worked with partners and beards, Phil had
accounts as large as anyone I’d seen,” Walters wrote. “You don’t get those types of accounts without betting millions of dollars.”

___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

https://apnews.com/article/mickelson-gambling-billy-walters-book-ryder- cup-6d753cfad771bb45cfbe3b500c7e5eb5

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