It’s never a bad idea to begin your day with a quick glance at Phil Mickelson’s Twitter account. The five-time major champion is not as prolific on the social media platform as some of his fellow PGA Tour pros, but when he does tweet, it’s usually worth a good laugh or two. And this time is no different.
While Mickelson enjoys ribbing his competitors and any unfortunate follower who chooses to tangle with him, he’s at his best when he’s making fun of himself. On Friday night, shortly after closing out a five-under 67 to make the cut at the Safeway Open, he did just that.
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Recently, news came that someone had placed a massive $45,000 bet for Mickelson to win next week’s U.S. Open at 75-1 odds. It’s a risky wager for several reasons. Phil is 50 years old, for one, and hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since early 2019. In addition, he famously holds a record six runner-up finishes at the Open and has never won.
Furthermore, the most infamous of his second-place finishes came at next week’s venue, Winged Foot in New York, where he imploded on the final hole, making double bogey to surrender a one-shot lead and lose to Geoff Ogilvy.
Fortunately for us, Phil isn’t sensitive about his biggest career disappointment, in fact he’s made fun of himself over it before. Upon hearing about the huge bet placed on his chances, he couldn’t resist opening his phone and typing out a tweet referencing his ’06 meltdown.
“Heard someone place 45k on me to win the open at 75-1 (pays 3.3 mil),” Mickelson wrote, before adding the kicker, “Hoping for both of us I have a 3 shot lead on 18 tee.”
There aren’t lot of pros who would be so openly self-deprecating, but Mickelson has always had a unique way of doing things, on and off the course.
Note, too, the $3.3 million figure Phil mentioned. That’s how much this bet will pay out if he does win, which is larger than the winner’s check Mickelson would earn.
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