‘No One Wanted Phil [Mickelson] There’: Alan Shipnuck Paints Tiger Woods’ as the Architect Behind Lefty’s Most Unforgettable Snub

The new book by Alan Shipnuck, titled “LIV and Let Die,” has been stirring a lot of controversy in the golfing community. The book has targeted prominent golfers across tours, including Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, and Patrick Cantlay. Now, it has turned its focus to two of the greatest golfers ever seen, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson!

The book makes shocking claims about an incident that occurred with Lefty last year during the 150th Open Championship, when tensions were very high between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.

Did Tiger Woods orchestrate a snub against Phil Mickelson?

A significant incident during the 2022 Open Championship allegedly involved Woods and Mickelson. According to an excerpt from “LIV and Let Die,” the 15-time major winner orchestrated a snub against Phil Mickelson by excluding him from a private dinner for the Open Championship held at the R&A Clubhouse.

The book suggests that Woods made it his personal mission to keep Mickelson out of the gathering. Allegedly, he reached out to several past champions to gain their approval and subsequently approached the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews (R&A) with the message that nobody wanted Phil Mickelson at the dinner.

The book claims that the 82-time PGA Tour winner insinuated that the presence of the left-handed golfer at the dinner would create an awkward and uncomfortable atmosphere. “He talked to a handful of other [past champions] to get their blessing and then went to the R&A and told them, basically, no one wanted Phil there and it would make the night weird and awkward,” says Shipnuck in the book.

Undoubtedly, when Tiger Woods, with his stature, speaks, his word carries more weight than anyone else’s, and as per these allegations, it was Lefty on the receiving end of the brunt last year! Despite all that went down and the controversy surrounding it, Phil Mickelson never made a strong comment on the incident; he did, however, reveal tidbits!

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Mickelson’s claims about the R&A intervention during the incident

Following the incident in question, Mickelson had spoken to the public about how the R&A had advised him to perhaps not attend the social gathering to avoid the awkwardness of it all since Mickelson was then in cahoots with LIV Golf. “The R&A contacted me a couple weeks before and said, ‘Look, we don’t think it’s a great idea you go, but if you want to, you can’… I just didn’t want to make a big deal about it, so I said, ‘Fine.’” claimed the 6-time major winner.

“We both kind of agreed that it would be best if I didn’t,’’ he added. Despite these comments, he kept the more intricate information to himself and did not open up about any alleged pressure that was being applied by the R&A to exclude him from it.

Since this incident, several new developments have taken place. The LIV Golf and PGA Tour announced the merger in June, and golf as a whole seems to be changing. Whether or not the words in the book are true remains to be seen; however, with certainty, one can say that they are bound to cause even more controversy!

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