Pat Perez’s dislike of fellow LIV Golfer Phil Mickelson may have stemmed from an incident in 2015 at a dinner at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.
According to a biography of Mickelson entitled ‘Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar)’ by golf writer Alan Shipnuck, Mickelson allegedly showed an ‘offensive’ picture to Perez’s wife, Ashley.
As told in a new afterword to the biography, Mickelson invited Pat and Ashley Perez to dinner at Liberty National – around the time of the 2015 edition of The Barclays golf tournament.
‘As the story goes, when Pat excused himself to use the restroom during dinner, Mickelson whipped out his phone to allegedly show her a photograph of himself that she found offensive,’ the book reads.
When reached for comment by the New York Post, both Perez and Mickelson declined to comment.
An afterword in a Phil Mickelson biography details an alleged incident between Mickelson and fellow golfer Pat Perez at a dinner in New Jersey back in 2015
Mickelson allegedly showed an ‘offensive’ picture of himself to Perez’s wife Ashley at a dinner
Mickelson’s attorney, allegedly at the dinner in question, said the account is ‘absolutely untrue’
In the book, when Shipnuck contacted Perez in December of 2022, the golfer said, ‘It’s a matter between us. We handled it.’
Both Mickelson’s agent, Steve Loy, and Perez’s agent at the time, Jeff Koski allege they were present at the dinner. Mickelson’s attorney claims that Shipnuck’s account is ‘absolutely untrue’.
Back in November of 2022, Perez made an appearance on swing coach Claude Harmon’s podcast, ‘Son of a Butch’.
There, Perez revealed he had a ‘hate’ for Phil that differed from others who may have a distaste for the lefty golfer.
‘When it comes to Phil, I have a different hate for Phil than most people,’ Perez said, adding, ‘Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable.’
Perez added: ‘He knows that he screwed up. He apologized for the action, but I cannot forgive him for it because I’ve known Phil for a long, long time.
‘I’ve known the guy forever. And the fact that when he made this action, not only was it — he had intentions of doing it; he knew it was going to happen before it happened and when he did it — I was hurt, for one. I was like, “How can this guy do this?”
On a November podcast, Perez said that Mickelson ‘crossed the line… that is just uncrossable’
Both Perez and Mickelson are playing on the Saudi-backed rebel circuit LIV Golf
What isn’t made clear is if Perez is referring to the photo incident alleged in the biography or a different incident entirely.
Both Perez and Mickelson joined LIV Golf for the Saudi-backed tour’s first season in 2022 and remain on the circuit.
Mickelson qualified for the US Open – the only major he has yet to win – and played at Los Angeles Country Club last week.
Unfortunately for him, he won’t be adding to that list anytime soon as he missed the cut.