Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from next month’s Open Championship, extending his time away from competitive golf amid renewed scrutiny over allegations concerning his private conduct.
The six-time major winner has made only one appearance on the breakaway LIV Golf circuit this year, with his absence from the course previously attributed to a family health emergency.
Mickelson had been eligible to compete at Royal Birkdale through his exemption as a former Open champion, a status he earned with his 2013 victory at Muirfield and can use until the age of 60.
The Telegraph reports that Mickelson made the decision to pull out two weeks ago. His withdrawal means he is set to miss The Open for the first time in 17 years.
News of his absence emerged shortly after Skratch published a detailed report by veteran golf writer Alan Shipnuck examining allegations related to Mickelson’s personal life.
In that report, Mickelson is accused of allegedly showing a nude photograph of himself to the wife of fellow Tour professional Pat Perez during a tournament in 2015.
Phil Mickelson has not played in a professional tournament since LIV Golf South Africa in March
Mickelson, pictured with his wife Amy, stepped away from golf indefinitely earlier in the year
Ashley Perez, who was married to Pat from 2014 to 2023, told the outlet the incident occurred during the Barclays tournament in New Jersey, when Mickelson arranged for the couple to join him at his villa at Liberty National Golf Course.
While Pat had excused himself to use the restroom, leaving Ashley and Mickelson alone on the patio, she claims the six-time major champion produced his phone and showed her a full-body image of himself naked and aroused.
‘Phil says to me, “I’m going to leave my bedroom door open tonight. When Pat falls asleep I want you to come see me”,’ Ashley told Shipnuck.
According to the outlet, she said she declined his advances and did not immediately tell her husband, saying she had not wanted to create a scene mid-tournament.
When Perez was eventually told, he confronted Mickelson – who the outlet reports ultimately apologized during a corporate outing at the Madison Club in La Quinta, California.
The allegation became central to Perez’s now-notorious comments on Claude Harmon’s podcast in November 2022, when he said: ‘I have a different hate for Phil than most people.
‘Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable. He knows that he screwed up. He apologized for the action, but I cannot forgive him for it.’
Ashley Perez says she has a recording of a subsequent 26-minute phone call between Pat and Mickelson. During it, she claims, Mickelson alternated between contrition and saying he could not remember the details of the evening. Shipnuck also reports he has listened to the recording.
Mickelson will not play in The Open Championship this year. He won the tournament in 2013
Mickelson has been accused of showing a photo of himself naked and erect to Ashley Perez (left) in 2015, then-wife of fellow golfer Pat Perez
When Pat told him he had shown Ashley ‘a naked photo’, Mickelson is alleged to have responded: ‘You mean topless?’
Without fully admitting what had happened, Mickelson is said to have told the couple: ‘I can’t tell you how disgusted and embarrassed I am in myself.’
The allegations against Mickelson, 56, come amid a separate and already-public scandal involving the six-time major champion.
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Earlier this month, Golf Digest reported that Mickelson had been removed as a member of The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, amid allegations of inappropriate physical contact with a female staff member.
According to multiple sources, Mickelson approached the employee in the clubhouse, made non-consensual and inappropriate physical contact with her, and he was confronted by club officials mid-round before being told to vacate the premises.
A representative confirmed he had resigned from the club.
The Skratch report paints the incidents as part of a deeply entrenched pattern of behavior. Mickelson had previously departed two other high-end clubs – the Madison Club and The Bridges, also in Rancho Santa Fe – with sources at both saying personal conduct was a primary factor.
Golf Digest reported that Mickelson, 55, has also been banned from The Farms Golf Club , an exclusive property not far from his home in San Diego, where he was a member
Mickelson is pictured with his team – including wife Amy and his three kids – at the 2013 Open
A woman who attended a tournament dinner with Mickelson during the same period describes an encounter she characterizes as deeply disturbing.
‘Out of nowhere, Phil started asking the most inappropriate questions about my personal life and then propositioning me in graphic detail,’ she told Skratch.
‘He went on and on about how he had been fantasizing about me and all the things he wanted to do to me. It was horrible.’
Ashley Perez also describes a separate dinner – predating the nude photo incident – at which she claims Mickelson ‘kept taking’ conversation ‘somewhere very dark and sexual’, making graphic gestures at the table.
In the statement provided to Skratch, a spokeswoman for Mickelson said: ‘Some of the allegations circulating about Mr Mickelson are false, and others revisit mistakes he has already acknowledged, publicly or privately. Recovery is not a straight line. Mr Mickelson’s priority is to become the husband, father, and man his family deserves.’
Mickelson has not competed since LIV Golf’s South Africa event in March and has cited a private family health matter for his absence.
He missed the Masters, skipped the PGA Championship, and – his five-year exemption from the 2021 PGA Championship having now expired – was not extended a special invitation to this week’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
A display of his achievements in The Farms clubhouse has since been removed.
Mickelson’s Open decision surfaced just hours after new bombshell allegations were made
Ashley Perez says she has a recording of a 26-minute phone call between Pat and Mickelson
In a statement provided to The California Post on Friday, Mickelson’s attorney, Tom Clare, offered a scathing assessment of the allegations.
‘A small segment of the golf media has decided that because Mr. Mickelson is a successful golfer, every detail of his private and family life is theirs to exploit,’ the lawyer said.
‘Recycling mistakes he has already acknowledged as new reporting, and dragging private family matters into public view, is reckless. It is the pursuit of clicks at the expense of the truth. Do better.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mickelson’s representatives for comment.
