A years-old claim that Phil Mickelson committed an “unforgivable” act against the wife of fellow golfer Pat Perez is resurfacing after new allegations involving the six-time major champion emerged this week.
The renewed focus on the earlier claim by Perez stems from a newly reported incident at a Southern California golf club, which has prompted fresh scrutiny of an earlier allegation that helped fracture Mickelson’s longtime relationship with Perez.
Mickelson lost his membership at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, this spring after a female employee accused him of nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact at the clubhouse before a round of golf, according to Golf Digest, which initially reported the story.
The Farms Golf Club Allegation and Denial
GettyPat Perez and his wife, Ashley Perez, are shown at a golf event. A years-old allegation involving Phil Mickelson and Ashley Perez has resurfaced in the media following new allegations against the six-time major champion.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told Golf Digest that the employee reported the incident to club supervisors immediately after it occurred. Officials located Mickelson mid-round and confronted him on the course. He left without finishing, and his photos and display were subsequently removed from the clubhouse.
The Farms issued a statement citing its Code of Conduct and the decisive action taken following a thorough independent investigation conducted under California law.
Mickelson, through a spokesperson, called the allegations the result of a “misunderstanding” that had since been “cleared up.”
“Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf,” the spokesperson’s statement said.
Mickelson’s attorney claimed the account was “squarely contradicted by objective, video evidence.” But Golf Digest found no cameras in the area where the incident occurred, and Mickelson’s team has so far produced no footage. No criminal charges resulted from a sheriff’s review. Mickelson has reportedly retained defamation counsel amid public circulation of the allegations.
Mickelson and Perez: The Earlier Allegation
The Farms incident arrived against the backdrop of a separate allegation first detailed in a 2023 afterword to Alan Shipnuck’s biography of Mickelson. As recounted by GolfWRX, Shipnuck wrote that Mickelson invited fellow golfer Perez, his wife Ashley Perez, and others to dinner during the 2015 Barclays tournament at Liberty National Golf Course in New Jersey. When Perez stepped away to use the restroom, according to the account in Shipnuck’s book, Mickelson “whipped out his phone to allegedly show [Ashley] a photograph of himself that she found offensive.”
Perez had addressed the rift publicly on Claude Harmon III’s “Son of a Butch” podcast in 2022, according to Fox News.
“When it comes to Phil, I have a different hate for Phil than most people…. Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable,” Perez declared on the podcast, as quoted by Fox News. “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 â he had intentions of doing it; he knew it was going to happen before it happened and when he did it â I was hurt, for one. I was like, ‘How can this guy do this?’”
When Shipnuck’s afterword brought the incident back into public view, Perez declined to revisit it, saying only, “It’s a matter between us. We handled it.”
Mickelson declined direct comment on Shipnuck’s account, according to a New York Post report. His attorney called the story “absolutely untrue,” and Jeff Koski â Perez’s agent at the time and reportedly present at the 2015 dinner â also denied it, according to Mickelson’s representatives, as cited by The New York Post.
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