She said her son’s public outings have included watching his nephew play Little League baseball and watching his niece play lacrosse.Īt a recent San Carlos Little League game, astute spectators noticed Phil Mickelson watching the action from an adjacent field rather than from the stands. It turns out Mickelson has been getting out of his house but keeping a low profile thanks to that new mustache and beard, according to Mickelson’s mother. But the notion that he’s got to stay in his house for the rest of his life is just (expletive).” Mickelson’s beard and mustache “Phil is my friend and always will be my friend.
“I talked to Phil and I told him, ‘Hey, man, how long are you going to hide out? It’s time for you to come out,’ ’’ Barkley said. “I think it’s time for him to come out of hibernation,’’ Barkley, the NBA Hall of Famer-turned-broadcaster, told USA Today Sports, during a recent phone interview.īarkley, who teamed up with Mickelson and beat Peyton Manning and Steph Curry during The Match III in 2020, said he has spoken to Mickelson. Mickelson’s absence from the PGA Championship is much to the chagrin of his supporters such as Charles Barkley. “I know when he comes to visit, we’re always in the backyard putting and chipping and just playing around. “We don’t talk about (golf) very much,’’ she said. “I think you’ll see a different person if he decides to come back and if he plays, someone who’s going to enjoy playing just to be playing.’’ And if it means going through all of this … I’m happy for him. “Tim and Tina, his brother and sister, have mentioned that too. But he has taken a lot of time with our family. He’s not on the phone with people that are calling him for this and that, and please play in this tournament, and it’s hard when you have to say no, when you don’t have the time to spend. “I wish you could see him now,’’ Mary Mickelson said. Three months ago, Mickelson voiced support for a Saudi-backed, breakaway golf tour despite acknowledging the country’s “horrible record on human rights,’’ including the execution of gay people and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national who worked for the Washington Post.įacing backlash for his comments, Mickelson retreated to his mansion and largely disappeared from public view. On Thursday, Mickelson could have been teeing off at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and defending the PGA Championship he won last year when, at 50, he became the oldest golfer to win a major. Not too many people recognize him, so it’s been fun to be able to go out with him.’’
I don’t ever remember him doing that before. “He had a little bit of a beard and mustache. “I didn’t recognize him at first,’’ Mary Mickelson told USA Today Sports during a phone interview.
She said her son is as happy as she’s seen him in years and, during his three-month absence from professional golf, occasionally in public view.
“Right now he’s actually in meetings,’’ the property manager told USA Today Sports.īut Mickelson’s mother was available to talk. And a man who introduced himself as the property manager greeted a reporter hoping to talk to Mickelson, who entered the World Golf Hall of Famer at the ripe age of 41. Inside, gardeners cut and pruned the 5.85-acre property about 25 miles north of San Diego. The wooden front gate swung open when a dry cleaner’s van arrived. – Phil Mickelson’s estate, with golf greens and bunkers on his 13,000-square foot mansion, was stirring one day this week.