Don’t expect Phil Mickelson and Alan Shipnuck to exchange gifts for Christmas this year. Or any year.
The feud between the LIV Golf player and his biographer was rekindled recently when Shipnuck reported that Mickelson “has been telling folks” that Jon Rahm leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf was already a “done deal.”
“But we all know Mickelson is a relentless salesman/bullsh*t artist, so take that for what it’s worth,” added the author.
In recent days Phil has been telling folks that Rahm signing with LIV is a done deal. (They share the same agent.) But we all know Mickelson is a relentless salesman/bullshit artist, so take that for what it's worth.
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) November 22, 2023
Mickelson reacted to that announcement with the tact and grace you might expect.
“This isn’t true and I don’t know anything. I don’t want to know anything and I haven’t said anything. Alan is the worst liar and a pathetic human,” wrote Mickelson.
This isn’t true and I don’t know anything. I don’t want to know anything and I haven’t said anything. Alan is the worst liar and a pathetic human.
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) November 22, 2023
Shipnuck responded, saying Mickelson’s reaction was “typically sociopathic” and reiterated that Mickelson has told people “who are influential in the golf world” that Rahm was making the move.
I guess Phil tweeted at me? I wouldn’t know since he’s blocked me in a classic tough-guy move. But we all know that what he says publicly and privately are *very* different.
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) November 22, 2023
I did, it was typically sociopathic. I thought my original tweet was cheeky. For him to so wildly overreact (on Thanksgiving eve!) felt like projection. Phil knows the truth. The people he’s told (who are influential in the golf world) know the truth. It’s whatever. https://t.co/pTbi16Trq2
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) November 24, 2023
Mickelson responded as well in a since-deleted post, saying “I can’t be any more clear. You are LYING. I have not spoken Jon’s name or about him. Every person I’ve been with the last couple weeks will swear by that. Name your source, you lying POS (I won’t go into the countless lies in your book, too many to even start.)”
The “book” in question is the biography that included Mickelson’s infamous comments about the Saudi Arabian backers of LIV, calling them “scary motherf*ckers.” The golfer has since tried to distance himself from those comments but the bitterness between him and Shipnuck never changed.
Monday, Shipnuck tried to nuke Mickelson in their war of words by posting an email exchange from 2021 in which he offered the golfer the chance to respond to certain aspects of the book and defended the notion that Phil’s comments about LIV were on the record. The author says in the email that the book was not only finished but “your many fans are going to love it,” though he still wanted to offer Mickelson the chance to clarify himself regarding several issues, including the Saudi comments.
One clarification: In my email to Phil, where I say, “Even though you’ve made it clear you don’t really want to answer any questions” – that was a reference to our phone call, which he began by saying, “Just so you know, I don’t want to answer a million questions about my life, I…
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) November 27, 2023
“I had previously asked him three times face-to-face to sit for interviews; we both knew this phone call was for the book, and everything he told me was going in its pages,” wrote Shipnuck, regarding Mickelson’s claim that their conversation was off-the-record. “He never asked to go off the record. If he had, I would have pushed back hard because this was my one chance to interview him for the book. In October ’22, Mickelson made another confounding statement: ‘So I will reiterate, I never did an interview with Alan Shipnuck.’
“Phil can say whatever he wants but that doesn’t make it true. He has lied maliciously about me and I think his current comments should be seen through that lens.”
We can imagine that Mickelson will have a response of his own at some point soon, and round and round we’ll go.
[Alan Shipnuck, Phil Mickelson, NY Post, SBNation]
