Phil's Future and Legacy

Welcome to Pablo Torere Finds out. I am Pablo Tore. and today we're going to find out What this sound is It's a nude selfie, he's fully erect. He's flexing a bicep, which is to me is the best part of the whole image rightight after this Monday AI agents took over my work I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. aggents handle the daily grind now They live inside Monday. com so they see the full picture, my work, my team, the whole company. And I don't have to worry about the data. It's safe, which means I'm free to focus on the big stuff, knowing everything runs smoothly in the background. It's completely shifted the way we work. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday. com Sold! Here are the keys to your new home. New beginnings sound exciting. From a new marriage to a new home, having access to legal help comes in handy. 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We are talking on Tuesday and I just checked the stable offshore stock price It sunk forty percent this morning on a one point two billion dollars capital raise plan this after the president of the United States sort of came over the top to say Drill, baby, drill Yeah, notot exactly the greatest month for Phil Michollson, I think. The presresident's saying we should drill more, that Won't that help them Alan I don't know if you know this, but the key to America's greatness lies in an offshore oil pipeline near Santa Barbara, California. This is how we're going to get out of this Quagmire involving The Middle East, maybe you've heard of things going on over there They still going to bring peace to the Mid East with this the offshore pipeline. We can pull up stakes and be like, all right, nevermind, we don't need we don't need it, I Ron. We're good We got this, home boy. We got this all under control Something extremely strange has been happening with Phil Michkelson met a lot of other strange things that were already happening with Phil Nicholson like the impending collapse of the Saudi backed Liv Tour, which we previously covered with our guests today, Alan Sepnuck on this show thing with Stable Offshore, the publicly traded oil company that we'll get back to later Or the time Phil tweeted me back in November, quote, I've never heard of you and have no idea who you are But given what I know to be true and what you report, you're tabloid And I'll wait for the right opportunity Thumbs up emoji Unquote We hear Pablo Torere finds out, continue to wait Because Pill Michkeollson, the second greatest golfer of his generation, right next to Tiger Woods, a wildly popular folk hero familyily manan by reputation Basically disappear He missed the first four events on the liive golf schedule and he was citing a family health situation which seems valid. You know, one of his kids has had some serious health issues and then in mid March He made his debut at Live South Africa which is not just right around the corner from his home in San Diego. And I talked some some live golfers and they said Phil was fired up. He seemed he was ready to play and he was excited. and he was talking about The season to come. And then after that, he went underground again and he missed the masters. he missed the PGA Championship And he kept citing the family health situation Although clearly it was okay for him to go to South Africa. so That was part of the mystery as Live Golf is fighting for its survival you know, feels its biggest star. He's the most accomplished player. He's really the godfather of Liv Golf. He helped found the whole thing and for him to be underground. was stunning But even more conspicuous Phil Nicholson also went dark where he had transformed into one of the most prolific posters in all the sports. Which leads us now back to Alan Shipnuck The guy who literally wrote the book on Phil and has now cracked this story wide open for the outlet Scratch Glf Sting with a rumor that we had both heard back in the spring about a place called The farms. which I wantna start with here because I need people to understand what the farms is and what this incident was I had been making calls about that In May And then Golf D just got to it, which brings us to everything else that you found out. But can you just set the table for us what happened at the farms The Farms is an interesting place. It's in Rancho Santa Fe. You know the golf equipment industry is anchored in Carlsbad, which is nearby And there's a lot of great players out of the farms, There's a lot of dudes who are in the equipment industry. It's not super fancy. It's really a place where serious golfers go to play a golf. There are other clubs where there's a lot of drinking, there's a lot ofousing That's never really been the vibe at the farms. you know, feel like to go there because there were a lot of good players and he could test himself and it was a good competition. And so It's a little unlikely that this whole thing would happen at the farms, but there there was a woman who worked there By all counts, young, attractive. and Phil was playing with some guys and somethingomething happened I've heard different versions of it. I've been actually trying to get the documents from the San Diego Sareiff. if they've been slow playing me for weeks. It's been very tedious dealing with them. He had some interaction with this young woman. He touched her in some way. She complained immediately to the general manager and the management of the place They went out and confronted Phil and they asked him to leave the property. They did' an investigation and Phil wound up losing his membership there and is not not welcome on the property anymore. And the term that the golf D just used was nonc consensual and inappropriate physical contact. So That happened in mid March. Everyone heard about it because it was during the day there was other members there and it went around instantly. I mean, my phone started ringing probably three days after it happened and it sounds like yours did too. and I reached out to the general manager and never got back to me. but I was pursuing it, but if I'm honest probably wasn't chasing as hard as I should have because I have this long history with Phil. I wrote this book about him and I knew that if I broke this with only anonymous sources and that was the way it was going because every member said, we've been told not to talk about it.s There's been law enforcement involved. I can't say anything that if I drop this story with only anonymous sources, fill attack me and say I' inv ed Detta against him and that was in the back of my mind probably to my discredit, but Golf Die just then broke the story. They had only anonymous sources, but they don't have this long tangled history like I do with Michkelson. So that kind of cracked things open. and I'd already been talking to a lot of people, I'd been hearing more things. And after that story droppps, some folks call me back So people became a little more willing to talk and I was getting more tips and I was able to chase the story harder. So In some ways, I guess it was probably helpful that it was digest that was able to crack the code on the farms I mean, just the visual that was reported in which Phil Michkelson is being stopped by club officials mid round confronted with the accusation on the course is told to leave the premises before completing the round for people who don't know the farms, this is loocal to him, right? If He grew up Not far from there he is Phil bleeping Michkelson. like it's a thing that does not often happen to men of his stature with that sort of a bond with the surrounding area Yeah I mean Phil's the king of San Diego. He's born and raised there. He's always lived there. You know, Rancho Santa Fe is this Very exclusive sort of enclave just just a little north of the city, but is For all intents of purposes is San Diego. He's a member at every club in town. You go down the list, like Phil plays them allall. He's the guy who lik to play golf seven days a week. I mean, it's part of why he's had this unparalleled longevity. He's just obsessed with golf. He loves to play. he loves the action, He loves the hang, He loves the bros. And so I mean, Phil will play golf every day of the week somewhere in the San Diego area. And so if you're a golfer in San Diego at a private club, you've had some interaction with Pil. He's just a larger than life character down there And so when the Fms ultimately issues this statement to golf digest, as we're setting up the pretext for what you reported, It's a thunderbolt because what the farms golf cllub says is, quote They are committed to maintaining a golf club environment that is safe, respectful and reflects the highest standards of conduct. All members are required to adhere to our code of conduct and any allegations of misconduct are taken seriously. Following a staff member report of member misconduct, the club provided immediate and ongoing support to the staff member, conducted a thorough, independent investigation of the incident, and took decisive action This individual This being Phil Michkelson is what is unsaid, is no longer a member of the farm's golf club And post publication, a spokesperson for Phil confirmed that he had resigned, which is You know, there is some interpretation there, right of who asked who, who told who to do what, but he is no longer a member and What that does, Alan in terms of your cell phone Just to give us the overview How many people do you end up talking to Once that seal is broken in the course of reporting what you did in your follow up for scratch I had nineteen sources, and that's not counting Dustin Johnson and Mark Brooks and other players who I interviewed who were named in the story. people who had direct information about Phil's misconduct. And that also doesn't count to the lawyer of the alleged victim at the farms who I reached out to because of course, there's been a lot of rumors that the reason there were no charges filed was because it was some sort of settlement She did employ a lawyer, but he refused to answer any of my questions. I finished my book then in twenty twenty one, and Phil was on top of the golf world. Hed won the PGA championship, this incredible victory lap, oldest man ever to win a major championship. presumed he was going to be a Rider cup captain and He was going to probably wind up in the CBS toer and he was going to be this massive figure in the game for the foreseeable future And so some of the things are in my scratch story I knew about when I was doing the book, but people would not talk to me They would only talk to me off the record. I could not use it. They were just afraid of the blowback. and That was disappointing, but I also Understood After the book came out, I started to hear more stories these other places beyond the farms where Phil had gotten into some mischief, he wind up leaving the club. So I'd heard about it I could never quite nail it down. And so there was just this sense not just from me, but from everyone else that Pil is always going to get away with it. and it was pointless to try you to come out against him or to put your name on an accusation because somehow he will get away with it. The farm story comes out and I think that was the signal to a lot of people in the golf world, like okay, maybe now is the time Like I've been carrying this stuff around for a long time And I have things I want to say about Phil that I've never said But maybe this is the moment And that's when people started talking to me You can sense when there's something that people are not saying when there is something especially that lots of people are not saying because They often only want to talk like extremely off the record But the inflection of point, which is what we're describing for Phil Michkeolson right now I mean, it it comes amid this larger now increasingly, I think, answerable mystery of like, where the heck did he go? becausecause he was the most active person that I was following on Twitter twweeting relentlessly about offshore oil drilling. He was getting increasingly political. There was that stuff, Huge Trump guy. all of that was happening Then the live golf season comes, the US openens in Chinago. comes and goes. he's not there. the PGA championship, his name appears and then it disappears And now as you begin to piece all of this together gives us a portrait of a guy Wh It was one thing in public and now is extraordinarily different Yeah, I mean, it's important to remember that Phil was this paragon of family values. That was a huge part of his brand. You go back to the nineteen ninety nine US openpen. Amy is nine months pregnant in California, Phils in North Carolina at Pinehurst playing. And if Amy goes into labor, Phil's going to walk off the course no matter what. And so that becomes an inescapable part of this drama Pain Stuart makes that iconic put If you hadn't made that put, they would have gone to playoff the next day. Amy had the baby the next morning. got home in time for that. And then In two thousand three, Amy almost dies in childbirth Same with their son, Evan, you know, he didn't take a breath for twelve minutes with modern medicine. It is a miracle that he came out okay. Phil rededicates himself, says he's going to give up all the gambling. He makes his covenant to be a better man, better husband goes on to win his first master's and that becomes part of the story. twenty ten masters, you know, Amy and then Phil's mother, Mary both have breast cancer and Phil wins a masters for them People have been wondering all this year during Tiger's absence, why wasn't Phill out there winning tournaments and no one ever really put the obvious together The things back home were unsettled with Amy's recent treatments. It's been difficult. She's doing well, but it has been extremely tough. She's been in bed here in Augusta all week, coming out today for the first time. Now to close with a birdie Wims to the family Amy hadn't been seen in public in a very long time. She's behind the screen for this hug. The whole sports world cries along with them And the context of that twenty ten masters is the contrast with Tiger that Tiger Woods is coming back post sex scandal and there is Phil as this relative angel to the other gu You know, all time golfer on your shoulder. Yeah, they've always been rivals and foils and frenemies. And so yeah, that was that was a stark contrast, you know, that was that master's was just morality playay Augusta National. So it's not just that Phil has lost his way. It's that this beloved figure And it was a huge part of his brand was the loving husband and the doting father. so That's why this fall from Grace is extra stunning. It's also why it's carried so far because the one thing that people don't like is to be lied to I think America has proven many times that it's forgiving. And if you make a mistake and you take ownership of it, you will get a second or a third chance People don't want to be bambooled the familyily values branding was so lucrative also to just be very blunt about it. I mean, twenty thirteen, as you point out, his endorsement incomees forty four million dollars He is one of the highest paid athletes in the world when you add in all the winnings on top of that And meanwhile, throughout this long arc that you're tracing There were clues. peopleeople were sort of leaving, which said this is not the guy you think he is And I want to play this sound. This is friend that Phil Michkelson had known since they were both kids Named Pat Perez. Fellllow Tour pro who went on Alaud Harm's podast. This is november twenty twenty two And he said this When it comes to Phil, I have a different hate for Pil than most people. People won't know the story I'm not going to go into the story again, but Phil crossed a line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable. and He knows that hes screwed up He apologized for the action, but it doesn't I cannot forgive him for because I've known Phil for a long long time And so Alan, to explain what is not being said there that you have now reported that you broke the news on What happened in that incident that Pat Perez is referring to Yes, and even a little more context. So A lot of people pinpointed sort of the mid twenty teens. as That's when Phil lost his way twenty thirteen was when he won the open Championship at Mirfield. Probably his greatest victory as he's called it. And after that, it was kind of a victory lap and The winds started to dwindle. He's into his mid forties Amy had beaten breast cancer but was traveling a lot less to safeguard our health and also to take care of the three kids who are now teens you know, living their lives. And so Someone extreme close to Pil in that period said, you know he started drinking a lot more on the road And he'd always been devoted to Amy, but that's start to change. And so Maybe the family man was a real thing for when he was selling that image, but somewhere along the way Phil lost his focus. He became fixated on Pap Pz's wife, actuallyhley When she started dating Pat, she was only twenty two. she was young and kind of innocent she was new to golf, new to the lifestyle, all of it. And so people who' been very close to that period said did feel talked about A Asley Pz a lot. And so the two thousand fififteen Bclays tournament in New Jersey Phil was a member at Liberty National with you know this very swank club rightight in the shadow of the statue ofiber and He's staying at this big villa, I think has four bedrooms and he calls Ashley, not Pat and says Hey, why don't you guys moving into this villa? I've got plenty of space and so they're like, great, you know, they're just a mediocre marriot by the New Yark airport. And so they stay up Their first night, you know, Phil loves his red wine, so they're sitting out. on the patio and they're drinking wine You know, Pastors they drankink three bottles of wine. and At some point pack us up to use the restroom. And Phil pulls out his phone and he shows a picture Ashley It's a nude selfie, he's fully erect. He's flexing a bicep to me is the best part of the whole image. and he says, I'm going to leave my bedroom door open tonight when Pat falls asleep. I want you to come visit me and Pat comes back to the table, no acknowledgement of what happened. You know Ashley's so stunnched she doesn't say anything. And that is what Pat is referring to. And he had carried that around for a long time. I mean, that podcast with Claude Harm is seven years later. R. So After that podcast goes viral Phil calls Pat again to talk about the situation and they had this twenty six minute phone call that Ashley recorded. It's on speaker phone and Ashley just made a recording of it She played it for me and It's a fascinating document Basically throughout Phil says I don't remember anything from that night. We had all that wine. and so that's kind of That's his stance. and yet Th also apologizing profusely throughout. So he wass kind of working both sides of the street. I don't remember it, but if anything happened, I'm sorry for it And I didn't put this in the scratch story. He says, why didn't you say anything back then? you know, if this did happen? And Pat Perez says Well, it would just devolve into a he said, she said, and you're the big fish. and so you would win that battle And so that gives you some insight into Pat's thinking and how these things just kind of went away, but clearly Pat still had a lot of anger towards Phil and it exploded in that podcast and that that helped make this story what it is because that lays the groundwork But you can tell he doesn't really believe that Phil doesn't remember, but what's you going to do with that? That phone call is is Fascinating. How did you Get in touch with Ashley Pereress plays you this tape in which you get to hear this private conversation that attests to the dynamic that You're reporting So I did a big story on Pat Perez years and years ago. And I went to the family home, Ashley cooked us pork chops, we had a long dinner They lik the story. That story kind of captured their unusual dynamic and Pat's sort of rebellious. pose on the PGA tour and so Ashley Lor told me, she's always had a high opinion of me as a reporter going back to that piece. And so I had her phone number from those days and I just reached out to her. Again, she was she was finally ready to talk, you know, her and Pat Uh ' divorced and is finalized in twenty four. So She'd kind of exited the golf world She no longer felt beholden to carry the secret. and I think she had been ready to talk for a while and someone finally reached out to her. And it was interesting because I talked to many Rich and or powerful men for this story. members at these private clubs Bodies with fill And they all had very harsh critiques of Phil and his behavior But in the end, they didn't want me to use their names. They were trying to protect their businesses or their social standing. They don't want to get any side eye at the golf club. Ashley Perez had the courage to put her name on it and to come out publicly. and That was a big deal because as I said at the top, I just didn't want to have a story of nothing but anonymous sources because we know that we're in an era now where people love to attack reporters, they love to try and deflect and I felt like It was really important to have face to this story and it turned out to be Ashley. and so There was another woman who I had been spepeaking to part of you know, feels inner circle at one point that During a dinner, Phil had aggressively propositioned her allegedly and used incredibly graphic language. and she had told me that story off the record. she was going to decide if she wanted me to use it or not. Ashley too, she had to decide if she wanted to use her name. and we had a lot of conversations about it. And she finally said, yes, That allowed me to go back to this other woman and say well I'm going to tell Ashy's story She's named. She said, Okaykay, you can usead my story too. She You know, no one wanted to be the first person to jump into into the pool to test the water. Once I actually said, yes, I was able to get this other person There was other folks at that dinner. I called them. they corroborated it. I mean, it's solid. But It was an important thing or this other source to know that there was going be a named person in the story Like you need someone to have the courage to actually say it. The end of June and July can be a really rough period for sports fans with football still a few months away and basketball and hockey This year, we're pretty lucky Because not only is there a worldorld Cup, there is a World Cup in our backyard And so make sure to check out the Athletic Podcast Network to stay up to date on all things related to the World Cup You can wake up with the Ttally foootball show from LA, then dive deep into the biggest talking point of the day with the athletic FC podcast. 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Go to highpebble. Ai before it's gone. That's H I P E B L AI Terms and conditions apply And what Ashley says to you is, quote, there is a culture of silence that keeps women from coming forward. I want to give other women the courage to share their truth. With Phil, I feel like the pattern has been there for many years of people have been afraid to go public because it's Phil Mikkelson. We give these golfers so much adulation and money, they think they're gods, They think they're untouchable. Being a pro athlete doesn't exempt you from behaving respectfully in society Th, you're dealing with an egotistical narcissist And so that is actually Perez with her own name attached, going on the record, saying the thing that ends up developing this portrait of a person who by the way through his legal representation had something to say to you, Alan, which we should cite here because It's interesting, right? uote. Some of the allegations circulating about Mr. Michollson are false, and others revisit mistakes he's already acknowledged publicly or privately, stacking the disputed claims next to the ones he has owned does not make them credible. It instead contributes to a false and misleadingarrative person, no article, and no book can present an accurate, complete, or personal story of the life mister Michkelson and his family have lived. His story struggles in recovery, belong to him and to the people who have shared it closely alongside him Recovery is not a straight line Throughout their thirty five year relationship, his wife, Amy Michkelson, has supported mis. Michkelson and their family with extraordinary grace, unwavering love, and the belief that people are measured not only by their failures, but by what they do to make them right Mr. Michlson's priority is to become the husband, father and man his family deserves right now, that means giving his full attention to a private familyamily health matter He understands that parts of his life are public, but his family's private matters are not. And just translate that a bit you do see the commingling of various things swirling in Phil's life, which are Again, worthy of consideration. Private family health matter, of course. Let us take that at face value as has been presented to you and other journalists and the Gulf world. And then also you see the non specific denials of what we're outlining here Yeah, I like the little jab in there about no book can accurly con No book's you. No, but that seems a little gratuitous, but I enjoyed it. So Yeah, I don't take issue with all of it. I mean I have a lot of empathy for Amy and for the Micholson kids. is no doubt, an incredibly difficult time People are allowed to make mistakes and hopefully transcend them The real issue and I know I already knew this, but reading the Twitter replies has been a little dispiriting. There's been a lot of A lot of love out there, you know, for people still do in journalism, which I know you get when you when do these big jes as well. and that's gratifying. But there's been a whole strain of like He's a rich athlete. O course he's chasing girl. What's the big deal? Like that's been a very common sentiment. I don't want to be the morality police in that regard. but It's really the nonconsensual nature of what's happening here. Yes, yes We've talked about the farms. This thing with Ashley Perez was very nonc consensual. this dinner party dinner just a dinner party, right? Be I do want to just provide some of the context in your reporting here. Yeah, let's get into that sort. Phil is drunk allegedly and graphically propositioning a woman at this dinner. And she says, I will quote the reporting Something fllt off. He was behaving a little odd. out of nowhere. Phil started asking the most inappropriate questions about my personal life and then propositioning me in graphic detail. He went on and on about how he hadd been fantasizing about me and all the things he wanted to do to me. It was incredibly awkward. The rest of us kept trying to change the subject, but he was relentless. The more wine he drank, the louder he got. There was a family at the table next to us, and I have no idea what they heard It was horrible. I was sweating profusely. It felt like verbal rape and quote And then you cite the two other members of the dinner party who corroborate that lurid language, that behavior. But this is to say There is allegedly a nonconsensual dynamic that keeps popping up in the reporting as well as this contrast with the public image, which is That of somebody who, it turns out was flying quite close to the sun in terms of thinking he would never have to answer questions about any of this So many people that I called for this story said something to the effect of You know, someone has to stop this person. This behavior will just continue. And then Ashley Perez had her own incident at a dinner with Phil, and she said, you know, he was using incredibly graphic language. He was using two fingers to demonstrate his techniques. She's like, and we were at this nice restaurant with a bunch of people table. It' like, it was wildly inappropriate. And the phone call with Phil also acknowledged that you listened to, that Ashley played for you, that it also acknowledged that first incident, which predated the photo of Phil and the erection in the bicep. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And Pat Pz is talking about that dinner and he says I didn't really have a problem with it. He's like what Coach did in Coach's fils long time aggent Steve Lloy, who I reached out to you for comment, who didn't respond. And so How many times does this happen? It's not appropriate.'s it's not acceptable That was just a strain that kept coming up over and over is Somebody has to stop this. It just it's just this long standing pattern of behavior. You know what what happened with Ashley Perez Both the dinner party and the photograph, that was twenty fifteen. What happened at the farms is twenty twenty six. This is something that's happened repeatedly now That's why it felt like a story that had to be told. And look, my understanding, despite not having any association with these golf clubs, not being nearly as well sourced as you are at places like this, the dream is to have a Pil Michkelson around. You'd advertise that you put his photo on the wall That's kind of the point. Look who's hanging out here And yet in your reporting, you keep on tallying up these instances of these exclusive golf clubs ively realizing Phil Michkelson can no longer be a member here And in the first story you told at the farms, there was the management of the club coming to a mid round saying as much effectively. But in these other stories and I want to take us now to the Madison Golf Club first It's also Phil's family intervening It sounds like Yeah so the Masson Club is this enclave out in Palm Springs desert. was probably the most exclusive prestigious golf club in that whole area quarter million dollars to join at least this glittering membership and It's a really fun place. So I went and actually did a podcast with Phil in twenty seventeen. I met him at the Masson Club. and he was holding court in the bar There were twenty dudes hang on every word and It's it's known as as a good time in LQinta. in your condo at the Madison Club, which seems like a pretty fun place to hang out What kind of hang is this place It's the best hang. It's the best modern day golf experience fromrom the food to the pristine practice facilities to the golf course, it's really a fun place to come spend time, but you know, there's a lot of drinking, it's a lot of gambling. It's just a fun place to be a member. And Phil had this bachelor pad, that was the vibe anyway that was up in the in the clubhouse, you know, dark leather furniture, every wall was covered with photos from his career, tons of golf equipment. He would spend December and January kind of tuning up for the PJ Tour season because the weather was perfect out there that time of year. You'd spend a lot of time in March there getting ready for the masters and I talk to members, I talk to employees They said they almost never saw Amy there. like She would bring the kids, they wouldd go to the Coachella music Festival and they would stay there. but that was pretty much the only time they ever saw Amy on the property And so Every person I talked to associated with the club, the members, the employees, you know said at some point, Phil started you know, having overnight guests in the in this this little condo he had. Amy was not on the property and Phil would go out to play golf and He would have breakfast delivered to the front door. Funny enough, they rembered the order. It was a veggie omelette and an almond milk lte. He'd go out and play, the food would be delivered to whomever was still staying And that's how everyone described it And so At some point, the club management gets a phone call from, you know, the Michkelson's wealth management firm and they say They want the condo sold and the membership terminated. and Phil's no longer you know, going to be a member at the Masing Club. And this all happens very hastily. neverever says goodbye. You know, people there loved him. includluding the employees, and it was just like Phil was just overnight, he was gone And so then he starts consolidating a lot of his golf at the bridges. you know That was in his backyard, essentially in Rancho Santa Fe where the family home was. and they'd been members there for a long time He paid his monthly dues and he used the club a lot and the family would go there for Thanksgiving, dinner, and He was a very regular presence at the bridges , you know, talking to multiple, multiple members They said You know, all of a sudden Things were just different. He became close with with a guy who owned a big house on the course and he was going over to that house a lot And then his members said, you know, he would feel would give his phone to this cart boy paying five hundred dollars to drive his phone around for three or four hours. It would look like if anyone were to track his phone, Oh, he's on the third hole. He's on the sixth hole. He's on the seventh hole. And that would give fill some onshoper own free time. And so That thing about the phone was corroborated by all the members One told me it wasn't just the cardboys like Um you know, if you just put it in a member's cart and say, Hey, I'm gonna leave my phone here. I'll catch up you on the back nine. and you a couple hours later he'd zoom out there and play a little golf and grab his phone. So I need to stop for a second and just understand plan here because this rumor, by the way, is also something that I had heard way more abstractly that like, hey, you ever heard the story about how Phil Micholson basically hides what he's doing from his wife at one of the golf clubs he belongs to by giving his phone. to a cartboy to just like drive around And so the GPS tracker that presumably Amy Miichkelson could check was showing a guy on the course as opposed to a guy not on the course, perhaps Allegedly doing things that his wife would not want ively conscripting all of these people Ke to not only keep but to Create The secret. Thinking none of this will come back to bite me at some point is mind blowing in every way Especially in a small cloistered little community like Rancho Santa Fe, you know, the members knew about this. obbviously at least one club employee knew about it. and in talking to all of them, they they said, At some point, this all kind of blew up And all of a sudden Phil was no longer coming around the club and then his membership got transferred to Zandra softly because Phil wasn't using it. And so You have the Masison club, you have the bridges, you have the farms. These are three elite golf clubs All of a sudden Pil iss no longer a member. and he used all of them. He loved to play golf at all of them. He was a fixture at all of them. The reason he left the clubs had nothing to do with like, he didn't like the Green speeds anymore or felt like the range balls were substandard. you know, it was all related to his personal conduct. So again, it's part of this larger pattern. Each individual case is not necessarily a red flag. People leave golf clubs. It happens for whatever reason. pattern of behavior It's telling. So that's how I was able to bring the light. and At the masing club, I had four sources, at the bridges, I had four sources. and these were not Random members like, oh, I once saw Phil across the locker room and he waved at me. Like these were guys who played golf with Phil They had been to his house, that they were close to Phil and Building the story around all these details and all these different places and all these different people. I think in the end, that's why Phil didn't really contest any of it after we sent him the fact checking and the request for comment is because the totality of the report he's so big. and Where he's playing his golf now, nobody knows he's still a member at Del Mar. He's always going to find a game somewhere. but It's stunning that he can no longer go to his favorite golf clubs. 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And how is it that he keeps finding himself in these scenarios, the equivalent, as you put it, of a guy who's trapped in a bunker and there's a miracle shot out there Maybe Yeah, there's a quote in the sccratch story that is really sums it all up. And again, this the guy played a lot of golf with Phil. they they had a few business enterprises and he said he's just a dopamine addict He said, Phil does everything for the dopamine The way he plays the game. The gambling you know, chasing chicks on the road in his formulation Even going to live golf, he just needs action at all times. He just needs the dopamine I have a a mind that kind of dives into things all in that we talk about. And I think it's a very positive thing, but it can be a negative thing. I've never tried a recreational drug in my life because I am scared out of my mind that if I were to ever try something like that, I could easily get dive right down that path and be all in on that And It tracks, you know. the alleged incident where he he's propositioning this woman at dinner surrounded by other diners, like there was probably some sort of thrill in that because you you're violating these social mores and your going with your public image and you see this this this through line and in his in his behavior on the golf course for sure And all the other hijinks, even sable offshore, you know there's probably other ways you can invest money, but there's something thrilling about this high wire act of tryrying to get the pres of the United States to advocate for you and trying to circumvent Gavin Newsom and like, you know, put the money in T boonss There's ways to make money. There is no golfer that it turns out is less like a mutual fund than Phil Michkelson becausecause the Sable offffshore story, which is how we started this now ongoing series about Phil Michkelson, againg, for those not familiar, Phil Michkeollson became an investor in this oil and gas company named Sable Offshore. It controls oil drilling platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara. We did this episode with the reporting of Sam Kaplman and Hunbrook Media. It resulted in turns out a newly relevant chat message involving Big Daddy Trump And Donald Trump's genitalia, which will just flash on screen here for those who are watching on YouTube And at last check, the paperwork that Sable Oftshore filed with the SEC They had to admit that they received subpoenas from the DOJ from the SEC related to some of the information reported in that episode by Hunterbrook And then last week, just last week There's this political headline, quote, Here's how a small oil company became a weapon in Trump's assault on California And quote, detailing the political fight that Trump is waging against Governor Gevin Newsom, talks about how the Trump administration via executive order, restarted the pumping of this oil, raising various environmental and regulatory concerns And that's not even getting, of course, to The other I would say Middle East driven concern with Lve Golf, which is its own saga that we've also covered here It raises the question, Alan, of are Phil's colleagues, his friends, the people he's known forever Is this surprising? or maybe even more pointedly, how do they feel about this guy now in your understanding Fil's always been polarizing. and when my book came out in twenty twenty two, I had players