Phil Mickelson’s future on and off the golf course has become even murkier after this week’s damning report about the six-time major champion.
Mickelson, 55, has been kicked out of The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., after allegations that he made nonconsensual “inappropriate contact” with a female employee, according to Golf Digest. Mickelson had been a member at the club for decades.
The report comes as Mickelson’s return to professional golf was already uncertain. He missed the Masters and PGA Championship, and was not in next week’s U.S. Open field. Mickelson last played at LIV Golf’s South Africa event in March, but has been away from competition dealing with what he’s called “a family health matter.”
Regarding the latest incident, a spokesperson for Mickelson told Golf Digest that “any misunderstanding has been cleared up.”
The Farms in a statement to Golf Digest did not mention Mickelson specifically but said in part: “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 is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club.”
Defamation lawyer Tom Clare is representing Mickselon and told Golf Digest: “There is a great deal of misinformation circulating and, while Phil’s full attention is devoted to a private family health matter, he has retained defamation counsel and is determined to hold accountable any publication or individual trafficking in speculation or false rumors.”
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office told The California Post that authorities have “made attempts to locate any evidence to support the potential allegation of a sexual assault” involving Mickelson, but so far “have not located any evidence to show an assault has occurred.”
Mickelson’s Off-Course Struggles
Before this year’s step away from pro golf, Mickelson had played in every major championship since the launch of LIV—dating back to the 2022 U.S. Open. He made the cut in just five of those 14 tournaments, but did finish tied for second at the 2023 Masters.
Mickelson had been a regular fixture at LIV events before this season, although he has never won a tournament in the league.
This week’s news is just the latest chapter in Mickelson’s bumpy off-course happenings recently and throughout his career.
Last fall, Mickelson first hired Clare to help combat fallout from a report that included leaked messages from the professional golfer and led to an offshore oil company launching an independent review of improper insider information potentially being shared. Financial publication Hunterbrook published an article on Oct. 31, 2025, with the headline, “Exclusive: Exxon Spinout Sable Leaked Key Info to Investors Including Golfer Phil Mickelson.”
That situation came nearly a decade after Mickelson was named by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016 insider trading charges against professional sports gambler Billy Walters.
In Walter’s 2023 book Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk, Walters alleged that Mickelson wagered more than $1 billion in sports bets during the past three decades, with Walters and other bookies.
TV Gig, Ryder Cup Captaincy
The downfall for Mickelson, who won 45 times on the PGA Tour, clouds the golfer’s future that at one point appeared to be just as active—and lucrative—as his prime playing days, which saw Mickelson amass $96.72 million in career PGA Tour earnings.
Mickelson has also made more than $10 million in individual earnings on LIV, in addition to a nine-figure signing bonus to join the league in 2022.
With a charismatic personality, Mickelson was once seen as a strong candidate to become golf’s next great TV analyst.
CBS has had one-time Masters champion Trevor Immelman in its booth alongside Jim Nantz since Nick Faldo retired from the network in 2022. NBC has struggled to find a long-term replacement for the legendary Johnny Miller, who retired in 2019. Paul Azinger was in NBC’s booth alongside Dan Hicks for several years; Kevin Kisner is currently in the lead analyst role.
Mickelson was also set to be a U.S. Ryder Cup captain, with many previously circling the 2025 edition at Bethpage Black as the time and place for his debut, a role ultimately given to Keegan Bradley. The PGA of America turned to 2018 U.S. captain Jim Furyk to lead the Americans again in 2027, and there’s been no indication Mickelson will ever get a chance to captain.
