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Phil Mickelson made a major decision about his golf career as misconduct allegations mount. Here’s what happened and what it means.<\/p>\n
Phil Mickelson has pulled out of the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, his camp confirmed, as a Skratch investigation by writer Alan Shipnuck<\/a> detailed a pattern of alleged inappropriate conduct stretching back more than a decade.<\/p>\n Mickelson\u2019s decision marks a major moment in his decorated golf career, as 2026 will now become the first year in which the six-time major winner<\/a> has failed to appear in any of the four major tournaments.<\/p>\n The Open withdrawal decision was reportedly made around June 18, roughly two weeks before it became public, but the timing coincided with the publication of the Shipnuck report, which revealed that Mickelson had suddenly departed or been removed from three separate golf clubs since 2021.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Mickelson\u2019s Open Withdrawal Completes Unprecedented 2026<\/p>\n Mickelson, 56, won the Claret Jug at Muirfield in 2013 and entered Royal Birkdale\u2019s field as a past champion. The exit is the first Open he will miss since 2009, when he skipped Turnberry to be with his wife, Amy, during her breast cancer treatment<\/a>, according to a Telegraph report.<\/p>\n In 2026, Mickelson missed the Masters, citing a family health matter, according to CBS Sports\u2018 Patrick McDonald<\/a>. He withdrew from the PGA Championship at Aronimink, according to Yahoo Sports\u2018 Ryan Young<\/a>, and was absent from the U.S. Open, where his five-year exemption from the 2021 PGA Championship had expired and the USGA did not extend a special invitation.<\/p>\n A spokesperson offered the same explanation for the Open.<\/p>\n \u201cPhil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf,\u201d according to Golf Digest\u2018s Joel Beall and Tod Leonard<\/a>.<\/p>\n GettyPat Perez and his wife, Ashley Perez, are shown at a golf event.<\/p>\n Phil Mickelson Misconduct Allegations<\/p>\n Golf Digest reported in June<\/a> that Mickelson had been removed midround from The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, following accusations of nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact with a female employee. Club officials confronted him on the course and told him to leave before finishing his round.<\/p>\n \u201cThis individual is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club,\u201d the club said. A Mickelson spokesperson confirmed he had resigned.<\/p>\n The golfer\u2019s attorney, Tom Clare, disputed the account, claiming the events were \u201csquarely contradicted by objective, video evidence.\u201d The club countered that no cameras existed in the relevant area. No criminal complaint was filed.<\/p>\n The Shipnuck report drew on 19 sources<\/a> and independent fact-checking. A central allegation involves a 2015 incident at The Barclays tournament. Ashley Perez, then married to tour veteran Pat Perez, told Shipnuck that Mickelson showed her an explicit photo of himself and then propositioned her while Pat stepped away from the table during dinner. She said she told her husband of the alleged incident after the tournament concluded.<\/p>\n Pat Perez addressed the incident during a 2022 podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cPhil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable,\u201d he said. \u201cHe apologized for the action, but I cannot forgive him.\u201d Mickelson later called to apologize and, in a recorded conversation, said he was \u201cdisgusted and embarrassed\u201d in himself, as quoted by Shipnuck in Skratch.<\/p>\n Ashley Perez explained why she spoke on the record.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a culture of silence that keeps women from coming forward,\u201d she said, as quoted by Shipnuck. \u201cWith Phil, you\u2019re dealing with an egotistical narcissist. Phil will keep going until he gets caught. If Phil\u2019s behavior is ever going to change, he has to understand the trauma he has caused.\u201d<\/p>\n Clare\u2019s response declined to contest individual claims directly.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the allegations circulating about Mr. Mickelson are false, and others revisit mistakes he has already acknowledged, publicly or privately,\u201d the attorney\u2019s statement read. \u201cStacking the disputed claims next to the ones he has owned does not make them credible.\u201d<\/p>\n No criminal charges have been filed in connection with any of the allegations in the reporting.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tJonathan Vankin<\/a> JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist who covers MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, boxing, golf, and Olympic sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Newspaper and Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering the Olympics, pro baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Phil Mickelson made a major decision about his golf career as misconduct allegations mount. Here’s what happened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-764603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/phil-mickelson-allegation-perez-resurfaces.jpg\")
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