The New LIV Golf Book Claims Tiger Woods Got Phil Mickelson Barred from the Open Champions Dinner at St. Andrews

Al Messerschmidt. Getty Images.

By now most of the golfing world is talking about the upcoming book "LIV and Let Die" (credit where it's due, that's an A+ title in search of a book to put it on) by Alan Shipnuck. 

And why not? For close to two years, the war between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour was one of the great battles of our age. A clash of millionaires where no one was safe.  Relationships were shattered. Reputations torn asunder. Old divisions that had long stayed quiet under an uneasy peace were thrown opened wide. Brother fought against brother. There was collateral damage on both sides. No one was prepared for the radioactive fallout. For sure, none of the LIV Golfers were prepared for the inevitable questions they were inevitably going to be asked about taking dirty money. The PGA way overplayed their hand of self-righteousness since Tour was hardly as pure as Caesar's wife either. And when the hostilities suddenly ended and a truce was declared, it was only a matter of time for all the bad blood that had ensued over these last few years to bubble to the surface.

And so it has begun:

Source - At the height of the rivalry between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour …

 Tiger Woods had Phil Mickelson snubbed from a private dinner during the week of the 150th Open Championship in 2022. … 

According to an excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s upcoming book “LIV and Let Die,” Woods had Mickelson kept out of a private dinner for Open winners held at the R&A clubhouse. 

The Open was taking place shortly after LIV Golf had launched its first event in June 2022, and tensions were high between golfers from the Saudi-backed league and those who remained loyal to the PGA Tour. 

Woods, according to Shipnuuck, took it upon himself to have the defector kept out of the gathering. 

“He talked to a handful of other [past champions] to get their blessing and then went to the R&A and told them, basically, no one wanted Phil there and it would make the night weird and awkward,” one man at the dinner said. “Whose side were they going to take,Tiger’s or Phil’s? That’s an easy choice.”

Personally, I love everything about this. I love golf. I love the Royal & Ancient. I love dinner. And while I might be on an island at this point, I still love Phil Mickelson. But more than anything, I love petty vindictiveness. I love the power and influence Tiger Woods earned over his unparalleled career and his willingness to abuse them for his own pleasure. To flex his muscles to degrade and humiliate a rival, just because he can. 

I mean, this is some real Game of Thrones shit. Enough to make you wonder if they symbolically served sausage.

Exercising power for its own sake. With a mere suggestion, he was able to convince the oldest and most revered golf club in existence that no one would be able to enjoy their Poached Salmon in Dill Creme Sauce if they had to dine in Mickelson's offensive presence. And they went along with it. Just barred Lefty from the premises like he was some Irish Catholic commoner, despite the fact he's an accomplished former champion. 

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That, my friends, is power. There are carvings from ancient Assyria that depict their king Ashurbanipal dining in the garden with his wives while the severed head of the conquered Elamite king hangs from a tree. Because it made the dinner that much more enjoyable to be able to see first hand just how much you ruled the world. Mickelson should be grateful Tiger didn't demand the same, because the R&A would've complied without hesitation. 

If this is just a taste of what's to come, the stories coming out of this book are going to be wild.