Phil Mickelson wasn’t a happy camper when the “Kid-Gate” subject was brought up this week at Torrey Pines.
You will remember the report in an Aussie newspaper that Mickelson allegedly lost $5,000 in a golf course wager with 17-year-old Ryan Ruffels.
You knew it wasn’t over after the kid’s new management company came out and declared that Ruffels may have exaggerated (lied his butt off) about his encounter with Mickelson.
Well, Lefty let him have it with both barrels this week at Torrey Pines.
“He’s young and he’s got things to learn,” Mickelson said tersely. “One of them is you don’t discuss certain things. You don’t discuss specifics of what you play for. And you certainly don’t embellish and create a false amount just for your own benefit. So those things right they are high school stuff and he’s going to have to stop doing that now that he’s out on the PGA Tour.”
Yikes!
Lefty was bent out of shape, no doubt about that.
The kid wasn’t shaken by it. He made his professional debut on Thursday and managed to shoot 70 on the North course at the Farmers, outplaying both Rickie Fowler and Jason Day.
Not a bad start in the least.
As for Mickelson firing away with the “high school stuff” line, well Mickelson should have understood when he first encountered the kid that Ruffels is 17-years-old.
Ruffels IS a high school kid.
So hey, Lefty, what did you expect?
