Phil Mickelson's Block Binge

Freaking out over critiques of his anti-PGA Tour comments and Saudi support, Mickelson dismantles his good-guy image.

You may have noticed that Phil Mickelson is acting a little strange these days.

He lashed out at the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed.”

Mickelson made up stuff about paying rights fees out of his pocket. And dropped a loopy claim of $20 billion in unrealized digital profits that some seed money guru planted in his head.

He even raised a few decent points.

But then Mickelson dragged his friends at Augusta National into rage over not having made enough money. While that last claim was at least worthy of deeper consideration in conversations about purse payouts—since he claims the club reportedly made $3.5 million licensing his 2010 shot off the pine needles—raising such a thorny topic with GolfDigest.com’s man in Saudi Arabia may prove to be Phil’s greatest Masters blunder.

The total package of weirdness may alter the trajectory of his post-playing days.

Since sounding off from a country where they do much worse than block people they don’t like, Mickelson’s comments have been analyzed from all corners. And the reaction to his Saudi-leaning ways has not been positive. Nor has he received much sympathy for his perceived lost revenues at the hands of the PGA Tour.

So while on a long-planned skiing trip in Montana, Mickelson took time out from his va-cay to go on a blocking binge. He reacted to various media members from outlets of all shapes and sizes, but also blocked every day fans, fun-loving influencers like Sam Harrop, and even one of more thoughtful young players, Meghan McLaren, who sounded very rational about Mickelson’s diatribe in the land of beheadings:

Phil also won’t be doing the No Laying Up pod anytime soon.

No Laying Up @NoLayingUp

I just can't believe I did that. I'm such an idiot.

I was included in this wave of media blocks, as were NLU’s Big Randy and GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall to name just a few. Many others before us had already been placed on Phil’s banned list.

You know, this reminds me: Herbert Warren Wind never got blocked by Tom Kite!

Take that, Herb.

Most remarkable in Lefty’s lashing may be the number of casual fans who were prevented from seeing future Coffee For Wellness plugs.