Legendary six-time major men’s golf champion Phil Mickelson, 56, has forcefully pushed back against a series of misconduct claims published in an investigative report by golf outlet Skratch, with his legal and communications team dismissing the piece as an unfounded, anonymously sourced attack on the golfer’s reputation.
The investigation, conducted by veteran golf journalist Alan Shipnuck, centers on two key sets of allegations: first, that Mickelson is no longer welcome at three private golf clubs across California due to repeated inappropriate behavior directed at female members and staff; second, a firsthand claim from Ashley Perez, ex-wife of PGA Tour golfer Pat Perez, that Mickelson showed her an explicit photo of himself and made a romantic advance toward her back in 2015.
This latest report follows a separate incident last year where Mickelson resigned from another high-profile California golf club after similar allegations of inappropriate contact with a female employee, claims he has repeatedly denied. In an official statement sent to the New York Post by Mickelson’s representatives, the team addressed the specific claim from Ashley Perez, noting that Skratch’s account omitted critical context that frames the incident as a misunderstanding, one that Mickelson already apologized for years ago.
The statement emphasized that Mickelson’s choice to apologize for the miscommunication should not be interpreted as a guilty plea to all the accusations leveled against him in the investigation. On the claim that he was forced out of multiple California golf clubs, Mickelson’s camp flatly denied the allegation, confirming that the golfer never faced expulsion or membership revocation from any club, and all decisions to end his memberships were made voluntarily by Mickelson himself.
Mickelson’s team also raised questions about Skratch’s journalistic credibility, criticizing the outlet’s reliance on unnamed sources and pointing out the publication’s longstanding organizational ties to the PGA Tour — a relationship that takes on new significance given Mickelson’s high-profile 2022 departure from the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-backed breakaway LIV Golf league, where he remains one of the most prominent competing players.
“Credibility is not earned by publishing the most provocative narrative,” the statement read. “It is earned through transparency, verification, and a clear distinction between fact, inference, and speculation.”
Skratch’s leadership has stood firmly behind its work in the wake of Mickelson’s denial. Ben Boskovich, editor-in-chief of Skratch, told the New York Post that the outlet gave Mickelson, his spouse, and his legal team full opportunity to comment on and respond to the allegations before the report was published, following standard journalistic protocol.
For much of 2025, Mickelson has been absent from competitive golf. He has only competed in one LIV Golf event this year, a March tournament hosted in South Africa, and has stepped away from the rest of the circuit to focus on an undisclosed family health matter, per his own previous announcement. Mickelson made history in 2021 when he won the US PGA Championship at age 50, becoming the oldest golfer ever to claim a major men’s championship title.