Tiger Woods 'orchestrated' Phil Mickelson getting blocked from Open dinner

Alan Shipnuck reveals Phil Mickelson was "snubbed" from the Open Dinner at St Andrews as a result of Tiger Woods' comment to the R&A.

Andy Roberts

04 Oct 2023

Tiger Woods 'orchestrated' Phil Mickelson getting blocked from Open dinner

Tiger Woods was reportedly the man responsible for getting LIV Golf's Phil Mickelson blocked from attending the Champions Dinner ahead of the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews last summer, according to Alan Shipnuck.

Woods is said to have rounded up a number of past Open champions to get their verdict on getting Mickelson removed from the dinner at the Home of Golf in July 2022.

This was at a time when Mickelson had led a group of big-name PGA Tour players away from the circuit to join forces with the new Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf League.

After all siding with Woods to get Mickelson blocked from the Champions Dinner, the 15-time major champion then went to the R&A.

As it turned out, the R&A sided with Woods' call and Mickelson was banned from attending the event.

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman was also refused an invite.

Golf writer Shipnuck revealed such news about Woods and Mickelson in an exclusive excerpt from his new book, LIV and Let Die.

Here's what Shipnuck wrote about Woods' involvement in getting Mickelson blocked from the Champions Dinner at St Andrews:

"The following week brought the 150th Open. It was supposed to be a joyous celebration of the game’s oldest championship and most historic venue, but everyone was edgy during Open week. Mickelson was snubbed from a private dinner for Open winners held in the R&A clubhouse. Woods orchestrated that. '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,” says one of the men at the dinner. 'Whose side were they going to takeTiger’s or Phil’s? That’s an easy choice.'"

Shipnuck's latest book is said to bring to life PGA Tour commissioner "Jay Monahan's moment of truth" as well as the "backstage bitchiness and the complex forces threatening the framewrok agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf."

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