Phil Mickelson Is Pissed At The Kid Who Won A Bunch Of Money Off Him Then Yapped To The Media About It

CBS Sports- Do you remember Ryan Ruffels? The teenage Australian superstar who just turned pro allegedly said he took $5,000 off Phil Mickelson in a practice round and then tried to take it back. Not that Mickelson wouldn’t have been good for it. In a recent survey about how much cash golfers carry, Mickelson said he was carrying around $8,100 at the time of the question. But we still don’t know how much (if any) he had to pay Ruffels. Mickelson addressed this on Wednesday at the Farmers Insurance Open. “He’s young,” Mickelson said of Ruffels. “He’s got some things to learn. 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 there are — that’s high school stuff, and he’s going to have to stop doing that now that he’s out on the PGA Tour.” Yikes!

That’s a long-winded way of Phil saying, “Respect your elders” and “Stop snitchin” It’s a good lesson for the young kid. Probably not the way the 17-year-old wanted to start his PGA career but Phil is right. That’s why the story got so much attention when it came out a couple weeks ago. You pretty much never hear pro golfers discuss how much money they’re playing each other for. Do we wanna know?  Of course we do. That’s part of the appeal. Hearing about rich people throwing their money around like it’s nothing always makes for a good story. But that doesn’t mean you go running your mouth to the media about how you took Lefty for 4 figures. Big no no. Gentlemen’s game means gentlemen’s agreements. You especially shouldn’t flap your gums like that when you indulge how much you actually won off the guy.  All sorts of bad ideas from young Ryan Ruffels. He’ll learn. I like Phil in this role as the gatekeeper for professional golfers. There’s a certain way they do things.  Act out? You get your hand slapped. I’m not sure where insider trading falls within those unwritten rules though.

PS- That kid sure did ruffle some feathers, huh? Hate myself but I needed to get it out of my system.