Phil Mickelson finally speaks in wake of insider trading mess
Phil Mickelson sort of skirted around the law recently, and it cost him a lot of money
By
Kyle Porter
•
1 min read
For the first time, Phil Mickelson spoke publicly about the recent insider trading semi-scandal he was involved in, the one which caused him to pay back $1 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission after profiting from an insider tip by gambler William "Billy" Walters on Dean Foods.
"I'd like to say that I'm disappointed to have been a part of that whole thing, but after a thorough investigation, I'm pleased that it's behind me, that it's over,'' Mickelson told ESPN on Wednesday.
"I have to be responsible for the people I associated with. Going forward, I'll make the best effort I can to make sure I represent myself as well as my family as well as my companies in that way that I want to and they deserve. I just think that I need to be more careful because as a representative of companies, which I take a lot of pride in, those relationships mean a lot to me, and I need to make sure that I represent them as well as myself in the best way possible."
This is of course code for I really don't want to lose my sponsors. In fact, Lefty has not lost any of his sponsors in light of the events, though some have suggested that he should at the very least be disciplined by the PGA Tour for violating the rules forbidding players from "associating" with gamblers -- or pretty much the exact definition of what Mickelson was doing.
This story seems put to bed but it feels far from that. The PGA Tour will likely have the last word, publicly or otherwise, which means we might see Mickelson take a break from golf after "injuring himself lifting his jet ski."
