Pat Perez left eating his own words after old embarrassing footage of him taking jibes at Phil Mickelson emerges online
Pat Perez was seemingly left eating his own words out of embarrassment as an old clip of an episode of Golf.com's "Sub Par" podcast went viral on the internet.
Phil Mickelson shocked his fans after leaving the PGA for LIV Golf last year. The American golfer not only moved to the Saudi-backed series but also defended the state of Saudi Arabia, which is known for its lower poor human rights records.
Unsurprisingly, Pat Perez received widespread criticism from his friends and fans, including Phil Mickelson, for his crucial decision.
Perez said on the "Sub Par" podcast:
"He [Mickelson] could have done this in such a different way. He could have gone you know what 'I have been a force on the PGA Tour. God bless the PGA Tour for taking care of me and giving me a place to play. But I feel I want to go down this other route to kinda close out my career. Thank you everybody, it has been phenomenal."
What a difference a year makes https://t.co/HozNJNjgxF
Pat Perez went on to join LIV Golf last year, where he played against Phil Mickelson.
Pat Perez x Phil Mickelson: The feud explained
Pat Perez has been vocal about him hating the oldest PGA Champion. The 4 Aces GC player appeared on Claude Harmon's podcast, Son of a Butch, in which he openly criticized Phil Mickelson, without unveiling the exact reason for the hate.
Perez said:
"When it comes to Phil, I have a different hate for Phil than most people. People won't know the story—I'm not going to go into the story again—but Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable.
Pat Perez went on to explain that if Mickelson apologized to him, he could forgive him. He elaborated:
"He knows that he screwed up. He apologized for the action, but I cannot forgive him for it because I've known Phil for a long, long time. I've known the guy forever. And the fact that when he made this action, not only was it—he had intentions of doing it; he knew it was going to happen before it happened and when he did it—I was hurt, for one. I was like, 'How can this guy do this?."
Tensions between the two turned out to be more intense when Mickelson's biographer Alan Shipnuck revealed that the golfer offended Pat Perez's wife, Ashley.
"But what inspired Perez to spout off on various podcasts lately was Mickelson doing something that deeply offended Perez and his wife, Ashley. I approached Pat a couple of times to see if he’d go on-record, but he declined.
"A handful of players and caddies told me they heard of the incident directly from Perez, but the details are so inflammatory I didn’t feel comfortable putting the story in the book without direct confirmation. This whole situation is still clearly festering with Perez so we’ll see if he chooses to make the details public. If so, that will certainly set off a firestorm."
The controversy between the two made headlines in 2022. However, they are now busy playing in the second season of the LIV Golf.