“You’ll see I paid him 13.9%” – Phil Mickelson ridicules fan dubbing him a ‘dirtbag’ for not paying ex-caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay
On Tuesday, September 19, Phil Mickelson reiterated on Twitter that he had paid his former caddie of 25 years, Jim 'Bones' Mackay, more than the average cut, and he showed financial records as evidence.
Mickelson and Bones ended their 25-year partnership in 2017. A lot of reports claimed that he had a debt of over $900,000 to Bones, which remained unpaid for over a decade. This financial dispute led to Bones terminating Mickelson's contract, bringing an end to their longstanding relationship.
Despite Mickelson's multiple claims that he paid Bones more than the average rate, many fans remain unconvinced and continue to raise the same question.
On Monday, September 18, the six-time major champion announced on Twitter that he wouldn't be gambling in this year's NFL season.
While most responses were related to his announcement, a user named Janet Hellberg brought up the old question of Phil not paying his caddie.
She wrote:
"Have you paid Bones what he earned yet? Only a dirtbag would not pay his caddy. After all he did to help you. I’ll start to believe your post here when you publicly admit how you screwed him."
This caught the attention of the 53-year-old golfer, and he responded to her with the documents as evidence. He said:
"Janet. Not sure where you got your ridiculous information. Here you go. You’ll see I paid him 13.9% which is $1 million more than the going rate.
"The reason is, I chose to pay him money from my retirement account which I’ve not yet received but chose to anyways. I don’t know another pro who does this."
How many titles have Phil Mickelson and Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay won together? Partnership explored
Bones has been carrying Justin Thomas' bag for five years now. However, prior to that, he was on Mickelson's team, which is one of the longest golfer-caddie partnerships in history.
Bones came on board as Phil Mickelson's caddie in 1992 and remained with him until 2017. In this time period, the golfer won 41 PGA Tour victories, including five major championships. He also played in 11 Ryder Cups and 11 Presidents Cups.
Here's a look at all the wins on the PGA Tour by Phil Mickelson and Bones:
1993:
- Buick Invitational of California
- The International
1994:
- Mercedes Championships
1995:
- Northern Telecom Open (2)
1996:
- Nortel Open (3)
- Phoenix Open
- GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic
- NEC World Series of Golf
1997:
- Bay Hill Invitational
- Sprint International (2)
1998:
- Mercedes Championships (2)
- AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
2000:
- Buick Invitational (2)
- BellSouth Classic
- MasterCard Colonial
- The Tour Championship
2001:
- Buick Invitational (3)
- Canon Greater Hartford Open
2002:
- Bob Hope Chrysler Classic
- Canon Greater Hartford Open (2)
2004:
- Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (2)
- Masters Tournament
2005:
- FBR Open (2)
- AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (2)
- BellSouth Classic (2)
- PGA Championship
2006:
- BellSouth Classic (3)
- Masters Tournament (2)
2007:
- AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (3)
- The Players Championship
- Deutsche Bank Championship
2008:
- Northern Trust Open
- Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (2)
2009:
- Northern Trust Open (2)
- WGC-CA Championship
- The Tour Championship (2)
2010:
- Masters Tournament (3)
2011:
- Shell Houston Open
2012:
- AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (4)
2013:
- Waste Management Phoenix Open (3)
- Open Championship