PGA Tour veteran Colt Knost joined The Action Network Golf Podcast on Wednesday and did not disappoint. We all love gambling stories, and Knost had a gem about — you guessed it — Phil Mickelson.
Let me set the stage. Knost, Mickelson, Ben Crane and an anonymous TV writer were playing at the Madison Club in La Quinta, California. And let's just say this writer wasn't exactly a scratch golfer.
Lefty insisted on playing with Crane, leaving Knost and the high-handicap writer to pair up in a money match, with the latter getting 24 strokes. As Knost puts it, this writer was only driving the ball 200 yards, so they wanted him to be able to play a tee up. Can't have an amateur playing from the 7,400-yard back tees at the Madison Club against tour pros.
Phil was reluctant at first, but eventually agreed. They teed off the first hole, with the writer getting about a 30-yard advantage. The second hole comes around, and the gap between the tee boxes is not quite as far.
By the fourth or fifth hole, the tee boxes were just a few yards apart, and Phil shot Colt a look.
It was at that point, Colt realized what was going on.
"This son of a bitch …"
Phil had called the pro shop and had them move all of the tees the writer was playing closer to the tips, taking away the slight advantage Knost and his teammate thought they were getting.
The rest was history. "They wore us out," said Knost. "Luckily my guy took all of my action. … That was a veteran play by Phil and a very impressive one. Not many people would have the balls to call the pro shop and do that."
The lesson? When you bet vs. Phil Mickelson, you have to keep your head on a swivel.
To listen to the whole story, download/subscribe to the podcast (the convo starts around the 27:30 mark).
