"Whatever" - Mickelson Responds To Morikawa Jibe

Lefty responded after Morikawa joked that the six-time Major winner made up his stories

Collin Morikawa pictured during his Ryder Cup press conference
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Lefty responded after Morikawa joked that the six-time Major winner made up his stories

Phil Mickelson responded simply "whatever" after Collin Morikawa joked in his Ryder Cup press conference that he doesn't believe some of the stories he tells.

"No, I'm definitely not one of them. I'm 24 and I have maybe like a fraction if not zero of the stories say Phil Mickelson has," Morikawa answered after being asked if he is one of Team USA's best story-tellers.

"Phil obviously is a great story-teller. I don't know if he's telling the truth at this point.

"You get to a certain age and you kind of just -- you make stuff up, and I have a hard time believing some of the stuff I heard, but it is what it is."

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On the subject of story-telling, the two-time Major winner said he overheard an intense conversation between Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau, which he later revealed was about wedges.

"They're all amazing guys, and they're really smart," he said of his teammates.

"I mean, I just chimed in on a -- I wasn't even talking, I was listening to a conversation with Jordan and Bryson last night at our dinner, and the things they were talking about are things that I've never talked about with my friends or other golfers I even play with.

"Just say in college, it's crazy the level of knowledge these guys have for the game because they love it so much and they're interested, and that's what I love to do, and I just kind of peeked my ear in and kind of figure out what they're talking about."

Morikawa is one of six rookies for the US side this week, which is the most since 2008 when Paul Azinger's team triumphed over Nick Faldo's Europeans.

The American will likely be paired with Dustin Johnson for at least some of the sessions, having looked at the USA's pairings over the first two practice days.

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV