PGA golfer Phil Mickelson reprimanded teen golfer Ryan Ruffels for embellishing the details of a bet the two made during a recent practice round, while preparing to tee-off in the Farmers Insurance Open in his hometown of San Diego on Thursday.
Ruffles, a 17-year-old Australian, just joined the U.S. PGA Tour as a highly touted future star, skipping college to compete against the best golfers in the world this year, according to Newsmax.
As the story goes, Ruffels took $5,000 off Mickelson in a match while he was visiting the United States as an amateur. In the match, Ruffels was given 2-1 odds with one important clause: If Mickelson won, Ruffels would owe Mickelson $2,500 once he turned pro. If Ruffels would stun the 42-time Tour winner, Mickelson would pay up $5,000, according to The Sidney Morning Herald.
"I was a few down through nine, but then I birdied six of my last seven to win my one shot," Ruffels recalls. "Took his money, so that was pretty cool."
Mickelson choose his words carefully when speaking in front of numerous TV cameras on Wednesday. "He's a very nice person. I met him a month ago, and we played for the first time. He's young, and he's got some things to learn. One of them is you don't discuss certain things," he said, according to Golf.com.
"You don't discuss specifics of what you play for," said Mickelson, "and you certainly don't embellish and create a false amount for your own benefit. So those things right there are high school stuff, and he's going to have to stop doing that now that he's out on the PGA Tour."
