Xander Schauffele and Phil Mickelson Share Incredible Betting Story

Fresh off his improbable win at the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson shared an incredible story from when he was playing with fellow San Diego native Xander Schauffele during last year’s quarantine.

"We played a match and he went out and shot 64 and I'm like, 'Wow, all right. You gave me a pretty good beating, let's do this again,'" Mickelson told the media at last week's Charles Schwab Challenge. "So a few days later, we went and played again and he shot 63. I'm like, 'Wow. OK. Let's try one more time.'"

The third round against Schauffele hurt Mickelson in the chequebook once again, but this time it came down to the par 3 16th hole. Mickelson played out of turn and hit his tee shot to within four feet of the pin. Schauffele followed it up by hitting a hole-in-one.

After Mickelson shared the story, Schauffele was later asked to give his own breakdown of what happened.

"I'm letting him know that I could make him re-hit, since it's match play, but since he was getting his butt kicked, I figured I would let him hit it to 4 feet and not make him re-hit," he said. "But it was just funny. I wasn't really a guy to make too many hole-in-ones, and I kind of pulled a 6-iron toward the water a little bit, fell right in line with the pin and then trickled in.”

The best part of the story is imagining Mickelson’s reaction, losing to Schauffele for the third time that day, but this time it came via an ace on the 16th hole.

"And Phil just sat -- there's a little mound behind the tee box, and he just sat there, looking down on the ground, shaking his head," Schauffele said. "He just really didn't know what to do with himself. So I found that pretty entertaining."

We know by now that Phil isn’t scared of putting some money down on a match, but he certainly left the course that day with his pockets a little bit lighter.

Mickelson and Schauffele will be playing in their backyards at this year’s US Open, which is set to be held in San Diego at Torrey Pines. Lefty will have a chance to complete the career grand slam, if he can manage to win the elusive event. This time last month, many people would have said it was impossible, but after winning the PGA Championship, Phil’s odds to win the event skyrocketed up to +5000.

Schauffele, despite winning a chunk of change from Mickelson on the course last summer, is still seeking his first major victory, after notching six top-5 finishes. WynnBET has his odds to win the US Open set at +1750.