Born: Philip Alfred Mickelson, June 16, 1970 in San Diego, California US
Professional golfer

Mini-Bio:
Won four main championships and 39 events on the PGA tour, ranked second best golfer in the world in multiple years, eleceted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2011. Mickelson started practicing golf wiht his father from an early age, and graduated in golf from the University of State of Arizona in 1992.

Mickelson is a big star in the world of golf and continues to play at a very high standards, making him one of the highest achievers in this sport. Being such a successful and popular sportsman, Mickelson earns a lot of money from endorsements. It is said that he is the second-highest paid athlete in the world, just after Tiger Woods, with an income of over $51 million in 2007!

Phil Mickelson's gambling career
According to golf regulations, a player is prohibited from placing bets on a golf tournament, indeed the rules of PGA clearly mention that a player cannot have any direct or indirect financial interest in the performance or winnings of other players. Mickelson was accused of breaking these rules, and golf magazines went further, they attributed his lower level of performance in the British Open to his involvement in gambling!

Phil Mickelson was also accused of gambling involvement when he predicted on his website that the Baltimore Ravens would win the Super Bowl. This sparked a whole controversy since according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mickelson earned $560,000. He had placed a bet with odds 28-1! 

Apparently, gambling took a lot of his financial successes away. Rumours from the golf world noted that Mickelson changed from Titleist to Callaway last September because he ended up with a considereable amount of gambling debt, which Callaway agreed to pay off.