During A 2016 Tournament Phil Mickelson Made A Bet Involving 'At Least A Comma' That Jon Rahm Would Be Ranked A Top-10 Golfer
[Source] - Like most great golf and betting – and golf betting – stories, this one begins in the locker room of a club, a bunch of golfers passing the time with vivid conversation. More specifically, this club was TPC Southwind in Memphis during a rain delay for the 2016 FedEx St. Jude Classic and the golfers were a group of pros waiting out the weather – a group which included Phil Mickelson and Colt Knost.
The conversation turned to a young amateur named Jon Rahm, whom Mickelson not only knew through his brother, Tim, who coached the young Spaniard at Arizona State, but whom he’d recently played with, impressed by the 62 he posted at Whisper Rock, a private club in Scottsdale
As for the financial total, well, it wasn’t insignificant.
“There was a comma involved,” Knost admits. “Let’s just say it hurt me more than it helped Phil.”
I couldn't love this story more if I tried. It's everything that's perfect about a bet. A ridiculous claim at the time, two guys arguing about it, coming up with odds and then the payout. It's everything that betting with friends needs to be. Sure, hitting the over thanks to a halfcourt heave or some shit is awesome, but my favorite betting stories are ones like these. The ones made with a signature on a napkin or sitting at a bar.
It also just shows that Phil fucking loves gambling. Not that it's a secret or anything, but out here using some insight form his brother coaching at Arizona State about Rahm. It just so happened that Colt Knost was his target and he nailed it. Shit he even got 2:1 odds! That seems pretty nice, especially considering there was a comma involved.
I'm not even a huge anti-Rahm guy like I know some others are. I find it hilarious when he loses his mind on the course, because like Trent said, he hired a fucking bomb guy.
Mostly just need him vs Bryson at a Ryder Cup. If I'm stuck with Bryson on Team USA, I want it to be him vs Rahm in a match where both people could fly off the handle. Give me an element of a golf fight happening. I want to hate Rahm during Ryder Cup's like we all end up rooting for Reed during them. The European team has too many guys that aren't hatable right now. Like who hates Tommy Fleetwood? No one. Nobody hates Paul Casey or Francesco Molinari or Alex Noren.
But imagine being Colt Knost here. You gotta feel pretty confident that in 2016 Rahm wasn't going to be top-10. Hot take: but it's really fucking hard to be the top-10 in anything let alone the PGA Tour. Then Rahm just starts delivering. Then he quickly wins. You know you're cooked. That's gotta be the worst feeling in the world with this bet. You know you're losing it, there's no miracle late in his career. The dude is just going to be really good.
I need to know what other outrageous bets Phil has made on the course. You know there are at least 10 more that he whiffed on to go with this one win. No doubt about it.