"Didn’t know it was Phil Mickelson” - Charles Barkley reveals how he unknowingly kept putting off a golf invite from the 6x major champ"

NBA legend Charles Barkley recently shared a hilarious story of his first encounter with Phil Mickelson. He revealed that he unknowingly put off playing golf with the six-time major champion for a while and didn't realize it till months later.

Barkley was recently featured in an episode of The Smylie Show with Smylie Kaufman. During the discussion, he told the story of meeting Amy, who was Mickelson’s girlfriend at the time. She suggested that Barkley should play golf with her boyfriend, but the NBA star didn't know who her boyfriend was and tried to get out of it.

“Amy says, ‘Hey, let’s get to know each other and hang out.’ Then she goes, ‘Would you play golf with my boyfriend one day?’ I’m like, ‘Sure,’ just blowing it off, just trying to deflect. I didn’t know it was Phil Mickelson,” he said.

The 11-time NBA All-Star revealed that the back and forth went on for about three to four months. Each time, he managed to get out of it because he didn't want to play golf with some “random dude.” Eventually, Amy mentioned that her boyfriend was playing on the Tour, which prompted Barkley to say,

“I’m like, ‘Tour? I thought you said he was in college.’ She says, ‘Yeah, he gets some exemptions.’ I ask, “What’s your boyfriend’s name?” She says, ‘Phil Mickelson.’”

The 62-year-old sports analyst was shocked to hear that his friend was dating Mickelson, and asked her why she didn't mention his name sooner. He immediately cleared his schedule, saying that they could go and play a round the very next day.

Charles Barkley laughed while recalling the incident. He shared that every day after that, he jokingly told Mickelson to tell his wife to start the conversation with, “My boyfriend, Phil Mickelson, wants to play golf with you.”

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When Charles Barkley gushed about being ‘guaranteed to have fun’ around Phil Mickelson

In 2022, Phil Mickelson’s biography, Phil: The Rip-Roaring (And Unauthorized) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar, was published. The author, Alan Shipnuck, wrote about how Charles Barkley often compared Phil Mickelson to Tiger Woods, saying that the former was more fun to interact with.

“Sure. Tiger is a better golfer. You're just in awe of his talent. But it’s not fun to be around him… When you're with Phil, you're guaranteed to have fun,” Barkley said.

The former pro basketball player noted that Mickelson has “lasted so long” because he's had a joyful life. He added that everyone around the 45-time PGA Tour winner is always smiling because they've been positively impacted by him.

On the other hand, Mickelson also shared the same sentiment towards Barkley. He said the former pro basketballer has a quick wit and is one of the funniest people he knows.