Pat Perez: 'I have a different hate for Phil than most people'

Fellow LIV Golf player Pat Perez may have joined Phil Mickelson as one of many TOUR players to leave for the rival circuit, but they certainly aren't friends, according to the former.

While on an episode of Claude Harmon's podcast "Son of a Butch" that was released earlier this week, Perez mentioned an incident between them that caused the lack of relationship he has with the major champion.

"When it comes to Phil, I have a different hate for Phil than most people," Perez said, according to Golf Digest's Tod Leonard. "People won't know the story - I'm not going to go into the story again - but Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable."

Perez previously revealed his problems with Mickelson on Colt Knost's podcast in February, according to Leonard.

"He knows that he screwed up," Perez added while speaking to Harmon. "He apologized for the action, but I cannot forgive him for it because I've known Phil for a long, long time. I've known the guy forever.

"And the fact that when he made this action, not only was it - he had intentions of doing it, he knew it was going to happen before it happened - and when he did it, I was hurt, for one. I was like, 'How can this guy do this?'"

Both Mickelson and Perez went to Arizona State University, but at different times, and both played in a considerable number of LIV Golf events out of the eight in 2022.

Perez was a part of Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces GC that clinched the team championship in LIV's season-ending event last month, while Mickelson's Hy Flyers had been defeated by Cameron Smith's Punch GC in the first day's quarterfinals.