Phil Mickelson — Masters champion and master manipulator

Johannesburg — Phil Mickelson has three Masters titles to his name, but following his disingenuous apology about his comments concerning the Saudi Golf League (SGL) on Tuesday — he can add a fourth title to his name but this one should be called master manipulator.

In the six paragraph-long apology, for calling the Saudi-backed golf league “scary” with a "horrible record on human rights.”, Mickelson painted himself the victim.

The 51-year-old Mickelson’s controversial comments were published by renowned golf journalist and author Alan Shipnuck. Mickelson made mention during his first paragraph that his comments were made off the record to Shipnuck.

Shipnuck has denied that the comments were off the record tweeting: “The 'off the record' piece of this is completely false and I'll have more to say on that shortly.”

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Respected golf analyst Brandel Chamblee weighed in on the feeble apology in which he felt Mickelson was trying to portray himself as the victim of ‘shady journalism’.

"Just read Phil’s statement, it’s 6 paragraphs, the 1st paragraph sets the stage for him being a victim, the 2nd paragraph is him pretending to be an activist, the 3rd/4th paragraphs are about spin and damage control/money and the 5th and 6th are him saying he’s a good guy,” tweeted Chamblee.

The 'off the record' piece of this is completely false and I'll have more to say on that shortly. https://t.co/7cogbJlneK

Chamblee said much the same in an interview with Golf Central on Tuesday, but also gave great insight into the manipulative nature of Mickelson.

Chamblee said Mickelson had revealed his duplicitous nature after the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in Scotland.