Amy Mickelson is back in the spotlight because Ashley Perez says Phil Mickelson texted her like a friend, then showed her a naked photo of himself during the 2015 Barclays tournament and invited her to his bedroom. The allegation did not stay private: it later reached Pat Perez, then returned to public view in November 2022.
Ashley Perez and Phil Mickelson
Ashley Perez said the messages began with good morning texts and built from there. She said, “I was so young and innocent. I’m just this girl from Oklahoma and it’s like, I can’t believe Phil Mickelson wants to be my buddy! And he’s sending me good morning texts! Looking back now, it definitely feels like I was being groomed.”
She also said Mickelson arranged for Pat Perez and Ashley to move to his expansive villa at Liberty National Golf Course. On the night she described, Pat Perez and Ashley Perez stayed up drinking red wine with him on the patio before she said he showed her a full-body picture of himself naked with an erection while flexing one bicep.
Plainfield Country Club in Edison
The backdrop was the 2015 Barclays tournament at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, NJ. Mickelson was staying nearby at Liberty National Golf Course, where he was a member, and Ashley Perez said he called her, not Pat Perez, to say he had arranged the move.
She said Mickelson then told her, “I’m going to leave my bedroom door open tonight. When Pat falls asleep I want you to come see me.” Ashley Perez told Pat Perez about the photo at the conclusion of the tournament, turning what had been a private exchange into a problem inside two marriages that had already been tied together by golf.
Pat Perez and Ashley Perez
Pat Perez later said on Claude Harmon’s podcast in November 2022 that Mickelson crossed the line with him. “I have a different hate for Phil than most people. And people won’t know the story—I’m not gonna go into the story again—but Phil crossed the line with me that is just uncrossable and unforgivable. He knows that he screwed up. He apologized for the action, but I cannot forgive him for it,” he said.
After those comments went viral, Mickelson called Pat Perez again to apologize. Ashley Perez still has a recording of the call and allowed the interviewer to listen to it. During the 26-minute phone call, he alternated between contrition and saying he did not remember the details of that night, and when Pat Perez said Mickelson had shown Ashley a naked photo of himself, he replied, “You mean topless?”
Mickelson also apologized directly to both Pat Perez and Ashley Perez on the call, saying, “I can’t tell you how disgusted and embarrassed I am in myself.” The record now leaves the key facts in one place: the 2015 allegation, the later apology, and the recorded conversation that brought the dispute back into view years after the tournament ended.
