Country music star Jake Owen has some pretty strong ties to the game of golf.
Before becoming world-famous for his singing, Owen was on the path to professional golf. Owen was recruited to Florida State to play on the same Seminole golf team that would eventually prove to be the jumping-off point for PGA Tour stars Paul Azinger, Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger among others before a wakeboarding accident derailed his dreams.
Now that he’s found success in another walk of life, Owen has become a mainstay on Tour at many pro-am events as well as dipping his toes in the water of professional golf last year at the Web.com Tour’s Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation where he missed the cut by 31 strokes.
That closeness to the game has allowed Owen to form some pretty good friendships with the likes of Jordan Spieth, which is why Owen found himself at the three-time major champion’s wedding last November across the room from another golf superstar, Phil Mickelson.
Spieth’s wedding took place on November 24th, the day after Phil Mickelson defeated Tiger Woods in “The Match,” the made-for-television, one-on-one, winner-take-all $9 million faceoff.
Like many golf fans, Owen shelled out the pay-per-view money for the event and came away disappointed by the level of golf that was played. Thanks to a little liquid courage, as Owen told the Barstool Sports Fore Play podcast, he went over to Mickelson himself to demand a refund.
This @jakeowen story about going up to Phil Mickelson at Jordan Spieth’s wedding is just a taste of maybe the best interview we’ve ever done. Just unbelievably good stories from this legend.
Out tomorrow. Subscribe here so you don’t miss it: https://t.co/iWCoCjTnGo pic.twitter.com/3dhWFtloat
— Riggs (@RiggsBarstool) April 1, 2019
“I’d had a few cocktails and I saw him across the room and I was like, ‘I gotta go tell this guy what I think,'” Owen explained. “I walked over to him and I was like, ‘Hey Phil, you owe me f—— $29.99 for wasting four hours of my life with the sh——- golf I’ve ever seen.
“You guys hyped this whole thing up about this big match. You couldn’t even make three birdies between the two of you. I want my $29.99 back and apologize to me for some sh—- golf.’
“He pulls out a wad out of his thing and he grabs a $100 bill and he’s like, ‘I won 90,000 of these yesterday. Take a 100 and go f— yourself.'”
Owen swore that the story was true, but in order for it to be confirmed, Phil had to weigh in, but that didn’t take too long.
True story?
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) April 2, 2019
“True story,” Mickelson tweeted alongside a smiley face emoji.
