He’s still grinning, despite having had two painful hernia operations in the off season. And why not… A new study by the London School of Marketing says that Phil Mickelson is now the third most marketable sportsman in the world, behind Roger Federer and LeBron James.

Apparently, thanks to deals with Callaway, Rolex, Exxon. KPMG, Amgen and Barclays Mickelson earned £41 million off the course last season, without a win. Fourth on the list was Tiger Woods who earned £37 million, despite only teeing up once. Rory McIlroy was 6th on the list and Jordan Spieth joint 8th.

In Forbes List of all time highest paid athletes golfers make up a quarter of the top 20.

Woods, the late Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have all accumulated fortunes of over a billion dollars.

Mickelson at $760 million and Greg Norman at $680 million are also in the top twenty, ahead of Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Gareth Bale, David Beckham, Usain Bolt, Ronaldi, Neymar, Kobe Bryant, Ronaldi and Lionel Messi.

So with all this lucre, why does Phil keep on trying to lose it all on his bets, makes no sense at all.