The Golf Watch

A sad day, Amy Mickelson diagnosed with breast cancer

We send all of our best to Amy Mickelson and the entire Mickelson family.  Here's to a speedy recovery.   

If Phil Mickelson was the Commish, he would...

I typically don't like long-winded Q+A's, but Bob Verdi's interview with Phil Mickelson in the June edition of Golf Digest doesn't miss a beat.  The most interesting part of the discussion was Mickelson's proposal for a modified Tour schedule. 

Mickelson suggests that the Tour should have 20 events that the top guys are required to play.  Crazy, right? Well, here's his explanation:

Problem is, 200 players don't want that to happen.  The top 100 don't want to be told where and when to play, and the bottom 100 can't afford to lose the leverage for those remaining 20-plus or however many, events. 

For the 20 events with the top guys guaranteed, sponsors and television would have to pay a premium.  That would create a huge discrepancy in purses between those 20 events and the others without the guaranteed top guys...

If the commissioner were in a position to control when and where players played, as I believe he should be, and if he were able to sell that, he would be able to go to the four majors and the Ryder Cup and say, "If you want our guys to continue to play in your event, you have to pay the tour a certain fee."  After all, the players are the product, right?  Then you take that new revenue stream and subsidize the 20 or so events where the top guys are not guaranteed to play.  Then, the gap between the events is narrowed. 

Mickelson said that he prepared these ideas for two years and then presented them to Tim Finchem.  Lefty said they were disregarded.

After reading his proposal, I'm not surprised. 

Mickelson also says a commissioner should "be concerned with the big picture and make decisions without any input from the players."  I always appreciate Phil's candidness, but where's Joe Ogilvie to talk some sense into him?

Tiger-Phil rivalry could be the answer

As much as I disliked hearing the talk last week about Sergio Garcia potentially overtaking Tiger Woods in the world rankings, Monday's Washington Post (below) made me realize that another Woods/Phil Mickelson rivalry could be the cure for golf's ailing financial woes (I mean, I can't even remember golf being above the fold in the WP for a non-major). 

It's been about a year and a half (FedEx Cup '07) since the two golfers have had a legitimate rivalry.  With Mickelson's two wins to open up the year, the rivalry should make a great storyline leading up to The Masters, and could very well carry on through the tournament if Phil continues to play the way he has been playing. 

Let's shift gears, now Phil could be number one!

As much heat as he gets from the media (no pun intended), Phil Mickelson deserves a tip of the cap for a truly gutsy performance to capture his first World Golf Championship.  Check out the Washington Post story here.

I'll get to the announcing of the tournament tonight. 

Mickelson successfully defends Northern Trust title, avoids disastrous final round

Phil Mickelson went from a struggling golfer in his first three tournaments to a champion in his most recent, successfully defending his title at the Northern Trust Open with his old set of irons. 

Mickelson got into some trouble during his final round, but with birdies on two of his final three holes, and bogeys on the 18th from Steve Stricker and Fred Couples, Lefty was able to pull through.  It shouldn't be forgotten that Mickelson shot two-under on the par-4 10th this week.

In other golf news, 18-year-old amateur Danny Lee won the Johnnie Walker Classic.  Forget the Rory McIlroy talk, why aren't more people jumping on the Lee bandwagon?

Mickelson highlight reel takes back seat

With all of the commotion surrounding Tiger Woods' comeback, little attention was given to Phil Mickelson's fine opening round of 8-under 63. 

For Thursday's edition of Golf Central, which runs 30 minutes, Mickelson's highlight package didn't start until 21 min. into the show. 

Mickelson will launch season at FBR

John Davis reports that Phil Mickelson will make his debut at the FBR Open Jan. 29-Feb 1.  The ASU faithful must be pleased.

Woods: We've put Williams' comments to bed

According to Steve Sands of The Golf Channel, only one question was asked during Tiger Woods' press conference about the Williams/Mickelson "prick" comment.  Bill Plaschke of the LA Times was the columnist who stepped up to the plate and Woods' response was short and to the point--as expected:

What ended up happening is I communicated with Phil, and we have discussed it.  I talked to Stevie about it, and he feels bad what happened. At this point, that it happened at all is something that none of us really wanted to have happen. But it's over and done with, and we put it to bed.

After Woods' brief response, it was business as usual, with the media asking about the knee.  Do you think a week ago Woods would have been relieved to hear so many follow up questions about his new ligament?

National media jumps all over Williams/Mickelson story

It took a couple of days, but all of the major news outlets are now reporting the comments made by Steve Williams--including Phil Mickelson's response. 

If there was any question about this being a contentious issue, check out Jay Busbee's blog on Yahoo!  Last time I checked, more than 2600 comments.

The ramifications of Stevie's "prick" comment

As you all probably know by now, Murray Hills' column from the Taranaki Daily News has leaked all over the place.  Now most of the golfing world knows how Steve Williams feels about Phil Mickelson.  Hills quoted Williams at a charitable function saying:

I wouldn't call Mickelson a great player ... 'cause I hate the prick.'

Tiger Woods' tolerance for this kind of behavior could prove costly for Williams.  I'm sure Woods and agent Mark Steinberg have been on the phone quite a bit to prep for what the media will ask Woods this week at Sherwood.    

Something to keep in mind is that although we all know about Williams' treatment of photographers, he is also an extremely charitable and knowledgeable person. 

On a journalistic note: I am not sure why Hills decided to place the Mickelson quote into one of the bottom grafs.  The "prick" comment is pretty newsworthy.