Ferguson On Tour's Double Standard

/

Doug Ferguson examines the Mickelson pro am situation and reminds us of recent embarrassing moves by the PGA Tour:

In 2005, Chad Campbell wanted to play the 84 Lumber Classic – the tournament even had his wife sing at one of its functions – but he asked out of the pro-am Wednesday to attend his grandmother’s funeral. The Tour made him choose between the pro-am and the funeral, and Campbell withdrew from the tournament.

And...

Wes Short Jr. wanted to skip out on a pro-am because his father was about to have quadruple bypass surgery, but he had to choose between the pro-am and spending time with his father.
Love this from Jim Furyk...
His solution was to fine a player $100,000 for missing a pro-am – if he still wanted to play. Furyk suggested making anyone who missed the pro-am for whatever reason make it up by attending a two-hour corporate function.

“If it boiled down to me going out and playing for four or five hours ... or sitting in a room with a sports coat on for two hours, I think I’d take the outdoors,’’ Furyk said.

"At the end of the day, this is not an issue about Phil."

/

Buried deep in Andrew Both's excellent summary of the Mickelson situation:

Indeed, Mickelson sought out Pampling after learning of the Australian's comments, in order to give his side of the story. Lefty need not have bothered, because Pampling was unmoved.

"He explained he was there (in Arkansas) not making any money out of it, which helped the (tour's) decision making," Pampling said. "At the end of the day, this is not an issue about Phil. I explained it's not personal and he understands that. It's the tour's decision. He was just the guy given the pass. I still don't think he should have been in the field."

Tour executive vice president Henry Hughes and tournament director Slugger White made the decision to allow Mickelson to play. One player speculated that the ruling has so riled the rank and file that there will be calls for Hughes's head.

 

"They've opened a can of worms...it wouldn't surprise me to see a few players taking advantage of some of the loopholes..."

/
Shaun Micheel, quoted in an unbylined Sporting Life story:
"I would say 100% of the players, except for Phil, think he shouldn't be here," said Micheel, joining the growing chorus of condemnation at the tour's decision to let Mickelson play, even though he broke a tour regulation by missing Wednesday's pro-am.

"I'm really upset by it. A lower ranked player like myself would be (home) in Memphis right now. I'm not going to criticise Phil, but his responsibility is to be here. If that means he has to skip what he's doing to make sure he gets here, then he has to be here.

"He's a name player, but we have rules for a reason, on the golf course and in the regulations book, that we all have to play by. He did not met those rules, and he should not be allowed to play in the tournament."

Micheel, the 2003 PGA Championship winner, is speaking from bitter personal experience, because he was disqualified from the 2004 Bay Hill Invitational for missing the pro-am.

He did not realise the pro-am was scheduled for Tuesday, instead of the usual Wednesday, but the tour cut him no slack, banishing him from the event.

And just last year in Reno, Micheel missed the pro-am because he was vomiting in the locker room shortly before his tee time. The tour in that case allowed him to play in the tournament but, he says, penalised him financially.

"They docked $7,600 out of my retirement for that," he said. "I just wish they'd let me know that before, because then I might have gone out and played one hole. That would have been within the rules."

Micheel is so upset that he has already fired off an email to the PGA Tour, and he expects the matter will be the subject of heated debate when tour commissioner Tim Finchem hosts a players' meeting in Charlotte on Tuesday.
Oh but they'll get to hear how great the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse is!
But players are questioning why Mickelson was even playing a Tuesday outing in another state when bad weather was forecast.

"They call it an act of God (but) he could have flown here at six o'clock (Wednesday) morning," Micheel continued.

"A friend of mine playing the pro-am flew in (from Memphis) at 1.30 in the morning. Memphis and Little Rock are 100 miles apart.

"They've opened a can of worms. It's huge problem and it wouldn't surprise me to see a few players taking advantage of some of the loopholes in the rules in the next few months."

"I know the golf course is the only reason they're not coming. That's the only reason."

/
Kevin Sherrington features that quote from Jerry Kelly and many others about the TPC Las Colinas greens and design situation, which will soon see a D.A. Weibring redo. I was at the LA Times Festival of Books all weekend and didn't see a second, but it sounds like they rivaled Riviera's greens in 1995?


"A lot of players are not happy"

/
Robert Allenby, on the Tour not DQ'ing Mickelson for missing the Nelson pro-am:
"A lot of players are not happy," world No 19 Allenby said after the first round.

"I like Phil, but when the tour set a precedent, they've got to stick with it," said Allenby. "He [Mickelson] checked into the hotel here when I checked in on Monday. He came here, was on site, and he elected to go somewhere else, knowing the weather was going to be crappy. He took the risk. Take the risk and you pay the penalty."

Pampling Speaks!

/

At least one more player besides Stuart Appleby was willing to go on the record about Phil's missed pro-am.

"He could have still made it here," [Rod] Pampling told reporters after carding an opening-round 68 on Thursday.

"The (PGA Tour) rules say you have to play in the pro-am to play in the (main) tournament so in my opinion he shouldn't have been allowed to play."

What Will Phil Get Away With Next?

/

From an unbylined wire service story:

Phil Mickelson will compete in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship today despite missing yesterday's pre-tournament pro-am.

PGA Tour rules state that a player missing a pro-am is automatically disqualified from the tournament, except for "extenuating circumstances".

Mickelson had planned to fly into town in his private jet late Tuesday night from nearby Little Rock, Arkansas, roughly a one-hour flight, in time for his 7am pro-am tee time, but the Dallas Love Field airport was closed due to severe thunderstorms.

Instead, he spent the night in Little Rock, arriving here at TPC Four Seasons resort shortly after 11am yesterday. Mickelson, it seems, was happy to play an afternoon pro-am, but the tour decided not to rearrange the tee times. Instead, he had lunch with the amateurs he was supposed to have played with.

"Phil was prepared to play in the afternoon. It wasn't his decision not to play," said Mickelson spokesman TR Reinman.

The PGA Tour's decision to allow Mickelson to play in the tournament was greeted with cynicism by some fellow players, who accused the tour of having a double standard, recalling that Retief Goosen was disqualified from the 2005 Nissan Open for missing his pro-am tee time, after oversleeping.

But the tour issued a statement defending its decision.

"Phil did everything physically possible to get here Tuesday night, but was grounded in Little Rock due to circumstances completely beyond his control," said tour executive vice president Henry Hughes.

Eight-time PGA Tour winner Stuart Appleby said the appropriate question was whether Mickelson had made every effort to get into town in time for the pro-am.

"I'm sure a lot of players think it's a very dodgy decision," said Appleby, who was curious to know whether Mickelson could have arrived at the crack of dawn in time to play.

"Each situation has to be looked at independently. If a player makes a reasonable effort, he gets a pass. If he doesn't, he should be disqualified. I don't care who you are.

And Stuart, do you think he made a reasonable attempt?

"If the (Dallas) airport was open in the early hours this morning, what I would say to my pilot is 'I've got to be in Dallas at 5.30am. If it's open, call me and wake me up."

That's a no.

I did go back and try to dig up the stories on Goosen's 2005 DQ at Riviera and after oversleeping, he did make it to the property just after his tee time.

I say it's all Rick Smith's fault.

"The field was so weak that more world ranking points were awarded to the winner of the BMW Asian Open."

/
Doug Ferguson in his weekly notes column, writing about the Viking Classic's (don't ask) disappointment at not getting their winner in the 2008 Masters:
Even so, fall tournaments must have been wondering about Nick Watney's victory in New Orleans last week. That was a full FedEx Cup event, but the field was so weak that more world ranking points were awarded to the winner of the BMW Asian Open. Watney earned 28 points, only four more points than the winner of Mississippi tournament last year.

"He hit a lot of 'stingers'"

/

Michael Dudurich talks to Oakmont's Bob Ford about Tiger's practice round.

This item would seem to be bad news for anyone hoping to watch him spray that lovely Nike driver all over the lot:

For the most part, Woods hit 5- and 3-woods off the tees.

"There aren't too many driver holes for him out there," Ford said. "He hit a lot of 'stingers' with both of those clubs. He's a very strategic person, no doubt about it."

"Or that Tiger Woods will ever play tournament golf again in Texas?"

/

The Star-Telegram's Gil Lebreton realizes that if Tiger isn't coming to the Nelson this year, he probably won't be coming back ever again.

The message this time, though, seems unmistakable. If the tributes planned for Byron weren’t enough to lure Woods back this year, what makes anyone think that he’ll come back next April? Or the year after?

Or that Tiger Woods will ever play tournament golf again in Texas?

His first and last appearance at Colonial came in 1997. A disappointing final round left Woods steamed and tied for fourth place, and he has never returned.

He played in the Texas Open, a fall tour event in San Antonio, in 1996 and came in third. He has never returned.

Woods has never played in the Shell Houston Open.

The Nelson, however, was supposed to be Woods’ tournament. The tournament where Fergie, the Duchess of York, once came to see Tiger play. From 1997 to 2004, Woods played in the Nelson Championship seven times, shooting a combined 77 under par.


"Players... [choose events] for golf courses that they like and golf courses that are in good shape"

/

The Byron Nelson has lured a field nearly as weak as New Orleans, and Jimmy Burch of the Star-Telegram looks at the reasons why:

Another wrinkle this year is the April date, which broke up a Dallas-Fort Worth tradition of playing in back-to-back weeks with the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (May 24-27). Some players cited the move as a logistical problem.

Todd Hamilton, a Westlake resident who will compete at the Nelson, said the biggest challenge Nelson officials face in attracting players is the TPC Las Colinas course, which will get an off-season face-lift.

"Players... [choose events] for golf courses that they like and golf courses that are in good shape," Hamilton said. "And I don't think that particular course is as good as it could be for an event like that."