"The atmosphere hasn't been quite the same."

Good news for the Commissioner: fewer people are talking about Phil's defection.

Bad news: because everyone is talking about the lousy attendance and lack of buzz at normally amped up Cog Hill.

Read Four-putt posted a few thoughts on this, while Steve Elling wrote that Chicagoans can be comforted by the fact that 2008 will likely see more star defections at all of the season ending playoff events.

Chicago was a fantastic musical, and the media types have been crowing and dancing in both unison and perfect harmony to express their outrage that a burgh with 10 million folks will be left holding the bag in two of the next three years.

Let's not have a Mrs. O'Leary-sized cow, OK?

As much critical fire as the FedEx Cup plan has drawn from fans and sponsors for failing to deliver on its implied promises to put Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els on the same stage over four consecutive weeks, the real issues are fast becoming apparent.

By next year, the fields from this season's inaugural FedEx run are going to feel like the stars were present in perfect attendance. The potential potholes for 2008 with regard to scheduling, barring an organizational miracle, make this year's foibles seem like minor nuisances.

While the 2008 schedule hasn't been formally released, based on its likely structure, top players will be asked to compete seven times in an eight-week span, culminating with the greatest cauldron of pressure in the game, the Ryder Cup. When it comes to finding excuses not to play next year, gentlemen, start your search engines.

Meanwhile, Tiger was asked about the crowds, after getting some hard hitting questions out of the way...

Q. Did you go home from Boston or did you come straight here?
TIGER WOODS: I came straight here.

Q. Did you wear that shirt last week?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah.

Q. When is the last time you wore a shirt twice?
TIGER WOODS: I wear it all the time, actually. I'm not that way.

Q. I know it sounds really gay, but I recognized it (laughter). It looks good.
TIGER WOODS: Thanks. I love it.

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Q. How were the crowds today?

TIGER WOODS: There were a few more people. Still, it's not the same as the Western, that's for sure. Granted, the weather was a little sketchy, so maybe they didn't come out because of that.

And I thought this was interesting. It seems Tiger thought so too:

Q. This is a public course, you obviously play really well here, and some of the other public courses you play really well. Is that a coincidence? Do you play well at these types of places? Do you feel at home? It's an odd question, but you grew up and cut your teeth on them.

TIGER WOODS: I certainly did not grow up on a country club, that's for sure. Yeah, public courses is where it was at. I grew up on a par-3 course, just with -- the longest hole was 150 yards I believe it was. Granted, I couldn't get there -- I used to hit driver, 7-iron when I first started playing it. That's what we did. The great thing with playing Southern Cal junior golf is you got a chance to play country clubs every now and then, and it was like the coolest thing in the world. Oh, my God, the greens are great here, that kind of thing.
I don't know, that's a good question.

Q. What was the par-3 course?

TIGER WOODS: Hartwell. It's in Long Beach.

Back to the sensitive subject at hand...

 Q. Do you see any difference in the tournament from last year to this year with the tournament having BMW as a sponsor?

TIGER WOODS: Well, the crowds haven't really come out this year so far. The atmosphere hasn't been quite the same. Granted, we moved the tee times up yesterday and then the bad weather today, so it's been kind of a double dip against the tournament. But hopefully this weekend people will come out and we'll get some great weather, and hopefully we can play some good golf and get everyone fired up.

Super Bowl Site Issues

Because they don't have enough problems, the PGA Tour is facing potentially poor greens at East Lake, according to the AJC's Stan Awtrey. And it sounds like the members aren't wild about the Tour's hope of converting to the new Champion bermuda strain...

Finchem said plans had been made to resurface the greens, but the schedule didn't work out with the club. Such a change would require club to close for member play for three or four months.

"We are now again in discussions, we knew we would be anyway, even if it was a cool summer," Finchem said. "Going forward we've got to prepare for this to be the norm and deal with it, and we can."

Players and members shouldn't be afraid of the change, Cink said.

"When the course was redone, we didn't have this kind of bermuda," Cink said. "Now we've got lots of choices that are better tolerant to mold, that cut better. The day of the stigma against bermuda are in the past and members who think otherwise need to take a look at the facts."

Meanwhile, Tiger was asked today about East Lake and he said the darndest thing. I don't think I've ever heard him say this before about a course. 

Q. Can I get you to talk about East Lake as a venue, as a golf course? Do you like it? Do the sight lines fit you?

TIGER WOODS: Well, East Lake is a great golf course. It's right in front of you. The Bermuda rough can be tricky there. The weather can be very interesting there, and when we play the TOUR Championship there we can get some pretty cold days, but obviously not this year.
The greens are always perfect there, so if you drive the ball well there, you can shoot some pretty good scores.

It's right in front of you! We really do need to get him a new throwaway line.

Q. Have you heard anything about the greens there this year?

TIGER WOODS: No.

Q. They're supposed to not be very good.

TIGER WOODS: I haven't heard anything. With the heat? Oh, well.

"I think we're in our own cocoons sometimes and we don't get the information, but yet most of us don't seek it out"

I'm curious what you all think, but reading the transcripts from Wednesday at Cog Hill, I found myself again actually feeling slightly sorry for Tim Finchem. Granted, tough questions need to be asked of the Commissioner, but the press has passed on numerous occasions, so it seemed odd reading this interview only to see so many questions finally being asked long after they should have come up and at a time when it seems somewhat inappropriate.

Granted, the timing of this is somewhat understandable because Phil Mickelson made a spectacle Monday and the flaws in the FedEx Cup structure are showing. But after two pretty exciting events that brought a lot of good players together, I'm having a hard time understanding the sudden dismay at so many elements that were questionable a year ago when this concept was revealed.

More disturbing is this collective whining that is beginning to take place from players who apparently have forgotten that their predecessors drove without air conditioning between stops and played as many as two months in a row, and that there are thousands of aspiring players who would gladly have to deal with the burden of playing four weeks in a row for $7 million per and $35 million more in deferred compensation  But even that's fine, I can appreciate that they have different obligations today that help them pay for jet fuel and that you lose touch with reality at a certain income level.

No, the capper was this from Doug Ferguson's story on the player griping:

"Personally, I don't like it," mild-mannered Steve Stricker said. "It's a lot of golf in a short amount of time. I do like the end of the season that it's in the middle of September, where if you play well enough you don't have to chase for your card."

Now here's a guy who didn't have a place to play not that long ago and he's got a chance to win $10 million in deferred compensation and he doesn't like it?

Yes, the system is not perfect and yes the Tour pandered to its two biggest stars, but come on Steve.

This was interesting too, also from Ferguson's piece:

For as much as Els complained about the lack of communication, it's not clear who's responsible for the breakdown. Players rarely attend meetings or read the "green sheet," a weekly bulletin the tour leaves in their lockers and e-mails to them. At a mandatory players' meeting at the Wachovia Championship, more than half of them left early.

"I think we're in our own cocoons sometimes and we don't get the information, but yet most of us don't seek it out," Arron Oberholser said. "And I think to a certain extent, the PGA Tour does its best to get us the information."

"Q. Did you ever think you'd see the day where you would put up $63 million in prize money over four weeks and guys would be bitching about it?"

I'm curious about the circumstances surrounding Commissioner Tim Finchem's press gathering today. I suspect it was like last week's scrum where he simply appeared in the press center and the slingers moved in with their antiquated tape recorders.

Anyway, after talking about what a great American Phil is and how he won't divulge their conversations, Ernie Els' press conference came up and I think he did a nice job clarifying the deferred compensation question.

Q. Did you have a chance to read Ernie's comments today because he was pretty vocal and critical in his complaints that the Commissioner's office and the players are growing apart, and the players had next to no input on all of this.

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: No, somebody mentioned the no input question. I've heard that from two or three players. You know, I think if you go back and look over the last three years, the number of player meetings that have been called to discuss the details of the Cup, the number of PAC meetings that have been called, the amount of information that's been distributed to players, you know, in hindsight I feel comfortable that we did a good job in reaching out to players on the details.

Now, over the last six months, we've discovered that a lot of players, regardless of the amount of information that might have been discussed, didn't necessarily for whatever reason want to pay much attention to it. When we got to the Playoffs, the players were calling the office saying, how come I'm not an alternate. There's no alternates in the Playoffs, they didn't pay attention to that.

When a player comes to me, which I had one do in the last ten days, and say, well, wouldn't it be better if this cash wasn't in the form of an annuity, and I said, well, it's not an annuity. Well, it means that the TOUR puts up less money. No, that's not the case. If you win the Cup you have $10 million in your account. It's not an annuity that you buy something for a certain amount of money and it grows and you get $10 million a number of years from now. That's not what happens. It's $10 million that's earning interest tax-free.

When I hear a player say, well, the problem I have with the deferral is I don't see the money for 20 years. That's not the case. You earn the money and get the money right away in your account. You can spend it starting at 45 or when you retire, whichever is later.

So a lot of players just for whatever reason are focused on some of the details. I say a lot. Some players. I talk to a lot of other players that say, yeah, I knew that.

But the point is right now I think the important thing about the FedExCup and the Playoffs is, is it accomplishing what it was designed to accomplish, not whether we have little details in the structure of it that players didn't focus on or we need to look at going forward.And in my view, my strong view, it's accomplishing what it's set out to do, create a better end of the season, create some really powerful events in business markets around the country, get the best players playing, and most importantly, give the fans something that they can enjoy. I believe strongly that's happening over the first two weeks.

So I don't want to get off on worrying about these detail issues. I'm sure that when we get through with the Playoffs we'll have a complete opportunity for any player to have the opportunity which he may not have chosen to utilize over the last two and a half years to say wait a second, I didn't know this and I'm not so sure I agree with it.

As I was reading the transcript, I had a similar sentiment...

Q. Did you ever think you'd see the day where you would put up $63 million in prize money over four weeks and guys would be bitching about it?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: I don't think they're bitching about it. I wouldn't characterize it that way.

Q. Whining?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: We've got $28 million in cash and $35 million that's going to go into players' deferred accounts. I think that's -- our job is to take actions and make decisions that are in the best interests of the TOUR players generally and the fans, and I think that's what we've done in this case.

Can it be done differently? When you stand back and look at -- you guys are taking a couple comments here, and I understand that, but when you stand back and look at the import of what these comments are about, these, again, are not fundamental questions.

Well, I don't know about that.

Q. Referencing back to Els' comments, did the players actually have an up-down vote on this thing?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: We have a system.

That's a no!

The players get together and give us their comments with our directors present at multiple meetings. We have a Player Advisory Council, and we have a board of directors, just like any company. We call it the PGA TOUR Policy Board. I'm not going to get into the details here, I'm just going to say we worked reasonably hard, I think very hard, to reach out to players over an extended period of time. If something is far off in the distance, perhaps they don't get as focused about it.

If the policy board made decisions without fully understanding the detailed focus of the players, we should correct that. I think it's important to recognize on this question of deferred money, there's no benefit to the TOUR whichever way it goes. The money is either going into an account for a player and the interest is deferred, or it's going into his bank account and he goes and spends it now. That's the only difference. There is no benefit to the TOUR. There is no agenda as to why it's in the interest of the TOUR.

So when the TOUR directors made that decision, they did it on the basis of what they believed was in the overall best interest of the players.

Now, having said that, I would recommend that we do whatever the players basically want to do, within reason. If it's all cash, it's all cash. But what we heard was a lot of players saying that, look, why don't we take advantage of the vehicle, and that's what you would do and I would do and most people would do, but not everybody would do it. And a number of players feel differently for whatever reason. It doesn't matter, they're entitled to that view. There's no point in arguing. The merits are the merits. I think the board should, going forward, make decisions on the basis of what players feel.

And if what players feel about that issue was not properly measured, we should go out and measure it again, because candidly, I certainly don't care, nor does the TOUR care, it's just what's in the best -- from a fiduciary responsibility, we have a fiduciary responsibility to make decisions that are in the best financial interest of the player. So they made that decision and they made a decision to provide more options to the players because, just so you know, I don't know if I mentioned this, this is self-directed investments. The players determine the vehicles to which the funds will be invested to their benefit.

Measure=vote?

Q. Did you get a commitment from the high profile players, or at least an understanding from the high profile players, like Phil and Tiger, that they would play in all four events?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: No, I never asked for a commitment. I never ask for a player to tell me, if we schedule the Presidents Cup, will you play it. We go out and say, here's a tournament we're going to play, this BMW tournament with the Western Golf Association, it's got this date on it. Do you like moving in this direction? I don't ask a player to commit to me that he's going to play. It's just not the way we go about things.

"I just feel in certain ways we've kind of grown apart a little bit, especially the players and the Commissioner's office."

Ernie Els opened up to the Western BMW Championship press today and ignited a bit of a firestorm...

Q. It seems like the top players, three in a row is the max where they feel they can give everything mentally maybe more than physically. Do you think maybe scheduling four weeks in a row is just one too many?

ERNIE ELS: You know, as we said, when I announced all the changes at the end of last year, beginning of this year, everybody was like, what do you think, what do you think, and we all said, let's see how it all pans out. Nobody knows exactly how this thing is going to work. Let's see how it works out.

Obviously the way things have been going, I haven't realized really through the year, but since the U.S. Open we've had big events upon big events, right through until now. The guys that play Europe events like myself, we played the Scottish Open before the British Open, so there's another two weeks. And then you come over and then there's the Bridgestone, then the PGA. Then we had a week off, and then before now, and then we get a week off and then we play The Presidents Cup. Next year they have the Ryder Cup. I don't know what they're going to do next year.

As we said, nobody really knew how this thing was going to pan out, and obviously now with guys playing and making up all our excuses, but that's the way we feel. Otherwise we can't give it our best shot, so that's the way it is.

Making up excuses? Hmmm... 

Q. You're one of the star players out here. Did they consult with you before this thing went into effect as far as the schedule was going to be so bunched up, and what did you tell them at the time?

ERNIE ELS: That's a good question. Unfortunately, no, they did not express anything to the players. They asked those questions, but they didn't come out and say, okay, look, this is what we're going to do, what do you think. It was all about -- you know, it wasn't directly asked. And unfortunately, we are in this position now because they didn't either listen or they just went on with the decision, and this is where we are.

Ah...revenge!

Q. Would it work to just have a bye week, maybe have an off week right in the middle of the FedExCup?

ERNIE ELS: As I say, you know, I'm just throwing out a little -- throwing out a bone there. Two in a row, look at stuff that's happened this year and see if we can have a bit of a different way forward. You're putting the world golf players really under strain, guys like myself, guys like Tiger, guys like Phil, guys that play on the world stage because you really want to be up for the majors, and then after the majors are now, now you've got to be up for the FedEx. It's tough physically, mentally, on your family, business, everything, to keep yourself away from so-called real life for nine weeks almost. You know, it's difficult.

That's why you need a G5! Oh wait, you already have one right? Sorry. Continue...

Q. Sorry for the bizarre nature of this question, but if you seem at all lukewarm or not sure about the FedExCup thingy or what have you, and this isn't the only scheduling issue you've had with the TOUR in the last three or four years, why do you keep doing so many commercials for them?

ERNIE ELS: I think we like them. You almost have fun with them, and you kind of meet people. I think a lot of players do a lot for the TOUR. Let's face it, the TOUR does a lot for us, too. I just feel in certain ways we've kind of grown apart a little bit, especially the players and the Commissioner's office. We've grown apart from each other because of these big decisions that were made without the real knowledge of the players, you know?

The $10 million deal was a big deal. I don't think Tiger knew about it, Phil didn't know about it, I didn't know about it, a lot of people didn't know. When we heard about it, we thought, geez, that's unbelievable. It still is, but it's -- we're going to see that money hopefully 20, 25 years down the line.

Hopefully?

Q. When did you find out about it?

ERNIE ELS: Kind of when everybody found out about it, the first couple of weeks into the season.
You know, you still want to support the TOUR. We love what the TOUR has done for us, but we just need to get closer to the big decisions because then we won't get into problems down the line, you know? I know there's a board and there's another board. There's two boards. There's a players' board, which I don't think means much. They don't have any ballot. The ballot is all done behind closed doors. That's kind of where we're growing apart.

"I just don't understand why we can't play here year after year."

Tiger Woods at the Western BMW Championship:

Q. Has the format been working out? There were concerns about how many weeks in a row you'd have to play, but it seems like players have been able to schedule a week off at some point.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, a lot of guys are taking weeks off. I took the first week off, Ernie took last week, Phil and Paddy are taking this week off. If you combine the total for the guys who are playing The Presidents Cup, it's seven out of nine weeks, end of the year, end of the summer. Guys are finding it out to play seven out of nine weeks, except for Vijay. He's the only one.

Q. When this things was pitched to you, the idea that the schedule was going to be so bunched, did you express reservations about your ability to play that many in a row?

TIGER WOODS: We all did. We all didn't think it was in the best interest for us as players to play that much. We normally don't play that much, especially towards the end of the year. Most of the guys usually shut it down post-PGA, and maybe the only time you start playing a lot is maybe trying to get ready for the Ryder Cup.

Hmmm, no comment for the moment but weren't you the one who wanted a shorter season?

Q. Should the TOUR maybe have listened a little bit more to you guys instead of scheduling the tournaments the way they are, especially going into next year when you have the Ryder Cup right after that?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. It's a lot of golf for a lot of guys. These are all big events. It's not like these are small events. They're all big events that you have World Golf Championships follows by a major, and then you have these four events and then you have The Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

It's a bunch of big events. It's not like you have events where most of the guys like at Kapalua take it easy out there and go have fun at night, and if they play good golf, great. That's not the case.

And we finally get some clarification where he stands on cash versus deferred compensation. He has been rumored to have been displeased with the latter of the two options. 

Q. The deferred issue, where do you come down on that? I know you talked about how you might be dead by the time you collected it, but how much is it an issue, and could that be solved?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it is an issue. I don't think -- well, I know a lot of the players weren't aware of it this year, that that's what we were playing for. If the players aren't aware of it, obviously the public won't be aware of it. I think that's one of the major issues for all of us is that it's not the true payout. It's like, how great would it be like in the World Series of Poker, at the first tee starting the first day of the TOUR Championship, that's all you see is it stacked up there and that's what you're playing for. That would create a lot of buzz. But as you said, I may not be around to collect it.

And regarding the Western...

Q. How disappointed are you to not come back to Chicago for two more years?

TIGER WOODS: Hey, I didn't like that idea. I think this is a great town. It's one of the biggest sport towns, if not one of the biggest markets we have in our country. I just don't understand why we can't play here year after year. People have always come out and supported the Western Open. They've always come out in big droves and really supported this tournament, and it's unfortunate that we're leaving here. I have a fondness for this tournament because I used to play here as an amateur, and it's always been near and dear to my heart.

This is interesting...

Q. Would you support either a U.S. Open or a PGA Championship being held here at this course?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's not quite ready for that. It's not up to that level yet. I think after Rees gets a hold of it and makes some alterations to it, I think that it depends on how severe he's going to tweak the golf course, then yeah, you could possibly say you could get a PGA here or maybe a U.S. Open. But probably a PGA, if anything.

So does that mean he thinks a full Rees-toration increases the chances of landing a major? Oh let's hope not.

Now back to the schedule...

Q. Would building in a week off in the playoff schedule, would that address some of the problems? Would that help?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's the way the schedule is with where you moved the Firestone event, prior to the PGA. Even if you put it post-PGA, it's still there. And then you have these four events, and then next year we have the Ryder Cup in there, as well. That's a lot of events for the guys. As I said, it's not easy events. They're all big events and events that you feel like you have to play well. It is what it is.

And it is what you wanted it to be.

Q. It sounds as if there's really no logical place on the calendar to put something like this.

TIGER WOODS: There really isn't. If the schedule is this short, there really isn't. That's kind of what you're running into.

Q. Does it seem strange that it's early September and the TOUR Championship is like next week already instead of two months away?

TIGER WOODS: You're right, that does seem different. Plus also, I think a welcome change for all of us, too. Most of us are going to take some time off and shut it down -- some of the guys, Vijay will still continue to play.

But some of the guys it's nice for them to take a break before they head down to Australia and support their Tour or South Africa and support their Tour. You know, Phil has usually built in his break post-Firestone event. But I think it's great for a lot of guys. It's a time for them to take some time off before they have to go out and support their Tours and travel all over.

Welcome change? Ugh...I'm confused.

Ominous Chicago Forecast

Ed Sherman on the lousy weather forecast for the Western Open BMW Championship and the tour's decision to move up tee times in hopes of finishing Sunday.

Flashback: "Woods and Mickelson didn't draw up the plan, they simply were the strongest voices."

Just in case Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods try to put all of the blame on Commissioner Tim Finchem for the shortened season, they might want to read Doug Ferguson's July, 2006 column on how the shortened season came about. It was originally posted here.

"I think for us to compete against football, and for us to continue our season after the PGA Championship as long as it does, I just think it kind of loses its luster," Mickelson said at La Costa in February 2005. "It's just not exciting. I'd love to see a lot less tournaments on tour, so the top players play in a greater percentage of those events."

Woods and Mickelson are not the best of friends, but it sounded as though they were in cahoots on this one. For it was only two days later that Woods also argued for a shorter season.

"End it Labor Day," he said.

A week later at Doral, Woods was more expansive on his wish for an early end to the regular season, which would allow top players to compete against each more often besides the eight biggest events — four majors, The Players Championship and three World Golf Championships.

"It would be more exciting for the fans, and I'm sure the sponsors and TV and everybody, if we did play more often together," Woods said. "The only way you could do that is if we shortened the season, which I've really been trying to get into Finchem's ear about."

And Ferguson ended with this....

Woods and Mickelson didn't draw up the plan, they simply were the strongest voices.

And until the PGA Tour goes through its first season under the revamped schedule, no one can be sure it's a bad idea.

If it is, blame them.

"Knackered"

That's Padraig's explanation for pulling out of Chicago and the rest of the playoffs.

Deutsche Bank Wrap Up

Paul Kenyon and Kevin McNamara on reaction to the TPC Boston changes and the possibility of more work to come, with this from Deutsche Bank's Seth Waugh:

“Some of the holes, you look at them and half the hole has been changed. That side has, but this side doesn’t have the same look,” Waugh said. “The course plays differently, more strategically because of Gil’s work.”

The fourth hole, which went from a dogleg 435-yarder to a 298-yard par-4, was the hole the players least liked, Waugh reported. The new hole, driveable for virtually all of the players, was much better received.

Among others, Phil Mickelson went 2, 3, 5, 3 on the hole, picking up three strokes on Tiger Woods, who went 6, 2, 4, 4. Because it provides wild swings in scoring, officials are discussing the possibility of setting up new stands behind the green and making it one of the focus holes.

The hope is to continue to modify the course, although now it becomes merely fine-tuning.

“Gil is an artist. Brad is, too. You just let them go paint the picture,” Waugh said.

Jim McCabe has more from a jubiliant Waugh, comments from Waugh that make it quite clear how little schedule tinkering will go on for 2008, and this update on the much talked about fourth hole:

When all was said and done, the much talked-about par-4 fourth - a 298-yarder that had plenty of skeptics - held its own. No doubt, players took aim and plenty drove the green - 134 of them in four days. Five players made eagles as the hole played to a field average of 3.714 to rank 16th. But as a testament to the devilish nature of the hole, of the top eight players on the leaderboard at the start of the day, only Mickelson made birdie in the final round. Crunching some numbers after 374 scores had been recorded over four days:

Woods never did birdie it. He had a three-putt par yesterday, a par in Round 3, an eagle Saturday, and that unforgettable double bogey thanks to three bunker shots Friday.

Tom Pernice was the only player of the 75 who made the cut to play the hole over par. He made the championship's only triple bogey, then followed with three pars.

Mickelson played it in 3 under.

Sergio Garcia had four pars.

Cameron Morfit says the Mickelson issue is simple: he hasn't played well at Cog Hill.

Mickelson's "Intent" Revealed: To Drive Finchem Batty

Mauricio, this is Mr. Finchem's office calling, we would like to move up that color session scheduled for next week to this week.

Oh, Mr. Daly acting up again?

No.

Mr. Woods?

No.

Mr. Mickelson?

Yes Mauricio, you obviously saw the telecast. So how about Thursday, just be at the airport and the Falcon will take you up to Chicago and back, just like in May when you took care of him.

Oh I remember, the drug testing stress. Well tell Mr. Finchem I'll bring the nice light brown he prefers for the summer months.

I will tell him.

Steve Elling pieces together the details of Phil Mickelson pulling down his pants and turning a positively joyous, downright classic golf tournament into yet more millionaire bickering spilling out on national TV (I knew I should have left for the beach after NBC signed off!).

And you know the way Elling spells it out, as well as Chris Lewis (who transcribes the Jimmy Roberts interview) I think Phil's going to have people feeling sorry for the Commissioner. That's not easy to do!

If you want to read it straight from Mr. Family Man's mouth, here are the key excerpts, with the point misser and rally kill trimmed for your reading sanity. Well, except for that in-house, PGA Tour designed kill...

Q. Based on some comments on TV, is your rival now Tiger or Tim?

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, no, no. I don't have a problem, it's just that I'm a little conflicted on some things because I'm trying to -- I want to have a balance in my life, and I certainly feel the obligation to play and support the FedExCup and to support the PGA TOUR, support the game of golf.

And I also want to have balance in my family life, and my family has sacrificed a lot this year because it's been a very difficult schedule. It's not the four FedExCup tournaments; it's the PGA, Akron right before that, only four days off after the British Open before we had to travel and playing two weeks before that, so it's been the last three months having no more than two days off at a time and working to do corporate outings in between.

Can we set this to Schubert? Maybe string quartet No. 14 to really capture the totality of this terrible man making you play so much golf for all that money in between your corporate outtings!

So our time together has struggled, and I want to have a balance there. They start school next week, so I have that conflict -- or obligation and desire to be there.

My frustration from this past year came from asking for a couple of things in the FedExCup that weren't done and not really feeling all that bad now if I happen to miss. So I'm not really sure how it's going to play out.

Like I said, he's making you feel for the Commissioner isn't he?

Q. You said a couple discussion points with Tim that you were looking for vis-á-vis the design of the Playoff structure.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't want to go into it. Just I want to support it and I certainly feel the obligation to, but I also have to have a balance both ways.

Q. Did you talk about it this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: Every time I see him this year I bring it up.

And this would be what? Oh right, that's confidential.

Here's a nice endorsement for the playoffs, again, after a thrilling finish that has done wonders for his season, brought great attention to his sponsors, wonderful vibes for Boston fans and in general, boosted the FedEx Cup's profile....

Q. Were you more excited about the FedExCup or more excited about 2008?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm excited about the way this week went. I loved this finish, I loved being able to play three rounds with the best player of arguably all time and certainly the best player in the world today, and to be able to come out on top feels great, and that just leads to excitement for the coming here, as well as I guess the finish of the year. But '08 is when our next major is, so that's kind of what I'm looking forward to.

Q. Are you going to play next week?
PHIL MICKELSON: I was just saying, I don't know.

Q. But you'll be in Chicago --
PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not sure. I don't know.

Q. You'll be there tomorrow, though?
PHIL MICKELSON: I'll be there tomorrow. I had already scheduled an outing I was planning on playing, but I'm not sure.

Q. If you were to skip next week, would that mean skipping the last one, too?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, I would end up going to Atlanta.
STEWART MOORE: I believe we've touched on 12 and 18. Can you briefly take us through the rest of your birdies?

Are rally kills by the in-house PGA Tour staff eligible for Rally Killer of the Year? Hmmm...

Deutsche Monday

Doug Ferguson on what figures to be an exciting Monday in Boston. I wonder if Phil is going to get some chuckles watching Tiger do whatever it is that Butch told him to watch for?

"But he [Harmon] told me a couple of things he [Woods] likes to do, and I was watching for it, and I chuckled throughout the round when I'd pick up on it."

Steve Elling files an entertaining report on Saturday's much-improved performance (19-under-par!!) from the Tiger-Phil-Vijay pairing.

It was gang engorgement, a feeding frenzy. Mickelson, ever the smirking wise guy, suggested that Woods might have been motivated to pick up his pace after Lefty started a torrid run in the middle of the round, when he played an eight-hole stretch in a blistering 7 under.

"I think Tiger got a little upset there when I got on that streak because he started out 6 under in his next six holes," Mickelson said, his math exactly right.

Oh that's good, but here's the buried lede:

Mickelson enjoyed the two days in the premier trio so much he wants more of the same in Monday's final round. Butch Harmon, his swing coach and Woods' former teacher, gave Mickelson some insider information on things to watch when playing with Woods. Mickelson declined to provide specifics, but it must have something to do with Woods' mannerisms or peccadilloes.

Maybe Woods has been demystified a bit.

"In the past I haven't really played that well with Tiger, per se," Mickelson said. "But he [Harmon] told me a couple of things he [Woods] likes to do, and I was watching for it, and I chuckled throughout the round when I'd pick up on it."

Mickelson stubbornly wouldn't offer more, other than Harmon's insight seemed to work.

"It's really helped because I find myself chuckling at it now and played much more relaxed and had a good time today," Mickelson said.

I think that pretty much eliminates any hope of a Butch-Tiger reunion.

A few other nuggets from Mickelson's press conference:

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, figuring out how the slopes on the greens are going to take it. I love the design and I love the setup. I love the way the greens are, around the greens, the way the rough is where you can actually play shots, and I think that I'm going to plan on making this a permanent stop. This is the first time I've been here, and I can't believe I haven't been here earlier. This is a wonderful tournament for us.

Guess Phil likes fescue rough.

And on the FedEx Cup...

Q. When you first heard about the FedExCup, what was your sense then, and has it changed at all since you've started to play in it?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not sure. I mean, I think that I won't have a good comment for you on the FedExCup for a couple years. I think that I've got to give it a fair chance to play out and see how the individual events go and see how the overall chase for the Cup goes. The first year we're going to need to do a few tweaks, you can tell, and I'm curious to see how next year's scheduling is going to be.

There's a lot of little areas in there that are critical I think in the first couple years on whether it makes it or not.

I guess he hasn't heard that the schedule is set for next year.

This is funny and it leads into the stuff Elling quotes above...

Q. At a normal TOUR event you three guys wouldn't play together. Would it be good to do this more often?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I think it would. I mean, I think it would. Certainly the last three years this random computer pairings has randomly had us on opposite tee times every day for three years (laughter).

Q. Funny how that works out.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, anyway, but I enjoy it. This was actually a really interesting day because I've been working with Butch Harmon, as you know, and in the past I haven't really played that well with Tiger per se. But he told me a couple things that he likes to do, and I kind of was watching for it, and I chuckled throughout the round when I'd pick up on it. And it was just -- I think that working with Butch has really helped me understand how to get my best golf when I play in the same group as Tiger, and I'm hoping I have a chance to do that on Monday.

Q. Anything you can tell us, the things you look for?

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, no, I'm not about to tell you. I'm not even going to go there. But just a couple things that have been very interesting, and certainly the stories have been great (laughter). But just a few things to watch for. And it's really helped because I find myself chuckling at it now and played much more relaxed and had a good time today.

Q. Kind of demystified the guy for you?

PHIL MICKELSON: I wouldn't say that. That's all I'd really care to go for. I'm sharing with you a little piece and you keep asking for more.

Q. Are you hoping you guys get paired together again next week?

PHIL MICKELSON: Absolutely. I'd like to play well tomorrow and I'd like him to play well tomorrow, so hopefully we both have a chance on Monday and maybe get paired together. That would be fun.

"I don't have much good to say about 18"

View of No. 18's bunkering (click to enlarge)You throw a bunker in the center of the fairway and our boys can't deal with it! And people wonder why we get slaughtered in the Ryder Cup.

From Jim McCabe's Boston Globe round one notes column:

The pot bunker that's been added into the middle of the layup area at the par-5 18th offers a quaint look. The only thing is, does it come into play? "It definitely did for me," said Kuchar, who only drove it 240 yards and was left with about 290 yards. For sure, Kuchar had to consider the deep pot bunker on his layup, but he executed it perfectly. "I don't have much good to say about 18," he said. . . Tim Herron told Gil Hanse, who led the redesign efforts, that he didn't like the pot bunker. It was right where he would want to lay it up, Herron told Hanse, who nodded and replied that's why it was put there, to force guys to be precise with their second shots . . .

FYI, the sprinkler head on the back side of the bunker, closest to the green, is 95 to the center of the green. The nearest head short of the bunker is marked 117. Yes, they might have to hit an easy pitching wedge instead of a full SW.

Oh, and there's a good 15 paces of fairway on either side of this little bunker.

What a menace to society!

At least Rocco, who actually gives this stuff serious consideration, likes what he sees.

As for the overall changes to TPC Boston, Rocco Mediate is a big fan. "Fax did a great job," said Mediate, a reference to PGA Tour colleague Brad Faxon, who consulted with Hanse on the redesign. "Then again, I knew he would. He's old-school, so he wasn't going to force some new-fandangled goofy stuff."

I Wonder If...

...the brand platforming experts down in Ponte Vedra will note TPC Boston 4th hole's impact on day one Deutsche Bank play. Tiger Woods's double bogey 6 and Phil Mickelson's eagle 2 were run on sports highlight shows across the country.

I did notice that TGC/NBC showed it quite a bit more than any other front nine hole.

Here's what first round leader Camillo Villegas said about the hole:

Q. You talked about the new hole at No. 4. Can you give me your general impressions of that hole beyond the birdie?

CAMILO VILLEGAS: Tricky one. It's a tricky one. There's obviously -- the green just goes away. I think we should play that hole from the front tee all week, just because from the back tee it's a little too funky. You're going to be hitting maybe a 5-wood into a very narrow space, and it's going to be hard to even hold the green from 100 yards, and then if you hit driver and you get it up there where you have 50 yards, you can be in the middle of the fairway and I don't think you're going to be able to hold the green.

It's a tricky one. It's a good hole from the front, I believe, and I'm just trying to get it over that green somehow and just chip it back up. 

Here's what Tiger said about his surprising double...

Q. Can you talk about the 4th hole?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, the 4th hole I was telling Stevie, we've got to be committed to hitting the ball right of the green. I could hit the ball 50 yards right of the green. I was just trying to hit the ball right, right, right, and I just pulled it about five yards left of the flag. I was in the bunker, the only place you can't be.

Q. We couldn't see it from where we were standing. What were you trying to do with that shot?

TIGER WOODS: I was just trying to keep the ball on the green. Trying to keep it on the green.

Q. Runs away from you?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, big-time. I wasn't even trying to get cute with it. I said, well, if I make a mistake, make this mistake long, hit the ball over the green, chip back and try and make par that way. It just came out soft and buried under the lip.

 Q. Still in the sand?

TIGER WOODS: It was actually underneath the lip, so I couldn't get it out. 

And here's what Mike Weir said after his 65:

Q. So you liked everything?

MIKE WEIR: I liked everything, yeah (laughter).

I heard that No. 4, that that was kind of a narrow tee shot and a big -- I like the drivable par 4s because you miss it in the wrong spot with these firm, fast greens, and you're going to be struggling for par. Good risk-reward hole.

Q. As an example, and I could ask this of someone who had an eight-foot eagle putt, where could you miss it where you do get in some deep doo-doo?

MIKE WEIR: Left. I played with J.J. and he hit it left, and he had to hit it just right to get it barely on the green, and he hit a good shot and it rolled all the way down the hill and he had to make a really good up-and-down for par. That's a really good hole. If you miss it in the wrong spot, even though he was in the fairway you don't have much. Even if you miss it right, you can pitch it up the green.