Forbes: Rory 7th Among Athletes, Ahead Of Phil, Tiger, Jordan

As always take these numbers with a grain or two, but at least we see where golfers are lining up with the highest paid athletes.

Rory McIlroy landed T6th on the Forbes list at $50 million, tied with Andrew Luck and ahead of Steph Curry. The year comes on the heels of winning the FedExCup and finishing fifth in the Race To Dubai. His $16 million in on course earnings accounts for his 2016 PGA Tour play, FedExCup and European Tour play in the June 2016 to June 2017 window used by Forbes.

Phil Mickelson ranked 12th, with $43.5 million overall, of which $40 million was from off course endorsements. Tiger Woods at No. 17 is credited with $37.1 million of which $37 million was made off the course. And Jordan Spieth ranked 21st, making $34.5 million, with $29 million of that credited to endorsement income.

Mickelson Likely Missing U.S. Open For Daughter's Graduation

I can't help but wonder if Phil will be rooting for a dreadful Thursday forecast at Erin Hills, but otherwise it sounds like he is missing the 2017 U.S. Open to hear his daughter speak at her high school graduation.

Karen Crouse with the exclusive for the New York Times:

He said he had informed Mike Davis, the United States Golf Association’s executive director, on Saturday morning of his plan to withdraw so that alternates in the field can prepare accordingly.

Mickelson said he would hold off on officially withdrawing until a day or two before the tournament started, in case a weather delay or change in the morning commencement ceremony time made it possible for him to be at both.

"Barring something unforeseen, I won’t be there,” he said after shooting an even-par 72 Saturday in the third round of the Memorial tournament, where he is tied for 19th.

If you want to feel really, really old, check out Bob Harig's ESPN.com story reminding us that it was Amanda, now a class valedictorian soon headed to Brown, who was about to be delivered during the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. That was yesterday, practically, no?

Mickelson's caddie, Jim Mackay, carried a beeper in his golf bag, and he pledged he would take off regardless of his situation in the tournament.

Mickelson finished second to Payne Stewart when the late golfer holed a 12-foot par putt on the final hole to edge him by a stroke; had Stewart missed, he and Mickelson would have had an 18-hole playoff to decide the tournament -- on the day Amanda ended up being born. That was the first of his record six runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open.

"Yeah, I go back and, every year at the U.S. Open, I think back about that '99 Open,'' Mickelson said. "The birth of your child, any child, but especially your first child is the most emotional event you can ever experience and share together with your wife."

Phil Commits To Colonial, Columnist Welcomes Him Back With Tough Love

I don't think Star-Telegram columnist Mac Engel will be getting many warm and fuzzy vibes next week from Phil Mickelson at the 2017 Dean and Deluca Invitational.

Even though Mickelson has committed for the first time since 2010 to set off a potential three week run into the U.S. Open (he's also committed to the Memorial), Engel welcomes Lefty back to Fort Worth with multiple jabs.

“With the (course) redesign, I’m afraid I won’t be playing it (Colonial) anymore,” Phil said in 2011. “It doesn’t give me a power advantage. I know all the shotmakers will be there every year. But I don’t see any of the long hitters playing there anymore. There’s no decision making now. It’s all irons, irons, irons.”

It was a tee-shot blast at course designer Keith Foster, and a tone-deaf comment about his own game. Phil sounded like a coward.

Most (all?) of the tournament directors and club members were furious and insulted. Phil wanted to play tournaments where he could birdie a Par 5. Colonial wanted PGAers who at least expressed some degree of gratitude for their hospitality, which in Phil’s case was generously extensive.

By 2011, the happily married couple only shared mutual middle fingers.

Welcome back!

Video: Mickelson To Feherty On Augusta's Lefthander Bias

Of course Phil Mickelson is naturally right-handed, but as he explains to Feherty in part two of their fireside chat airing at 9 pm ET Monday, there is only one hole Mickelson sees as anti-lefthander.

Careerbuilder: Mickelson On Creating An Identity

Larry Bohannan talks to Phil Mickelson in advance of his new role as "ambassador" to the Careerbuilder Challenge, formerly known as, well, The Hope.

Mickelson says it's a three-year plan to build the tournament into a more stable and significant event.

"The idea is to create an identity. Our identity is a chance for players to build a foundation for the rest of the year. We want to get a few top players in the field as the year starts.”

As the desert tournament evolved in the 1960s and 1970s, it always had top-name pros from Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus to Gary Player to Johnny Miller to Mickelson himself. Getting at least a few names like that back in the field could help push the CareerBuilder to bigger heights, Mickelson said, and maybe even bring back a little of what the tournament was decades ago.

“If we get a few top players, get some top amateurs and in the future some top celebrities out to the tournament, the tournament will be something fans want to come to,” he said.

It's interesting to see that Mickelson has singled out "top celebrities" given that Commissioner Finchem shifted the event away from celebs just as he did with the Wednesday pro-am here in Los Angeles. Whether Moonbeam was focused on squeezing more revenue out of paying customers over spectator draws, or just a general fan of watching briefcases play golf instead of celebs, I don't know.

Either way, tip of the cap to whoever secured Fitz and The Tantrums for the first Careerbuilder Challenge concert. Can't wait to see the fans free let go of their walkers to dance to The Walker!

Forbes: Tiger's Net Worth At $740 Million, Phil $375 Million

 Kurt Badenhausen explains that Tiger Woods is the youngest on their list of America's Wealthiest Celebrities and the second highest ranked athlete after Michael Jordan. Tiger sits on the list between Diddy and Dr. Dre.

Phil Mickelson is the only other athlete on the list of twenty at $375 million.

Forbes says on Woods:

Woods has earned $1.4 billion from prize money, endorsements and fees from appearances and golf course designs since turning pro in 1996. It is more than any athlete in the history of sports (Jordan earned more when adjusted for inflation). Less than 10% of Woods’ tally is from prize money with sponsorships his main source of revenue.

We know these dollar figures are a bit silly and likely bloated given that they may not take divorce settlements into full account. Still, even if cut in half, the numbers and success of two golfers over all other modern athletes, is noteworthy.

DOJ: FBI Leaked Confidential Investigation Into Mickelson

The FBI's on a roll.

David Purdum reports exclusively for ESPN.com that an FBI agent may have leaked word of an investigation into Phil Mickelson and Billy Walters to both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Mickelson has since paid back "ill gotten gains" but will not be charged.

In the filing, the government reveals that an agent "admitted that he was a significant source of confidential information leaked to reporters at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times about the underlying investigation."

"The agent further admitted that, prior to his Dec. 6 interview, he had hidden those communications with the press from both the USAO and others within the FBI," the letter, submitted by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, states. "Based upon the agent's admissions, which the USAO and the FBI regard with the utmost seriousness, it is now an incontrovertible fact that there were FBI leaks of confidential information to the press regarding this investigation."

The FBI also turned up at The Memorial in one of the more brazen efforts to force a witnesses hand.

Phil Apologizes To Hal Over Ballgate, Hopes Hal Feels Welcome

According to a fresh report from G.C. Digital, Phil Mickelson has told Golf Channel and Golf World reporter Tim Rosaforte that he was in the wrong by singling out decisions made during Hal Sutton's captaincy.

Mickelson acknowledged that the comments came off wrong.

“I’ve communicated with him,” Mickelson told Rosaforte. “I feel awful. It was never meant to be like that. I was trying to use an example of how a captain can have a strong effect. Unfortunately, it came across the way it did.”

Sutton and other past captains have been invited to hang out in the team room and at Hazeltine as a display of unity.

“I was totally in the wrong,” Mickelson said. “I never should have brought that up. I used an extreme example the way decisions can affect play, and I never should have done that because it affected Hal.”

Rosaforte's report on Live From, where he also explains that Mickelson hopes Sutton will still feel welcome to visit the team room, where past captain's have been encouraged to hang out in hopes of creating an "inclusive family feel."

Sutton reportedly left town but is scheduled to appear in a captain's exhibition match with Ben Crenshaw at midday.

The full Rosaforte report:

Randall Mell looked at the episode before Mickelson's apology and explained the whole mess very well. This explanation from Captain Davis Love doesn't add up though, as Mickelson was the one who raised the 2004 matter, not the press.

American captain Davis Love III was asked in his news conference Wednesday if Mickelson’s calling out Sutton again was appropriate. Love indicated Mickelson is in some ways playing defense.

“Unfortunately, some analysts just keep bringing it up over and over and over again, things that have happened in the past,” Love said. “Sometimes, you have to set the record straight.”

If you have the time, Dave Anderson's New York Times account of the 2004 ball episode is worth a read. Perhaps some of the lingering bitterness stems from Sutton making Mickelson adapt to Tiger's equipment...

Should Mickelson be teamed with Woods in the afternoon alternate-shot match today and perhaps again tomorrow, he will be using a rare mixture: Callaway woods, Titleist irons and putter, and a Nike ball. But why Tiger's ball?

"I personally felt that it would be very difficult to tell a guy that was 257 times or whatever the leading player in the world," Sutton said, alluding to Woods. "And you're going to ask him to switch balls. I didn't want to put Tiger in that position, so I just said, 'You need to know how to hit this ball right here."'

Update on 2016-09-29 17:12 by Geoff

**Alex Miceli feels Mickelson knew exactly what he'd planned to say.

When Mickelson came into the interview room here Wednesday, he knew that he was going to criticize Sutton.

Similarly, he knew that he would attack Tom Watson’s captaincy in the moments after the U.S. lost, 16 1/2-11 1/2, two years ago at Gleneagles in Scotland.

The only difference between Mickelson’s actions then and now is that Mickelson had the guts to say those comments in front of Watson. This time, Mickelson brought up a 12-year-old event against a man not in the room and who never fully recovered from that Ryder Cup debacle.

Hal Sutton: "I think Phil better get his mind on what he needs to have it on this week, instead of on something that happened ten years ago."

The past Ryder Cup Captain's played an exhibition off-site today and Alex Miceli of Golfweek captured this video of some of Hal Sutton's remarks (embed below).

Sutton, the 2004 captain at Oakland Hills, had plenty more to say about Phil Mickelson and his assertion that he was not given enough time.

Dave Shedloski reports for GolfDigest.com on Sutton's response.

His key point: Mickelson changed equipment the week prior, yet feels he got sidetracked testing Tiger's ball for the foursomes pairing, one that Sutton explains in the video that he intended as a goodwill gesture.

Sutton, who was one of several former captains to visit the U.S. team room on Tuesday night, went on to stipulate that Mickelson omitted a crucial fact in his recollection of his pairing with Woods: Lefty had changed to Callaway equipment just prior to the 2004 matches. “Yeah and then he didn't even call me and tell me he was changing the equipment,” Sutton said. “He had [his agent] Steve Loy call me and tell me. And he changed not only equipment, he changed ball too. So, print that. Print that. Print that. He let his whole team down. So he's talking about Hal Sutton? He let his whole team down.”

There were many other quotes from the chat, including Sutton's admission that he esentially quit the game after the Ryder Cup heat he took.

Pretty much quit golf, took the blame for everything. Nobody played well that week. If I need to still shoulder the blame for Phil’s play, then I’ll do that.

The video: