"The buzz is in their court right now."

Jaime Diaz on the "guru war" that has broken out within the stable of short game specialists, led by Dave Stockton and sons:

None of the great putters of the last 50 years -- Bob Charles, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, et al. -- had a regular coach to help them on the greens. The same goes for today's acknowledged best: Woods, Steve Stricker, Brad Faxon and Brian Gay. For that matter, Stockton and Utley had no putting coach besides their boyhood teachers. The resistance is evident in the fact that the most recent partnerships were not initiated by the player. Stockton was suggested to Mickelson by his caddie, Jim Mackay, as Utley was to Garcia by Billy Foster. Stockton, at the behest of Mickelson, offered his services to Scott.

But when Stockton seemed to be the pivotal figure in Mickelson's immediate improvement, and when Scott and Justin Rose won soon after receiving a lesson from Dave Jr., it became a powerful narrative. "I highly respect what the Stocktons are doing," Utley says. "The buzz is in their court right now."