Bubba: "Ever since they made that rule that cell phones are allowed, it’s just not fun playing.”

AP's Rusty Miller talked to Bubba Watson after his photo shoot/PGA Tour golf round Thursday at the Memorial and as was apparent, the cell phone picture taking got to him and Phil Mickelson. Rickie, not so much.

“It took Phil out of his game,” Watson said of the continual clicks and snaps of cell phone-camera shutters.

“Phil’s a great player and a great champion and it just took him out of his game. It’s sad. It’s sad that cell phones can make or break a championship.”

Rickie...again, not so much:

“There were a few phones out there,” Fowler said with a laugh. “There were a few times when we had to back off and reset. You could see Phil was a little fatigued and was having trouble blocking it out a bit.”

Mickelson made the turn at 1 over before struggling. Fowler shot a 71 and Watson, who won the Masters last month, had a 75.

And Bubba was a tad melodramatic here, not that the problem isn't real. But this was a bit much...

“When they make these marquee pairings, more people are going to follow them and more people want to take pictures. So it makes it very difficult. Ever since they made that rule that cell phones are allowed, it’s just not fun playing.”

Steve Elling feels historical precedent suggests the Mickelson WD was influenced by the events Thursday.

The retreat is at least partly attributable to Mickelson's mounting frustration over the use of camera phones by a growing number of fans, exacerbated this week because the marshals at Muirfield Village have done almost nothing to mute the problem.

This was a silent protest – literally.

Jason Sobel feels there was a lot of grey area in Phil's WD but is pretty sure the PGA Tour needs to look more closely at its cell phone policy enforcement.

There are some events in which any ticket-holder with a cell phone visibly showing anywhere near the rope line separating galleries from the action are told to put it away and threatened with revocation of their ticket; at other events, there is often little to no policing of the policy at all.

The simple fact is, with voluntary marshals attempting to protect the needs of competitors, there will never a streamlined enforcement policy to which all parties can agree. That said, there needs to be greater consistency from week to week. When it starts affecting play – as it did on Thursday – then it becomes an issue.

And Gary Van Sickle notes that Phil has a history of getting involved in issues like this and making statements.

Mickelson made a statement during the square grooves issue too. After John Daly and Dean Wilson used older Ping Eye2 wedges with square grooves, Mickelson put them in his bag at Riviera, prompting fellow player Scott McCarron to liken it to cheating. It also didn't thrill Phil's equipment sponsor, Callaway, that Phil famously used another company's wedges for the week.