Wednesday
Apr252007
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.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 09:57 PM
Reader Comments (21)
On Phil, how many of us have had flights cancelled but still made it to important business meetings (where not making it just isn't an option). If you have a private plane, I fail to see how anything is out of your contol. If the Pros want their golf to be treated as a "Business", then they should held to the same standards as we are (and have to jump through the same hoops). Personally, I would never try to fly out 1st thing to make a Monday morning meeting.
As for Retief, if what Dukerson says is true, he would probably be fired for missing a meeting because he got s@#t-faced the night before.
How many Pro-Ams has Mickelson missed during his 15 years on Tour? It's not like this supposed precedent is going to spark a series of no-shows by marquee players during Pro-Ams. Therefore, no serious harm done.
"This too shall pass."
If a DQ is the stick the PGAT wields in order to make the players participate in the pro-am (which brings in serious coin each week), then waving the rule when Phil breaks it just confirms what we already know - there are 2 tours. The 'Tiger Woods Tour' starring TW and featuring Phil with occasional guest stars (Ernie, Vijay, Retief), and the 'Rest of the Tour' featuring a bunch of really good golfers that we all like but pretty much create a collective yawn from the non golf world.
Please note this is not a knock on Phil (who by most accounts is a fan friendly player) but a knock on the tour, which has obviously created the notion of a double standard among the rank and file.
Fair points, except the the same could be said for Goosen at Riviera in 2005. Defending US Open champ, big draw (first time at Riviera) and he did not receive the same compassion despite making every attempt to be there.
I do feel bad for the amateurs who won the pro-am lottery, picked Phil first and then showed up at the first tee to find Spike McRoy waiting for them.
The tours credibility? That's a good one!
Maybe Phil should have gotten to Dallas on Monday night in time for his official practice round!
In any event I sure hope he's not still eligible for a retirement credit if he happens to make the cut, also he should be ineligible to receive any FedUp Cup points....rules are rules, right RM?
Posted April 24th, 2007, 10:05am EDT
He had from 9:05am Central time to get to Dallas in time for his pro-am obligation, sure the pilots knew the forcast, FIGJAM thought Driver was the correct play at Winged Foot last June too.
I personally would have sent him in the afternoon in lieu of Joe Zilch, and/or maybe asked him to do the dinner afterward, but lets face it, DQ would have hurt the tour more than it would have hurt Phil.
Who got hurt worse, PGA TOUR or Retief Goosen who already had his expenses mounting because he was already in LA?
Here Geoff, I have the version attributed to Mark Russell if we can believe everything he says.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/0217/goosenr.html
Hawkeye with all the limited field events, invitationals and the majors how many has Mickelson actually had to play in?
Thanks FWIW for providing the significant time line on Phils movements that morning, he loafed around Alotian Golf Club with Warren Stephens the rest of the day until it was impossible to leave due the weather, a perfect built in excuse if ever there was one.
there are two tours. and the guys playing tour #1 are paying for the guys who play tours #2, #3 and even #4. Embrace it. Love it. The Soviet Union is dead. Communism didn't work.
Anybody who has the talent can play their way onto tour #1.
125th place before Tiger-$125,000.
125th place this year-over $700,000
dont tell me that #125 earned this money, when the #1 guy on the Nat. Tour makes 1/3 of this.
DQ phil Mick and the tournaments ratings plummet. Do you think that you would make the Salesmanship Club happy if you DQ'd their biggest draw?
Um, roughly around 300. As you can see, we're not talking about an alarming tendency here. And thanks, Bob, for being blunt about the nature of market economy with us.