Presidents Cup Thought Bubble Fun: Tiger, Duf, Phil Edition

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Chris Condon captured a shot for the ages backstage before the Presidents Cup opening ceremony. (Full gallery here.) If they weren't in matching suits you'd swear Annie Leibovitz had spent days orchestrating the Rat Packish shot for a Vanity Fair shoot. Again, that is, if they weren't in matching suits.

But I feel like something is missing...as in, thought bubbles. Keep it clean please.

Stevie: All's Well With Tiger (*&^%$ Ass) And Phil ($%&^*)

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If you were looking for a good laugh to break the withering playoff tension bound to envelop Friday and Saturday's Tiger-Phil-Adam pairing at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Robert Lusetich has the story of Adam Scott looper Stevie Williams, new pal of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Or so he says.

You may recall Stevie used a less than flattering bit of imagery while suggesting that he would like to insert something into Tiger. And with Phil he just went with the more succinct "prick" description.

The Stevie-Tiger make-up story started at Merion where Stevie says he sensed that his presence made Tiger "uncomfortable," so feeling the pain and concern for his former mate, decided at Muirfield during the final round--and what better time to chum it up than during a major final round--Stevie talked auto racing with Tiger on the 8th hole. Voila! They've been exchanging loving glances ever since.

“When I used to caddie for him I’d watch it at (their rented home) and after a while he started watching with me and getting into it.”

They engaged in small talk; as often is the case in such situations, the subject wasn’t important.

“He asked me how the family was and I did the same. We just talked, you know,” Williams said.

“At some point in time, I just felt we had to break the ice."

As for Phil, all Stevie said is they are "all good."

Call me skeptical...

Phil's UK Tax Bill And The Implication For More Links Golf

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CPA K. Sean Packard, CPA "specializes in tax planning and the preparation of tax returns for pro athletes" and has broken down Phil Mickelson's winnings in Scotland from the last two weeks: His conclusion, well, Phil netted very little in actual on course earnings after the Queen gets her take to pay for George's diapers and California pays four teachers.

Seriously, this is an important topic as it relates to getting top players to play the Scottish Open, BMW at Wentworth or an English Open if it could ever be made to happen.  Players simply avoid playing in the UK more than they need to because of the stifling tax rates on top of what they pay here at home. First world problems, indeed, but nonetheless important for everyone (myself included) to remember when we lament why more players don't play Royal Aberdeen next year, or why the PGA Tour does not play a WGC event in the UK or why we don't see more tournaments on the great links of the U.K.

For his two weeks of play, the world’s best golfer (rankings be damned) earned £1,445,000, or about $2,167,500.

The United Kingdom, which has authority to set Scotland’s tax rate until 2016, graduates to a 40% tax rate when income hits £32,010 then 45% when it reaches £150,000. Mickelson will pay £636,069 ($954,000, or 44.02%) on his Scottish earnings.

But that’s not all. The UK will tax a portion of his endorsement income for the two weeks he was in Scotland. It will also tax any bonuses he receives for winning these tournaments as well as a portion of the ranking bonuses he will receive at the end of the year, all at 45%. It is a significant amount for Mickelson, with only Roger Federer and Tiger Woods earning more among athletes from endorsements and appearances.

Packard goes on to lay out the tax bill in the U.S. (foreign tax credit!) and California

Without considering expenses, Mickelson will pay 61.12% taxes on his winnings, bringing his net take-home winnings to about $842,700. When expenses are considered (10% to caddy Jim “Bones” Mackay, airfare, hotel, meals, agent fees on endorsement income/bonuses—all tax deductible here and in the UK), his take-home will fall closer to 30%.

Of course Phil will benefit in the endorsement world and, oh yeah, he's the Champion Golfer of the Year having won The Open at Muirfield, over a star-studded leaderboard with a round that will talked about for ages. No tax bill can take away that.

Phil Didn't Get Out Of Bed For Days After Merion And Other Post Open Championship Victory Insights

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GolfChannel.com has a nice roundup of quotes from Phil Mickelson making the media rounds, including his admission that he was so tired and beaten down from the U.S. Open loss that he didn't get out of bed much until a family trip and a dinosaur egg got him going again.

There's some great stuff too about the Open, changes in his diet and an epic Bones' story begging a college professor to help him graduate and what the win meant to him from his Dan Patrick interview, which you can listen to here:



Earlier this week Jim Mackay was on the Patrick show and also shared some super insights into The Open:

Finally, Phil hit the Today Show to talk about his Mickelson ExxonMobil teachers academy and to play table tennis.