Should Mickelson have been DQ'd?
 

I like Phil a lot and was really rooting for him to make this the year when he completed the 'career slam,' but his actions today...were over the line IMHO. :ohdear:

It looks like I'm not the only one either.

U.S. Open: Phil Mickelson explains away meltdown

Column: On 48th birthday, Mickelson acts like a 10-year-old - NY Daily News

Phil Mickelson stunningly hits moving ball on purpose for 2-shot penalty | Golfweek


I just hate that he will now be thought of as being in the same category as that embarrassment to golf...John Daly. :oops:

He made an error in judgment, took the penalty. Case closed. Nobody is perfect.

It was a birthday present, ha!

Deliberately stopping the ball, which Michleson said he did, "to stop it rolling off the green" is disqualification. Simple.
If he was making a point about the ridiculous set up of the course, have the balls to say so.
Worse than that though, is the so called fans abusive behaviour towards any non-American player. The drunken mob are beneath contempt.

Ya know, I thought I detected that but the announcers seemed to try to work around it and ignore that chanting. How classless. You could see on Stinson’s face that he was super annoyed. That, and the Phil thing...sad day for golf in the U.S.

I think you are right. I hope it isn't the beginning of something ugly. I have always liked golf partly because people generally behave more like ladies and gentlemen than in any other popular sport.

I guess all the perfect people who commented on Phil's frustration yesterday never had a bad day on the course. I am not a big fan of Phil, but every once in a while golf can get to you. You have a very bad day and you react negatively. He didn't throw a club or break one. I guess he is human after all.

Yes, and they generally don't have tatoos and piercing and weird hair dos. Quite civilized.

'Ice Man' Stenson is super cool, and never gets uptight. For him to even react to crowd, shows how bad it was out there.
I thought all non Americans handled the abuse very well. Poulter, must have been spitting nails, as he was singled out more than anyone. The way he handled it shows the class the spectators lacked.

John Daly was slaughtered by the press and public for doing the same thing, but as it's 'good old Phil,' lets all look the other way.
Not in my book. That's cheating.

Just a bunch of drunken young guys. Maybe they would act more civilized if they didn’t have such easy access to booze. Their actions were completely unacceptable

IMO - Much ado about not much. oooooooo, the rules of golf.....ooooooo, disrespect for other players and the game, ooooooo, ruins his career and legacy.

C'mon all - even though the PGA and USGA controls pro golf like it's sanctimonious and pious - it's a sport played by humans with tons o' rules for a lot of money.

So - a player out of contention with no chance to challenge a top 30 finish - allows his emotions to react on the green...big deal. He accepted the penalty, and perhaps the USGA will disqualify him for the final round. Yet another big name pro is out of Sunday US Open. Most are out due to a course (un)prepped to be uncontrollable (and "Challenging").

OK, Phil's reasoning during his postgame interview was hokey and not totally truthful. But he was embarrassed and simply did not want the 13th to continue on. How many of us did the same move of the putter when missing putts? Yes, not during a major tourney...but Phil IS HUMAN and allowed his emotions to spurt. Let it go...

Another note - HOW BAD is the TV coverage by Fox? So many audio and video glitches - the crowd yelling is embarrassing...esp the XXX rated ones...need to have an 8-second delay...too many talking heads...and truthfully I am not a fan of links courses - IMO the aesthetics on TV is not eye-appealing.

OK I'm done. 2 stroke penalty on ToTV...

Phil's post game interview was a joke. Never really apologize for what he did made an excuse that he was using the rules to his advantage. Had plenty of time to think of an excuse while playing the rest of the match. Yes they crucified John Daly for what he did and I think Phil should be crucified as well. Everybody loves Phil, The poor little rich kid from San Diego

Watched Calvin Peete do the same thing at the BC Open years ago .. Immediate DQ, which he wanted, as his bad round didnt figure into his standing for some low stroke award .. That was classless, as was Phil's .. Should have been DQ'd .. unfortunately, there will be more and more excuses for this being out of character and he'll be given slack that other players wouldn't.

I listened to the USGA official last evening who said that Phil had reached out to him (text, I believe) to say that he thought the rule was a two stroke penalty, but if the USGA thought he should be disqualified, he wouldn't argue about it. He should have been disqualified, but now that it's over, we all should move on. If I were Phil, I would call a news conference this morning, make a statement saying I was sorry and was dropping out of the tournament, and would answer any and all questions right now, but would never respond to a question about this situation again - ever. If he doesn't put his foot down, these ******* reporters will never stop asking the same questions over and over.

Yea. I gotta mostly agree with this. Pro players in all sports sometimes do things that they shouldn't. They get penalized according to the rules of their sport and life goes on. Phil's actions will have zero affect on the tournament except for the news coverage.

Having said that - If this is to be considered a major no-no, then the USGA can create a rule to address it. Kinda like: "You can't ask your fans to get together and roll a boulder out of the way."

I don't really care much about Phil Mickelson, but could somebody provide a link or just tell me what the crowd was doing? I didn't see the broadcast.

The only other polite fans are/(but are changing to were) tennis fans. (Except at the US Open in NYC, which has always been rowdy.)

Just google it - but...you know how golf fans yell out "IN THE HOLE!!!". It was kinda like that - but VERY much more XXX descriptive...

Thanks. At first I came up with just stuff about the players, so I changed my search terms and got what I wanted.

Actually, it is not. In the decisions on the rules of golf, rule 1-2, they use the example of a golfer pitching up a slope short and the ball starts rolling back to him. He runs up and stops the ball with his clubhead. The decision explicitly states that this "was not a serious breach", and he is assessed 2 strokes and plays it where he stopped it.

That's good to know about the two strokes. When I do that I either keep hitting or give up on the hole. Many more than two strokes for this beginner. I would rather take the two strokes and play the rest of the hole.

Where is it being played, Oh New York with a train that runs out of the city to the course.

Love Phil———-
BUT ******* Your Out !!!
If one does it, Next they will say. “ Phil did it”

I think we need a sub-forum where the USGA/RA/PGA Tour rules officials can ask TOTV members to interpret the rules and make decisions for them.

Over blown.

LOL. Good one! : )

What an excellent idea!

:a20:

I usually stop the ball like Phil did then have my Grandson hold the Blades on the WindMill add one stroke penalty because he doesn't know about the two-stroke rule and then have Ice Cream and come home. No matter what I always win because he doesn't know how to add when we go in to have our scorecard signed at the snack bar.

Mickelson's post round excuse that he knew about the two stroke penalty and thought taking it would save him strokes on the hole was a lie. He lied to the public about his reasoning trying to make it a strategic ploy within the rules. His new nickname with be "Lying Phil". Whenever his gets a bad lie it will remind everyone of this bad lie.

versus his later statement

Much ado about nothing......if everyone played by the rules everyone in TV would be disqualified and all the courses deserted. If I was Phil, after shooting the 81 and being as wealthy as he is, I would be begging to be DQ'd so I could head home and enjoy Fathers Day with the family.

There's a HUGE difference between knowing about the 2 shot penalty, which just about every golfer beyond hacker knows, and knowing his total score on the hole after what he did. Yet you know he was lying? Judge much?????

He probably wanted disqualified to be put out of his misery!! A news article quoted his wife as saying that Phil offered to withdraw.

I don't look at it like that. He will still be "lefty" to me.

Agree!!!


Oh wait, that was my post.


:a20:

Why would think he should be disqualified. The penalty for hitting a moving ball is two strokes. He accepted the penalty and completed the hole, completed the round and completed the tournament. Everything was within the rules of golf.

Phil's action was actually a pretty smart strategy as he knew exactly what he was doing and was simply taking advantage of the rules. had he let the ball go, it would have rolled down behind the bunker where he would have had no chance of getting it up and down and it was likely that it would end up rolling off the green again and again.

What's the difference between that and taking a drop from an obstruction in the rough onto the fringe as the rules allow?

You obviously didn't read the links I put in the first post. :oops:

Hint...Rule 1-2.

In other words, the USGA made a 'judgment call' in not invoking 1-2...which they very well could/should have.

It isn't nearly as cut & dried...as you're trying to make it.

What's your point? The USGA, who writes and interprets the rules and their committee that understands the rules better than anyone on the planet decided that it wasn't a serious breach.

I supposed they could have invoked disqualification but I would defer to people who are much more knowledgeable about the rules than I am before I would say, "should have".

Here's my point...

Why Phil Mickelson didn'''t get disqualified from the U.S. Open | Golf.com



Are you now going to try and argue that David Fay..."isn't qualified or knowledgeable?" :oops:

As I said, it isn't nearly as cut & dried...as you seem to think. :ohdear:

I'm certainly no PGA rules expert but just another observer in the comfort of their living room with rule book, wings, and Budweiser. Are the rules committee referring to Exception 1, and or note 1 and 2 of rule 1-2 ? Just curiosity on my part.

OK ToTVrs. 2018 US Open is over.

Can we please forgive and forget...about Mickelson's error in judgement...that's what I believe it was, and that his emotions got the best of him. period

from:

Amy Mickelson: Phil Mickelson offered to withdraw from U.S. Open
Beth Ann Nichols, Golfweek


Amy Mickelson, dressed in solid black like her husband, stood off the side of the pro shop porch. For as long as they’ve been in this together, Saturday night at the U.S. Open was like nothing they’d experienced before. Phil knew the rule, Amy said, but when he got home and heard all the talk about disqualification, he picked up the phone during the afternoon telecast.

“When he heard that, he called Mike Davis and said, ‘If I’ve done something that crosses the line that much, then I need to withdraw immediately,’ ” Amy said.

Davis, the USGA's CEO, assured Phil that he was well within the rules. He closed with a 1-under 69 on a much more receptive Shinnecock Hills.

“You know it’s not his finest moment,” said Amy, “but hopefully he’ll learn from it. Like anybody, good people make mistakes. We all have a moment in life sometimes and that was kind of a moment I think for him.”