Two points: First, the NY area golf fans are notorious for their terrible behavior. Trust me; the players hate it. But they "say" they like it because if they bitch, the fans will REALLY light 'em up. It's golf, not basketball, football, baseball or hockey. They think that owning a ticket entitles to act like jerks. I'd leave room for the possibility that the U.S. Open and PGA Championship ditch the NY area in the future, giving those fans what they deserve. Act like that at Augusta and you're gone--also losing you "grandfathered" ticket status.

Second: Phil has used his popularity to make points on past issues (like threatening to move to Florida to avoid California's prohibitive taxes--just like other pros). I get Phil's point--if he was also making one. The USGA does not choose to learn from its previous mistakes that resulted in unfair course setups. Mike Davis, the PGA's course set-up guy missed his weather forecast. These players are "entertainer/athletes. I was not "entertained". In my view, it wasn't golf--it was Putt-Putt. I'm a P.G.T.A.Master Golf Teacher, playing better than scratch--when my back is not bothering me. But if the USGA offered to fly me to LaGuardia, chopper me over to this course as it is, let me play for free and fly me home, I'd pass. It wouldn't be fun shooting over 100.

And you forgot to say that he is great for the game. A true fan favorite, even in NEW YORK! He is always the guy to take care of the fans and sign autographs especially for the kids. He is a great father and family man. Best of all he is human as shown by his frustration in this tournament.

Plus one.

He’s human. The pressure got to him momentarily. He recovered quickly. Took the penalty and moved on. Handled all interviews professionally.
Case closed.
Thanks

I really own that bridge I'm selling

One persons opinion

Agree. Everyone has a bad day BUT he should have Simply “manned up”and said he made a mistake an blew his Kool versus trying to explain it off Mistake on his part, but let’s move on. Overall, he is a credit to the game.

However,he should have been DQ. Was not because he was Phil.

Agreed. Some fans are ignorant. This seems to becoming a trend. Not good

Yes, he should have been. And then he should have apologized for losing his cool and we forgive him and move on.

The real penalty should have been assessed on the USGA. Players on Saturday afternoon were at a 3 to 4 stroke disadvantage. The USGA knew this could and likely would happen, but selected this course anyway and then did not provide for it.

Jjcash - Your response is spot on. The combination of unruly fans and the unplayable course conditions was extremely frustrating for the players. I feel especially bad for DJ.

Expand on your reply, please.

I hear what people are saying about how Phil shouldn't have done what he did but I'm sure Phil knew exactly what he was doing. If you watched the Open you could see how many players missed 2 to 5 ft. puts either came up short or if they hit their 3 ft. putt & missed it rolled 10 ft. past or off the green. This wasn't just Mickelson it was most of the players. Besides I'm sure Phil wasn't going to win it or be in the top 10 finishers at 13 or 14 over at that time. I'm really surprise more people that made comments here didn't say, I wonder how many players will want to come back to this course & play. The course was terrible! I'm glad to see Phil showing his frustration in how bad this course was! Just my opinion, I'm just an amateur just like most of us that are making my opinions about Phil. Just to bad Phil didn't play better & did what he did though!

Nucky, they use that term on a business management forum I follow. It means whoever said it agrees with you. Only on that forum it's usually expressed by "+1," so maybe this isn't what B-flat meant.

What Phil did that was most annoying is disrespect his playing partner who was fighting to make a check out there. Beef Johnson's score went out the window, yet it was all about Phil.

Simply, an observation / opinion
 

Why was the course so rough for the ELITE golfers and for the most part with exception of the winner, and not so rough for the non elites..THEY ALL PLAYED THE SAME COURSE. A gentlemen's game my BUTT..
NON GOLFER.. !!

Thanks, CFrance I thought it was something positive. Just unfamiliar with a whole lot of terms I read on here. Urban Dictionary usually answers most questions I have. Bless You. :clap2:

Yes Phil "the Thrill's" action was unprofessional. As David Fay would suggest "he could have been disqualified". On the spur of the moment , the staff made an appropriate decision to penalize him 2 strokes.

NY courses are notiorious for drawing unruly crowds. Historically there have been countless acts of bad behavior . Look at the History of Bethpage Black etc. Colin Montgomery was taunted as "Mrs Doubtfire". Sergio was harassed after his endless waggling the club. And how about the endless " BAba Booey!" (Howard Stern reference) screams. You get one of the biggest cities in the world ..take a train ride.. apply copious amounts of beer and viola you don't have the peaceful venue of the golf course.

Yes Phil is one of the crowd favorites..And yes the PGA does treat their "cash cows " different from "Beef Johnson"..but Imagine if that crowd would have heard that Phil had been DQ . That could have turned into a real ugly scene

Here is the problem:
“A serious breach of that rule means the rules committee can impose a penalty of DQ.”

The USGA rule is not ironclad when they state “ serious” and “can impose a penalty”. This leaves the players action open to interpretation of both these phrases by the committee. Best guess the wording should/will be addressed to make the rule ironclad. List the specific exceptions ie: wind moving ball as it was struck, and so on. Beyond the specific exceptions it’s a DQ.

Good point. I believe it was PJ Boatright, That said about the course controversy in 2004,
“We are not trying to embarrass the best players in the world, we are just trying to identify them.

Absolutely agree. :thumbup:

I watched the Open every day and I didn't see any missed three footers rolling ten feet by or off the green. Do you have specific examples of this? I'm sure that it could happen on a US Open golf course, but that's part of solving the problem. Hitting your ball on the green is not good enough. It has to be in a specific location on the green. Or more importantly, it can't be in certain specific locations. It's the same at The Masters. if you get your ball above the hole on some holes, you either have to hole it or you're going to have a long comeback putt.

This is major championship golf. Brooks Koepka won by shooting one over. Dustin Johnson could have won, but he putted horribly. He hit the ball on the green and in the right spot for the most part, but couldn't find the line. Had he putted just decently, (and that's 30 putts at the tour level) he would have won easily. Tommy Fleetwood shot 63 so how can anyone say that the golf course was unfair or too difficult. It's supposed to be extremely difficult.

Phil screwed up but then, no one is perfect. For those who condemn him I pose the question, all the years we endured Tigers temper tantrums, swearing, throwing clubs, kicking his bag, etc. Etc. Did you condemn his actions and if not, why?

The two stroke penalty was the rule. However, if there is a possibility that the tournament officials have the option to disqualify Phil then the verbiage needs to be in the rule that the officials have the discretion to use their own judgement that includes up to being disqualified. But since the rules do not have that option listed then you can't disqualify him.

The course setup by the PGA on Saturday was not a fair one. By the time the last groups of golfers got to some holes the “right spot” was either completely gone or almost minuscule. Good shots were Time and again not biting and rolling off the greens. Phill the Hall of Fame senior statesmen made a statement for his fellow competitors. The USGA got the message and had the course set up in a fair way on Sunday. Yeah, Tommy Fleetwood shot a 63 on Sunday. What did that same golfer shoot on Saturday. 78!

[emoji106]

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Ohiobuckeye
 

You know, I can see everyone's disapproval what Phil did but if Phil wanted to tank his match, it was his money that he was losing not ours. There's no rule in golf that says he can't tank a golf match. To me it was just not very professional for a pro golfer to do something like this. Why are so many people getting down on Phil? Haven't we all started something & just finally say I quit! He could of just walked off the course but maybe this was his way of saying the greens are crap. Would that of been the right thing to do, NO! Why is it that when someone does something like this, it's news for the next 6 months. What Phil did has been done before!

I like Phil very m uch, but intentionally doing what he did should have warranted a DQ.

Again, everyone who is suggesting he should have been DQ'ed needs to read the decisions on the rules of golf, rule 1-2, specifically the example given:


1-2/5.5 Player Purposely Stops or Deflects Ball; Where Next Stroke Must Be Played from
Q.A player's ball lies through the green. After playing a pitch shot up a slope, the player sees his ball start to roll back towards him. He places his club in front of the ball and stops it. The ball would have rolled only a few yards more and remained through the green. What is the ruling?
A.Since the player purposely stopped the ball, he is in breach of Rule 1-2. As the breach was not serious, the player incurs a penalty of loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play. In stroke play, he must play the ball from the point where he stopped it with his club - see Note 2 to Rule 1-2.

As the ball would have only rolled a few yards more... not a serious violation.

Whereas Mickelson said he volleyed the ball because he was convinced it was going to continue a very significant distance, so many yards that he felt he would save strokes by taking a two stroke penalty or stated more clearly he says he calculated that it would take at least 4 more strokes to play it from where it was likely to stop. With what he did he was looking at 3 strokes had his volley gone in the hole. Hardly a good example to support your position. And since this is the best rule you can find for only assessing him a two stroke penalty and it does not apply when the ball was going to roll more than "a few yards", DQ would seem more appropriate.

I doubt Mickelson would need four strokes from somewhere just off the green but if you believe his explanation was honest that it was a strategic choice to save strokes rather than a blatant breach of the spirit of golf then I wonder why no one else had employed this brilliant strategy. I don't believe I have seen a single other PGA player defend Mickelson's action as being clever strategy. I suspect had it been Woods the tone on this website would be very different. But some people are more equal.