Check out this article with Phil and Faldo trash talking.

[Lemay427]

Are you serious? Can you not understand sarcasm. Phil is not an ass. He is an elite golfer that is cordial to the fans, makes an effort during interviews, and smiles on the course as if he is enjoying himself. The next time these 2 go head-to-head, listen to the post-match interview. Phil will talk about enjoying the competition with Tiger. Tiger won't acknowledge Phil and will just talk about what he did. It's always about himself.

I appreciate dominance over signing autographs and waving his hands at the fans. Just the attitude phil has seems fake. Thats probably why he is not well received from his peers. They know he is a flake and prefer to be around genuine people.

Obviously this is just my perception.

[Norm3333]

I appreciate dominance over signing autographs and waving his hands at the fans. Just the attitude phil has seems fake. Thats probably why he is not well received from his peers. They know he is a flake and prefer to be around genuine people.

So, let me get this straight, because Phil is not as "dominant" as Tiger, Phil is an ass? Are you serious? Do you say these opinions out loud?

It amazes me that you are actually denigrating a player because he responds to the fans and smiles? You were probably mad when Phil hit that guy's watch and gave him $200 for his trouble. Yeah, what an ass. Tiger would have done the right thing by COMPLETELY IGNORING the fan. That's what I like in another human.

[Spackler-esque]

So, let me get this straight, because Phil is not as "dominant" as Tiger, Phil is an ass? Are you serious? Do you say these opinions out loud?

First of all, I will agree that Tiger is abrasive. Ooooo! I like his interviews. They have more substance than Phil's do. They're more professional. That being said, I'm not a Tiger junkie. I like him, but I didn't miss the hype when he was out.

What Lemay427 clearly stated, that you somehow completely missed, is that Phil seems like a real fake. Nowhere did he say that Phil was an ass because he isn't as dominant as Tiger. He said he respected dominance over faux-personality, autographs, and handshakes. Phil's personality is manufactured. He's a flake and it shows. He's a love-able (to some, not me) buffoon. A manufactured Everyman. This has been discussed at length on this forum before. If you have issue with it, go find one of those threads and post away. So, when Phil busts someone's balls (unnecessarily loudly, it reads like), someone who has played better golf than Phil does, and gets what seems like a cold response in return before continuing to call the guy a ***** and a woman... Yeah, that's being an ass. Seems pretty simple to me. But as I said, I'm not surprised. It's Phil being Phil.

[Shindig]

Phil beats up hookers?!?!

Give him a break. From his point of view, they're slicers.

[Norm3333]

First of all, I will agree that Tiger is abrasive. Ooooo! I like his interviews. They have more substance than Phil's do. They're more professional. That being said, I'm not a Tiger junkie. I like him, but I didn't miss the hype when he was out.

What cracks me up is when no-lifers think they know what celebrities are thinking. Actually, it's kind of sad. "Phil's personality is manufactured." LOL. "He's a flake and it shows" LOL. How many cats do you own?

[Three Putt]

Seems like a bulls--t article to me.

The author has a mispelling in the title.

[lordnazgul2]

Has no one else noticed the blatant bias that is in this article??? It is clearly a "I love Phil Mickelson and hate Tiger Woods" author!

I always find it strange that Mickleson and Woods seem to be like science and religion, people seem to think they are incompatible, i.e. its not possible to like both at the same time, its either love tiger and hate phil, or love phil and hate tiger!

As far as i am concerned, Tiger Woods' profession is to play golf, and he does it pretty well, so does mickelson. It is neither of their professions to sign autographs, or give interviews with massive amounts of insight.

With regards Tiger Woods interview style, what must always be remembered is that he is in a position like no other, in that as world number 1 (by a long long long long way) and as a figure that goes beyond the boundries of golf, whatever he says is reported internationally, one small slip and it will be jumped on and repeated and analysed and butchered. Phil Mickelson within reason can say whatever he likes and at the end of the day, not too many people will really care!

I think the fact that Mickelson has very very few friends on tour, whereas Tiger Woods has many perhaps suggests something about Mickelson that does not come across during interviews etc.

[Norm3333]

Has no one else noticed the blatant bias that is in this article??? It is clearly a "I love Phil Mickelson and hate Tiger Woods" author!

Very good post. Refreshingly so in light of others.

I do agree that the article is pro Phil and anti Tiger. What I find so shocking is that someone wrote something critical of Tiger. I subscribe to a few golf magazines and can not remember 1 article criticizing Tiger at all, let alone as much as this article does. IMO, Tiger has the most apologists. They love to say things like, "Tiger hates bogeys more than anyone" after he has a tantrum and drops F-bombs. I would think that a player who is not making ends meet and struggling to keep his card, probably hates a bogey JUST as much as Tiger. I like Tiger. I bought his irons, I wear a Tiger hat, and I just bought his new golf shoes. But, the fawning and apologizing for his behavior is ridiculous. He is the greatest golfer ever. But, he is still human.

[rckwd]

Has no one else noticed the blatant bias that is in this article??? It is clearly a "I love Arnold and hate Jack" author!

Good Post...now re-read what you wrote above with the words I changed....it was like you were posting that argument 30-40 years ago!! Amazing

[rckwd]

.......He is the greatest golfer ever....

Now dont open

THAT can of worms..

[Spackler-esque]

What cracks me up is when no-lifers think they know what celebrities are thinking. Actually, it's kind of sad. "Phil's personality is manufactured." LOL.

Actually, the funny thing is that you read the two paragraphs of preamble I wrote but ignored the rest of what I said. Or at least didn't respond to it. Phil has no basis to stand on to criticize Faldo like that, even if he was joking (which Faldo didn't seem to appreciate, anyway). There's no reason to call him a ***** or a woman. Or big for that matter. I mean, Phil calling someone other than John Daly big? And to do all that loudly in front of a group, making sure you're heard? Please, defend it. Prove to me that doing that isn't ass hole behavior. And don't say that Faldo and Phil are friends. You don't do that to friends.

You just wanted to argue Tiger/Phil instead of Phil/Faldo didn't you? Well, you got your wish. I'll let you go care about the One True rivalry in golf Besides that, you're doing a good job of proving a point: you're continuing unprovoked personal attacks while being fed opinions about a topic that you are as biased about as any of us... Well, you're pulling a Phil, I mean, being an ass. Congrats. Oh, right. You're just busting my balls. You're not my friend. Go f' yourself.

[Norm3333]

You just wanted to argue Tiger/Phil instead of Phil/Faldo didn't you? Well, you got your wish. I'll let you go care about the One True rivalry in golf

Yes, you right. I thought the Phil/Tiger angle was a more interesting discussion. But you are right. The Faldo/Phil drama is much more compelling. Oh the history we could mine.

My defense of Phil's comment about Faldo is that if you are offended by this talk, then I am glad I will never play golf with as big a ***** as you are. Of course friends give each other crap like that. Except crybabies like you PCers that vote for idiots like Pelosi.

[chriskzoo]

Proper response from Faldo: "Let me know when you reach #1 in the world, Lefty."

Phil would have shut his mouth.

[Spackler-esque]

Yes, you right. I thought the Phil/Tiger angle was a more interesting discussion. But you are right. The Faldo/Phil drama is much more compelling. Oh the history we could mine.

You know, man... Pelosi's as worthless as the GOP. And I hate PC bullshit. I'm a libertarian. The government can stay the hell out of my business. So please, shut the f' up about with your political crap. You're wrong. Pryor, Carlin... That's my kind of humor. I'm not offended when someone's called a *****.

I just think Phil's an ass and this exemplifies it. Phil went out of his way to make a scene. That's unprofessional of him at best. And I wouldn't bet that Faldo and Phil are really "friends" anyway. Simple as that. So stop attacking me, ass hole. The thread's about Phil and Faldo.

[Awsi Dooger]

Are you serious? Can you not understand sarcasm. Phil is not an ass. He is an elite golfer that is cordial to the fans, makes an effort during interviews, and smiles on the course as if he is enjoying himself. The next time these 2 go head-to-head, listen to the post-match interview. Phil will talk about enjoying the competition with Tiger. Tiger won't acknowledge Phil and will just talk about what he did. It's always about himself.

I agree with everything you wrote. As I posted on another golf site last week, Phil is one of the only golfers I've ever seen who doesn't shrink into pretend mode during a tournament. Tiger and almost everyone turns into a comically pathetic tunnel vision zombie, pretending he doesn't see or hear the fans calling out to him, or reaching out their hands, between holes. Phil genuinely interacts, with the sheepish grin, and clearly enjoys it.

Then back in the players locker room, the pretend crowd can recite the instances of fan behavior they saw on the course but had to pretend they didn't see, enjoying a pompous and juvenile superior-to-thou bond. To Phil it's long gone and irrelevant because he experienced it in the real world, and now can go about his business, signing autographs or whatever. Anyway, that exchange between Faldo and Phil sounds just like both of them. Faldo always was a subtle needle even in his playing days. It was hardly concealed. I bust up at the golf analysts who say he's suddenly chirpy. You had to basically ignore his career not to understand what type of personality he had. Maybe I saw it more because I spent some summers in Europe during his heyday, '90 and '92, and the media covered him to exhaustion. But unfortunately, Faldo too preferred the pretend mode on the course, albeit hardly to the extremes of Tiger. Faldo has always been somewhat defensive about his lack of power, making frequent comments that he intentionally sacrificed distance to gain elsewhere. Phil is incredibly sharp and has obviously picked up on that over the years, the perfect angle to rib. BTW, I thought the most interesting aspect of the article was Phil sending the mini ping pong table to Tiger as a gift when Sam was born. Now that's a great dig, if you read the likely rationale, Phil's dominance of Tiger at Ryder Cup ping pong sessions. Tiger can forget about besting Phil in ping pong. Phil has the same advantage I've always had, playing golf with the wrong hand in front allows tremendous edge in ping pong. If Phil is playing righty ping pong, his right hand can easily whip the topspin backhands because it's the same angle and motion as his lefty golf swing. Opponents hit it to the backhand expecting a breather, then it zips smack past them. In college I could handle all the American guys in the Student Union and the annual tournaments, but the top Asians were too good, getting everything back until I finally made an error.

[rckwd]

Proper response from Faldo: "Let me know when you reach #1 in the world, Lefty."

Oooooo...that would sting wouldnt it?

[iacas]

Just playing devil's advocate a little...

Phil is one of the only golfers I've ever seen who doesn't shrink into pretend mode during a tournament.

So why is it that Phil is widely regarded as the biggest fake/phony on Tour? Is that not a sort of "pretend" mode?

Tiger and almost everyone turns into a comically pathetic tunnel vision zombie, pretending he doesn't see or hear the fans calling out to him, or reaching out their hands, between holes.

Have you ever considered the possibility that he DOES NOT see them, and that it's not pretending at all?

I've seen - and heard stories of - Tiger walking right past his wife, his kid, his mom... sometimes, 40 yards beyond he'll realize something and will look back and wave or something, but most of the time he simply doesn't see them. I've seen it a few times when there are very few other people (fans, media) around, so it's not like he has to act like anything. It's legit. As for the topic at hand, I take little good or bad from it. Faldo needled Phil, Phil needled back. So what? It's a little trash talk. Heck, I'm not exactly a Phil fan, but stories like this make me like him a teeny little bit more.

Faldo too preferred the pretend mode on the course, albeit hardly to the extremes of Tiger.

Or, again, perhaps it wasn't pretending at all.

And even if it is pretending (it's not), I'll take that over Mr. Rabbit Ears Montgomerie. Guy, as they say, "could hear a gnat fart four fairways over."

[Norm3333]

The most interesting part of the article is the Tiger bashing. Never read anything remotely critical, let alone how honest this article was.

Had no idea Tiger yelled at Haney. I guess he has a right to, considering that he is paying Haney and gives him so much publicity/exposure. It has certainly helped Haney's career.