2012 Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide Insurance Discussion Thread

[pumaAttack]

Originally Posted by RonTheSavage

Doug Ferguson of the AP tweeted:

Me suspects the Mickelson WD was more about sending a message than fatigue. Just a hunch. #cellphonepolicy

Can you please explain this further?

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by pumaAttack

Can you please explain this further?

It's all in the hash tag.  Basically he's implying what another poster suggested earlier: that Phil took great exception with the way the tournament is being handled by allowing unruly fans with cell phones to go wild.

I actually did see him back off a shot on the tee at a par 3 (either hole #7 or #8) and Bones asked somebody to "cool it with the cell phones."

Brandon

[brocks]

Can you please explain this further?

I think he means that Phil has a history of boycotting events (like the FedEx Cup playoffs) when he doesn't like the policies, and apparently he's upset with the way cell phones were handled at the Memorial.

[brocks]

Then he should've withdrew before his round started, problem solved.

Correct. By playing a round before he withdrew, he kept somebody else from playing.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by brocks

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonTheSavage

Then he should've withdrew before his round started, problem solved.

Correct. By playing a round before he withdrew, he kept somebody else from playing.

Was he aware of exactly how the cell phones woule be handled before teeing off?

[pumaAttack]

What exactly is the problem with Cell phones and this event compared to others?

[brocks]

Was he aware of exactly how the cell phones woule be handled before teeing off?

Probably not. Nor was he aware that he would shoot a 79, or that there would be lousy weather today, or that there would be a fat lady wearing green and pink in his field of view as he was lining up a putt. What's your point?

[brocks]

There might be more to the story, like maybe his arthritis is acting up and he doesn't want to talk about it.

Not talking about his arthritis is fine. Talking about how unimportant Jack's tournament is to him is not fine.

[brocks]

What exactly is the problem with Cell phones and this event compared to others?

As previously noted, some events ban them completely, and most events do their best to keep them from being used when it will annoy the players. Apparently the marshals did a very poor job, at least around Phil. I'm not aware of Tiger making any comments about the phones after his round, and he's usually not shy about things like that.

[RonTheSavage]

What exactly is the problem with Cell phones and this event compared to others?

I read the Wei Under Par blog, (mainly becasue I think she's hot) but she follows the tour and writes a column and blogs on her site. She wrote yesterday that fans were really out of control with cell phone usage at this event. She mentioned one example in particular where a guy was near the tee box loudly discussing dinner plans with his daughter. Apparently there are designated places where patrons can use their cell phones but people were using them whenever they pleased. Not to mention the clicking of camera phones in players backswings.

[RonTheSavage]

This isn't bash Phil day but I found this interesting from Golf.com

His explanation Thursday was, "I probably went a little bit overboard last month… I need to get rested to play my best for the Open. I wasn't able to focus from the last month."

Phil won't rest Monday, either. He's got another corporate outing .

Keep in mind, this is the same Mickelson who's made a habit of making his point in strange ways. There's a players' walkway bridge from the scoring cabin and media area that goes above an area where fans congregate to try to get autographs, and ends at the clubhouse. It is known as Phil's Bridge, and it is rumored to have been installed at Mickelson's suggestion (some would say insistence) so he could minimize security issues involved with being swarmed over by fans. A similar walkway bridge was installed, supposedly at Mickelson's request, at Bay Hill.

[Kieran123]

Phil withdrew because he played like shit. No other reason.

Sulking 100%

[MEfree]

As I said earlier, I`m willing to give Phil a pass on this one- he is certainly not the first player to W/D after a bad round but this seems to be making headlines because of his explanation.

As Erik said PGA players are independent contractors and, for the most part, get paid based on their tournament results (endorsements and outings aside).  The tour as a whole gives a lot back to the game, its fans and charities with Phil being one of the best about that.  Because of that, I don`t have much of an issue when a player decides to W/D after a really bad round.

However, if the tour wants to reduce the number of W/Ds, then they should just require anyone W/Ding (or D/Qing) to play 1 Nationwide Tour event to show that they are physically and mentally fit before returning to the regular tour- kinda like a rehab assignment in the minor leagues that some Major league players do after (usually an extended) stay on the DL list.  I think that some players have voluntarily done this already, but requiring it will certainly give a player pause before W/Ding.

I believe the NW tour is looking for a new title sponsor, so the possibility of a big name player making an occasional appearance couldn`t hurt things (other than the regular tour event that they are missing).  To offset the potential prize $ the PGA players would win, you could give all NW winners a guaranteed start on the PGA Tour- there is a fair bit of cross over already and I think it would help the general public to realize how good some of the guys are on the NW tour.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by brocks

Quote:

Originally Posted by pumaAttack

Can you please explain this further?

I think he means that Phil has a history of boycotting events (like the FedEx Cup playoffs) when he doesn't like the policies, and apparently he's upset with the way cell phones were handled at the Memorial.

Originally Posted by brocks

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonTheSavage

Then he should've withdrew before his round started, problem solved.

Correct. By playing a round before he withdrew, he kept somebody else from playing.

Originally Posted by brocks

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Was he aware of exactly how the cell phones woule be handled before teeing off?

Probably not. Nor was he aware that he would shoot a 79, or that there would be lousy weather today, or that there would be a fat lady wearing green and pink in his field of view as he was lining up a putt. What's your point?

I was asking an honest question that was directly related to two consecutive, yet not entirely directly related, comments that you personally made. And it wasn't a "point" but rather a question.

[pumaAttack]

Now it is Rory's turn for missing 11 footers for birdie!

[brocks]

I was asking an honest question

My mistake. It seemed like a smart-ass question to me, since I don't see why anybody would think that Phil knew in advance exactly what would happen yesterday, or why I would know exactly how much Phil knew. Sorry for the misunderstanding. But to avoid further misunderstandings, my response to RonTheSavage had nothing to do with cell phones. I interpreted his post as a response to the post before it, which was about Phil feeling tired and/or under the weather.

[Kieran123]

Is Tiger striping it?

[brocks]

Is Tiger striping it?

In four holes, he's hit his approaches to within six feet on three of them. Made the one-footer, missed the five-footer, hasn't hit the four-footer yet.