Phil Mickelson missing US open for HS Graduation

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, Shorty said:

But being away from home for 5 days a week playing golf half the year while your child is growing up is OK? 

So Phil just should go all out and not be with his family at all then? How jaded are you man!

7 minutes ago, Shorty said:

For a child of wealthy, intelligent and famous parents  to survive 12 years of schooling is not an amazing achievement.

If your parents were alcoholic, poor and left school at 12 it would be.

Congratulations to Phil's daughter, but let's not pretend she has done something amazing or difficult.

That has nothing to do with it. You make it sound like wealthy, intelligent, and famous parents should just be non-loving assholes to their family because they happen to be wealth, intelligent, and famous. Wow man, great way to be judgmental. 

[Apoc81]

7 minutes ago, Shorty said:

But being away from home for 5 days a week playing golf half the year while your child is growing up is OK? 

I have no problem with it, given the circumstances and the attendant advantages, but lets not pretend we can have it both ways.

For a child of wealthy, intelligent and famous parents  to survive 12 years of schooling is not an amazing achievement.

If your parents were alcoholic, poor and left school at 12 it would be.

Congratulations to Phil's daughter, but let's not pretend she has done something amazing or difficult.

Phils family travels with him often, so lets not pretend he's away 5 days a week while the family is at home. Every tourny his wife and kids are usually there. She has done something worthy of praise, and to say otherwise is ridiculous. Her dad took one tournament off for his daughter. Thats worthy of praise, not the ire and foolishness people like you are pushing on him. 

[Shorty]

13 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

So Phil just should go all out and not be with his family at all then? How jaded are you man!

 

I didn't say that. I said the opposite. I am pointing to the hypocrisy. His family is where it is BECAUSE Phil did that.

And BTW - perhaps the biggest family man of them all, Jack Nicklaus, just said on TV that perhaps the school should change its schedule. How's that? Are you going to criticize him for suggesting that Phil's attendance at the U.S. Open is more important than a high school graduation? 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Shorty

[Shooting29]

I was in the band in high school so I went to every graduation from 8th grade up to my own. I hated every second of them. I didn't want to go to my own and my mom and dad made me. 

When I graduated college I skipped graduation. To me it is a pointless ceremony. my degree is no less valid than one who walked across the stage and I didnt have to purchase a one use cap and gown nor waste a beautiful day listening to names of people I didn't know being read in monotone.

 

[WUTiger]

17 hours ago, Shorty said:

Not quite sure why it has to be broadcast, but that's Phil for you.

This ranks as news because Phil is 46 and needs the US Open to fill out a career Grand Slam.

People are going to find out about it anyway. Given, some individuals don't like to see happy, accomplished people presented in a good light, but most people do. 

17 hours ago, Shorty said:

Is finishing high school really considered to be an incredible thing? Especially in a well-rounded and financially secure family.

Yes, parents care about their children. And, child Amanda brings up special poignant memories. She was due while Phil was playing in the US Open at Pinehurst in 1999. His caddie had a beeper in case labor started, in which case Phil would have withdrawn from the tournament.

Phil finished second that year to good friend Payne Stewart, who would die in a plane crash four months later. So, a double dose of memories, both sweet and bitter.

[David in FL]

4 hours ago, Shooting29 said:

I was in the band in high school so I went to every graduation from 8th grade up to my own. I hated every second of them. I didn't want to go to my own and my mom and dad made me. 

When I graduated college I skipped graduation. To me it is a pointless ceremony. my degree is no less valid than one who walked across the stage and I didnt have to purchase a one use cap and gown nor waste a beautiful day listening to names of people I didn't know being read in monotone.

 

I'm sorry for you.

I hope that if you ever have kids, you don't deny them the pleasure of having you celebrate their achievement with them because of your own personal perspective.

[krupa]

Turns out, this isn't just the graduation, his daughter is the class president, a tri-sport varsity athlete, and speaking at the thing.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/05/golf/phil-mickelson-us-open-daughter-graduation-pacific-ridge-school/

 

[mcanadiens]

I'm passing up the U.S. Open this year as well. Something about having to mow the grass. - Shrug -.

 

[colin007]

47 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

I'm passing up the U.S. Open this year as well. Something about having to mow the grass. - Shrug -.

Hey @mcanadiens, is this u?

 

[David in FL]

12 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Hey @mcanadiens, is this u?

 

Smart guy.  He won't have to rake or bag the clippings!  

[colin007]

23 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Smart guy.  He won't have to rake or bag the clippings!  

Those guys up in Canadia know what they're doing, eh?

[mcanadiens]

44 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Hey @mcanadiens, is this u?

 

Hell no.

In this part of Ohio, we take those tornadoes seriously. One of those suckers clobbered the county seat back in the 70s.  Actually just had one buzz the neighborhood a few weeks. Got a bit lucky with that one.

Besides you wouldn't catch me dead wearing shorts like that.

[JonMA1]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

Smart guy.  He won't have to rake or bag the clippings!  

...or waterproof his fence.

[iacas]

On 6/4/2017 at 3:50 PM, Apoc81 said:

The idea that he should miss his daughters graduation to play golf is ridiculous. 

US Open-> Every Year

Childs HS Grad-> Once. One ****ing time. The culmination ~18 years of parenting and trying to steer your kids the right way, and an extremely important day to the person graduation, who also happens to to be giving a commencement speech.

Anyone who thinks he should have played has no kids in their lives. I have no kids of my own (wife can't have kids), but my nephew, the one in my avatar, who is 6yo now, I'd miss anything to watch him graduate. Especially since he was born with a major heart condition and had 4 open heart surgeries so far. Makes you realize how important and precious the life of a child is. Far more important than ANY damned golf tournament. 

You're being just as ridiculous as @Shorty (or close to it), just in the opposite direction.

I skipped my college graduation because I didn't care about it. ME. My OWN graduation. What did it matter? I already did the work. The accomplishment itself was over. I moved and got on with my life.

Not everyone feels the same way about these kinds of things. If his daughter didn't care about him attending, it wouldn't make him a "bad guy" to not attend so that he could chase one of his lifetime goals. It just means he sees things differently than you do, and weighs things differently than you do.

My wife went to school the day my daughter got her braces taken off. Why? Is she a horrible mom, because this only happens once in a person's life (ideally)? No.

Hell, I'm not going to my daughter's 8th grade graduation, and the only reason my wife's going is because she works at the school and they've requested that the teachers go. All three of us think it's stupid. She's not actually "graduating" from anything. We were there for the stuff that mattered to us - like helping her study, or encouraging her, etc.

So let's all curb the attitude a little bit and realize that everyone in the world likely has slightly different priorities, different family members with different priorities, etc.

[70sSanO]

This is an important event for his daughter based on her position at the high school.  It isn't just the minute walk up to get a high school diploma.

But there is another aspect to this, and that has to do with the chances Phil can actually compete at Erin Hills.  I don't know the course, but Phil didn't exactly light it up at Muirfield.

It is one thing to miss your daughter's graduation to win the US Open it is another thing to miss your daughter's graduation and finish out of the top 20, or worse, miss the cut.

Good move by Phil to put his daughter and reality into perspective.

John

[iacas]

17 minutes ago, 70sSanO said:

But there is another aspect to this, and that has to do with the chances Phil can actually compete at Erin Hills.  I don't know the course, but Phil didn't exactly light it up at Muirfield.

It is one thing to miss your daughter's graduation to win the US Open it is another thing to miss your daughter's graduation and finish out of the top 20, or worse, miss the cut.

It's not like he has no chance. He's still a good player. Top 25 in the world.

[JonMA1]

At some point, what's important in life will sometimes shift as we get older. Going to graduations, weddings, funerals and even (gasp) being at the hospital watching the birth of my two sons - none of that was fun (even less so for Mom). But for some of us, it has nothing to do with enjoyment or obligation.

That's not being judgmental towards those who don't think that way. It's just that I understand why some athletes do think that way.

No one ever laid on their deathbed, looking back on their lives and thinking "if only I'd spent more time at the office...".

For all we know, Phil doesn't have as much fun playing golf as some folks think he should. Maybe the Grand Slam doesn't mean as much to him as it did a few years ago. C'mon, 20 some years of listening to idiots yelling "GET IN THE HOLE!" on a par 5 tee shot might just get a little old.

Edited June 6, 2017 by JonMA1
typo

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

No one ever laid on their deathbed, looking back on their lives and thinking "if only I'd spent more time at the office...".

Yeah, that's not true.

I know it's said constantly, and I "get it," but no… I could easily see someone dying and thinking "Man, I wish I had accomplished more professionally." Particularly if they do something that's beneficial to society - teacher, cancer researcher, author… whatever. Being good at your job, your work, your life's calling, can be uplifting to people. It's what drives some people.

Plus, being more successful could also mean that you were better able to provide for your family. Maybe there are people who wish they had worked harder when they were younger so they could have retired earlier. Etc.

I get what you're saying, but the people arguing for Phil are almost going a little too far the other way sometimes. Not everyone's morals and priorities and everything are the same as everyone else's.