Unplayable Lies: Tuesday Tidbits

It's come to my attention that a few worthy items were left on the cutting room floor, and that just won't stand...

Spieth, By the Numbers - I've previously noted for folks that Mark Broadie, the Columbia University professor who created the strokes-gained putting and other statistical measures of golf performance, now has a monthly column in Golf Magazine. His most recent column on Jordan Spieth has now been made available at Golf.com, and can be found here.

Per the Maestro:

When you look at Spieth's traditional stats, nothing stands out as spectacular. Yet his

performance in the four main Strokes Gained categories in his singular rookie season reveals how he did it.

His success was achieved because he gained at least 0.2 strokes per round against the field in each of the four main parts of the game: driving (tee shots on par 4s and par 5s), approach shots (starting outside 100 yards from the hole, excluding drives), shot-game shots (starting inside 100 yards from the hole, excluding putts), and putting (shots on the green, not including from the fringe).

So, doing everything above average is a way to success...duly noted. Lots of helpful pointers on how to allocate practice time and the like, and Broadie's column is a welcome addition to the magazine. And, as I've noted previously, Golf Magazine is more likely to retain my readership than their primary competitor, Golf Digest, that would rather teach me how to pimp out a golf cart.

Planet Rory, Legal Edition - We've tended to focus on the young man's golf, and the possible effects thereon from a certain Danish tennis player's Tritter picture. But young Rory also plays a mean legal game, and seems to be spending far too much quality time with his barristers.

My new favorite writer (really just a favorite name) Sccoby Axson fills us in on his ongoing lawsuit against former manager Conor Ridge:

Rory with Conor Ridge at a less awkward moment.

Lawyers appearing before an Irish commercial court on behalf of Rory McIlroy on Monday argued that McIlroy was on "markedly inferior" commercial terms compared to Graeme McDowell under their respective representation agreements with Horizon Sports Management, reports the Independent.

McIlroy, 25, is suing his former agent Conor Ridge of Horizon Sports Management over commissions tied to his off-the-course income, most notably his Nike endorsement deal, reportedly worth anywhere from $200-$250 million. According to Forbes, the agreement entitles Horizon to a 20 percent fee on all of McIlroy's off-the-course income, a figure which McIlroy called "unconscionable." McIlroy claims that Ridge led him to believe that he would be on the same commercial terms as McDowell; Horizon disputes that claim.

According to Bloomberg, McIlroy told the Dublin High Court last year that he was too young and lacked legal advice and business experience when he signed the deal with Horizon "in circumstances of great informality" at Horizon's Christmas party in 2011.

You really shouldn't need to be a graybeard to know that Christmas parties are for putting lampshades on your head, as opposed to, you know, signing binding legal agreements. On the other hand, this doesn't seem to be a brilliant move on Ridge';s part for recruiting new players, and wouldn't one do anything possible to keep a client as lucrative as McIlroy happy?

Other Legal Notes - Old friend Vijay Singh appears to have received something of a setback in his ~~fishing expedition~~ focused litigation against the PGA Tour, per Alex Miceli:

Vijay Singh's attempt to look behind the curtain of the PGA Tour's drug policy will be limited,

according to a recent court ruling.

In Singh's lawsuit against the Tour, Judge Eileen Bransten of New York's Supreme Court granted part of a motion to compel documents and answers from the Tour but denied other parts of the motion, notably regarding specific questions about the Anti-Doping Program.

The 10-page ruling, dated June 12, limits the scope of the discovery only to documents of prior violations that were linked to the use of deer-antler spray or products that contained insulin-like growth factor 1, known as IGF-1.

This grave injustice will not stand...oh, never mind. For new readers, my interest here is less in the Veej than in the Tour's refusal to make public its disciplinary actions. As such, my hope is for the widest discovery possible, and of course that the case doesn't settle. I suspect that at then end of this saga I'll be sorely disappointed, but such is the lonely life of a blogger.

Tell Us How You Really Feel - We here at Unplayable Lies have a special regard for those in our little fish bowl that speak plainly, though we have precious few opportunities to applaud such folks. In the last couple of weeks we've noted the gracious farewells of the NBC and ESPN teams as they completed coverage of their last U.S. Opens. ESPN's Scott Van Pelt, however, felt differently and said so to Bob Gillespie:

What riles ESPN’s Van Pelt, though – who, unlike Berman’s mixed reviews, has a reputation as one of the best young golf announcers around – is the backhanded slap administered by the USGA on its way into Fox’s arms. In a statement, the association said that “the game is evolving and requires bold and unique approaches on many levels, and Fox shares our vision to seek fresh thinking and innovative ideas to deliver championship golf.”

“That was incredibly offensive,” Van Pelt said. “We’ve done plenty to innovate and change how golf is covered, and (ESPN producer) Mike McQuade should be praised for that.

“What they should just say is that (Fox) wrote us the biggest check, and that’s fine.”

But it was a big honkin' check, Scott, with lots of zeros. But if it makes you feel any better, it's not like they fooled anybody.

Phil's Phlops - No, we're not going to rehash the Phlopster's U.S. Open performance, but there's a new clarification to the insider trading probe. According to Shackelford, the Feds actually first approached Phil earlier than has been previously reported:

Mr. Mickelson has said he was willing to cooperate with the FBI. He was first approached by agents in September 2013, at an airport in Bedford, Mass., after playing in the Deutsche Bank Championship golf tournament. The Wall Street Journal reported that he was approached again by a pair of agents after finishing a round at an Ohio golf tournament on May 29, the day before news of the investigation became public. He referred them to his lawyer.

There's also been a report that he was approached at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, but the case appears to be weaker by the hour. Unless information surfaces to the contrary, we're left to assume that they're strong-arming Phil to get to either Billy Walters or Carl Icahn. Unfortunately for the G-Men, Phil undoubtedly has competent counsel.

On the subject of Phil, Alex Myer's has the details on the "Win Phil's Paycheck Callaway promotion:

Speaking of having money to spend, Callaway Golf announced that Art Mark was the winner of its "Big Bertha Payday" contest -- the one in which the winner takes home a check equal to Phil Mickelson's U.S. Open prize money. I'm sure he's not complaining about winning $59,588, but he's really wishing Mickelson hadn't missed a few of those short putts at Pinehurst.

Viral Stuff - Lots of photos and videos making the rounds. Alex Myers provides these photos of Paula Creamer visiting the troops at Fort Bragg: