'Dis and 'Dat

I give myself a Monday off, and all sorts of interesting stories break....none of them of thge happy, upbeat variety, but one has to play the cards as dealt...

That's Our Phil - Phil has always loved a good punt, famously making money on everything from the Baltimore Ravens to Jim Furyk.... but as with the story a few months about his involvement with Billy Walters, there's a dark side to this gambling it seems:

Nearly $3 million transferred from golfer Phil Mickelson to an intermediary was part of

"an illegal gambling operation which accepted and placed bets on sporting events," according to two sources and court documents obtained by Outside the Lines. 

Mickelson, a five-time major winner and one of the PGA Tour's wealthiest and most popular players, has not been charged with a crime and is not under federal investigation. But a 56-year-old former sports gambling handicapper, acting as a conduit for an offshore gambling operation, pleaded guilty last week to laundering approximately $2.75 million of money that two sources told Outside the Lines belonged to Mickelson.

If Phil played a team sport, one where players were employees of their teams, he undoubtedly would have served a rather lengthy suspension by now (or, in the alternative reading, would have modified his behavior accordingly).  For those unfamiliar with the Furyk reference, here's the background:

The left-handed golfer is known for rarely shying away from a money match, and his affinity for sports gambling is no secret, either. In 2001, he was reprimanded by the PGA Tour after winning $500 from Mike Weir in the players' lounge at the NEC Invitational: Mickelson had wagered $20 at 25-1 odds that Jim Furyk would hole a bunker shot.

That took place in an epic 7-hole playoff against Tiger, so Phil was clearly betting with his heart... The challenge is that the Furyk story is the appealing side of Phil's love of gambling, the equivalent of a $5 Nassau to keep things interesting.

However, when you're transferring $2.75 million to a "gambling intermediary", what are the odds that said intermediary will be a Boy Scout?  Exactly....Mr. Silveira (and I use that honorific in the loosest possible sense) is being fitted for an orange jumpsuit (insert your own Orange is the new Black joke here) and Rick Reilly had the goods on him back in this article from 1991.

Commissioner Ratched cannot be amused by these associations and will be reluctant to take on such a popular figure as Phil... But I'll just lay a marker here, that this story will not end well for Phil and our game.

I Hate When I'm Right - When longtime CBS golf commentator Peter Oosterhuis suddenly retired, I had a sense that perhaps all was not well... Because who retires form that kind of cushy gig?  So I wasn't shocked though I'm certainly saddened by this news:

Longtime CBS golf announcer and seven-time European Tour winner Peter Oosterhuis has revealed that he has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease,according to a Golf World report. 

Oosterhuis, 67, retired from the broadcast booth earlier this year, ending a 20-year run that included stints on Golf Channel, CBS and BBC. In addition to his seven European Tour wins, Oosterhuis competed on six Ryder Cup teams and compiled a 14-11-3 record. He also led the European Tour Order of Merit four consecutive seasons from 1971-1974.

As Jaime Diaz informs in Golf World, Oosty actually announced this back in May at a private fundraiser:

Oosterhuis is revealing his story publicly because he wants to do what he can to help Alzheimer’s treatment and research. That means joining the major fundraising efforts of Nantz, who in 2011 founded Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist Neurological Center. Nantz’s father, Jim Jr., was afflicted with Alzheimer’s for 13 years before he died in 2008, an ordeal his son chronicled in his 2009 tribute book, Always By My Side.

Since December, Oosterhuis has been treated by specialists at the center and has been in a program for an experimental drug in its third trial that is designed to break down the formations of plaque in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s, and which has given scientists hope that a breakthrough might be near. Last month, at a fundraiser for the center played at Pebble Beach, the Oosterhuises each took the microphone during a Saturday-night gathering of 140 invitees and revealed that Peter was suffering from the very disease they were all there to fight. (Click here to watch a video of their announcement.) They received a standing ovation, and Nantz was later told that the money raised represented the most ever by a private fundraiser at Pebble Beach.

I'm not sure at this point that I know a family not affected by this scourge, so we wish Oosty and his family all the best.   John Garrity makes the case for Peter's professional duties, with which I concur.  Theresa's mother has Alzheimer's and we consider ourselves among the lucky in that she has remained happy and laughing the whole journey... I wish no less for Peter and his family.

A Whole Mess O' Crazy - We spoke Sunday of Keegan Bradley's rather crazed pre-shot routine, and the Golf Channel folks had some fun with it...it's a form of video that I can't ember, so I'll just send you here.

As  any self-respecting statisticians will tell you, correlation is not causation...but what to make of all the crazies in our game (and let me acknowledge I've made my own unique contribution).  Does the game make us crazy, or does it attract those with crazy in their gene pool?

Submitted for your approval is this video of Victor Dubuisson, the Most Mysterious Man in Golf, err....well, our Geoff thinks he's adjusting his loft and lie angles.... but I know that can't true because it would be a violation of the rules:

As Shack notes, the best part is that he waits calmly while Michael Hoey putts out, then does what needs to be done...

Trump This - Have you been following the Trump story?  Our hero is in the midst of his quadrennial threat to run for President, which he won't, but in the process thereof opined on U.S. immigration policy...  of course in the sensitive manner for which he has become justifiably famed.  Univision found his comments beyond the pale and have declined to televise his beauty pageants, and he responded by banning Univision executives from Doral...Now the stakes have been raised:

NBC is dumping Donald Trump.

In a press release on Monday, NBC said it was severing business ties with the real-estate mogul and GOP presidential candidate Trump because of statements in which he called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug runners. 

"Due to recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its relationship with Mr. Trump," NBC said in the statement.

Of course I'm happy for this turn of events just to have that photo above, which will have a permanent spot in the Trump rota...

Now a digression...I try not to go all political in this blog for obvious reasons.  It's not what folks come here for, or so I assume.  But setting aside one's beliefs or opinions on the subject, the amount and nature of immigration to the U.S. should be an appropriate subject of debate among those running for national office.  But if you look to Europe, you'll find that the pro-immigration left has created an environment where no reputable party can advocate for limitations on immigration.  The result is that disreputable parties have taken up the cause, some such as Britain's UKIP and Greece's Syriza to considerable success.

Now the U.S. has not yet reached that point, but it is absolutely where the left wants to take things.  And The Donald, wittingly or un, has put himself in the middle on this issue, but unlike a run-of-the-mill politician, he has business interests that make great hostages....  And if NBC is subject to such interest-group pressure, why not the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, the USGA and other governing bodies.

The current state of play is that Trump has his annual WGC event at Doral, sanctioned by the major golf tours.  he's also been awarded a U.S. Women's Open and PGA Championship at his Bedminster, NJ club, and recent rumors surfaced of his Aberdeen course being awarded multiple Scottish Opens.  Then there's the big enchilada, and Open Championship potentially returning to the recently acquired Turnberry.... one assumes all of these will become increasingly contentious.

If, like your humble correspondent, you assume that the blue bloods of the sport would rather not share the platform with the self-aggrandizing Donald, hasn't he just made it easy for them?

U.S. Open Reax - John Huggan mans the golf desk at The Scotsman, and is usually a reliable arbiter of all things golf.  But see what you think of thus nut 'graph:

This column is all for making golf more interesting and fun by encouraging the “ground game” that is so often absent from the PGA and European Tours. But there is a fine line between fun and farce. And last week Davis travelled too far down the right road. The combination of goofy greens, firm turf and sometimes-daft pin positions at times diminished the championship to a point where luck was all but everything and skill was close to nought. Too much of a good thing too often threatened to spoil the spectacle.

No doubt mistakes were made, but the quality of the leaderboard argues otherwise... But John seems a tad stingy with the credit for the final day's play, which was also Mike's doing:

On the other hand, USGA executive director Mike Davis, the man in charge of course set-up at the US Open since 2006, did not emerge with much credit from a championship that at times veered pretty close to nonsensical. Only at the last minute – no doubt fearful of a Shinnecock Hills-type disaster where, in 2004, four-foot putts were finishing up in bunkers – did Davis pull back from the brink. The exciting final day’s play was a direct result of heavy overnight watering and more sensible “hole locations”, to use the USGA’s particular brand of pedantry.

I had never heard of Jimmy Gunn before last week, but John also fills in the background there:

Perhaps the best feel-good story of the week was the emergence of the 34-year-old Dornoch-native. Currently a regular on the almost anonymous eGolf Gateway Tour in Arizona – where he makes his home – Gunn played 132 holes en route from the obscurity of local qualifying to a cheque for more than $64,000. 

No one in the field at Chambers Bay made more birdies than the Scot’s 18. Not Jordan Spieth. Not Dustin Johnson. Not Rory McIlroy. And, over the 36 holes it took for the 14-time major champion to play his way out of the US Open, Gunn out-scored Tiger Woods by 11 shots. Not too shabby and something to tell the grandkids.

When it comes from the USGA, John, it's a check.  Nice story and of course he's from Dornoch, which for those unfamiliar is spelled H-E-A-V-E-N.

 Were you upset when DJ 3-jacked on the 18th green?  Perhaps not to the extent of this guy:

Dustin Johnson’s U.S. Open heartbreak didn’t belong solely to him. A man named 

David Kaplen shared it.  

According to an ESPN story, Kaplen would have won DraftKings’ U.S. Open Millionaire Maker and pocketed its $1 million prize had Johnson made his 4-foot putt for birdie on the 18th green at Chambers Bay. Instead, Johnson missed, and his three-putt gave Jordan Spieth his second straight major championship.

The 41-year-old Kaplen, a San Antonio resident, told ESPN he had trouble sleeping the night of the tournament, but he’s looking on the brightside. Out of nearly 144,000 teams, he won $100,000 for second place.

It could have been worse, he could have purchased a TaylorMade driver at a PGATour Superstore....

Maggot-Supplied Content - I find the Zurich Insurance golf commercials to be highly annoying, and on golf telecasts that's an extremely competitive category.  But in this video sent by the aforementioned Maggot, they show a deft comedic touch and the player's answers and reaction shots are amusing: