Midweek Musings

We've got a rich, full line-up for you today....  You'll laugh a little, cry a little, and perhaps even learn something about securities law....  I know, but stay with me for a minute.

The Escape Artist - Jeffrey Toobin isn't my cup of tea, but he's been working the legal beat for CNN and others for quite some time.  He makes this guest appearance in Golf Digest to explain the insider trading case in which Phil Mickelson had a cameo, and let's let him frame the issue:

50 Shades of Phil

Phil Mickelson has long been known as golf's consummate escape artist. His signature flop shot has turned innumerable misdirected approaches into tap-in pars. When his drive on the 13th hole at Augusta National in the final round of the 2010 Masters settled on pine straw, Mickelson fired a 6-iron between two trees and onto the green, setting up a birdie that would lead to his third green jacket. Yet all of those salvaged pars and dazzling birdies might pale next to the way Mickelson extricated himself from legal trouble earlier this year. In a trial that unfolded in a Manhattan courthouse, Mickelson was implicated in a three-way insider-trading scandal that ended with the two other principals facing many years in prison. Mickelson's fate? He just walked away—and he didn't even have to testify.

Do tell.

Toobin takes us through the history of Billy Walters, and Phil's association with the man should have sent tremors through Fortress Ponte Vedra Beach.  Here's just a sample:

During his long tenure in the public eye, Mickelson has never been coy about his love of

gambling, especially on sports. His love of the long shot somehow seemed fitting for a player who also relished risk on the golf course. Over the years, Mickelson has been happy to let the word out that he made some major scores. Mickelson and a group of partners are said to have put $20,000 down on a preseason bet on the 2001 Super Bowl winner and won a reported $560,000. He also supposedly won big by betting on the Arizona Diamondbacks to beat the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. But these successes, clearly, were only part of the story. According to people familiar with Walters' practices, he allowed Mickelson to keep an account for sports bets with him; Walters operated, in effect, as a big-time bookie for Mickelson. For example, according to a sworn statement by Mickelson's business manager, on Sept. 19, 2012, Mickelson paid Walters $1,950,000 to cover a debt "related to sports gambling."

This is the dark side of Phil, a side the Tour seems to want to sweep under the rug.  If MLB or the NFL found that one of its players was running up multi-million dollar gambling losses, there would be a long suspension in the offing.  How, you ask, can this be ignored by the PGA Tour?

The crux of the case revolves around Tom Davis, the CEO of Dean Foods with, shall we say, a checkered past as relates to gambling debts:

Indeed, where Walters was strategic in his gambling, Davis was merely compulsive—and his life turned into a cautionary tale. Davis made millions in his business career, but it was never enough to make up for what he kept losing at the tables. After Davis lost $200,000 playing blackjack at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, he stole $100,000 from a shelter for battered women, in Dallas, for which he had raised funds in the past. Davis used the money to pay for a surprise party for his wife. Later, Davis took another $50,000 from the shelter.

 The perfect guy to run a publicly-traded company, eh?

I'll give you Toobin's conclusion, but you do want to read the entire piece.  It casts our Phil in a very dark light, as there's no way to excuse his actions.  But this excerpt will also highlight how unbelievably lucky he was:

But Mickelson's legal odyssey had a final twist. The Newman case, decided by the Second Circuit in December 2014, effectively prevented a criminal prosecution against Mickelson. But while the criminal prosecution of Walters was pending, the United States Supreme Court took up another case from California, which had limited insider-trading law in a nearly identical way that Newman had done in New York. In a unanimous decision in December 2016, the Supreme Court rejected the Newman rule and held that recipients of inside information could be prosecuted even if they didn't know what the original tipper received. In other words, Mickelson might have been prosecuted if his case had arisen before December 2014 or after December 2016. But because the Newman case was the law in New York when his case came up, Mickelson dodged trouble on either side—just as he did between those two trees at Augusta.

I'm still curious as to why the relevant gambling losses, unlike earlier amounts, weren't paid.  

Alan, Asked -  Shipnuck's weekly mailbag feature continues to amuse, though this week he has the good sense to save the best for last:

Who are the worst 5 golfers when it comes to social media? -@ShaneRyanHere

FYI, I'm basing this almost entirely on Twitter.  I find Snapchat impossible to take seriously and don't spend that much time on Instagram, because I prefer words to pictures. 

5. Brooks Koepka. His product-placement tweets right after winning the U.S. Open were unbecoming to the point of embarrassment.

4. Ian Poulter. He's actually toned down the self-indulgence lately, but the endlessly bad grammar and spelling earn him a spot here.

3. Smylie Kaufman. Like living in a bad dream where spring break never ends, every sporting event involves LSU and the only thing to drink is Natty Light.

2. Grayson Murray. Where to even begin?

1. Steve Elkington. He has retired the category.

First, take a moment to enjoy the postmodern inanity of the question....  I remember the good old days when we only worried about how they play.

But those top two are social media train wrecks, and it never gets old.

And since we can't get enough of the Divorce of the Century, here are a couple on that topic:

Are Jordan and Greller going to be the next Phil and Bones? -@SamLehman0

They already have a similar chemistry and, crucially, Jordan values his man as much as Phil did. And like their forebears, Jordan and Greller are both hyperverbal golf nerds who love nothing more than talking through the intricacies (and mundanities) of every shot, which makes for riveting TV. Can they sustain the partnership and brotherhood for a quarter-century? That's a big ask. But when it comes to current player-caddie combinations, I don't think there's any question that Jordan-Greller are now the most compelling and compulsively watchable.

It's easy to find a good match for Bones: Rory, Jordan, Rickie, Brooks, etc. How about a good match for Phil? Stevie, Kip, LaCava, Wood? -Max (@hawesmax)

Phil is an arthritic 47, hasn't won in four years and is now prioritizing family events over major championships. Don't assume that any caddie with a top-tier bag is going to be beating down Mickelson's door. Really, the only guy who makes sense is Joe LaCava. Part of the reason he left Dustin Johnson for Tiger Woods was the appeal of a more limited schedule. Well, he's had most of the last three years off. LaCava is Bones's best friend and so over the last 25 years he spent a ton of time in Phil's orbit and they have a strong friendship, too. And you just know Mickelson would relish taking something away from Tiger.

On the first, while I can see Alan's point, the missing ingredient is the imaginative shot-making and riverboat gambler mentality.  The hyper-analysis worked because Phil would do things like thread a shot through the trees from that bunker on the left of the tenth at Sawgrass without Bones knowing the line.  In fact, Jordan and Greller had gotten quite tedious last year, though they seemingly have dialed it back a notch (though that may be because we're not seeing Jordan on TV as much).

On the second query, he's spot on.  But I'm more intrigued by the questioner mentioning Rory, because there's not a guy out there that needs a caddie upgrade more.  But he may well be too stubborn to admit it...

Busted - This story won't surprise any of you, but you'll be amused all the same:

The framed copy of Time magazine was hung up in at least five of President Trump’s

clubs, from South Florida to Scotland. Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump. 

“Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” the big headline said. Above the Time nameplate, there was another headline in all caps: “TRUMP IS HITTING ON ALL FRONTS . . . EVEN TV!” 

This cover — dated March 1, 2009 — looks like an impressive memento from Trump’s pre-presidential career. To club members eating lunch, or golfers waiting for a pro-shop purchase, it seemed to be a signal that Trump had always been a man who mattered. Even when he was just a reality TV star, Trump was the kind of star who got a cover story in Time. 

But that wasn’t true. 

The Time cover is a fake. 

There was no March 1, 2009, issue of Time magazine. And there was no issue at all in 2009 that had Trump on the cover.

I'm so disillusioned....  What's a fellow to believe in this crazy, mixed up world?

Of course, I may not be the perfect messenger for this story, given that this Sports Illustrated covers features on my office wall:

In this case, there was an actual issue of June 29, 1987.

Lexi No-Show - This bothers me not the least:

With the KPMG Women's PGA at Olympia Fields, the women's second major would seemingly be a good spot for Lexi Thompson to return to some normalcy after her brutal penalty strokes at the last major. 

Instead, Lisa Cornwell reports for Golf Central, Thompson is declining all media requests. This is especially a shame given Thompson's likability, star qualities and age. Hopefully it's a short term situation.

Lexi should meet with the media, just to avoid such stories.  But she was the least interesting participant in LexiGate, as the victim often is, and has little to add to the discussion.

Stating The Obvious - It was a good week in Hartford with a memorable finish, as Doug ferguson explains:

What the Travelers Championship had was noise. 

It had atmosphere. 

“I mean, the ground was shaking it was so loud,” Spieth said. “What a tremendous last four holes, finishing holes, where you can get the crowd super involved with an amphitheater setting. If I were a fan, I would pick this tournament.” 

He also mentioned the Phoenix Open, and the list would have grown had he had more time to think, such as of Muirfield Village or TPC Sawgrass. 

The U.S. Open had 652 acres of Wisconsin pasture.

Crazy that we have to have this discussion, no?  Of course Chambers Bay was even worse, featuring one hole with no spectators....

Doug connects the remaining dots, though noting that the next few years will feature more traditional Open venues: 

That's the biggest risk the USGA is taking by going to big, new courses. 

The U.S. Open returns to traditional courses with a smaller blueprint over the next decade. Even after a soft, calm year, it should not lose its reputation as the toughest test in golf. 

But setting up the courses involves more than the length of the rough, width of the fairways and speed of the green. 

It also includes where to put the ropes.

That's the one thing the TPC courses seem to get....   

Quick Hits -  Sometimes all you need is the header:

Nostrathomas: Justin Thomas on how he called Spieth's clutch bunker shot

Gotta admit, that's clever.... 

For some time I'm guessing:

Jack Nicklaus: Tiger has 'life problems' now, not 'golf problems'

This is oddly compelling:

Watch Jordan Spieth's walk-off hole-out from every conceivable angle thanks to this cool collection of cell phone videos

And while we're on the subject of golf celebrations, Joel Beall provides the definitive ranking thereof.  Though as much fun as it was, I don't think our Jordan quite grasps the concept of the chest bump:

On the other hand, for a white guy that's an impressive vertical....