Midweek Musings - Sun Valley Hangover Edition

Many thanks to my dear readers for tolerating my short hiatus.  I had a delightful time in Idaho with family, and got a bit of skiing in.  I'm now back in Park City, where the temperatures are in the mid 50's on the mountain.  Record low snowfall combined with unseasonably warm weather assures that my ski season, which never really got started, will come to an early conclusion.

As a mitigating factor, however, this is the morning sky as I begin blogging:

So, while I regret having not properly covered the Honda, my only defense is, well, Sepp Straka.  More importantly, I'll not be blogging the first major of the season.... Yanno, this one:

'Seminole had a better field than the Honda': PGA Tour rookie dishes on exclusive event

Their famous Member-Pro deserves TV coverage, no?  The field was loaded.

I see no option but to start with that topic that has had an exclusive on our attention.  And while I'm committed to the return to other golf news, I'm not at all convinced that that will be today.

The news has remained unrelentingly negative for our hero Phil, as I'm sure you've heard.  Continued sponsor flight with the only silver lining being that Callaway opted for a time out in lieu of cancellation.  He's also been stripped on his hosting duties at the event formerly known as the Hope, so we can at least enjoy that little bit of irony.

Let's start with Sunday night's Tour Confidential musings on all things Saudi:

Phil Mickelson dominated headlines for the second straight week despite not hitting a golf ball. One week after Mickelson’s Saudi league and PGA Tour comments were published by

The Fire Pit Collective, and after Mickelson was heavily criticized by many of his peers, the 51-year-old pro on Tuesday released a public apology on his social media accounts. In a lengthy six-paragraph message, Mickelson called his comments reckless, apologized for anything he said that was taken out of context, granted his sponsors an opportunity to pause or end a relationship with him and said he plans to take some time away from the Tour. What was your takeaway from Mickelson’s mea culpa?

Sean Zak: That he picked and chose his apology subjects carefully. “PGA Tour” was not mentioned once. Phil isn’t sorry for what he’s done/is doing. He’s sorry for how the news broke.

Michael Bamberger: Exactly.

That and the fact that he likely won't bank an eight-figure check...

Josh Berhow: There was a lot there, although what caught my eye was that his second sentence was about off-the-record comments. The author, Alan Shipnuck, who was writing a book about Mickelson, says they were not off the record. Who do you believe? That’s up to you, but I know who I’m going with. My point is this: regardless of how these comments got out, the second sentence of a lengthy apology was an excuse. That rubbed me the wrong way.

Bamberger: Exactly.

 We actually have something from Alan on this subject:

This is part of what’s so infuriating about Phil’s off the record accusation: I am now the keeper of so many secrets. *Everyone* wanted to tell me *everything* but there were ornate agreements about on-background and OTR and I have honored every single one of them. https://t.co/a6VTTREyCo

— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) February 25, 2022

Yanno, I hadn't really thought that through, but of course those that don't buy Phil's act would be running their mouths on background.  Question is, how do we compel Alan to do a notebook dump?

Josh Sens: Mickleson also said his comments were taken “out of context.” That seems disingenuous. I’d like to know what other context there is in which his comments would mean something different. He said what he meant.

Bamberger: Exactly.

That Phil couldn't get two sentences into an apology without blaming someone else is certainly on-brand.

Alan Bastable: In politics, they talk about October surprises — events no one saw coming that influence elections in the eleventh hour. For the Saudi league, this whole Phil episode has that feel to it. One phone conversation may have deflated the whole thing. As for the apology, yeah, it felt much less like an “I’m truly sorry,” and much more like an “I’m truly sorry I got caught.” He did nothing more with Shipnuck than verbalize the plan he was executing, i.e., using the Saudis for leverage against the PGA Tour, just as many of his fellow pros were. If he was legitimately contrite, he wouldn’t have engaged with Norman and Co. to begin with.

Bamberger: Exactly. It was not a cogent statement, in my opinion.

What would we do without Mike Bamberger?

Certainly there were other players willing to watch this play out, but none so foolish as to burn the bridges behind them.  The numbers being thrown out would be hard for any of us to ignore, but there's obvious reasons that those most interested were at the very end of their careers (yeah, maybe Bryson and DJ are exceptions, but they mostly kept quiet).

Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee called Mickelson’s statement “one of the worst apologies I’ve ever seen written.” What about it left a sour taste in some fans’ mouths?

Everything.  Next question.

Bamberger: The writing? The lack of candor? That a guy who can convince you that a blue sky is pink did nothing to turn you around on these various issues? I’m surprised he didn’t go in front of a live audience. He plays best that way.

Zak: Part of it is that his apologies in the statement were aimed solely at the people who give him (or would presumably give him) the most money. He apologized to LIV Golf, the company that is set to essentially broker millions of dollars from the Saudi government. He apologized to the sponsors who pay big money to be embroidered on his hat. Did he owe anyone else a grand statement? He could have eloquently included other people who have been let down by his recent approach, that’s for sure.

Berhow: I guess I already answered that a little bit in my previous answer, but Mickelson, as Brandel said, tried to play the victim card here and I’m not sure it worked for him. A lot of it made it sound like Phil was on some righteous path to make golf better, and we just have to trust him. It seemed preachy. But I think Phil can and will rebound from all of this. People are quick to forgive those who ask for it.

Sens: What bugged a lot of people about his original comments was the greed and hypocrisy that people read in them. Mickelson didn’t really apologize for those things. 

Bastable: Oh, they’ll forgive. Tiger survived an international sex scandal, ARod and so many others survived juicing scandals. Phil, too, shall endure. Knowing him, he’ll probably win another Masters and be carried off the green by a mob of delirious patrons. The apology was too long and meandering. A good apology should be like a resume: direct and no more than one page.

We will continue to sort through the wither Phil bit below, but most folks like their apologies to actually include, yanno, an apology.

I do think, as Josh Berhow notes above, one of the bits that continue to course through my head is that bit about fixing golf, which Norman echoed in his letter to Jay Monahan.  Again they have this tendency to equate their own first-world problems with the game itself, which just reeks of entitlement.

Here they take a shot at the Phil's phuture subject:

In the past week, Mickelson has lost some of his sponsors and, reportedly, is no longer the tournament host of The American Express. Are you surprised some of these brands have started distancing themselves from the five-time major champ?

Zak: Not at all. This is one of the things that has been most up for debate in the last few days. These sponsors pay good money to be associated with Phil. But the last month of being associated with Phil has not been a great vibe! Those sponsors have separate partnerships with the PGA Tour, at large, and he’s been acting in opposition to the Tour in a very public way. The onslaught of headlines with lead photos that show their company being associated with those comments and the various implications … once he gave them an out, they jumped at it. Can’t blame them at all.

I think Sean hits on something important there, that Phil put everyone aligned with him in a very awkward position.  Shockingly, he put his need to get paid above the  

Berhow: Slightly surprised, mainly because some of them have been tied to Mickelson for so long. Some might have been leaving before Mickelson granted them the opportunity anyway, but Sean’s right, it gave them an out and they took it.

Sens: Not surprised. Mickelson’s own apology made it seem like he saw it coming, too.

Bastable: Clearly Callaway was the most torn, with its “pause” treatment that leaves the door open for Phil to return. These episodes are delicate: when one sponsor goes, it puts immense pressure on others to follow suit. The domino thing happens way more often than not. Tiger eventually got sponsors back; Phil will, too.

Bamberger: He couldn’t possibly continue to be the host of the American Express, proud PGA Tour stop, when he was aligning himself with the PGA Tour. That had to happen. As for the others, as they said in The Godfather, it’s just business. For now, Mickelson is bad for business. That will change. Alex Rodriguez can provide Mickelson with his own playbook.

Hold that thought while we finish with the TC boys:

The Saudi golf league seemed to take a hit after many players pledged their allegiance to

the PGA Tour following Mickelson’s comments, but Greg Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, the financial arm of the proposed league, isn’t backing down. He sent a memo to players and agents saying the PGA Tour could not ban them for joining and also sent a note to commissioner Jay Monahan, saying, in short, “This is just the beginning.” If you’re Norman and LIV brass, what’s your next move?

Zak: I’d release details every week. As the golf-headline-reading-populace, we need something. The PGA Tour is going to be trumpeting itself and all its cash reserves two weeks from now at the Players. LIV should start sharing some of the mostly concrete details they’ve locked in. A name or two from the list of players who have signed up. A couple courses that will be involved. Whet the appetite for more.

Berhow: There’s too much money behind all of this for it to go away and I don’t think they have the liberty to retreat and rethink their plan. For better or for worse, it’s fresh on golf fans’ minds and needs to stay that way. But some sort of commitment — any time of commitment! — like from a player, a venue or some sort of schedule needs to come to light to get players and fans interested.

Sens: Get something on the schedule. Make it as compelling an event as you can. A legal battle might come later, and — at least according to antitrust attorneys I’ve spoken with — Norman and Co. might have a legitimate case. But launching a formal fight against a ban seems like putting the cart before the horse if you don’t have enough big-name players to come over in the first place.

Bastable: Focus on growing the Asian Tour. The proposed super league is so charged right now that no players of note will go anywhere near it. At least not now. Check back in a year or two. You can be sure the Saudis and LIV aren’t folding up the tent, and, as Berhow says, there’s too much money on the table for every player to look the other way.

Bamberger: Completely agree with that, Alan. Professional golfers will go where the money is, where the glamor is, where the good courses are. If this is all rooted in sportswashing for the Saudis, time is on your side. Check this space in 2072.

Not sure that will help the Shark and his paymasters very much.  But before circling back to Phil, Eamon Lynch has another of his typically acerbic columns on this very subject.  Shall we sample a few choice bits?

It’s unlikely that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will ever respond to the letter he received this week from Greg Norman, for much the same reason that he probably wouldn’t

engage someone wearing a tinfoil hat and shrieking in the street. But if he did reply, Monahan could do worse than to heed the example of James Bailey, a former general counsel for the Cleveland Browns.

In 1974, an Akron, Ohio, lawyer named Dale Cox angrily threatened to sue the Browns over the dangers posed by fans launching paper airplanes around him in the stadium. Bailey returned the complainant’s letter with a famously terse response that has been widely circulated over the years.

“Dear Mr. Cox,” he wrote, “I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters.”

I didn't actually know we were allowed to use "asshole" at a major golf publication....

After congratulating himself on spending decades fighting for the rights of players to be adequately paid—as distinct from the less important rights of the less important people under the boot of his employer—Norman addressed Monahan with a debating dexterity (and command of capitalization) that would be the envy of an eighth-grader.

“The Tour is the Players Tour not your administration’s Tour,” he wrote. “Why do you call the crown jewel in all tournaments outside the Majors “The Players Championship” and not “The Administration’s Championship?”

“You are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you are likely in violation of the law.”

If a man isn’t embarrassed to peck out those words on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government, one supposes we shouldn’t be embarrassed for him.

I think we've known for some time that the Shark is immune to embarrassment..  which makes him the perfect soul mate for our Phil.  But Eamon seems ready to move on from that nickname:

The great white pilot fish insisted that Monahan can’t ban golfers from playing golf. Monahan hasn’t actually done that, though his comments suggest he believes he can decide whether they play on the tour he runs, much as McDonald’s might think it has a say in whether independent franchisees can simultaneously sell Burger King over the same counter. Norman went on to claim that top players are still interested in joining the League and demanded they be allowed to make a choice, perhaps forgetting that they have already publicly exercised that choice.

If only Eamon would tell us what he really thinks.

Here's Eamon's coda:

So what do Norman and his puppeteers do next?

For all the bleating in the letter to Monahan, the Saudis’ grounds for a lawsuit are not clear-cut. It’s difficult to establish actionable injury in claiming the PGA Tour is preventing you from establishing a rival endeavor if you have never actually stated your intent to launch such a business. That changes if players sign up and are then banned by Monahan, but as of now, the Saudis have no declared players and no declared intent to launch.

That leaves potential tactics more suited to irritants than competitors. The Saudis could use economic influence to undermine the DP World Tour’s Middle East schedule. There is precedent. Last year’s announcement of DP World as the old European Tour’s new title sponsor was delayed several months by a Saudi intervention. They could also stage an event in the U.S. and offer enormous appearance fees to players. The PGA Tour has never granted waivers for members to play events held in America opposite its own schedule. A refusal to permit members to play a Saudi event in the U.S. could be used as a Trojan horse to litigate the PGA Tour’s influence over its members and test the limits of the independent contractor status.

None of those options represent a pathway to near-term success for the Saudis.

Until both product and players are unveiled, the Super Golf League exists only on paper, much like the war Norman imagines himself to be waging. What we can deduce from the sophomoric tone of his letter to Monahan is that the Crown Prince’s paper tiger is realizing that his dream of launching a viable rival to the PGA Tour is no closer than it was when last he tried three decades ago.

I can't find the relevant pieces right now, but there have been a series of opinions that the Saudis should refocus on the women's game, which is as sensible as it is laughable.  Remember that $135 million offer to Bryson?  I'll bet Nelly Korda could be had for that amount....  Of course, the Saudis have likely seen the LPGA TV ratings, and what's the value on Sportswashing is no one is watching?

So, back to the question of the day, whither Phil?

Here's a dissenting opinion for you:

Tony Jacklin, who has previously written that players would be “mad” for not taking Saudi

Arabian millions, has come to the defense of Phil Mickelson.

In an interview this week with Golf Monthly, the two-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Famer said he didn’t see “a hell of a lot wrong with” Mickelson’s negotiations with a proposed breakaway golf league funded by Saudi Arabian money. Details of the talks came to light last week in a story written by Alan Shipnuck on the Fire Pit Collective golf website, where Mickelson described himself as a key architect in the Saudi league — and added that he hoped the plan would generate leverage in future negotiations with the PGA Tour.

“If he was genuinely trying to get the PGA Tour off its backside to do more for the players than they have been doing and found a way to do it, leverage as he calls it, then if that’s what it was, I don’t see a hell of a lot wrong with it,” Jacklin told Golf Monthly this week.

Well, he was trying to get the Tour to do more for a sub-set of the players, though that sub-set was awfully small.

Geoff has a Quadrilateral post on a similar tangent:

Why Did Mickelson Get Cancelled?

He may have lost the plot, but last week's wave of corporate defections seems excessive compared to other athlete controversies.

This struck a chord with your humble blogger:

So back to my radio interview. I was north of two minutes into explaining the forces at play—PGL, Saudis, etc.—and not even to the Alan Shipnuck book excerpt when it became clear the saga was tough, if not impossible, to explain. There is no elevator pitch to capture Mickelson’s situation and his shocking downfall, other than to say it’s a bunch of First World money issues sprinkled with neuroses, greed, stupidity and bad advice.

He’s definitely made a mess of things, cost people millions, killed future captaincy chances and possibly other endorsement gigs. A broadcasting role also seems unlikely at the amounts he’d expect. Worse, he sullied what should be a joyous time as the oldest-ever defending major champion.

Mickelson reaffirmed his Hall of Fame point-misser status with his tone and strange apology. As a result he’s disappearing for a while and must be wondering what happened to have such public divorces in a world where Tiger Woods never lost Nike. Or in a year Aaron Rodgers kept all but one of his lucrative deals while doing public harm during a pandemic. (And with his general unpredictability and desperate need to shampoo.)

So why is Phil Mickelson getting cancelled? Let’s try to figure out the most plausible scenario.

I was on a chairlift with one of my ski buddies that's a casual golf fan on Friday, when he asked me to explain what Phil did that was so bad.  Like Geoff, as the words came out I could tell that I wasn't making a compelling case.  Quite frankly, it sounded a lot like Tony Jacklin's reaction above.... 

So, let's see what Geoff has:

“They are scary mother&^%$#@’s” and…? The controlling figure behind the Public Investment Fund is indeed a scary mother&^%$#@. The headline-making quote from Shipnuck’s book excerpt is accurate. The Crown Prince is dangerous. The language might be edgy, but none of the companies in business with Mickelson can justify fleeing over crude phrasing about crude people.

Saudi ties? It’s been well known for a while that Mickelson and others might take advances from to join a breakaway “league”. To date, no one has lost an endorsement for flirting with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Americans keep taking Ubers backed by the Saudi’s PIF. So while it’s always possible there was a Crown Prince component to this, no company would dare take that stance when all eyes are on the situation.

I think Geoff is underselling this aspect of it.  He doesn't even mention that the Euro Tour was in bed with the Saudis, but there's a world of difference between cashing an appearance fee check and playing in a Saudi event versus using the Saudis to hurt or destroy the PGA Tour.  

Here's Pat Perez on that aspect:

“He could have done this in such a different way,” Perez said. “He could have gone, ‘You know what, I made a fortune on the PGA Tour, God bless the PGA Tour for taking care of me and

giving me a place and this and that, but I feel like I want to go down this other route to kind of close out my career. Thank you everybody, it’s been phenomenal. But you know what, thank you Jay [Monahan] and everybody else and Tim Finchem and all these other guys from the PGA Tour, but I think I’m going to go down this route. Goodbye.’ That would have been very easy.”

And this:

Mickelson said the Saudi league provided leverage to reshape the Tour, but Perez said Mickelson’s motivation was his own financial gain, not for the good of his fellow players.

“If he was actually trying to help the players and this and that, he did it completely wrong,” Perez said. “I don’t know how he could have done it more wrong. You are not leveraging to use the Saudi group to get us more money. You are trying to fill your pockets; you were trying behind everyone’s back to get players to sign so you could get your big golden paycheck in the end and then take off.”

That to me is one of the more interesting aspects of this all.  While Phil clearly needed several other alpha dog players to jump with him, he doesn't seem to have expended much effort in the recruitment process.  I think the most interesting thing here is the adjectives used by his peers, which included "naive, selfish, egotistical and ignorant,” and that's just a partial list.

Back to Geoff:

The PGA Tour must have suspended him so…? There is no sign Mickelson was suspended by the Tour. But we’ll never know unless he says something. Even if they did suspend Mickelson for “conduct unbecoming” in revealing the PIP results or equating Commissioner Jay Monahan to the second coming of Genghis Khan, is that enough for Mickelson to lose become an outcast? His controversial interviews torpedoed the Saudi Golf League and saved the PGA Tour, so Phil deserves a thank you check, not a suspension.

This highlights one of the more disturbing aspects of the Tour, that they don't release disciplinary actions.  

“Biting the hand” discomfort? Plenty of golf fans voiced their displeasure with Mickelson for complaining about the same tour that allowed his talent to shine, his bank account to swell, and an amazing pension to accrue. Many of those fans got blocked on Twitter by Mickelson for criticizing his toxic tone. But even the comments and blocking binge feel like small matters. Besides, if greed and ignorance proved fatal to his corporate partners, then they wouldn’t be so regularly overpaying influencers or expecting a normal partnership with Phil Mickelson.

I think the Pat Perez comments apply here.  Phil seemed eager to destroy the PGA Tour, regardless of the desires of his peers, so it felt pretty ugly.  And it's Phil, so his arguments included his signature mix of outright fabrications and made up numbers, which to me mitigated several legitimate criticisms of the Tour.

Sheer, unadulterated stupidity? Who tells a reporter about using a murderous regime as a leveraging tool? Who thinks golf pros raking in more money is vital to the game’s future? Perhaps for a company in the business of accounting, financial management software, selling beer or moving golf clubs, stupidity is dangerous to “the brand”. But fatal? Unlikely.

I think Geoff misses an important component to this mess, though there's a glimmer of it contained in his final 'graph:

Or maybe Phil was just on Double Secret Probation? It’s the least sexy but most plausible reason Mickelson’s partnerships unraveled so dramatically. Early week rumblings at Riviera suggested Mickelson’s comments to GolfDigest.com were already proving disastrous and expediting the process of ending certain lucrative partnerships. Is it possible that after years of controversies, legal scares, rumors, and more potential Billy Walters drama, some form of Double Secret Probation with his sponsors did him in? It’s not a leap to think he’d been warned of deal terminations the next time he stepped in it. While that may sound petty compared to other athlete controversies and is unlikely to be confirmed, there is plenty of reason to believe any public embarrassment was going to be the final straw.

When they give out medals for assholery (glad to know we're allowed to use that word), Phil is due a lifetime achievement award.

I think what Geoff ignores is that each and every one of these sponsors has seen Phil act in reckless and self-absorbed ways, from his gambling and involvement with the Detroit mob, the insider trading scandal referenced above, the long-term jihads against the USGA and others and, last but not least, his treatment of two Ryder Cup captains.  One writer called this latest bit an aborted coup, which I think is a reasonable take, whereas I've frequently called that 2014 hissy fit a hostile takeover of the U.S. Ryder Cup effort.

Gonne wind down with just a couple of further thoughts.  First, there have been many comparing this to Tiger's sex scandal, including at least one reference in the TC panel above.  Obviously any such comparisons are only superficial, but to me there's an important distinction.  Tiger's scandal was entirely of a personal nature, obviously changing folks' perceptions of the man, but entirely unrelated to the game and/or Tour.

Phil, in contrast, was trying to conform the professional game to his own vision, and that's a substantively different and more serious matter.  I think an underappreciated aspect to this is how God-awful that vision of the game is, but I'm sure we'll revisit that often in the future.

But if Geoff is puzzled by the sponsor's reactions, perhaps he should reread the comments of Phil's peers.  If the guys he plays against consider him a pariah, why would sponsors want to be tarnished by such an association.  

We'll have more on Phil's path back to redemption I'm sure, but how does he mend fences with Rory, Patrick and, most importantly, Tiger?  

That's it for today, but we'll get to other golf news in future posts.  At least I think we will....

The Liar In Winter

I'm pleased to report that I have settled into Unplayable Lies Western HQ to give this skiing thing one more chance... Since we're trotting out literary references with wild abandon, we'll just call this the winter of my discontent.  Third consecutive, but let's move on...

I had visions of catching up on other golf news today, but that just isn't going to happen for the simple reason that your humble blogger is just having too much damn fun.  There's a schadenfreudalicous element to it that might be a tad too self-congratulatory, but I've been plying this field since September 2014.

In terms of news, we touched on the meeting with players held by Jay Monahan on Tuesday, although we did not have full details, including this on the timing:

Monahan met with players Tuesday afternoon at the Honda Classic. While the meeting had been scheduled weeks in advance, it began just minutes after Phil Mickelson released a statement in which he apologized for “reckless” remarks about the Saudis and praised Norman’s LIV Golf Investments for sharing his goal of making golf better.

Wow, that fauxpology was such a dis to the Tour and his fellow players, just another curious data point on our journey.  The only thought I can offer is that he released it so close to the start of the meeting that players wouldn't have as chance to read it in any detail, but might just hear that an apology had been offered.

But, this was Jay's message:

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan says he has “zero complacency” when it comes to the threat of a Saudi-funded rival league, and he has a clear message for any player still tempted to

leave.

“I told the players we’re moving on and anyone on the fence needs to make a decision,” Monahan said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

He also emphasized anew that players who sign up for a Saudi golf league will lose their PGA Tour membership and should not expect to get it back.

I didn't think much of that until I saw Geoff's commentary:

Why the ban was brought back up as the whole thing crumbles, is surprising and suggests there are still concerns the LIV Golf effort has legs. Because it seems like Monahan could have just belittled what appears to be left of a league down to some Kokrak’s, Poulter’s, Stenson’s, Westwood’s and Mickelson’s.

I see Geoff's point, but I suspect Jay knows that his biggest vulnerability is such an offer without the noxious Saudi's involvement.  Of course, given the actual enterprise value of all golf, who but the Saudis has such a need to distribute their wealth?

I'm here for LOLs, so Mr. Greg Norman seems a bit miffed at Jay Monahan, and has penned him a love letter.  I am not kidding when I tell you that the letter's salutation is as follows:

Dear Commissioner Monahan:

Surely you jest.

Is there any chance that Jay has an actual sense of humor and responded like this:

Dear Mullah Norman:

I never jest and please stop calling me "Shirley."

In a ranking of Unplayable Lies Piñatas, Greg Norman might well top the retired player category, and he's got some whoppers:

“For decades, I have fought for the rights of players to enjoy a career in which they are rewarded fully and properly for their efforts,” Norman wrote. “They are one-in-a-million athletes. Yet for decades, the Tour has put its own financial ambitions ahead of the players, and every player on the tour knows it. The Tour is the Players Tour not your administration’s Tour. Why do you call the crown jewel in all tournaments outside the Majors ‘The Players Championship’ and not ‘The Administration’s Championship?’”

Clever bit, Greg.  Though you might have noticed that those players had some thoughts last week in L.A.

Norman follows those three opening words with this:

“And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath.”

And he gets on a roll here:

“But when you try to bluff and intimidate players by bulling and threatening them, you are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you likely are in violation of the law,” Norman wrote. “Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf. Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like.”

You sure you want to go with intimidation?  Because....well, damn it, how am I going to top this from Eamon Lynch:

“You are guilty of going too far… and are likely in violation of the law.”
— Greg Norman.

His boss: pic.twitter.com/NOOuBQVbac

— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) February 24, 2022

Pro tip Greg, never piss off Eamon Lynch.

I'm actually having trouble finding a text of the letter from which I can excerpt, but the last full 'graph is especially hysterical, in that he accuses Jay of trying to 

Can Jay ban players from the PGA Tour?  He cites this piece in his letter:

Let’s be clear: A lifetime ban is never going to happen. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is

no doubt being advised by high-priced lawyers who—if they are worth even a fraction of their lofty rates—have surely advised him of the legal consequences that will blow up in the PGA Tour’s face if it imposes lifetime bans on independent contractors who choose to associate with a competitor.

Most notably, imposing a lifetime ban on players would trigger a slam-dunk antitrust lawsuit by Norman’s upstart league, the players, or even federal antitrust enforcers who have made it a priority to protect workers’ ability to ply their trade for whomever they please without interference from corporate giants.

The U.S. Supreme Court made clear in Lorain Journal Co. v. United States in 1951 that it is an antitrust violation for a monopolist to attack competition by coercing third parties—such as independent contractors—not to deal with a rival. Other dominant sports leagues employed similar blacklisting tactics in the past but abandoned them decades ago under antitrust pressure. For example, in the 1940s and 1950s, the NFL blacklisted players for playing with rival leagues. One of those players, William Radovich, asserted an antitrust claim against the NFL and its commissioner based on his ban. The NFL claimed it was immune from the antitrust laws under baseball’s antitrust exemption, but when the Supreme Court rejected that defense, the NFL quickly settled Radovich’s claim.

Can't move on without excerpting this bit, which seems quite the stretch:

Monahan’s lawyers have also likely informed him that he might potentially be personally liable for antitrust damages if he is found to have overstepped his role—as Commissioner of a non-profit organization whose Articles of Incorporation state that its purpose is “[t]o promote the common interests of professional tournament golfers”—by imposing lifetime bans on professional golfers for the offense of playing in professional golf tournaments that compete with the tour that pays Monahan’s multimillion-dollar salary. A sobering proposition, no doubt.

Color me skeptical....  But is this a source we should trust?  Geoff has some background on Alden Abbott, former Chairman of the FTC, who had some even shriller comments in an earlier piece:

The threat over the putt is precisely what the PGA Tour is applying to players considering playing in any new golf leagues, especially the rumored new league Norman is linked with. The Tour is trying to maintain its monopoly by telling players it will destroy their livelihoods, ban them from tournaments, and restrict their media rights. That’s not competition on the merits.

So, Jay sounds like quite the bad guy....  Apparently Jay is going to deprive Bryson of his "livelihood" after he decides to play on another tour and cashes a check for $135 million.  Good luck with that argument.

I've had this tab open on my home computer for some time, which seems a more sober analysis of this issue:

Can players be banned legally from the PGA Tour for joining the Super Golf League?

For starters, the PGA Tour, like any other employer or organization, has the discretion to enact rules of conduct of its members, employees and independent contractors. One of the provisions in the PGA Tour Player Handbook and Tournament Regulations is that each PGA Tour member acknowledges the commissioner, the tour’s policy board and the appeals committee have the authority to permanently ban a member from playing in a tour co-sponsored, approved or coordinated tournaments if the member violates its regulations. The handbook also provides that a player ceases to be a member of the PGA Tour if, in the judgment of the policy board, the member commits a serious breach of the Tournament Regulations, the PGA Tour’s Code of Ethics, or otherwise conducts himself in a manner unbecoming of a professional golfer.

That sounds logical...

One such regulation generally prohibits tour players from playing in events when there is aPGA Tour-approved or sponsored event taking place at the same time. Per the handbook, players who reach the 15-event minimum (which a member must meet as a condition of their membership voting rights) are eligible for three conflicting-event releases per season, which is why so many tour players were allowed to play in this week’s Saudi Invitational. However, the regulations also state such requests can be denied. In short, the PGA Tour likely has the discretion to decide that joining a competing tour is a serious breach of its regulations.

Now, one of the long-standing truths is that players are not tour employees but independent contractors. This seemingly bestows more freedom to when and where an individual can play and thus raises the question if the tour has the power to limit that. But according to Darren Heitner, who teaches at the University of Florida and has written several books on sports legislation, that contractor status is not as big of a factor in a potential league fight as some may believe.

“This response [of a suspension or ban] by the PGA Tour has the feel of a ‘non-compete,’ intending to prevent players from performing for leagues that do seem to be competitive to the PGA Tour,” Heitner says. “Players have the choice of complying or not.”

Now we understand why there's no off-season.  The psychological term "Projection" comes into your humble blogger's mind when I hear Mullah Norman accuse Jay of bluffing:

“To make such a case, that would require a player to show, No. 1, that the tour has monopoly power in a market and, No. 2, that the PGA Tour is trying to maintain that power through means other than having a superior product or business savvy,” Allen says.

Allen notes this is not new ground for the PGA Tour. In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was brought by caddies against the tour using antitrust and intellectual property claims, an effort that proved unsuccessful. “Prevailing in an antitrust lawsuit is much more complicated because the plaintiff would have to establish many things, but most importantly, a threshold requirement: defining the market,” Allen says. “That’s where the caddies lost.”

I actually thought at the time that the caddies had a decent shot, given that they weren't even in an independent contractor relationship with the Tour, but that lawsuit got bounced very quickly.

If nothing else, Normans antitrust allegations would require years of litigation, which might seem odd given that every meaningful player has expressed their voluntary "fealty" to the PGA Tour.

So, lets' trash Phil for a bit, shall we?  I've got a couple of threads, the first triggered by a Michael Bamberger piece.  He had opined on the possible rehabilitation of Phil, which unfortunately hit simultaneously to the fauxpology.  Mike first tackles this issue of Phil taking some time, asking the obvious question but then botching his reaction:

I can tell you what people who know the inner workings of the PGA Tour are saying with the cones of silence descending. Need some time away is a preemptive statement from Mickelson,

because a suspension from the PGA Tour commissioner is coming, unless Mickelson has suspended himself first. This is a work-in-progress and will be for months, if not years.

On the issue of ban versus suspension, the difference is semantical. A Tour commissioner and a star player have been down this road before, most notably Tim Finchem and Dustin Johnson in 2014. Starting in August of that year, Johnson did not play the Tour for a six-month period, during which he missed a PGA Championship and the 2014 Ryder Cup in Scotland. The Tour claimed it was a voluntary leave. But when the choice is leave or we suspend you, is that much of a choice?

This touches on one of my biggest gripes about the Tour, its refusal to announce disciplinary actions.

What happened was that Dustin failed a drug test, not his first, and would have been subject to a suspension.  The Tour allowed DJ to announce that he was voluntarily taking time off, and I'm reasonably OK with that as far as it goes.  I don't know why they even test for recreational drugs, but as long as it's not related to the actual golf, and I think performance-enhancing drugs would be, I think the public knows what such an announcement means.

But the Tour protected DJ by allowing him to announce a fictitious Jet-ski accident to explain his absence, and is thereby abetting a fraud on the public.  There's much that is wrong with this Tour, and this isn't a bad place to start.  To the best of my knowledge, every other professional sport discloses disciplinary action, and I'd like to see some reporters ask Jay that very question.

give Mike's piece a read, as it's all over the place but touches on interesting aspects to the story.  My sense is that, after seeing the bizarre apology, Mike is far less certain of Phil's ability to recover hos revered senior statesman role.

Joel Beall is an optimist, but the ration of howler per pixel might be a new land speed record:

Phil Mickelson can survive his latest controversy, crisis management experts say. Here's how

 Do tell.

Does Joel read what he's typing?  Because this is his second 'graph:

Mickelson has made a career of escaping the inescapable, and we’re not referring to punch shots

through Augusta National’s pines. Be it an insider trading scandal or purposefully hitting a moving ball or gambling ties to a mobster, Mickelson has managed to endure as one of golf’s most popular figures—a status seemingly permanently ensconced last May with his PGA Championship triumph at Kiawah Island. But that status, thanks to incendiary comments and a reported insurgency against the PGA Tour, feels very much in doubt.

And this is his third:

Conversely, he is far from the first high-profile athlete to find himself in trouble and those believing this is the end of Mickelson are in need of a history lesson. Rare is the transgression in sports that doesn’t beget forgiveness or a second chance. The question isn’t will Phil be able to bounce back from this, but how?

Given your incomplete list in the preceding paragraph, in what sense might this be a second chance?   I've used up all the fingers on my right hand and am heading towards the left, so by all means let's discuss whether Phil is worthy of, to round down, a sixth chance?

 Want some more cognitive dissonance in successive 'graphs?

Speaking Wednesday about Mickelson’s effort to explain himself, White said, “For the most part it's a good statement. He needed to apologize and take accountability, although he tries to explain too much and his accountability is a little lackluster. But he gets his point across. He contradicts himself a couple of times, but I'm not gonna hold that against him. If I had been counseling him I would've made that statement much shorter, to the point, take accountability a bit more and apologize.

“You can tell he's backtracking because all the people that he's been in business with with this Saudi league are probably furious. In one interview he killed a multi-million-dollar deal for not just himself but for a lot of other people, so I'm sure there are many unhappy people. He has a lot of clean up to do, and it's not just his image.”

For the most part it's a good statement, except for the long list of everything that's wrong with it.  Noted.

“There are so, so few cases of an instance so bad that an athlete can’t return to the public. O.J. Simpson is not able to come back, that’s really about it,” Reisinger says. “Anything Phil has done is not a death knell. You lay low. You make your voice heard. He would be best to disappear for a bit. As long as he doesn’t repeat what he said, I don’t think what he’s done has permanently damaged [him].”

Making his voice heard hasn't exactly worked out thus far, eh?

Given the annoying ubiquity of Points Bet odds, can we perhaps get their odds on this?

Ideally, this time would be one of reflection for Mickelson, and not just for PR’s sake. When athletes find themselves in trouble, there’s a tendency for the figure in question to be defensive. To some level they acknowledge they made a mistake, yet there’s also a belief they are being treated unfairly or the situation is being blown out of proportion. This can be destructive as it lays the brick to go down a similar path in the future.

For Mickelson, there needs to be an admission and education of what he did, what he said and how he said it was wrong, White asserts. And when he returns he needs to make that education known.

I'm all ears, but this is Phil we're talking about....

Phil's apology included the typical "I'm sorry if you're offended" bit, making this a tad curious:

Reisinger says this is a period of accountability, where toughness is paramount. “You’re going to have to take this on the chin,” he says. “People are going to want to see that you’re hurt for what you said, that you can take it. That’s easier said than done.” And part of this exodus is, well, to prevent further damage. “Even if he believes what he said to be true, part of his failing was that he was incomprehensible,” Reisinger says. “There are better ways to say what he was trying to say, better avenues to do what he’s trying to do. He needs to clean himself up.”

But isn't Phil's problem more that he was completely comprehensible?  That he was willing to hop into bed with those that kill gays?  I mean, is there some nuance that I'm missing?

Yanno how people are always using the "When did you stop beating your wife" query?  Apparently this guy isn't aware that it's not taken literally:

“There’s crisis management cases where it's domestic violence, and that’s rough because that resonates with people because the public can’t conceive of laying hands on another person,” White says. “This wasn’t that. Phil didn’t get arrested. There was no drunk driving. He didn’t hurt an animal or child. There are levels of crisis management and this isn’t at the top.” White says look no further than Aaron Rodgers, who was a pariah early in the NFL season for lying about his vaccination status only to win MVP at the end of the season.

So, in his next presser he should lede with, Look guys, it's not like I whacked Amy?

I've got some amusing memes, then we'll get on with our days:

 The best present ever, thank you @MattMollica

cc: @AndyTFE @NoLayingUp @AlanShipnuck @GeoffShac #philblockedyou pic.twitter.com/WmP8Mz40Zd

— Rodney Heron (@rodneyheron) February 25, 2022

Is there anyone left to block?  Amusingly, yes:

Phil Mickelson’s social media blocking spree apparently includes golf influencer Paige Spiranac.

On Tuesday, the social media star claimed in a tweet that Mickelson blocked her on Twitter. It is unclear when he blocked Spiranac, though she is certainly not alone as Mickelson is on a social media cleanse after making controversial comments about the PGA Tour and a potential Saudi-backed golf league.

The popular “No Laying Up” podcast, golf writer Geoff Shackelford and Ladies European Tour pro Meghan MacLaren also have been blocked by Mickelson on Twitter, according to screen grabs.

OK, blocking Paige Spirinac is too far beyond the pale for him ever to be allowed back into polite society.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PGA Memes (@pgamemes)

Makes sense, especially since the ladies hold an event in Saudi Arabia.

Lastly, Mr. Norman might just possible, I'm just spitballin' here, have an opinion of himself that's inconsistent with facts on the ground:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Greg Norman (@shark_gregnorman)

If I were creating memes or writing for the Babylon Bee, I'd post an article revealing that Greg Norman had been fired by the Saudis and replaced with.....wait for it, Hunter Biden.  Hey the kids love the "ripped from the headlines" bits.   He's perfect and has time on his hands, as his Ukrainian interests are undergoing a valuation reset.

Have a great weekend, but it appears the usual Monday Wrappage will have to wait a couple of days.  Tomorrow I'm headed to Sun Velley to visit my brother and family and I don't see me lugging the laptop.  I'll be back with you next week, just not sure exactly when.  

Midweek Musings - I Vant To Be Alone Edition UPDATED

What shall we kick around this morning?  I know, silly question, but I really do have other stuff that deserves some airtime, but kicking Phil while he's down, as Rory so aptly put it, is why this blog exists in the first place.

 

And, if I tell you that the man that saved golf, Alan Shipnuck has an all-Phil edition of his mailbag?  Yeah, go ahead, put another pot of coffee on.

It's all over, Phil has apologized, admitted the errors of his way, congratulated Alan Shipnuck on his journalistic efforts and sent Jay Monahan a tardy Valentine.   Though shockingly Shack didn't exactly see it quite like that:

Mickelson Apologizes And Manages To Make Things Worse

Yeah, this seems to call out for a righteous Fisking, so let's have at it:

“Although it doesn't look this way now given my recent comments, my actions throughout this process have always been with the best interest of golf, my peers, sponsors, and fans. There is the problem of off record comments being shared out of context and without my consent, but the bigger issue is that I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this.

 As  sophisticated consumers of content, you're no doubt familiar with the concept of the "Non-apologyapology", which is described thusly on Wikipedia:

A non-apology apology, sometimes called a backhanded apology, nonpology, or fauxpology,[1][2] is a statement in the form of an apology that does not express remorse, or assigns fault to those ostensibly receiving the apology. It is common in politics and public relations.

What we have before us is something of a hybrid, as in that last bit he does take some measure of accountability, though note that said accountability is limited to...well, words.  Which comes just a we bit short in my book...  It certainly may be that folks have latched onto the words, for instance I think Dylan Dethier nails this bit in his Monday Finish feature:

But being an occasional contender and full-time provocateur can be a turbulent position. In just the last three weeks Mickelson has uttered two two-word phrases that will stick with him the rest of his career (or at least until he replaces them with the next salvo). The first phrase, “obnoxious greed,” was used in reference to the folks at the PGA Tour, which has been Mickelson’s home the last three decades. The second phrase, “scary m—–f—–,” was used in reference to Mickelson’s potential new bosses in a breakaway Saudi league that Mickelson has now admitted that he helped create. Now that he has turned biting the hands that feed him into a full-time sport, Mickelson’s next move will prove a tricky escape even for the master of the 64-degree wedge.

Phil has the gift for gab, though most folks have a filter installed as original equipment at the factory.

But I'm fascinated that he thought it shrewd to accuse Shipnuck of using off-the-record conversations, while admitting to the accuracy of the quotes.  Even if true, what does it get him?  And, the problem is that it's Phil, so is it true?  Well, there's a track record here and it ain't pretty.

But Phil actually has me nodding my head at Brandel Chamblee, so I guess he truly is a uniter:

“The statement was six paragraphs,” Chamblee said in a Golf Channel interview. The first paragraph was about him pretending to be a victim.

But did I tell you that the perp, that Shipnuck guy, has a ripped-from-the-headlines mailbag feature up?  Phil has been accusing folks of all sorts of questionable behavior, here the accusation is of journalistic malfeasance.  Anyone old enough to remember this old saw?

Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel

Phil may well be the stupidest smart guy I've ever seen, as the allegation invites a rebuttal, and the rebuttal predictably undermines the credibility of everything Phil says.

Have you heard from Phil? @GeoffShac

He sent me a text on the morning the excerpt dropped. He was less than thrilled. Just as in the

statement he released on Tuesday afternoon, Mickelson made a half-hearted attempt at revisionist history, trying to say our talk had been a private conversation, but I shut that down real quick. He knew I was working on a book about him and asked to speak, saying he wanted to discuss media rights and his grievances with the PGA Tour, both of which inevitably lead back to Saudi Arabia. If the subject of a biography phones the author, the content of that conversation is always going to inform the book, unless it is expressly agreed otherwise. Not once in our texts or when we got on the phone did Mickelson request to go off-the-record and I never consented to it; if he had asked, I would have pushed back hard, as this was obviously material I wanted for the book. Mickelson simply called me up and opened a vein. To claim now that the comments were off-the-record is false and duplicitous.

Phil tries to play the victim, but in so doing he opens the door to Alan to further describe the circumstances, thereby shredding whatever trace levels of credibility remained intact.

By the way, you did notice who the question came from above?  Geoff reminds us of a small detail in his Quad post:

This thoughts were delivered midday Tuesday to the people he’s yet to block on Twitter.

 Heh!  Nothing says truth teller quite like like blocking folks on Twitter....

Back to that apology:

“Golf desperately needs change, and real change is always preceded by disruption. I have always known that criticism would come with exploring anything new. I still chose to put myself at the forefront of this to inspire change, taking the hits publicly to do the work behind the scenes.

Brandel's been uncharacteristically cryptic, though it kinda works:

The second paragraph was about him pretending to be an activist.

I might have gone with visionary, but sure....

I certainly agree with Phil that golf could benefit from some change, although that "desperately" is quite the adjective, no?  

Geoff:

Oh you took the hits publicly.

Mickelson believes golf is the professional game and wealth gained from playing. His “work behind the scenes” was focused on unearthing more money for professional golfers, not lowering the cost to entry or saving courses under threat of extinction. Some players employ grow the game as a shallow go-to shield. Others use it as an inside joke. Phil really believes if he’s richer the game is better off.

As far as I can tell, there's no truth to the charge that he focused-grouped the following :

„We are the change we have been waiting for.“

“this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal ..."

But it's about all that's missing here.  

I don't actually agree with Geoff's take, not that he doesn't nail the disconnect between the professional game and larger game.  It's just that I don't begrudge him living in his fishbowl and obsessing over money, it's something we all do to some extent.  

Isn't the bigger issue that he's been the leader of this behind the scenes, been obsessing over media rights and other issues, and who has he convinced?  He wants to be the salesman for this, but he doesn't seem to have sold anything or anyone....  And even among professionals, he seemed to working for only a handful of those guys, the A-list.  Forget Brandel and Geoff, gotta go to Dylan on this one:

I started out on burgundy

But soon hit the harder stuff

Everybody said they’d stand behind me

When the game got rough

But the joke was on me

There was nobody even there to call my bluff

I’m going back to New York City

I do believe I’ve had enough -

 Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

But what do you make of this?

“My experience with LIV Golf Investments has been very positive. I apologize for anything I said that was taken out of context. The specific people I have worked with are visionaries and have only been supportive. More importantly they passionately love golf and share my drive to make the game better. They have a clear plan to create an updated and positive experience for everyone including players, sponsors, networks, and fans.

Just to be clear, these are the guys that you called, checking notes, scary mofos?

Funny you should mention sponsors....   But hold that thought, is he actually worried about his safety?  I mean, who coulda seen that coming?  I for one would expect them to be completely happy to be used by Phil for negotiating leverage with the PGA Tour.

Geoff had this amusing, if scary bit:

That Mickelson’s still buttering up to the Saudis suggests he’s not listening to anyone and even in danger of becoming their next target. (If they have Phil’s cell phone number, they already may have compromising information.)

They don't need his cellphone when he says all the quiet stuff out loud. 

Or, and it's hard to discern which is worse, is he just trying to keep his options open?  Because, yanno, visionaries.

Back to Alan:

I completely understand that Phil needs to be perceived as the smartest guy in the room; just look at his long-time tour nickname FIGJAM. (Editor’s note: F*ck I’m Good Just Ask Me.) How could he ever think that saying such things about the Saudis (all true) when he’s in business with them wouldn’t come back to bite him? @rhallisey

Even knowing he came armed with an agenda, I was amazed by Mickelson’s bluntness when we spoke. My take is that he wanted his true feelings on record but, as always, was working both sides of the street. If he wound up signing with the SGL, at least the quotes would serve as a signal to golf fans that he knows the Saudis are bad actors and it’s strictly a business decision. If he remained in the fold with the PGA Tour, he would have made it clear he did so only after extracting many of the concessions he wanted, thus fulfilling the need, as you note, to feel like he had outsmarted everyone else. Mickelson loved The Queen’s Gambit—“It fits his obsessive personality,” his wife, Amy, told me—but it turns out he is not quite the master strategist that he fancies himself.

And, as per his fawning over the bonecutters, he's still playing all sides of the street...  But that odor you just got a whiff of?  That's the smell of bridges burning:

“I have incredible partners, and these relationships mean so much more to me than a contract. Many have been my most influential mentors and I consider all to be lifelong friends. The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship as I understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances. I believe in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract.

Yeah, I'm sure they trust you on that as you on that.  But there's news on that front:

And not coincidentally it all arrived about an hour before sponsor KPMG dropped Mickelson and scrapped him from their website. Over the weekend I had learned his deals were in trouble there and at Workday. So I reached out to both companies for comment but they, along with Callaway where Mickelson’s under a lifetime contract extension, did not reply to multiple requests. 

The loss of his prominent partnerships will deliver more stress for someone who views himself as the ultimate pitchman. And he’s a good one. But now? Who will believe him or find his dancing karate kicks cute? Maybe on TikTok but that won’t put millions into accounts.

We wrap up with Phil tugging at our heartstrings:

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and many have been shared with the public. My intent was never to hurt anyone and I’m so sorry to the people I have negatively impacted. This has always been about supporting the players and the game and I appreciate all the people who have given me the benefit of the doubt.

Despite my belief that some changes have already been made within the overall discourse, I know I need to be accountable. For the past 31 years I have lived a very public life and I have strived to live up to my own expectations, be the role model the fans deserve, and be someone that inspires others. I’ve worked to compete at the highest level, be available to media, represent my sponsors with integrity, engage with volunteers and sign every autograph for my incredible fans. I have experienced many successful and rewarding moments that I will always cherish, but I have often failed myself and others too. The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level. I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.

 We can certainly agree with you on that first bit.

I actually have a surprising amount of sympathy for the man on the stress front, because it's very real.  I just lump it with his griping about California taxes, in that it's very real and I don't begrudge him doing what he needs to do.  The problem is when you lose any sense of self-awareness, and fail to recognize how clueless you sound complaining about money and respect.  but can we come to any other conclusion but that Phil still wants to get paid?

From here we're probably going to bounce around a bit, starting with a couple of bits from Alan about the timing:

Alan, a question on the truth and background of your piece: You had this for 3 months, you love the Tour … did you push it out for love? Was it orchestrated (or did you discuss) with Jay Monahan? The repercussions are amazing, the background must be fascinating as well. @RealTurtleBR

My relationship with the Tour is complicated, and love does not accurately capture it. I would never let them dictate terms to me about anything, least of all a book I am writing. Commissioner Monahan was as surprised as everyone else when this story posted. I have gone on record plenty of times with my disdain for the Saudis’ sportswashing, but that doesn’t mean I’m here to do the Tour’s bidding. My fealty (to use a new favorite word) is to the readers, and to the truth. Mickelson is at the center of an important development in the golf world, and I had the opportunity to advance the story with real reporting. The chips will fall where they may, but that is not my concern.

Respectfully, why did you hold Phil’s explosive comments until now? @JedDeMuesy

Everything pertaining to the Saudi Golf League has been hazy and uncertain and I wanted to see how it was going to play out. Five days ago, a top player agent told me the Saudis had been waiting to make an official announcement until they had signed their 20th player…and that they had just reached 20 and a splashy kickoff event was going to be held the week of the Players Championship in mid-March. (I respect the pettiness.) With things at a boil, it felt like it was the right time to make known Mickelson’s true feelings. It took some convincing with Simon & Schuster, as publishers prefer for excerpts to come out around the time a book is released, not three months in advance. But what Phil told me was simply too important to sit on.

I'm a little surprised that S&S hasn't pushed up the publication date, though of course I have no clue what's involved.

More on how it all looks from Alan's perspective:

What does it feel like to hit send on a tweet that changes the history of the game of golf? @td445544

That seems rather grandiose. I did know this was going to explode, and I would say the moment you describe felt… fraught. A lot of people were going to be affected, including some scary mofos. I definitely skipped breakfast that morning. I have empathy for Mickelson, and there is a lot to unpack in his statement where he discusses the stress of having led a big, controversial life for so long. In the wake of the excerpt, folks have asked if my book is a “hit piece” or if I’m out to “bury” Phil. No to both of those. It’s a fair, balanced look at his life and career. I would say it is written with affection, because I have always enjoyed covering Phil, despite our occasional dust-ups. There are tons of outrageous tales and laugh-out-loud moments. But he has been involved in a lot of messiness, and that’s all in the book too.

Did you see this blowing up as big as it did, and do you wish you had released more, less, or something different of what Phil said on the topic? @MichaelSmyth

I think it was the right amount. I must say I am a little surprised at the intensity of the backlash. Wasn’t it obvious all along that Mickelson was playing the Saudis against the PGA Tour? I guess it hits differently when you say the quiet parts out loud. It’s a reminder that Mickelson has always been polarizing and remains so. And that anything involving Saudi Arabia—which supplied 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers—remains highly emotional.

Obviously, the scary mofos comment hit home, as well as the realization that this is all about the money.

My own personal opinion is that this side of Phil, that which I call "Bad Phil", has been underreported and underappreciated.  For instance, I simply believe that the depravity of his 2014 defenestration of Tom Watson needs to be revisited in light of this, that it really was that bad.

But the vehemence of his peers' reactions at The Genesis, coupled with the release of "scary mofos", just laid bare who Phil is at heart (or at least the one side of him).

So, in the parlance of Unplayable Lies, wither Phil?

Mike Bamberger took an interesting look at this, written after the blow-up but before the apology misfire:

Or Mickelson could drop his link to Greg Norman’s LIV Golf Investments and its Saudi backers and the world golf tour it envisions, and try to resume his big life on the PGA Tour, the Champions tour (where it’s hard to have a big life) and as a living legend of the game. It was only nine months ago that Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major championship!

But retreating is not Mickelson’s style, his legal entanglements with LIV Golf are possibly far more involved than we could know, and he has already scorched the earth — the majors, the PGA Tour, corporate America — where he plied his trade for so long, and so effectively.

His mouth and his ambition, to say nothing of his talent and his work ethic, got him to where he was in May, when he won the PGA at Kiawah, in coastal South Carolina, and was swarmed by fans as he marched to the 18th green.

His mouth and his ambition got him to where he is right now. Mickelson, who can be loaded with charm, who has all the best words, who has been engaging with fans and reporters and golf’s corporate sponsors for decades, is a restless personality. In the history of golf, you can’t think of another person like him. It’s not really that surprising to see him in the spot he is in.

We should have known all this about Phil at least since 2014.

Though this seems a stretch:

Will Mickelson ever become what he deserves to be, a revered elder statesman in the game? It’s really up to him.

Does he deserve to be revered?   On his playing record alone, that's a gimme.  But there's a private plane full of acquired baggage at this point, and no shortage of folks no longer inclined to give Phil the benefit of the doubt....

Alan is more of an optimist:

Given that most casual golf fans don’t spend time with golf Twitter, many are probably unaware of the events of this week. Given this, what sort of reception do you expect Mickelson to receive the next time he tees it up? @FisherM24

This is a key point: Golf Twitter is not real life. Most fans are barely paying attention to the Saudi intrigue, although that may change with Mickelson having released his statement. Phil will survive this controversy just as he has survived all of the other preceding controversies. Those who love him will still love him, because the Saudi dalliance is on-brand for a self-styled maverick. Those who don’t will just have another reason to justify their feelings. Phil has survived Billy Walters, playing tennis on the 13th green at Shinnecock Hills during the national championship and throwing Tom Watson under a Greyhound. He is nothing if not a survivor.

OK, but this has exploded way beyond Golf Twitter, and Phil has squandered most of his platforms.

I don't think Phil is going anywhere and I certainly agree that there will be some Phil dead-enders, but I think the survival will be in diminished form.  I think an underexplored angle in all this is his trashing of his bromance with Tiger, whose comments on media rights were an early flare that went up.

Now, Alan's got some other interesting bits, such as this use of the F-word:

I mentioned the Larry David fatwa episode to you a few days ago, but I fear it might turn real because you saved the PGA Tour and sunk the SGL with the timing of the Phil excerpt. Is a lifetime achievement award from the PGA Tour really worth looking over your shoulder forever? @Elpulpo8888

I welcome the fatwa jokes… as long as they are jokes!

This point mirrors one of my own in which I called Jay the luckiest guy on the planet:

Would the Saudi League have succeeded if it hadn’t been associated with the Saudis? Let’s say someone like Softbank had bankrolled a league with the same format and same stars but without the moral outrage of the Saudi component. Would that league have made it? @luke_peacock

What you are describing is the Premiere Golf League; the folks behind that are mostly European interests. They didn’t have the money to steal the top stars from the PGA Tour, so they approached the Saudis to help fund it; the Saudis simply stole their idea and made a go of it alone. The PGL had a cool schedule lined up all around the world. I think it would have been a great product, and if it could have been free of the taint of Saudi money, it would have well-received as a fresh take on professional golf.

True enough, though I think we'd all benefit from a deeper dive into how poorly that vision for golf aligns with our game, though I'll mercifully leave that for another day.

But here's the thing, the money on offer was so many orders of magnitude above the economic value of the events (have you seen the ratings?), that it's less about the Brits having the money than it is about economic rationality prevailing...

I'm sure as soon as I publish I'll remember bits I missed, but I'm going to close with this from Geoff:

Who knows what’s driven Mickelson to the edge? Good people get sucked into sinister stuff and say silly things to fulfill weird desires to feel power, live on the edge, or get out of debt. But Phil's gone down this road too many times for anyone to feel sorry for him. The entire saga is sad for his wonderful family and the sport.

As much as golf traffics in blatant ageism to overcompensate for its older demographic, even the ageists generally respects the sport’s elders. Maybe because it’s easier to grow old in golf. Past major champions are welcomed back and worshipped every year. Their talent usually sticks around and we marvel that they’ve still got it. Those old stories are cherished and their opinions are genuinely valued—except when they dare to suggest the ball fly shorter. Then they get trashed.

Mickelson may still get the chance to age gracefully and kick off The Masters some day when his hair has transitioned to grey and he’s shed his propensity to say stupid things. But given the spinning and rationalizing in what was supposed to be an attempt at earnestness, may just mean he’s a point-misser emeritus. So perhaps it’s a best for everyone if he waits a while to resurface.

Who would have guessed Tiger Woods might play a 2022 major before Phil Mickelson?

Lots of good points, but Phil did his best to deny Tom Watson his right to age graciously, so goose, gander.

So, shall we start a pool to guess when we next see Phil?  So, that May 17th publication date is interesting, because it's, wait for it, PGA Championship week.  Anyone remember who the defender is?  At the risk of repeating myself, I think Alan's book could well have quite the effect on Phil's legacy.  

Tomorrow is a travel day, so I'll likely see you next on Friday morning.  Of course, I won't have all my open browser tabs, but we'll figure something out.

UPDATE:  Eamon Lynch is in the house and....well, Eamon doesn't take prisoners.

But before I get to the latest, do you remember Eamon's previous item?  Because this guy really liked the lede:

This paragraph by @eamonlynch on Phil Mickelson/Saudi Tour is quite possibly the best thing I have read in quite some time, especially with the jab at Greg Norman. pic.twitter.com/qwl51jN1hl

— Brian Stultz (@brianjstultz) February 20, 2022

Hold Eamon's beer, Brian, cause this one doesn't suck either:

Legend has it that Marcus Licinius Crassus of Rome was killed by the mutineering men he’d led into a failed battle, who poured molten gold down their leader’s throat in mockery of his thirst for wealth. Philip Alfred Mickelson of Rancho Santa Fe, on the other hand, was merely deserted by his bootless troops as the cause in which he had conscripted them slipped away. As for the symbolic choking on needless greed, he served and swallowed that ruinous cocktail himself.

I'll see your Sun Tzu and raise you a Marcus Licinius Crassus....

I might just have to excerpt the entire thing, because it seems Eamon was less than enthused by the apology:

Apologies are less about atoning for past mistakes than setting the table for future comity, so it was noteworthy that the most fulsome atonement in the statement Mickelson released Tuesday

was directed not at those he had insulted but toward those about whom he had told the truth.

There was no mention of the PGA Tour or its commissioner, Jay Monahan, whom he had accused of “coercive, strong-arm” tactics in comments to the writer Alan Shipnuck that were made public six days ago, a conversation in which Mickelson admitted to overlooking Saudi atrocities because the regime provided leverage to force concessions from the Tour that would further enrich him. But for LIV Golf Investments, the anodyne brand from which emissaries of the world’s foremost bonesaw enthusiast are attempting to launch a hostile takeover of men’s professional golf, there was buttery praise.

Hailing the Saudis as “visionaries” who “passionately love golf” represented a dizzying pivot given that last week Mickelson was revealed to have called them “scary mother——s,” murderers and human rights abusers. But perhaps he learned from the example of Jamal Khashoggi that lèse-majesté laws are decidedly unforgiving in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s circles.

What he said!  

Falls from grace in sport can be slow and grounded in unethical behavior, like Lance Armstrong’s. Or, like that of Tiger Woods, rapid and owing to private shortcomings. Mickelson’s sets a new standard for precipitous disgrace, brought about by his cozying up to a murderous government because he was denied permission to use media he doesn’t own to create content few would buy.

No doubt he imagines himself a pioneer—a “disrupter,” in the nomenclature of bullshitters—but Mickelson is setting out in search of new gold from a mine that is far from exhausted. What has been depleted is the forbearance of his peers for his preening self-regard, his mercenary selfishness, and his callous indifference to the abuses of his allies in Riyadh.

“Everyone is tired of Phil,” one exasperated player texted. “Just a general consensus.”

Talk about failing to read the room.  

I'll leave it here, but you'll want to read the entire piece (though it's a pretty heavy set of excerpts).

As Alan Shipnuck said, memories are short and maybe he finds his way back to revered senior citizen, but, as Alan said in a prior comment, this incident will be on his tombstone.