Why Phil Mickelson was not disqualified from the US Open and why other pros think he should have been

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Phil Mickelson and his sublime short game delivered more entertainment than all the athletes and celebrities for the Saturday show at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Mickelson made the impossible look easy from a bunker behind the par-3 seventh green at Pebble Beach. He holed out from a bunker for birdie on the 13th, and chipped in from 90 feet for birdie on the next hole. Related: Leaderboard | Mickelson’s lucky silver dollar When he ran in one last birdie, Mickelson had a 5-under 67 and trailed Nick Taylor of Canada by one shot going into the final round. Mickelson will be going for a record sixth title at Pebble Beach, and his first PGA TOUR victory since he won this tournament last year. Taylor had a cold and relatively quiet day, away from all the hits and giggles around the celebrity rotation at Pebble. He teed off at tough Spyglass Hill with a beanie and hand warmers because of heavy marine layer, warmed up as the sun broke through and made a 25-foot eagle putt late in his round for a 69. Taylor was at 17-under 198 as he goes for his second PGA TOUR victory, and first since he won the Sanderson Farms Championship in his fourth start as a TOUR rookie. Mickelson hit a flop shot over the bunker on the par-5 18th to pull within one shot. They will be in the final group, along with their amateur partners. Mickelson has former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, while Taylor has Golf Digest editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde. Taylor and Mickelson have never played together. “It’s going to be a new experience for that reason, if I am playing with him,” Taylor said. “Obviously, if he makes a putt or great shot, the crowd’s going to go wild. I’ve just got to do my own thing, try to block all that out. Easier said than done, without having to do it before, but I’ll do the best I can.” This is a two-man show; however, Jason Day posted a 70 at Spyglass Hill and was only three shots behind at 14-under 201. For others, it was a wasted opportunity. Pebble Beach had more wind than earlier in the week, but still gentle enough that low scores were available. Dustin Johnson, a two-time winner at Pebble, was in striking range and could manage only a 72, leaving him eight shots back. Patrick Cantlay played the final six holes in 2 over for a 72 and was nine shots back. Mickelson started with a pair of birdies. He took a share of the lead with a birdie on the par-5 sixth. And then the fun began. His wedge on the 110-yard seventh hole that drops down into the Pacific went long and plugged in the back bunker, impossible because of the back pin and a fast green that slopes toward the front. He splashed out so perfectly that it took a few hops in the rough before reaching the green, slow enough to stop 2 feet away for a tap-in par. Even for Mickelson, it rates among his best. Then, his 50-foot bunker shot on the tough eighth rolled inches from the cup on No. 8. More trouble supposedly awaited on the 13th when his approach peeled into the left bunker. He raised both arms when that dropped. And on the par-5 14th, he made a mistake by not hitting his punch wedge hard enough. It rolled down the slope, off the green and back into the fairway. Mickelson’s long chip from 90 feet banged into the pin and dropped for birdie. Mickelson missed two birdie putts from inside 10 feet. And while he hit only nine greens in regulation, he usually had a reasonable angle to the pin to save par — or make birdie, as was the case twice for him. That leaves a Sunday with plenty at stake for the leading three players. Mickelson said earlier in the week he would not accept a special exemption for the U.S. Open if he needed one. A victory at Pebble — the 45th of his career — would go a long way toward solving that. Taylor can validate his first win since his rookie season, an opposite-field event at the time. The Canadian has never been to the Masters and has played in only four majors, two as an amateur. Day, meanwhile spent most of last year injured and frustrated. He has gone nearly two years since his last win, and was in danger of falling out of range for World Golf Championships events if he didn’t starting getting better results.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It was supposed to be harder. A year ago THE PLAYERS Championship made a return to its traditional March slot in the PGA TOUR schedule after 12 years where the best on TOUR contested the flagship event in May. The warnings were stark to the new breed of player who had not experienced TPC Sawgrass in the earlier timeslot … this will be tougher. RELATED: Pete Dye: The genius who loathes plans | Rory gets a good read | Power Rankings Ponte Vedra Beach in March compared to May brings different winds and potentially cooler temperatures for a start. Pete Dye’s masterpiece is tough enough but add gusting winds of note and you might be swimming after your ball more than you would care to. Former FedExCup champion Justin Thomas obviously never played in March prior to last year as he was just 13 years old in 2006, but he certainly got wind of how it used to be. “I’ve heard some horror stories from guys in the past about how in Jacksonville this time of year you can get some cold, cold days, you can get a strong north wind where we’re hitting 6-, 7-, 8-iron on 17. I would imagine if that’s the case then you won’t be seeing any (record rounds),â€� Thomas said. We know the stats backed up the narrative. When comparing the 12 tournaments in May compared to the previous 12 that were in March, eight of the nine toughest scoring average years were in March. In total the March dates averaged out at 73.40 with the May contests in at 72.48 so it was almost an entire stroke harder in March compared to May in that time period. Also in that time the six course record equaling scores of 9-under 63 posted were all in May and there were 117 more rounds in the 80s in March over May. But for all the concern … reality painted a different picture in 2019. In the March return the scoring average for the week sat at 71.512. Almost half a stroke under par. Winner Rory McIlroy was rarely troubled. The two-time FedExCup champion went out there and shot 67-65-70-70 to win his first PLAYERS at 16 under. It was clearly not so tough for him. So what happened? Well nice weather without overly tough breezes certainly helped. And while most players still maintain TPC Sawgrass does not hold significant bias towards one style of player over another, it now certainly plays into the hands of a longer hitter more than it did before given the potential for softer conditions. Generally speaking each hole at Sawgrass has a sweet spot to play from on approach and in May, with the ball rolling out in warmer and firmer conditions, pretty much all players could get to those spots albeit with different clubs. In March, with softer conditions and less roll, it can be harder to get to those spots for some. The forecast this week is similar to a year ago. It calls for dry weather with afternoon highs in the upper 70s each day. Winds of eight to 16 miles per hour will be out of the southeast on Thursday and Friday shifting to more of an east/northeast direction this weekend. With players reporting that the fairways and greens are playing a little soft at the moment it may well be a green light to the elite in this 144-man field unless things bake out. “The greens are a little soft at the moment. Unless conditions drastically change it is going to be low scoring this week again really. Even though it plays longer in March and there is some decent rough out here … if the greens are soft it doesn’t matter,â€� former champion Adam Scott says. When explaining how the change helped him towards victory a year ago McIlroy confirmed a shift towards his length certainly helped. Those with a little more length get the benefit of having shorter irons and wedges into greens, and less of the field can match them. “Off the tee, the course certainly plays a lot longer in March than it does in May, so I was able to hit driver a lot more. The fairways are a little softer, so the course plays a touch wider,â€� McIlroy said. The 12 winners in March prior to McIlroy averaged six yards further than the field in driving distance while the May winners averaged just 2.2yards more. McIlroy was 17 yards above the field average driving distance in 2019. It is why Bryson DeChambeau and his extra length off the tee this season is confident. It is why those without the prodigious length are putting some extra practice in with their mid irons. On top of that, players are trying to tune up their short games. “And then the other thing is having the rough overseeded around the greens, that was a big thing for me because I’ve always been more comfortable chipping out of that sort of overseeded rough rather than a pure Bermuda,â€� McIlroy added. “Pure Bermuda, especially in May time here, it was sort of a hit and hope. It was a little bit of a guessing game around the greens, where at least nowadays, if you do miss a green … the guys with the best short games and the best techniques can sort of rise to the top a little bit.â€� There is at least one player in the field really diving into the statistics of how he can make the most of his game at the course. Five-time PGA TOUR winner Marc Leishman is in great form thanks to a win earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open and a runner up finish last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard. But his record at THE PLAYERS has just one top 10 (T8 in 2013) in 10 previous tries with a scoring average of 72.25. He missed the cut in the March return last year and as such has decided to lean heavily on the analytics used by the International Team at last years Presidents Cup. Captain Ernie Els went within a whisker of leading the Internationals to a rare win over the U.S. thanks heavily to data driven pairings. Leishman has handed over some of the game plan at Sawgrass to the stats gurus. “My record here is terrible so it’s worth a try. Even my parents don’t have confidence in me here. They booked travel from Australia and are landing in Virginia Beach on Saturday instead of here thinking they’ll see me,â€� Leishman joked. “But in all seriousness the course plays longer in March for sure and sometimes that can sort of trick you into trying to hit it further when you don’t need to. I’m going to put my game plan in the hands of the data guys a little as a trial. It worked for me in Melbourne so I might as well have a crack at this. There are now certain holes I know I do need to try to get the ball out there further and others where I need to focus more on accuracy.â€� Leishman averages about a stroke better than the field per round when it comes to Strokes Gained: Approach the Green this season. He sits fifth on TOUR at +1.099 entering the tournament. It has long been a key component to his success as an elite player. The data team highlighted how that strength of his game has been a significant weakness at Sawgrass, hence the need to change tact. In fact four of his 10 previous PLAYERS appearances had Leishman lose significant strokes per round to the field in that statistic and he’s never gone close to his best numbers here. “If you are not trying to learn you’re not evolving as a player,â€� Leishman says. “When it comes down to it … at THE PLAYERS you always need to be at your best or very near to it whether it is played in March, May or Christmas Day.â€�

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One year ago, our family experienced a terrible thing. At the same time, we ended up having a wonderful experience. Those two sentences only make sense because of Nationwide Children’s Hospital. In late-May 2019, we were in Ohio so I could play in the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. The Monday after the tournament, there was a U.S. Open qualifier at Scioto Country Club and Brookside Golf and Country Club. I didn’t play well at the Memorial, missing the cut, and that left me with a couple of days to get ready for the 36-hole qualifying tournament. On Monday morning, my wife, Soyoung, took me to the course, while our son, Eugene stayed at the hotel with his grandmother, my mother-in-law. At the golf course, I received a phone call from my wife who was telling me that our son had fallen off the bed and was hurt. I really didn’t think it was anything too serious. But when Soyoung told me they had gone to the hospital in an ambulance, I immediately withdrew from the tournament and left the course, heading straight to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. There, doctors told us Eugene had suffered a concussion and a fracture on his temporal bone that was causing spinal fluid to leak. It was a really dangerous situation. Doctors believe that when Eugene was falling off the bed, he landed at an odd angle, hitting right on the spot that caused all the problems. It was really a fluke. We basically moved into the hospital, and Soyoung and I probably didn’t eat anything for the first 48 hours. We slept very little, if at all. I kept looking at Eugene’s heart monitor because sometimes it can go up and down like crazy, so I stared at it and couldn’t fall asleep. We both had a hard time watching Eugene struggling. There was our child in real trouble. We felt helpless. The biggest problem was doctors couldn’t control and stop the fluid leak. They eventually decided surgery was the best option. After more than a week—eight days—as doctors were getting ready to perform the procedure, the leaking finally stopped. Very quickly, Eugene started acting normally. A couple of days later, doctors discharged Eugene, and we were free to go home. One problem. We couldn’t fly because the pressure inside an airplane was dangerous and could cause Eugene’s spine to start again leaking fluid. Our next choice? Drive 15 hours from Columbus to our home in Dallas. Knowing we didn’t want to do the drive in one day, we mapped out where children’s hospitals were on our route home—just in case. All along, we felt if we could get back home, everything would be OK, and Eugene would continue to improve. It took us three days to travel home, but we did arrive in Texas with no issues, and we were so thankful to be home safely. Of course, what happened was incredibly serious, but fortunately, Eugene’s accident occurred not far from one of the biggest and best children’s hospitals in the world. The staff at Nationwide Children’s Hospital couldn’t have been nicer. The doctors and nurses were professional and kind in every way. When Soyoung and Eugene arrived at the hospital, everyone was so attentive. Before the day was over, 10 doctors had come to Eugene’s room and checked on him. It was so scary, but everybody did what they could to put my wife at ease. They did the same for me after I got there. The whole episode is not something I enjoy remembering, but the care Eugene received brings back a flood of good memories. Eugene does have some hearing loss in his left ear because of nerve damage associated with his fall. Other than that, though, he’s doing well and is happy. The accident, though, isn’t far from my mind, and I will often check on Eugene to see how he is doing. He’s just a normal little boy, he’s so active, he climbs up to everywhere and he jumps around. He also doesn’t remember anything about what happened. While you can’t tell anything was ever wrong, I still get kind of scared of what could happen to him. If he could suffer such a major injury falling from a bed, imagine what could happen when he’s doing regular kid stuff. I do call my wife a lot to make sure he’s doing well, and we do keep an eye on him. Today, we’re extraordinarily grateful he’s recovered, and we know he will have a long and happy life. We have Nationwide Children’s Hospital to thank for that.

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