SteveElling

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Who are these guys, Abbott and Costello? Hall and Oates? Peanut and butter?

Break 'em up as a team and they mostly flop?

As we all know painfully too well at this point, Tiger Woods has been missing in action for more than two years, and in that span, his nemesis Phil Mickelson didn’t do much of anything.

In fact, over his last 37 PGA Tour starts, dating to his victory at the 2010 Masters, and as he freely admits, hasn’t exactly used the door that Woods left wide open when his personal and physical issues left him sidelined for most of the period since.

Mickelson not only didn’t take advantage, he went backward and enters this week's Pebble Beach Pro-Am  in much the same position he's held for his career -- ranked right next to Woods in the world pecking order. It's just that these days, Mickelson is 16th and Woods is 17th.

So, of course, with Woods showing flashing red-light signs that his slump is over, Mickelson picks this week to perk up?

The pair of longtime adversaries, California natives and multiple-time winners at Pebble Beach will be paired in the final round on Sunday at the famous seaside links, with the title in reach for both.

Woods is in third place, four shots behind Charlie Wie, while Mickelson is T4 and six strokes back. Let the jockeying and jocularity begin.

These guys have combined for an incredible 110 career PGA Tour wins -- Woods (71) ranks third and Mickelson (39) is 10th -- but with Woods injured and ailing, and Lefty playing listlessly, they are a mere 1-for-59 in terms of victories in recent U.S. starts.

Neither player knew of the final-day pairings when the left the course after play concluded Saturday night, but here's how they stack up in the times they have been paired in PGA Tour play over their careers. Woods holds a 13-12-4 margin when paired with Lefty, who in recent years has actually played better than the former world No. 1 when grouped eye-to-eye:

Year        Event                            Round   Mickelson     Woods
1997        PGA Championship        Rd 4        75                75       
1997         NEC Invitational             Rd 2        72                72       
1997        TOUR Championship      Rd 2        72                68       
1998        Nissan Open                   Rd 1        67                68
1998        Nissan Open                   Rd 2        76                73
1999        U.S. Open                       Rd 3        73                72       
2000        NEC Invitational              Rd 3        69                67       
2000        Buick Open                     Rd 3        65                67       
2000        TOUR Championship      Rd 1        67                68       
2001        PLAYERS Championship  Rd 3        72                66       
2001        Masters Tournament       Rd 4        70                68       
2002        TOUR Championship       Rd 1        70                71
2002        TOUR Championship      Rd 4        69                70       
2003        Buick Invitational            Rd 4        72                68       
2005        Ford Championship        Rd 4        69                66       
2006        Ford Championship        Rd 3        72                68       
2006        PGA Championship        Rd 1        69                69
2006        PGA Championship        Rd 2        71                68       
2007        Deutsche Bank              Rd 1        70                72
2007        Deutsche Bank              Rd 2        64                64       
2007        Deutsche Bank              Rd 4        66                67       
2008        U.S. Open                      Rd 1        71                72       
2008        U.S. Open                      Rd 2        75                68
2009        Masters Tournament     Rd 4        67                68
2009        WGC-HSBC Champions Rd 4        69                72
2010         BMW Championship     Rd 4        67                70
2011        WGC-Cadillac                Rd 1        73                70
2011         WGC-Cadillac               Rd 2        71                74
2011        WGC-Cadillac                Rd 3        72                70

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Here's a No. 1 ranking that Tiger Woods would just as soon yield to somebody else.

In a poll reported this week by Forbes, Woods is tied with NFL quarterback Michael Vick as the nation's most disliked athlete, with each receiving a 60 percent disapproval rating.

Vick was listed first, however, because he got more votes of "dislike a lot" from respondents than did Woods.

The numbers were compiled by Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research. Vick was convicted five years ago of running a dog-fighting ring and served time, while Woods endured a well-chronicled sex scandal and divorce.

NFL receiver Plaxico Burress (56%), NFL defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh (51%), NBA players Kris Humphries (50%), Lebron James (48%) and Kobe Bryant (45%), NFL receiver Terrell Owens (45%), MLB infielder Alex Rodriguez (44%) and NASCAR driver Kurt Busch (42%).

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanr
iper/2012/02/07/americas-most-disli
ked-athletes/

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- A day after Tiger Woods all but said that the belly putter should be ruled illegal, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington made a bold prediction.

"Yes, it's inevitable it's going to get changed," he said Wednesday.

Harrington is an ambassador for the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, and whether he's speaking with any insider information here is a bit unclear, but the sentiment seems to be growing that the long putters need to be re-examined.

With a growing number of players using the belly model, and players like Adam Scott resurrecting his career with the broom model, traditionalists like Woods have raised the question of whether the clubs should be banned.

Harrington, playing this week at Pebble Beach, said that if the clubs had recently appeared out of thin air, it's highly unlikely they would have ever been permitted.

"I think at the end of the day, if we started fresh tomorrow and somebody tried to get the belly putter passed, not a chance," he said.

The game's two governing bodies, the USGA and R&A, have indicated they will take a look at the long-putter issue, though banning a device that's been around for a quarter-century sounds like a sticky situation.

Woods advocated a theoretical plan wherein the putter could not be longer than the shortest club in the bag, which would usually be a sand wedge. He envisioned putters being measured for length by comparing them to wedges on the first tee to ensure accordance, and said he had discussed the possible wording of a rule change with Peter Dawson of the R&A on several occasions.

"I definitely hear  and this is not true by connection with the R&A but just true in golf -- there's more players, there's more officials focusing on the belly putter," Harrington said.

Last year, for the first time, a major championship was won by a player using the belly putter.

Woods said Tuesday: "I've never been a fan of it. I believe it's the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion. I believe that's how it should be played. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to that."

With 17 majors between Woods and Harrington, not to mention their influence in other areas, that's some pretty heavy artillery on the anti-belly side of the fence.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Tiger Woods sauntered onto the practice green at Pebble Beach on Tuesday and spotted Daniel Chopra, holding court with a few inquisitive sorts.

"Hey, Chopra," Woods said playfully, "where's my drink?"

Make it a double.

Sure, it was only a practice round, but Chopra pulled off a statistical rarity on Monday at the Pebble Beach Golf Links when he aced two holes in the span of a couple of hours, Nos. 7 and 17, two of the most famous par-3s in existence.

Chopra once made a double-eagle in PGA Tour competition in Las Vegas, but the two aces were off the charts. After making a rather understated ace on the par-3 seventh, a 103-yard hole, he knocked in a 7-iron on the 17th from 176 yards and went positively berserk.

"When the second one went in, I was like Tiger Woods on steroids," Chopra said of his reaction. "It was probably the most excited I have ever been on the golf course in my life."

Chopra was practicing and wasn't keeping score.

"I was on those two holes," he laughed.

In both cases, his first shot went in for an ace. Chopra said he's mustered 13 aces over the years either in live tournament play, practice rounds, pro-ams or casual rounds. But this was special because of the venue.

"At Pebble, my favorite course in the whole world," he said.

Since it was Monday, there weren't many fans around, but there were a few folks following Chopra around the course. One spectator saw both aces.

Said Chopra: "One guy came up to me and said, 'I'd never in my life seen a hole in one, and today I've seen two."

Making the double whammy even better was the fact that Chopra's caddie, Philip Hodge, a professional player himself in the past, had been needling him about having recorded  more aces, 15, than Chopra. The two-time PGA Tour winner fired back with, "I'm going to make them right in front of you."

And on Monday, he did. Chopra said that as the second ball was tracking toward the hole, Hodge began to realize what was happening.

"I can hear it clear as day, he starts yelling, 'Nooooooooo,' " Chopra said.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Add Tiger Woods to the list of players who believe that the belly putter should fast go belly-up.

In fact, the former world No. 1 said Tuesday that he has been agitating for years with one of the game's global rulemakers, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, on the possible language relating to how a rule regarding maximum putter length would be worded.

At the seaside Pebble Beach Golf Links, Woods said he's been preaching anchors aweigh to the broom and belly models for years. The former world No. 1 said he's conversed with the R&A's chief executive, Peter Dawson, about perhaps capping the length so that putters would be the same length as a sand wedge.

The USGA indicated over the weekend at its annual meeting that it, along with the R&A, was revisiting the topic of whether belly putter and long putters, which have become so popular it's hard to track whose using them on tour, should be reigned in.

"I've never been a fan if it," Woods said at Pebble Beach. "I believe it's the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion. I believe that's how it should be played. I'm traditionalist when it comes to that."

Purity has been taking a beating on the putting greens of late. The rulemakers years ago capped the maximum length of a driver at 48 inches, but the belly and broom models have been around so long, it's unofficially been sanctioned as a ship that has too long ago sailed.

The belly model became so popular last year, players were schooling their peers on the clubs' nuances on putting greens toward the end of the season. Keegan Bradley, the reigning rookie of the year, became the first player to win a major using the belly model.

Even Phil Mickelson tried one. Many players philosophically object to using putters that are anchored to the body in any fashion, as the broom and belly putter are, in some fashion. Others, like Ernie Els and Mickelson, say that as long as it's not against the rules, they'll try almost anything.

"I've talked to Peter about this, Peter Dawson, for a number of years and gone back and forth of how we could word it," Woods said. "My idea was to have it so that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag. I think with that we'd be able to get away from any type of belly anchoring. 

"You can still anchor the putter like Bernhard Langer did, against the arm. But that's still the art of swinging the club, too, at the same time."

It might be tempting to blow off Woods' remarks, but when he speaks, things tend to happen. By way of example, when Woods said he was in favor of drug testing, the PGA Tour stopped dragging its feet and implemented a new screening system within months. He asked for a shorter season in 2005, and got it when the FedEx Cup series was adopted soon thereafter.

"I think you can get away from the belly or the long putter by that type of wording, whether or not they do it or not," Woods said. "Peter's looked into it for a number of years, trying to get it to work, and you [would] actually measure everybody's sand wedge and putter before you go out and play."

On the Pebble putting green, as his peers learned that Woods had thrown his weight behind a possible rule change, those who use the long sticks cringed.

"Great," said Robert Garrigus, who switched to a belly model this year and nearly won an event last month. "That means it'll probably happen."

When it was pointed out that it can take months or years for rule changes to be implemented, Brendan Steele was left hoping for a different ourcome.

"I've heard that they might grandfather-in all the guys who are already using them," said Steele, who uses a belly model and won last year as a rookie. "I'd be super-stoked if they let me use it and told everybody else that they couldn't."

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Intentionally or not, the City of Los Angeles certainly timed the announcement to ensure maximum impact.

Attorneys for the city have sued Northern Trust, the title sponsor of the town’s PGA Tour event, alleging that the company frittered away city pension funds on reckless investments.

The city seeks $95 million from Northern Trust, whose tour event begins in two weeks at famed Riviera Country Club.

"Northern Trust made false claims and statements regarding its management of the assets of the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System [LACERS] in order to receive payments as a custodian bank and securities lending agent," according to the complaint, which was filed in Superior Court and excerpted in the L.A. Times.

As though the case alone isn't bad enough in terms of public relations, the timing could prove even more embarrassing, since Northern Trust has been hammered before for allegedly wasting money tied directly to the tour event itself.

Three years ago, after taking federal bailout money, the company was savaged by politicians and critics for staging a series of exclusive concerts, attended mostly by special invitees and featuring artists such Grammy winner Sheryl Crow.

A Northern Trust spokesman told the L.A. Times: "The Los Angeles Employees Retirement System did not lose money on securities lending. We regret that this meritless lawsuit will likely cost the LACERS pension plan, and the city of Los Angeles, millions of dollars in unnecessary legal fees and out-of-pocket expenses."

That’s the beauty of working for investment companies like Northern Trust – just like with the lawyers who will butt heads on this issue, they get paid regardless of whether they win or lose.

L.A.'s been tough of late on the tour's title sponsors. Last year, the city sued Deutsche Bank over a foreclosure issue, calling the company "slumlords."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011
/05/04/us-deutschebank-losangeles-i
dUSTRE7435NC20110504

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Attention flamers, vicious posters and other reputation-savaging knuckleheads who hide behind the anonymity of chatroom walls while tossing grenades at others:

Phil Mickelson is fighting back.

In a move that could bring unintended light to a very personal issue, Mickelson filed suit in Canada to learn the identity of a person who has been ripping him on the Internet.

According to the Courthouse News Service, Mickelson alleges in the complaint that "the postings suggest that plaintiff has an illegitimate child, that his wife has affairs and other similar vexatious statements that are absolutely untrue and, simply put, vicious.”

Mickelson has long been dogged by wild and absurd rumors, and his wife Amy has even been known to make jokes with friends about them.

But nobody’s kidding around this time.

"I'm all for freedom of speech, but I won't tolerate defamation, and so I've got a great attorney who's on it," he said after the first round of the Phoenix Open on Thurday.

Mickelson sought and was granted by San Diego Superior Court the right to subpoena Yahoo! for information about the identities of two screen names, "Fogroller" and "Longitude," and Yahoo! responded with Fogroller's Internet protocol address, which is registered to a Videotron subscriber, according to the Courthouse News report.  

The news report states that Videotron's attorney said Mickelson needs a court order for the company to provide him with the information. In the filing, Mickelson seeks the court order.

"It is urgent, and in the best interest of justice, to accurately identify the person using the 'Fogroller' pseudonym and posting these offensive and defamatory statements, in order to stop the dissemination of false and wrongful statements about the plaintiff and obtain reparation for the prejudice already suffered," the complaint states, according to Courthouse News.

Reparation, of course, is the legal euphemism that broadly means "blood and money."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/
02/01/43527.htm

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Phil Mickelson signs more autographs than any star player on the PGA Tour.

He can also put a drafting pencil to paper.

An exclusive report in the San Diego paper this week noted that Mickelson has privately talked with high-ranking city officials about updating Torrey Pines North, the sister course to the more famous South layout, in the future, a redesign that’s been under discussion for years.

Mickelson said he’d do the tweaks for free.

“I tried to underbid everybody,” he said Wednesday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “That was the goal.”

Chalk up a win in that regard. It’s already generated a ton of attention, and in a cash-strapped city like San Diego, minimizing cost might help get a deal struck. Torrey Pines is one of the nation’s most famous municipal layouts and Mickelson, a native son, would mostly be viewed as a dream candidate for the post.

In fact, Mickelson, 41, is talking like it’s a done deal.

Mickelson played his high-school matches at Torrey and said he’d be a good steward of the property and would endeavor to make the canyons and trees part of the experience, and not just elements of a pretty view on the horizon.

 “It has been a dream of mine to turn that golf course into what I know it can be,” Mickelson said at TPC Scottsdale. “We will spend countless hours making sure that that course is right because the goal -- the first goal, is to make it playable. 

“It's got to be playable for everybody. It's a daily golf course, municipal golf course.  Everybody has got to go out and enjoy it. The other thing is that the character is not being brought out right. The character of the canyons and the beauty of that place has not been pulled into the golf course. 

“It's been separated. The canyons are on one of the side of the golf course and then there's been no integration, so the character that we bring out will try to enhance the natural beauty that's already there. There will be a lot more rustic areas ... Kind of a rough canyon look, if you will, where I'm going to make the hard holes harder, but I'm going to make the easy holes easier. 

“I want guys having fun on some of these holes. The second hole is going to be moved up and shorter, little examples. We pretty much have it mapped out how we want to make it.”

So clearly, he's not just ad-libbing here. It's been on his draft board for a while.
 
On the design front, Mickelson has been famously critical recently of designer Rees Jones, who remade the South Course a decade ago. Mickelson, a three-time tour winner at Torrey, has struggled there ever since. Lefty has some definite views on course architecture that he has increasingly espoused publicly.

“I'm excited about this opportunity because it's the most beautiful canvas out there, and it has not been utilized properly, and I feel like after playing for so many decades and looking at these courses and appreciating all their beauty, to try to take that and integrate it into a course that just -- that I love is a fun opportunity,” he said.