Phil will obviously get an immediate public image boost b/c of the wife/mother situation. It was a touching moment when he embraced his wife. I just hope people don't start saying "Oh, look at Phil, the family man. He's everything Tiger isn't." The fact is that we don't know these celebrities and/or athletes. We only see a very limited side of any of these people. Phil seems like a nice guy, but none of us can say with any definitiveness how he treats his family when the cameras are off. I guess I just wish people would stop caring about the personal lives of the athletes. It's a waste of time to care what type of person these athletes are when they aren't competing. As long as they aren't breaking the law or endangering the lives of others, I just don't try to worry about it. It's way too easy for big stars to manipulate and shape their public image. BTW, this post wasn't really directed at anything you said...just wanted to go on a mini-rant.
Phil's caddy, the guy he has spent the most time with over the last 19 years said spontaneously on camera (the golf channel) that Phil is exactly the person he is perceived to be. I think it's OK to go ahead and trust in this feel good story.
Funny how Phil was hammered a few years ago for saying that finishing 2nd was not so bad, and skipping tournaments to be with his family. Turns out, that he had the proper perspective and life balance after all. Tiger is still a great golfer, but Phil is a better person. DD
From the company email this morning: (of interest to golfers only) In Mickelson’s bag: FT Tour Driver (7.5 degree), Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki shaft Big Bertha Diablo Fairway Wood (15 degrees), 83X Fubuki X stiff Callaway Prototype Hybrid (22 degrees) Mitsubishi Diamana Thump X stiff X-Forged 4-iron, Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts X-Prototype Irons (5-PW), Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts JAWS Wedges, Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts Tour ix Golf Ball Odyssey White Hot XG Blade Putter Mickelson’s FT Tour Driver makes Pit Stop at Callaway prior to Masters Victory After Phil Mickelson cracked the crown of his trusty Callaway FT Tour Driver during play at last week’s Shell Houston Open, Callaway’s R&D team stepped in quickly. Callaway’s Senior Vice President of R&D, Dr. Alan Hocknell, met the driver at Palomar Airport in Carlsbad on Easter Sunday night, and brought it to his R&D team last Monday morning. Doc Hock says that Callaway engineers and technicians performed an “unprecedented repair”, removing the body from the clubface while never taking off the shaft in order to ensure that the loft and lie remained secure. A concerned Mickelson texted Doc Hock last Monday from Augusta: “How bad is it, Doc? Is she gonna make it?” Cracked clubs are not the norm, but players like Mickelson put in so much practice time and swing with such force that they will crack clubs on occasion. “Phil has a backup FT Tour Driver with the same specs, but he loves his gamer,” Hocknell says. “We decided to remove the carbon composite body from the face and we’ve never done that before, so everyone was a bit nervous. But through a lot of teamwork, we had a new body and weights installed by 1:30 p.m. on Monday.” The same weights were inserted in exactly the correct location in the new carbon composite body before it was bonded to the titanium cup face and the same skid plate was added to the sole. The driver was back in the air at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. Callaway Tour Rep Barry Lyda met up with the driver early Tuesday morning in Georgia and delivered it to Mickelson on the eighth tee a short time later. Mickelson thanked the Callaway team for their efforts. “They are the best. I’ve got a lot of confidence in them,” he says. “The driver played just like I hoped, with the same great feel. It feels identical to the way it was before.” For the week, Mickelson averaged more than 297 yards off the tee and blasted several drives more than 350 yards. “It’s great to be able to show our capabilities, react quickly and do something to a very high level of performance,” Hocknell said. “As the driver was going out the door, we looked around at each other and said, ‘Imagine if he wins…’ Doc Hock wanted me to mention that the R&D team had help from the Carlsbad-based Volume Bonding group within Operations, and from Barry Lyda in the Tour Department, who got the club to Phil on the course
And yet there's not a shred of actual evidence by anyone to this. As with most good things in our society, jealous folks who lack those things convince themselves that it's not really true, they opine to a journalist friend, and that's how rumors get started. So you can believe a couple of unsubstantiated rumors without a shred of actual evidence, or you can go by the things you actually see. I'll take the latter.
sorry no links. Just stuff I've heard from many golf buddies that follow the sport etc...This has been said for years. may be true may not... Most people I know actually have always thought that way about Phil. You guys are some are actually surprising me
that's great, but at the time, it wasn't that significant, who knows how each guy would have played had he birdied, and remember, the choke wasn't the birdie, ite was the par, I was using the birdie just to show how much of an overstatement it was to say it was epic
what have you actually seen? stuff on camera at golf and golf related events? Everything Tiger did looked solid too. John Edwards? Jesse James?? I'm not saying guilty until proven innocent. I think it likely, too, that Phil is the "good guy family man" he appears to be. But no need to get your panties in a wad when there are rumors otherwise and someone notes they've heard them. I've been around people in the golf industry a bit, and I think the reason you hear rumors about some of these top guys also has to do with the fact that they are so laser focused on the course and around the game that they can and often do come across, and frankly, are rude. Then clubhouse people at tournaments say something to a few people and word gets out, etc. Tiger had this reputation. Vijay Singh. Phil and others, too. Not that there aren't some friendly nice winners, but I think part of being dominant at a sport like golf is being so focused you can be rude.
I don't think you'll find many people who follow the sport more than me. I know people think that about Phil. The thing is, next time, ask "why?" and listen to the responses. I have. My suspicion? You'll hear the same thing I did. "That can't be real." "It just seems so fake, no celebrity is that nice." "I heard a friend of a friend of a friend say he didn't shake their hand." "I just don't like him..." Hell, think about how many people (polls show over 65%) were cheering for Tiger to win this week, even after the last 5 months? People like the bad boy. They like Tiger. Phil, in many ways, is the rival and complete opposite of Tiger - and don't think that doesn't feed into things as well. We live in a TMZ society. If something's fake, it's coming out. What did he do on Saturday night, the night before arguably the biggest round of his life? At 10, he was by his daughter's side at the hospital after she broke her wrist roller skating during the day. Didn't go to bed until after 1 a.m. http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news;_ylt=AnpkWC8r_YeuAvriKDzsxhE5nYcB?slug=dw-philmasters041110 I'm not picking on you updawg, not at all. I know you probably don't care enough to ask followups. But those of you who do, ask followups to your friends who claim Mickelson is "fake", and ask them how or why they feel that way. I'd bet a lot of money that the substance you hear back will be thinner than Tiger's relationship with Elin.
With all due respect, you're wrong here. Moes will back me up on this - I haven't been a fan of Tiger for years and years, primarily because he's an obvious complete prick on the golf course. To fans, media, the game - he was and is as disrespectful as they come. Did I know what was going on, in regards to the affairs? Of course not. But to say everything Tiger did "looked solid", and that there were no questions of his character based on things we actually saw - that's just incorrect. Also, this is where journalism kicks in. With Mickelson, we have specific anecdotes of the kind of guy he is. As I said in the post above, Saturday night, before the biggest round of his life Sunday... he's in the hospital by his daughter's side, who broke her wrist during the day. Not asleep until after 1 am. Every morning before playing, he went to the coffee shop with her and played chess for an hour. These are specific, documented events outside of the golf course. And no, they aren't the first - there are dozens of these every year with Phil, because that's the kind of guy he is. Yet, there is not even a single shred of specific evidence that he's "fake" - yet a lot of jealous people want to believe it, so it gains traction. It's as much a journalism thing for me as it is a Phil/golf thing, honestly. When one side has numerous specific examples, and the other lacks any, and people act like it's up in the air... it does piss me off.
I hope he truly is a great guy and not just image. personally I have no idea what to think I've just heard that about him for 5+ years but don't see it so it is confusing. And I don't really care enough to ask deeper questions. I'm not a tmz gossip follower at all
You also have to realize that these are sports figures and like any sports figures there are fans and non-fans for each character. And a non fan does not have to have anything hard or concrete to create a rumour. Someone can see a figure and just think, i dont like him, i bet he is really like X. Then he tells one of his buddies, I bet he is like X. Then, that person may talk to another person who isnt a fan and says, yeah, i heard he is like X...etc.etc. Before you know it, a ton of people have heard from numerous people that he is like X and people will start to believe it. At the end of the day, there hasnt been anything significant to show he's a horrible/bad/tigeresque type of guy.
Exactly. Spot on. My only thing is that the people in the middle that don't care either way (most likely the majority) need to call out the side that has no actual evidence or examples of any kind. That won't stop it, of course - the haters will find their reasons to hate, regardless. But the objective majority can do a little better job of limiting the traction that these unsubstantiated rumours can sometimes have. [/end responsible journalism rant]
