Dude, Come On

Rickie Fowler wore this outfit on Friday at Torrey Pines. He stated after the round that he and Clifford the Big Red dog had got into a bit of a serious card game, and Fowler ended up losing a lot of money. Since he is short on cash, Rickie promised to wear this outfit if Clifford didn't bite his leg.

Seems logical enough, eh?

On the DL

I was a guest with Dan Levy on his always incredible "On the DL" Podcast Thursday. If you have a minute, check it out. The guy is really, really good at his job, and we laugh! HOORAY!

Phil Mickelson's Wedges, and Why He Needs to Ditch 'Em

No matter the rules in existence today, there is probably a way to bend around them. Phil Mickelson is doing exactly that in his first tournament of 2010, and he's getting some serious criticism for it, as he rightfully should.

Here is the deal. As you know, the USGA (and the R&A) decided that the best plan of attack to negate the rise in technology in the golf world was to scale back grooves, so this year they basically made conforming grooves 40 percent less deep, putting a premium on hitting the fairway and not be able to zip the ball back when in rough. It was a decent idea, not the best, but it is in place and golfers must follow it.

The problem with the rule was, some irons, like the Ping Eye 2 wedges (and if you have a dad that plays golf, trust me, he knows about these wedges) were accepted under a grandfathered clause set back in the early '90s. So, basically, you could use nasty wedges instead of the ones today because of an old rule that can't be changed. Legal? Yes. Legit? Not so much.

Phil Mickelson (Along with Hunter Mahan, John Daly and others) have put the Ping Eye 2 wedges in the bag this week, and a few of the PGA Tour players are absolutely up in arms about it.

Here are some of the reactions.

"It's cheating, and I'm appalled Phil has put [the grandfathered club] into play," Scott McCarron, a three-time Tour winner, told the San Francisco Chronicle."All those guys should be ashamed of themselves for doing that ... As one of our premier players, (Mickelson) should be one of the guys who steps up and says this is wrong."

"I don't like it at all, not one bit," added Rocco Mediate. "It's against the spirit of the rule."

So, a few things to hit before we dig into the spirit of the decision.

Is it "cheating" as McCarron called it? No, not really. It's legal, and the wedges are "fit for play," but they aren't really conforming. It's a very gray area in the rules, but it is what it is. Not much is going to change it, but the fact of the matter is, these wedges spin the ball better than the new wedges companies are being forced to make. Basically, it would be like a race where everyone had the same engine, but someone came with an old car that claims to have the same horsepower, but is really souped up well past what the numbers say, everyone knows it, but there isn't anything they can do about it. The fast car is going to give that driver an advantage.

Mickelson has been against the groove changes this entire time, admitting on Wednesday that he hated the rules vehemently.

"This is a big change. I think it's a ridiculous change. I think that it costs each manufacturer millions of dollars. I think it's confusing, and I don't agree with it one bit," Phil said.

Sure, it is a little ridiculous, but Phil needs to understand a few things. First, it actually helps him. For a guy that hits it as far as he does, and is so good around the greens, taking grooves down a notch just plays into his hands. Second, doing something like playing wedges that are sketchy at best makes him look even more like an asshole to his peers than they already think. Why do something that is going to create even more hatred amongst your coworkers? Just do what they're doing. Last, he was already using Callaway conforming wedges last year, so why not go back? One of the things I've heard about some of the higher lofted wedges (like a 64 degree) is that the new grooves make it almost obsolete. The ball rolls up the clubface and is just too inconsistent to rely on. If that is the case, just take it out of the bag. Hit a 60 degree. You'll look better at the end of the day.

Maybe it isn't cheating, but it sure isn't very noble. Phil might be changing his body and conforming his golf game, but he needs to remember that his perception around the golf world is what got him where he is. No reason to toss all that out the window for some wedge you used back in college.

Alright, Enough Already

These are John Daly's pants. These are John Daly's pants on drugs.

Thursday in San Diego, Daly woke up early, snuck into the San Diego Zoo, killed two zebras, skinned the carcasses and then wore his morning's work proudly on his legs, as he fired a 402-over 474.

Honestly, the Golf Channel showed probably 40 shots by Daly on Thursday, and the guy was playing like a dog. Someone in the production tent over there needs to Google "conflict of interest" tonight before this "showing Daly and trying to plug the show at the same time" gets completely out of hand.

Trust me, people watching golf on a Thursday know the show is coming. We don't need to see a guy fire 80 to understand that.

Pilot Pulls His Best Tim Clark, Lays Up on Golf Course

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is worse than when you're playing a few holes with some buddies, having some laughs, and some idiot lands his plane on the fairway next to you. CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE, AIRPLANE?!?!

An area near the 11th hole at a Houston golf course provided a smooth landing spot after a small plane ran out of fuel and glided on to the grass. The Cessna 170 was expected to be moved from Hermann Park on Tuesday. The unplanned landing of the single-engine plane happened Monday night on a flight from Lafayette, La.

Veteran pilot Brendon Ford says an apparent gauge problem led him to believe he had more fuel than he actually did.

All joke aside, it is nice that Brendon, and all the golfers, were safe after this happened, but I promise you this -- if I'm in a fairway and a goddamn plane is coming at me, I'm leaving the course and going straight to the bar. There are bad omens in golf, and then there is when you might get hit by a plane.

Like rainy days, that day just wasn't your day.

h/t Buzz

Hunter Mahan Laughs at Tiger Woods' Intimidation Factor

Here is a stat for ya ...

Tiger Woods, 33, has won 71 PGA Tour events including 14 majors.
Hunter Mahan, 27, has won one PGA Tour event and zero majors.

That didn't stop the stylish Mahan from saying that Tiger doesn't intimidate anymore, mainly because he lost a major he was leading after 54 holes and people saw a chink in his armor.

"We stopped being intimidated by him," Mahan said. "No one is scared of him. We saw Y.E. Yang play with him and flat-out beat him at the PGA last year. I think people have figured out he's just a human being."

You can't help but read that last line as a little nudge at the whole cheating fiasco. Yes, he's a human being, but you knew that before he lost to Yang at the PGA. Now, with all the infidelity stuff coming out, it makes it a lot easier to see Tiger as vulnerable, with the voicemail and the sex rehab and the "oh my life is perfect" veil being removed.

Mahan continued ...

"It's an opportunity to step up and show this is not a one-man tour," Mahan said. "Hopefully, Tiger will come back and be part of it, not the centerpiece."

I'll be honest, it hasn't been a one-man tour for about four years, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that golf needs TIger way more than they need EVERYONE else. Tiger could play 18 holes by himself in a made for TV spot and it would get more ratings than the Sony Open did.

Guaranteed.

Tim Clark Defends The Wimpiest Move of All Time

You play to win or you play not to lose. Those are the two options you've got as an athlete. (As an Arizona Wildcat fan during the Lute Olson era, trust me, I know what it's like rooting for a team that is playing not to lose.)

On Monday at the Bob Hope Classic, Tim Clark, who has painted himself with the choker brush a few too many times, was sitting in the fairway of a par-5 that, and trust me on this, is a green light special. I've played the Nicklaus course at PGA West. I've played it from the backs. You hit a driver on that hole (the 18th this week for the Hope) and you go for it in two. It isn't that tough of a golf hole if you find the fairway.

Clark, who doesn't exactly fire the golf ball off his driver head (269.2 average this week), found the fairway like he normally does, but decided to lay up. Here is his explanation.

There’s a chance I could have gotten there, but great shot still would have left me probably over the ridge with a tough 30-footer down the slope.

My wedge game is my strength, so I knew laying it up, I hopefully wouldn’t have more than 10 feet. And I left myself a perfect 7 to 8-footer, not much to it.

So at the end of the day, I think I did what I needed to, to give myself a best look an at birdie there. I certainly didn’t want to throw away the tournament. If I hit my 3-wood there, it’s probably going to come up short in the water. A great shot is probably going to either leave me a long 2-putt or a chip from the back of the green, which I didn’t want either.

So I tried to play it the way I played the whole round and the whole week. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and try and do anything silly.

Now fellow golf fan, riddle me this ... the best wedge player in the world hits 20 shots from 90 yards and 20 putts from 30-feet ... which ones end up closer? The putts, of course. He's a professional golfer and 30-feet isn't even that much land to cover.

And, on top of all this, he wasn't even leading the tournament! He was tied for the lead, with a guy in the fairway behind him with plenty of stick to get home in two, and another guy behind him that was leading the field in driving distance, and needed an eagle to join the group at 29-under, where Clark sat.

The Bob Hope isn't some grind-it-out type event. It is birdies, birdies and more birdies. No matter the situation, you need to be thinking green light, pedal down hard, and go. Clark forgot this, and after wedging it up to eight feet, he missed a putt eerily similar to one he had to win the Colonial in '09.

Clark's decision was one that, at some events might have been sound. At the Hope, it was the wrong call, and it cost him, yet again, a chance at a trophy. Tim is three tournaments away from his 200th PGA Tour event without a win, and unless he figures out a way to close, I don't see him coming down the stretch and pulling one out anytime soon.

Stephen Dunn, Getty