Ingrate Mickelson Turns on PGA Commissioner

After beating Tiger Woods yesterday, Phil Mickelson then went after PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem in public.

Mickelson denies Tiger down stretch to win Deutsche Bank title

But after dispatching of Woods, Mickelson picked his next battle with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. He said he might not play next week outside Chicago at the BMW Championship, saying he owed it to the tour but that Finchem had not fulfilled some requests that Mickelson has made.

"My frustration from this past year came from asking for a couple of things in the FedEx Cup that weren't done, and not feeling all that bad now if I happen to miss," he said.

That, my friends, is Mickelson spitting in Tim Finchem's face.

For those not familiar with the history, it goes like this. Both Mickelson and Woods have conducted a work stoppage of sorts over the past few years on the PGA tour. For years now, Woods and Mickelson have been playing the four majors, cherry-picking a handful of other tournaments that match their games well, and then skipping the rest.

You will notice Woods and Mickelson skip regular tournaments on tight short courses that require them to hit a lot of irons, for example, and they pretty much quit playing after August of each year. Skipping these tournaments hurts those sponsors and the tour as a whole, but both Woods and Mickelson have shown over the years that they really don't care about much of anybody but themselves.

It's all about them.

After several years of this, the tournament sponsors threatened to either cut the purses or stop sponsoring events completely. So Finchem reworked the tour to cater to Woods' and Mickelson's schedules in exchange for their commitment to play in more events, especially the FedEx Cup events at the end of the year.

Some of these changes have served to hurt the chances of some of the journeymen players on the tour to keep their tour card, but again Woods and Mickelson seem oblivious to the impact on others.

So now after being catered to, Mickelson stabs Finchem in the back--in public.

Just remember this Phil, what goes around comes around.

I can't wait for the day somebody goes after you in a press conference.

Golfers on Steroids?

Are pro golfers juicing up?

Player says he knows of at least one golfer who has used 'roids

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Gary Player said Wednesday he knows of at least one golfer who has used steroids, and he urged golf organizations to move quickly toward a random drug-testing plan.

"We're dreaming if we think it's not going to come into golf," Player said.

Player estimated 10 players from tours around the world were taking some type of performance-enhancing drug. Asked how he knew golfers were taking steroids, he said a player told him in confidence.

I would fall over in a dead faint if pro golf was totally clean. And it looks like most of the tours seem to agree with me.

Last year, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and the USGA used random testing for the first time at the World Amateur Team Championship in South Africa. All 12 tests came back negative.

The LPGA Tour said it would start drug testing next year, while the European and PGA tours also are moving toward drug policies. PGA Tour Tim Finchem said in June that drug testing in sports has become a reality and golf organizations around the world should make sure they're on the same page.

As far as the LPGA goes, I woud start out with certain very muscular women in their 30's who happen to have very peculiar cases of acne and tendancy in recent years to be hurt a lot. Not sayn', just sayn'.

And what does Captain Shortgame (otherwise known as Phil Mickelson, last seen throwing up all over himself at the Scottish open) have to offer on the subject?

I don't think there's even a remote chance that will happen," he said of a golfer testing positive for steroids.

Right Phil, and nobody on the tour ever sets up to a shot in the rough with a wood, then switches to an iron after they got grass tapped down nicely behind the ball, either.

I wonder if Mickelson said that with a straight face.