<p>I have always admired Phil Mickelson. I was so happy to see him playing well and win the Master’s again. I was blubbering like a baby when that last put went in the hole. I don’t think there was a dry eye amongst any of the patrons at Augusta yesterday.</p>
<p>Just goes to show ya - sometimes the good guys do come out ahead…</p>
<p>^^^^I don’t know much about golf. Yesterday I googled Mickelson and and article came up saying he is a favorite with fans but immensely unpopular with his fellow golfers. Anyone know why?</p>
<p>Hey, I rooted for Phil yesterday…but I know full well that he has had some issues. It’s just that I can tolerate his issues better than Tiger’s I guess. FIGJAM or not 
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<p>An excerpt from a 2006 article, when Phil was named one of the 10 most hated athletes by his peers: </p>
<p>Here’s what the magazine’s article says about how Mickelson is viewed by his peers:</p>
<pre><code>Last August at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, in New Jersey, a reporter turned to a golfer on the tour and said of Phil Mickelson, “Man, the fans here love Phil.” The golfer replied, “They don’t know him the way we do.” It blew our minds a little when we heard this, since Mickelson ranks among the most admired golfers in America. But today the same reporter makes his case bluntly: “Phil Mickelson literally has no friends out there. He annoys everybody.”
Mickelson has earned many nicknames on the Tour, but our favorite is FIGJAM … “There are a bunch of pros who think he and his whole smiley, happy face are a fraud,” another reporter says. “They think he’s preening and insincere.”
</code></pre>
<p>Notice those ellipses after “FIGJAM”? The GQ article explained what that stands for, but it contains a word we can’t reproduce here. But the five words following that first word are “… I’m good – just ask me.” (Read the article if you want to see the dirty word in print - but I’m guessing you know what the “F” stands for.)</p>
<p>Tiger would have been all smiles yesterday if he had won. Did you really expect anything different, given that he is such a competitor? Golf is all he really has now due to his own stupidity. Tiger will go on and continue to engrave his name in the record books. It will be a long time before another golfer dominates like Tiger. As much as I have never liked Phil Mikelson (he has always appeared to be a whiner to me), it was nice to see something good happen for him and his family after all they have been through.</p>
<p>Sounds like you can’t win in golf. If you keep your distance like Tiger, the fans call you arrogant and cold. If you interact with the fans and show happy emotions you are labeled “fake” by your peers.</p>
<p>I guess I could live with that for the kinds of paychecks they get though.</p>
<p>toneranger that could all be true, but who cares? I don’t care how well they get along with each other - they are competing against one another.
For a good part of his career Phil Mickelson was in Tiger’s shadow - Phil has the record for the most second place finishes at the US Open. He was also known “as the best golfer to never win a major”
So, good for him for finishing first, again.</p>
<p>Yeah, actually, maybe it means old Phil is not your typical “guys guy”, and instead likes to hang out with his wife and kids…and maybe gets shunned as a result. He’s OK in my book…</p>
<p>I recall having a conversation with my hairdresser (whose H is,or was, a pro golfer) after seeing Phil Mickelson win a local tournament about a decade or so ago. She mentioned back then that he was kind of an arrogant jerk, not well liked by his peers (this might have been right before he turned pro-- not sure). But, people change-- some for the better, some for the worse, and usually better if managed well by their handlers, especially as they become more successful (possible exceptions that come to mind: Mike Tyson and John Rocker). Tiger seems to be trying to work on that-- he just has a long way to go. It sounds like Mickelson had had a rough time, with the CA dx and treatment of his wife and mother. That helps put priorities in the right place. If age/wisdom/experience/life lessons have made Phil less arrogant and more humble, I applaud him.</p>
<p>There have been some real jerks on the tour. I had the dubious honor of waiting on one of the more “popular” pros during the Open (which he won) when I was much younger. O. M. G. I refused to serve him because he was so sexually obnoxious to/at me (for the merriment of his friends). The manager served him for the rest of the evening.</p>
<p>Mafool - okay, now you have me guessing again! Just give me a year and an age (for the golfer, not you!)</p>
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<p>4 green jackets?</p>
<p>Anyone know about that golfer Hogan Tiger referred to when asked about his prologed layoff from golf? My father said that he was involved in a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus in which he threw himself over his wife in the passenger seat to protect her and suffered multiple critical injuries. Dad says he wasn’t expected to ever even walk again let alone play golf. Anyways 11 months after the accident he returned to the tour and won? Dad was a little foggy on the details, but still the jist of it seems to be how dare Tiger compare himself to such a person/husband when comparing training practices. Maybe this is just a folk legend. Anybody know?</p>
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<p>from wikipedia</p>
<p>Yes, Tiger has 4 Green Jackets. He may or may not break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 6 jackets. Hopefully, he will learn sooner rather than later that a closet full of green jackets won’t mean a hill of beans when he is old and lonely.</p>
<p>Ben Hogan is a legend.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Ben Hogan IS a legend and Tiger’s comparing himself to Hogan’s lay-off from golf was in poor taste (to say the least).</p>
<p>Although I’ve enjoyed watching Tiger play golf through the years, I was happy he didn’t win. As sport’s writer Rick Reilly said on Sunday’s Good Morning America, if Tiger won the Master’s it would set karma back a million years. </p>
<p>I’ve always liked Phil and was VERY happy he won.</p>
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<p>Perhaps so, but who cares about his on course demeanor? He may pout when he hits a bad shot, but it certainly hasn’t prevented him from being vastly more successful than Mickelson, or anyone else this generation. You don’t like have to like the guy, but it’s just silly to imply that he’s anything but a great golfer.</p>
<p>I never implied Tiger was not a great golfer. I think he is a fantastic golfer. He is what - 34? I would say he has 5-10 years to do it if he is gonna get 3 more green jackets. He has an uphill climb. He does have an amazing ability to compartmentalize and this will work in his favor. Considering all coming in 4th is not too shabby.</p>
<p>I didn’t say you did - that’s my original post was in response to Redondo Dave.</p>
<p>Tiger withdraws from the Players Championship. In the last round of the Players Championship, Tiger quits while playing the 7th hole due to a bulging disk in his neck. States that he has tingling down his right side. Many golfers before him have had neck and back injuries. The golf swing is not a natural thing to do. Tiger’s year goes from bad to worse as now he may need to take off more time to rehab his neck and back. Shame, divorce, and now injury has made this a nightmare for Mr. Woods.</p>
<p>Have I missed something? Is he really getting divorced?</p>