Phil Mickelson’s ‘Tiger Slayer’ club, and why are golfers mad?

Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

I’m nice, I like to think. I’m happy when you are. I lead the field in yeses. For the most part, I’m bothered by only petty things, such as a topped shot (it really is the worst) or a beverage cart that first appears on the 18th hole (this is actually the worst).

But sometimes you hit a tee shot too close to the group in front of you.

And sometimes a player in that group walks back toward your ball. And picks it up. And heaves it into the trees to the right.

And sometimes you turn to your group and ask, “Did that player in the group in front of us just walk toward my ball, pick it up and heave it into the trees to the right?” And they tell you the player sure did. And almost all of the time, you brush it off. But a few years ago, the scene lingered with me. And I shouted at the player. And the player shouted back. Things didn’t get ugly, but they weren’t pretty, either — and all of it was stupid, I’ve regretted it and nothing will make me repeat it.

But I wasn’t alone in my experience. A few days later, in an article on this webpage where I came clean, I asked readers for similar stories — and three years later, I still get the occasional message. And that immediately came to mind this week, when the latest fight-on-a-golf-course video surfaced — this one featured a former hockey pro tossing around an angry player in the group in front of him — and an editor in our staff Slack channel wondered:

“Is there an epidemic of recreational golfer fights? Or is it just that everyone has a camera in their pockets now?

“Bc for all the business we give pro golfers about being surly, we have some work to do ourselves.”

Good points. Here are my thoughts. ClearlyI get the anger — though if tensions do happen to boil over, just make loud noises and move on. I think what’s partially going on is our eternal interest in the sensational, and the fight videos then spike, as do the club-throw and club-break videos captured from the pro ranks, making things seem worse than they actually are. But there’s also the zest to go viral, driving interest in more dust-ups. And everyone does seem somewhat angrier these days.

But I like to think similar outbursts have gone down in previous generations, and nothing is too out of the ordinary.

Then again, I’m nice. And maybe a little naive.

Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9.

One takeaway from the week — and for the weeks ahead

2. With the start of the Ryder Cup nearing single-digit weeks away (11 more weeks!), talk over the biennial event has naturally picked up, though really it’s mostly centered on one person:

The U.S. captain.

Who could be a U.S. player.

Or a U.S. playing captain.

As has been well-documented, Keegan Bradley is in an intriguing spot. Since he was named last year to lead the Americans, he’s said he would play on the team only if he were among the six automatic qualifiers — and he’s ninth right now. But isn’t that good enough? If he thinks it is, what happens to the captaincy? Does Bradley remain in the spot? Does a vice captain assume the duties? Is Tiger Woods called in? (Imagine that scene at Bethpage.)

Friday, after his second round at the Scottish Open, Rory McIlroy said he believed Bradley should play. He said he was among the 12 best Americans. He said the U.S. would be better with him.

But another thought from McIlroy on captaincy was most interesting. He’d been asked whether it is thought of differently in the U.S. than it is in Europe, which drew this response:

“Yeah, I think they give the captaincy — it’s a different perspective, absolutely. It really feels like it’s a player-led team in America, and obviously we have our input as players on the European Team, but we do have that one figurehead in Luke [Donald]. I think that’s important. I think even going back to Rome, when the Americans got off to a pretty rough start, I think because Zach [Johnson] gave the team so much ownership, they had no one to look to. They were looking at each other instead of having a focal point, tell us what to do. That is something that Europe has done very, very well. But also the players have allowed the captain to be a captain as well.”

The insight is great, as is the criticism. Is he right? Could the U.S. have used someone “to look to” two years ago? Maybe. But the player friendly approach worked well for the Americans in 2021.

I have a feeling this quote will be brought up a few more times in the next couple months.

One story for the weekend

3. A proper leaderboard has taken shape at the Evian Championshipwhere a whopping 16 players are five shots back of the lead or better.

That list includes world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul. And Minjee Leewho last month won the KPMG Women’s PGA. And Lottie Wood, still an amateur and, by all accounts, the next big thing.

And world No. 1. Nelly Korda is five back.

The leader, though, is on some kind of heater. Somi Lee won her last event, the team-event Dow Championship. In her four events before that, she posted three top 10s.

Saturday and Sunday coverage starts at 4 a.m. ET.

One story for the weeks ahead

4. According to a story written by the EIN Presswire (which you can read in full here), an Emmy-winning producer and marketing executive is trying the 10,000-hour plan in an attempt to play a pro tournament. The plan’s thought, popularized by author Malcolm Gladwellsuggests that if you dedicate 10k hours to an activity, you’ll find expertise.

At least one persona man named Dan McLaughlin, has tried it for golf, and he posted blogs about his journey under the title “The and Plan” — but has not posted since 2017. Now, another Dan, Daniel Baghdasarian, is giving it a go, and he’s posting updates @thenewdanplan on Instagram.

Said Baghdasarian in the story: “People think they’re too late, too busy or too far gone. I want to break that lie.”

An instruction tip for your weekend

5. I thought this was good from Xander Schauffelewho was asked this week what he’s learned about himself as he tries to regain form after suffering a rib injury:

“Well, I knew I was stubborn. I don’t know if I learned that bit. But I’m not sure. I think I’m — you know, there’s no — I don’t feel too stressed. I’m very upset with how I’ve been playing. I’ve just really taken on this mindset of I looked at sort of how I would behave when things are going really well.

“You know, there’s no need to be bipolar. Just make it as genuine as possible. If I’m shooting 80, I really don’t want anyone to look at me on the course and be like, that kid’s shooting 80. Doesn’t matter. I don’t care if guys get mad or sad or smash clubs or whatever. This is just a me thing. I know when I’m playing really well, I behave a certain way and my mind is in a certain place. I’m just trying to rinse and repeat and plug myself in that position.”

Another instruction tip for your weekend

6. A video that made the rounds recently showed LeBron James playing one of his first rounds of golf — and on the “Up and Adams Show” this week, Jordan Spieth offered a tip for him to gain 30 yards.

“It’s he can use his wrist more,” Spieth said. “It’s just kind of an arm swing. So, he’s just going to — he could just get a lot more power if he let that club float a little, use his wrist a little bit as he goes back. The club only gets like what looks like a half swing. So, he gets a little bit more of a turn, throws his wrist into it a little bit, he can gain 30 yards in 30 minutes, which is kind of cool, I think, for whoever’s going to — if he cares — whoever’s going to get to coach him on that, he’s going to be pretty excited about that, I think.”

You can watch the clip by clicking on the video below.

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A golf story that may interest only me

7. A video posted this week to Grant Horvat’s YouTube channel showed Horvat and Phil Mickelson playing Bryson DeChambeau and Garrett Clark — and showed Mickelson talking about his “Tiger Slayer” putter.

You can watch the clip by clicking on the video below.

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Another golf story that may interest only me

8. This week, pro Michael Kim posted the money he takes home, and you can read his post below.