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MI Golf Holidays

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03

Feb
Sun

Phil wrests golf news from deer antler spray

By John Strege The week in golf began with deer antler spray in the news and Vijay Singh invoking the George Costanza defense ("Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing"). A more credible explanation might have been a twist on an old cliche, that it takes a five-point buck to make a buck. Singh subsequently withdrew from the Waste Management Phoenix Open, depriving the large and raucous crowds there the opportunity to render their vocal judgment on one of the game's oddest controversies. However the PGA Tour views his transgression, Singh playing the 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale might have been punishment enough. Into this void stepped Phil the Thrill, Mickelson his own three-ring circus, wresting the news from deer antler spray (and beam-ray lights and hologram chips, the other accoutrements of Singh's training regimen). Mickelson was dazzling all week, opening with an 11-under par 60 that came within an 18th-hole lipout of 59 and leading wire-to-wire in winning for the 41st time in his PGA Tour career. Nick Faldo once won the British Open by making 18 straight pars in the final round. The odds of Mickelson ever playing with similar efficient monotony are roughly the same as deer antler spray curing your slice. Or your rheumatism. It is what makes him the greatest show on turf. You never know what to expect, other than to expect something special when you least expect it. For instance, a week after struggling to make the cut in his hometown, he exhibited his Hall of Fame bona fides at the Phoenix Open. The desert hare that he pulled from his hat was a first-round 60 that he followed with a 65, a round that included a double-bogey on the 18th hole, for those who might have been given reason to expect sustained brilliance. His third-round 64 included birdies on the last four holes and he hit it stiff at 16, thrilling the stadium crowd there that never requires a reason to raise a ruckus. The big tease carried over into the final round, too, where he allowed his six-stroke lead to be halved by Brandt Snedeker, before closing out his third career victory in this event, this one by a margin of four. Mickelson and the Phoenix Open were made for one another. An Arizona State graduate and former resident of Scottsdale, Mickelson is akin to a favorite son here, and the manner in which he connects to crowds has further endeared him. "Phil has picked up where Arnold [Palmer] left off," NBC's Peter Jacobsen said, alluding to the man who set the standard in developing a rapport with crowds. "He really embraces the whole atmosphere, not just this hole, but he does it every week. He's consistent." The Phoenix crowds, meanwhile, provide an annual and necessary reminder that golf needn't be a funereal experience, that fun has its place. And they never have more fun than they do when Mickelson is in the middle of it, though they might have proved otherwise had Singh elected to play. One can only speculate what the volatile mix of sun, beer and deer antler spray might have produced, but suffice it to say that it would have been memorable. Follow @JohnStrege!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

03

Feb
Sun

Video: Inside the 2013 Hot List

An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the 2013 Hot List: your guide to the latest and best clubs, as reviewed by scientists, retailers, teachers and Golf Digest's team of equipment editors.

02

Feb
Sat

USGA president stands ground on bifurcation

U.S. Golf Association President Glen D. Nager offered more than 4,000 words of far-ranging  comment about the state of the game as he began his second term during the organization's annual meeting in California, but...

01

Feb
Fri

PGA Tour wives publish golf book for charity

By John Strege Twenty-five years ago, wives of PGA Tour players elected to form an association "to render support and provide assistance to needy children and their families through the means of charitable events," their...

01

Feb
Fri

Deer antler spray? That's sooo last century

By Sam WeinmanSure, we can chuckle at the idea of Vijay Singh seeking healing powers in a deer antler. But let's not mistake the 49-year-old Singh as the only graying golfer to think outside the proverbial medicine chest when it comes to battling the effects of aging. Mark Calcavecchia endorsed the same deer antler spray that Singh admitted to using before being told the substance was banned. And this week as well, the former British Open champ Bob Charles acknowledged he had been using a deer antler product for more than 20 years.Charles, in fact, was a subject of a 1999 Golf Digest feature by Guy Yocom that described the extremes senior golfers were going to to keep their competitive windows ajar. Charles was 63 at the time of the story but still in remarkable shape -- "as toned and fit as most PGA Tour rookies," Yocom wrote. And one of his secrets, he said then, was deer velvet.Photo: Charles was a proud proponent of deer velvet until he learned this week that it contained a banned substance. Photo by Jim Moriarty"Deer velvet consists of the blood and tissue from a fresh deer antler," Charles said. "It's filled with nutrients, vitamins, minerals and natural anti-inflammatory agents.""Traditional medicines may provide you with relief but alternative medicines are curative," said Charles, who also described taking ginger, garlic, gingko, biloba, and bee pollen. "They strengthen your immune system."Charles had company among his peers in seeking unorthodox cures for the aches and pains of middle age. Rocky Thompson was a believer in the curative powers of oxygen -- he used it to explain even the active libidos of Adam and Eve -- so he drank an oxygen-rich substance called hydroxygen twice a day. That's tame when considering he also took a vitamin that included the processed tail of a horse. Chi Chi Rodriguez, meanwhile, admitted to traveling to Germany to receive injections of lamb cells. And this is to say nothing of the numbers of seniors at the time who wore magnets all over their body for pain relief.Related: The five best lefties in golf historyNone of those golfers had to worry about running afoul of tour regulations since the PGA Tour didn't even have an Anti-Doping Policy until 2008. But it's the Singh incident, however, that will open many golfers' eyes to the notion that "natural" substances doesn't necessarily mean legal.Follow @SamWeinman

01

Feb
Fri

The Syllabus: Spring has sprung

By Ryan HerringtonThe house lights blinked this past weekend, signaling the end of intermission for the 2012-13 season. Yet it was anything but quiet from the end of November to the end of January as...

01

Feb
Fri

Inside Golf World Podcast: "The 18 Most Important Moments in Golf"

By Ryan Herrington With this year marking the centennial of Francis Ouimet's monumental victory at the 1913 U.S. Open, it was natural for us to want to remember the tournament and its lasting impact. Easily it's one of golf's most historic events, with many believing it's the seminal moment in golf given the interest it engendered for what was then still a nascent sport in the United States. That got us talking about what the other standout events in the last 100 years are among the most important in golf? In Golf World's Feb. 4 magazine, we offer our thoughts with a cover story package titled "The 18 Most Important Moments in Golf." Senior editor Bill Fields spearheaded the project, authoring the lead piece on Ouimet's brilliance at Brookline as well as overseeing the entire package. In our Inside Golf World Podcast, Fields shares some of the research that went into his story, how the other moments were chosen, and what other moments in history just missed being included (hint: April 1986). Listen to the podcast Follow @GWCampusInsider !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

01

Feb
Fri

Fitness Friday: Six Exercises To Raise Your Game

By Ron KaspriskeAs one of professional golf's top fitness consultants, Ben Shear (@Ben_shear) works often with elite-level athletes. In fact, Jason Day, Luke Donald, Bo Van Pelt and Webb Simpson are among his current clients....

31

Jan
Thu

The most frustrating lipouts in golf history

By Sam WeinmanGiven the stage, the number at stake, and the player, Phil Mickelson's how-did-that-not-go-in missed birdie putt for 59 at the Waste Management Open was the most recent example of a player missing a big putt by the cruelest of margins. But does it rank as one of golf's most memorable lipouts? We can think of some bigger ones.Phil's miss for 59 was tough. But it doesn't compare to this one. Photo by Darren CarrollNick Price, 1986 Masters: Price had a birdie putt for a Masters- and major-championship record 62 on Saturday at Augusta National, but the ball rimmed out at the last moment. After settling for 63 (and a fifth-place finish behind winner Jack Nicklaus), Price said fate played a part. "I think Bobby Jones' hand came up and popped it out the hole and said, 'That's enough,'" he said.Related: The worst missed short putts in historyScott Hoch, 1989 Masters: Was it indeed a lipout that prevented Hoch from winning the green jacket? Careful investigation of the video reveals that it was. Needing only to sink a 2-footer to win his first major, Hoch's putt on the first hole of a playoff with Nick Faldo caught the edge of the cup and skirted right. Faldo went on to win the playoff while Hoch inherited a most unfortunate nickname.Joe Daley, 2000 Q School: Never mind missing a putt for a major. How about lipping out for your livelihood? That was the case when Daley at the 2000 Q School finals missed a double bogey putt in the most bizarre fashion, with his putt from five feet hitting the back of the cup, seeming to drop in, only to pop back out. "It was the damnedest thing I've ever seen," Daley said that day. High on the leader board for most of the week, Daley finished T-37 and never regained his PGA Tour card. He did, however, earn status on the Champions Tour and won the 2012 Senior Players Championship.Sergio Garcia, 2007 British Open: A fraction of the inch to the right and Garcia's is no longer a tale of unfulfilled promise. But given a chance to win his first major at the Open at Carnoustie, his clinching 8-foot par putt on the 72nd hole caught the left edge, and he ended up losing in a playoff to Padraig Harrington. This led to Garcia's infamous claim that the golf gods were conspiring against him. (Missed putt at 6:30 mark) Tiger Woods, 2007 PGA Championship: Like Price more than 20 years earlier, Woods had a chance to post the first 62 in major championship history with a 15-foot birdie putt on 18. As the ball tracked toward the hole, Woods raised his putter, but then watched it catch the left edge of the hole and spin away. Don't feel too bad for him: His 63 (or "62 1/2," as Woods called it) was still good enough to propel Woods to his fourth PGA title.I.K. Kim, 2012 Nabisco Championship: Kim's putt from a little more than a foot on the 72nd hole to win last spring's Nabisco was so simple you'd be excused for already turning off the TV. But the South Korean's putt rimmed out and that led to a playoff she'd end up losing, a horror story for any player thinking they merely "need to tap in." Follow @SamWeinman

31

Jan
Thu

What's right about Hossler's decision to skip spring

By Ryan HerringtonThe subject of Beau Hossler and when his playing career would begin at Texas seems to have come to a resolution as Longhorn coach John Fields confirmed two days ago that the 17-year-old...