2017 US Open Running Thread

[Chef2]

2 weeks away.

Report: Mickelson skipping U.S. Open for graduation | Golf Channel

 

[service_gamer]

My wife tells me I'm a heartless ass who'll change once we have kids, but...

I can't fathom the decision. Whenever a situation presents itself for a player to miss their game's highest profile event to attend a birth/graduation/whatever I'm astounded that anyone would pay lip service to missing the big game/tourney, much less actually follow through and skip it. It seems more egregious in a team sport, where your paid to show up and have teammates counting on you, but I'm sure Phil's sponsors can't be thrilled with his decision. I'm of the mind that the silly game that is so much less important than family milestone du jour provides a pretty sweet lifestyle for said family, so they should just live with Daddy catching the highlights on an iPhone video.

I would exempt death-bed scenarios, so I'm not a total monster.

 

[Webster]

I really don't think that graduating high school is some big milestone that is difficult to achieve. Others may feel differently but it wasn't treated as any big event for me and I don't expect to treat it as such for my kids.

 

[Spartan Squad]

I really don't think that graduating high school is some big milestone that is difficult to achieve. Others may feel differently but it wasn't treated as any big event for me and I don't expect to treat it as such for my kids.

Your mileage will vary for high school graduation but it's still a big deal in my book. It's a milestone of life where the graduate is officially entering the world out of the shadow of parents and mandatory school. Graduating high school is not hard under normal circumstances, but it is still the culmination of 13 years of work starting at the age of 5. And this is the only time you will ever graduate from high school. You can graduate from college a few times if you go for multiple degrees, but you will never get a second high school diploma.

Again, I can't tell you how to treat a graduation or what to give up for one.

 

[I Should Coco]

Since my son is graduating from high school next weekend, I tend to agree with Spartan Squad. Plus, both sets of grandparents are coming into town, along with my sister and nephew, and there's only so many of those occasions where you're all together celebrating something (as opposed to mourning someone).

All that said, it does seem a bit strange for Phil to skip the one major that — in other years — he's seemed so desperate to win. Maybe completing that career "slam" isn't as important to him as he gets older and the PGA Senior Tour nears (if he even plays many of those events). But if he's truly doing this because family is important to him, props.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Phil can't win. If he does this,he criticized. If he shos up and plays, he's a hypocrite. If fate had made me a world class athlete, I'd have told the world o go **** itself. Every day as often as I could.

 

[LongTimeListener]

High school graduation is a huge huge event. Probably moreso for the parents than the kids. It marks the end of childhood and the start of independence.

I'm with Gee. I wouldn't spend five seconds listening to anyone tell me what's good for my family.

 

[cisforkoke]

Golf and SJParenting -- a winning combo.

 

[Webster]

I agree that everyone needs to choose the parameters of what they think is important for their family.

With full disclosure that I've never liked him, I've always had this feeling, and I could be completely wrong, that Phil acts like he's better than the rest of the other players when it comes to his family.

 

[MileHigh]

He did this when the kid was about to be born at Pinehurst in 1999. He lost to Payne Stewart with the pager (those were the days) in the bag and certainly thought he'd have an Open by now -- and should have, notably in the abortion/Chernobyl/Three Mile Island at Winged Foot, prompting Johnny Miller to say:

"This is a nightmare, right here, absolutely. He could not have made worse decisions than he has had on this hole. I know you love Phil, but come on, you just have to make par on this hole. You don't have to run down the last stretch on a white stallion, you know, you could limp in there and say, 'Thanks for the trophy.' "

Ask for a favorable tee time so you can fly to and from California or Arizona to attend the ceremony. Hell, tee off first on the day of the ceremony. He's not exactly in the C position on Southwest here.

 

[ChrisLong]

There's another U.S, Open next year ... and the year after that ... and ...........

 

[da man]

You know, it's just possible that his kids really are more important to him than golf. Just sayin'.

Plus, they won't starve if he doesn't get a check from this year's Open.

 

[trifectarich]

Ask for a favorable tee time so you can fly to and from California or Arizona to attend the ceremony. Hell, tee off first on the day of the ceremony. He's not exactly in the C position on Southwest here.

The graduation is set for 10 a.m. (PDT) on Thursday. [Who in the hell schedules graduation exercises at 10 in the morning?] If this were taking place at 7 p.m., the USGA would gladly put Phil off at 7 a.m. so he could be in a plane at 1 or 2 p.m. and be home in time to see her graduate.

 

[Moderator1]

Lots of places do that, particularly if the ceremonies are held in a shared venue. After VCU built the Siegel Center, pretty much every high school in the Richmond area started doing its graduations there. They'd start at 10 in the morning and go all day, as many as 5 a day for a week.

 

[User 11148]

Nobody cares whether you go to your kid's graduation ... except your kid.

 

[User 149557]

If someone told you 10 years ago the 2017 U.S. Open would be played without Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson...

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

He wasn't contending anyways so it's moot.

 

[Chef2]

I'm betting if Phil makes a generous donation to the school, that graduation would be wednesday night.

 

[JC]

Golf and SJParenting -- a winning combo.

You have to have sex to have kids, there's no chance you're a parent. Thank god.

 

[expendable]

I'm betting if Phil makes a generous donation to the school, that graduation would be wednesday night.

And ruin plans already made by the other families?
You pinkos would have a belly putter-length hard-on if he tried to influence that.