672 replies to this topic

[Zomp]

Kicks off later today with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua.

Really looking forward to this season, especially with Tiger coming off of a strong year, Rory maintaining pace, and young guns coming into form.

[FL4WL3SS]

I'm not extremely thrilled with any of the Major locations this year (not including Augusta National, of course), but maybe I'll get more in tune with them as they get closer.

I am pretty excited for the President's Cup this year, however, as it is about 10 mins down the road from me. Unlike Medinah, Muirfield Village is absolutely setup for tournament golf and should provide a great venue to watch the competition.

Kind of funny that there is a Muirfield on the schedule 3 times this year - The Memorial, The Open and the President's Cup.

[BigMike]

I could do fantasy golf. It would give me a reason to make sure I watch Morning Drive once a week on the golf channel so I can see the brilliant fantasy correspondent Win McMurry

By the way, quite a way to start the season on the PGA Tour.. They teed off in what was almost Tropical storm type weather in Hawaii, and played 8 holes with somehow Webb Simpson a miraculous 3 under, before they finally decided the conditions were grossly unfair and simply cancelled the round.

Win,

[BigMike]

and the start of the season cancelled again today because of the weather. now a bizarre Sunday start, and a 54 hole tournament. I am hoping this isn't a omen for the coming season

[Zomp]

I like Ian Poulter, but he is such a bitch on Twitter. He's been complaining about the weather today as well.

[Lupe Whalewatch]

They should just call this thing. Kuchar teeing off on his first hole-the tenth-and the wind blew the ball off the tee...try again next week.

[cshea]

97 yards out...8 iron!

[Lupe Whalewatch]

97 yards out...8 iron!

He could putt the next one off the green...crazy conditions.

[BigMike]

Yeah this is insane, are they going to try and play 24 or 36 holes in this nightmare today.

Honestly will be fun to watch, but on an absurd level.

There are a couple holes on this course that if the wind is blowing in the right direction, we may see some 450+ yard drives

[Zomp]

Day wiped out again.

36 on Monday, 18 on Tuesday. Fine by me. I have both days off.

Poulter called out Jonny Miller on Twitter. Nevermind, I like him.

[Lupe Whalewatch]

Day wiped out again.

36 on Monday, 18 on Tuesday. Fine by me. I have both days off.

Poulter called out Jonny Miller on Twitter. Nevermind, I like him.

What did he say?

Edited by Lupe Whalewatch, 06 January 2013 - 07:23 PM.

[BigMike]

Finally reasonably playable conditions today I guess

[Zomp]

I have a day off today so I'll be watching the final round. Hoping my boy DJ can close it out. There are reports that Stricker is hurt and is trying to toughen out the last round. Bubba Watson also tweeted he is sick.

[Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat]

I know it was downhill and downwind, but DJ just hit his 222 yard approach with a 9 iron.

[BigMike]

I have a day off today so I'll be watching the final round. Hoping my boy DJ can close it out. There are reports that Stricker is hurt and is trying to toughen out the last round. Bubba Watson also tweeted he is sick.

Yeah there is no doubt Stricker is hurt. He was hobbling around worse than RG III by the end of the round yesterday. I hope fo his sake it is just basic old age type stuff and not a ligament injury

[Zomp]

Walking 36 on Kapalua must have been brutal yesterday. Poulter was in ice baths yesterday, Stricker is feeling it today.

[Zomp]

Dustin is in trouble now.

This could get interesting quick.

[BigMike]

Dustin is in trouble now.

This could get interesting quick.

I take it this was posted after his double on 13. I guess he closed that door quickly going, Eagle (on the drivable par 4), birdie, par, par, birdie

Hopefully I'll be able to watch the finish on the golf channel tonight

[RedOctober3829]

Dustin is doing well in life these days. Guess which famous hockey player's daughter he is dating now?

[cshea]

It's only the first round of the Sony Open, but I have to say live golf in primetime is awesome.

[Zomp]

Studying!?

[cshea]

Indeed. 144 man field to scout here.

[Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat]

If you didn't see KJ Choi's shot hitting Webb Simpson's ball on the green on the par 3 17th, you will. I've never seen two balls ricochet so violently. KJ ended up in a bunker instead of pin high.

[BigMike]

John Daly had one of those rounds you only get from John Daly. In the 3rd round he shot -1 on his first 9 to get to -3 for the tourney, and then came out and went

par, double, bogey, par,par, triple, double, triple, birdie (finishes by draining a 52 foot putt)

[cshea]

Rory officially signed his 10 year, $200 mil deal with Nike today. Both Rory and Tiger make their 2013 debuts this weekend in Abu Dhabi.

[FL4WL3SS]

I read the deal was significantly less than the $200M that's been reported for months.

[BigMike]

The season gets real tomorrow. Tiger and Rory tee off at 10:40 PM Wednesday night live from Abu Dhabi, on the golf channel

[BigMike]

Ugh, Rory has looked like absolute shit through the front 9. He is only +1, but he has been all over the course, and short (well behind Tiger all day)

[cshea]

The new Nike Tiger/Rory commercial is out. Shades of the Jordan and Bird "nothing but net" ads of old.



It's weird seeing Rory in Nike gear.

[BigMike]

Well at least Tiger is putting lights out today. A 3 birdie rally late on the back 9 looks like it will sneak him inside the cut line, but it has been a battle. Had this round been played on a course with real trees it would have been ugly.

Rory, well it was just ugly. All over the place with every club. He doesn't battle as well as Tiger and will not make the cut. That is the one area in which Rory is no where close to Tiger as a player, he simply does not fight through the bad rounds like Tiger. Rory also already gave up on the Nike Putter and went back to his old one

Marty Kaymer is probably glad to get new playing partners fr the weekend, some people who may occasionally be on the fairway

EDIT>

Whoops Tiger was given a wrong ruling on the 5th hole, and took a 2 stroke penalty, so now he misses the cut as well. Apparently there was some question about an embedded ball, and Martin Kaymer agreed, but Tiger chose not to call over a rules official (Maybe he knew he was doing something wrong?), But the embedded ball was in a Sandy area, and thus you can't take a drop from a sandy area. Apparently 2 people just walking in the crowd realized right away that Tiger had violated the rules, and went to the rules official to mention it. Officials apparently did inform him on the 11h that he was under investigation

Of course he was embedded under a bush. So the free drop dd save him a stroke or two at the time
Honestly as shitty as Tiger hit the ball both days he had absolutely no business making the cut

[RedOctober3829]

Phil Mickelson said he will make "drastic changes" because of federal and California state tax increases.
"It's been an interesting offseason," Mickelson said Sunday after the final round of the Humana Challenge. "And I'm going to have to make some drastic changes. I'm not going to jump the gun and do it right away, but I will be making some drastic changes."

"I'm not sure what exactly, you know, I'm going to do yet," Mickelson said. "I'll probably talk about it more in depth next week. I'm not going to jump the gun, but there are going to be some. There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and, you know, it doesn't work for me right now. So I'm going to have to make some changes."
In November, California voters approved Proposition 30, the first statewide tax increase since 2004. It boosted the state tax rate on incomes of more than $1 million from 10.3 percent to 13.3 percent.
The federal taxes for Mickelson's tax bracket will also increase in 2013. According to the Wall Street Journal, rates on single incomes of more than $400,000 will go from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, while the Social Security tax will be raised from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent.
"If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate's 62, 63 percent," said Mickelson, who lives in Rancho Santa Fe. "So I've got to make some decisions on what I'm going to do."

http://espn.go.com/g...-course-changes

Cry me a river Phil. You've made tens of millions of dollars over your career on the course plus your endorsements.

[johnmd20]

http://espn.go.com/g...-course-changes

Cry me a river Phil. You've made tens of millions of dollars over your career on the course plus your endorsements.

I read this too and had the same reaction. If anything, Mickelson should be UNBELIEVABLY grateful taxes have been so low the last 12 years. That was huuuuuge for him. And now he's crying. What an out of touch dick.

[Monbo Jumbo]

Sounds like he's going to move to Florida and is pissed Tiger will be his next door neighbor.

[barbed wire Bob]

http://espn.go.com/g...-course-changes

Cry me a river Phil. You've made tens of millions of dollars over your career on the course plus your endorsements.

Out of curiosity, what would you do if you were Phil?

[johnmd20]

Out of curiosity, what would you do if you were Phil?

Move quietly and not whine to the press about how hard it is to be a hundred millionaire.

[Average Reds]

Out of curiosity, what would you do if you were Phil?

I sure as fuck wouldn't have made a statement that made me sound like a whiny, out-of-touch bitch.

Look, Mickelson is entitled to believe what he wants and to make whatever changes he wants to avoid taxes. But if he had any brains at all, he's realize that you simply do what you need to do and don't spout off about it or you sound like an entitled douchebag of the highest order.

[barbed wire Bob]

I sure as fuck wouldn't have made a statement that made me sound like a whiny, out-of-touch bitch.

Look, Mickelson is entitled to believe what he wants and to make whatever changes he wants to avoid taxes. But if he had any brains at all, he's realize that you simply do what you need to do and don't spout off about it or you sound like an entitled douchebag of the highest order.

I really don't like defending than man but it appears that he was responding to a question about his taxes and the responses may have been taken out of context.

Last year, Mickelson flirted with becoming a part-owner of the San Diego Padres franchise, which sold for $800 million in August. He was asked Sunday whether there was a correlation between the tax increases and what happened to the Padres' deal.

The article also says this.

The 42-year-old golfer said he would talk in more detail about his plans -- possibly moving away from California or even retiring from golf -- before his hometown Farmers Insurance Open, the San Diego-area event that starts Thursday at Torrey Pines.

The article implies that Phil is taking "drastic changes" solely due to the tax changes but there may be more to it. I would really like to see the actual transcript of the interview because I get the feeling that it was written in a way to make Phil look like a douchebag (not that it takes much because the man is a douche).

Edited by barbed wire Bob, 21 January 2013 - 01:58 PM.

[johnmd20]

He said this:

"If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate's 62, 63 percent," he said. "So I've got to make some decisions on what I'm going to do."

lol boo hoo.

Even if he gets questioned on his taxes, if he wasn't an out of touch douche, he could say something like, "You know, the laws are the law, and I'm an American and I live within the laws. I'm not sure what the future holds for me but I do know I'm unbelievably grateful to have the success I've had in my career. and there isn't anything I can do about the tax laws." Why bring up the tax rate? If he's spouting numbers, it's obvious he's not happy about it. And it doesn't look good.

He made 47 million dollars last year.

[Average Reds]

You're welcome to look it up, but rest assured that he was talking very, very specifically about taxes. He even cited his total marginal rate as being in excess of 60%. (And got it ridiculously wrong, as the only way he could conceivably get to a tax rate that high is to included both ends of his FICA exposure in his final marginal rate even though the overwhelming majority of his income is above FICA limits.)

The thing is that pro athletes make "life changes" all the time to avoid taxes. Lots of pros in Europe live in Monaco or other tax havens and in the US most golfers live in Florida and a few live offshore in the Bahamas for the exact same reason. And that's fine - no one's going to begrudge you for making that kind of decision. But unless you want to stir up a lot of resentment, you don't talk about it. You just do it.

To not only talk about it but to whine like this (and string it out over several weeks) is the height of stupidity. He's going to take a lot of crap for it and he should.

Edit: Beaten to some of the specifics by Johnmd20.

Edited by Average Reds, 21 January 2013 - 03:04 PM.

[barbed wire Bob]

He said this:



lol boo hoo.

Even if he gets questioned on his taxes, if he wasn't an out of touch douche, he could say something like, "You know, the laws are the law, and I'm an American and I live within the laws. I'm not sure what the future holds for me but I do know I'm unbelievably grateful to have the success I've had in my career. and there isn't anything I can do about the tax laws." Why bring up the tax rate? If he's spouting numbers, it's obvious he's not happy about it. And it doesn't look good.

He made 47 million dollars last year.

If I ever get wealthy and/or famous can I hire you as a speachwriter? That was beautiful. FYI, if he made 47 million and was taxed at a rate of 62.63% then his net income was 29.44 million. I could live quite comfortably on that.

[johnmd20]

If I ever get wealthy and/or famous can I hire you as a speachwriter? That was beautiful. FYI, if he made 47 million and was taxed at a rate of 62.63% then his net income was 29.44 million. I could live quite comfortably on that.

I'd rather manage your money if you got rich and famous, but I'll write your speeches, too, no problem.

[SumnerH]

FYI, if he made 47 million and was taxed at a rate of 62.63% then his net income was 29.44 million.

You're off by almost 12 million there. Not that living on $17.5 million is difficult, but I can understand being upset at paying well over half of my income in taxes.

Of course, as Average Reds points out there's no way that marginal tax rate is accurate.

[BigMike]

Poor Phil.

Does anyone think that Phil even knows that the SS tax increase will mean he pays about 2200 dollars more a year? It's not like that jump to 6.2 means an additional 2-3 million in taxes (saw someone on the golf channel suggest his income is in the 40-60 million range).

Now on the other hand I don' blame him at all for moving from California to Florida, and it wouldn't surprise me if other wealthy types do as well. I am somewhat surprised he put up with the 10+ % income tax up til now.

[barbed wire Bob]

You're off by almost 12 million there. Not that living on $17.5 million is difficult, but I can understand being upset at paying well over half of my income in taxes.

Oops, I calculated the tax amount and not the income. My bad.

Of course, as Average Reds points out there's no way that marginal tax rate is accurate.

Agreed. If he is actually paying 62% of his income to the gov't then he must have some really shitty accountants.

[Freddy Linn]

Phil has been a colossal douche for two decades.

[PaulinMyrBch]

If anyone has Dustin Johnson in a fantasy league, you've got "intangibles" to consider.

This is what you could call a distraction.

Edited by PaulinMyrBch, 22 January 2013 - 07:28 AM.

[FL4WL3SS]

She's gross.

[Zomp]

Right.

[johnmd20]

She's gross.

Did the definition of gross change in the past day?

[teddykgb]

Phil's backtrack on the taxes comment seemed appropriate. Expressed thankfulness that he gets paid outrageous amounts of money to golf, which is probably the right tone. Sure someone on his PR team got to him.