Now I Understand Why People Hate Phil

Being that I was away this weekend and not privy to much of the media conversation about much of anything (though I did hear that Arlen Specter's panties were bunched up for a couple of days), so I'm not sure if this story got much play but I thought it was pretty solid.

I'll break down my trip to Phoenix in more detail later this week but one of my stops on Saturday was at the FBR Open in Scottsdale. It was out of control. But the coolest part as a spectator was watching Phil move around the course. Unlike other events where he shares the stage with Tiger, at the FBR, he is the event. And they F'n LOVE him out there. There were 175,000 people at TPC at Scottsdale on Saturday and about 150,000 were on 16 when Phil came through and the hole is only like 160 yards. It was louder than the Super Bowl.... but I'll tell that story later.

Anyhoo, as I've mentioned before, I'm a Phil guy and love Mickelson. I've never understood why love Tiger no matter what he does but hate Phil. And unfortunately most of the press about Phil is so negative (not through his own doing) that I can't find stuff to back up my opinion. Which is why I was really pleased to read this story.

I guess prior to reaching the the 16th on Sunday, Phil ran into a kid wearing Calloway gear and the kid asked for Phil's autograph. Phil, being Phil, obliged and then went a little bit further:

It started early Sunday morning when Fockler (Drew) and his father, John, left early from Flagstaff and got to the practice green early to see if they could get Mickelson's autograph. They waited through several golfers before their favorite showed up, and they approached him near the putting green.

"He told us that he doesn't sign before his rounds and that he'd catch us afterwards," John said. "We figured we tried, and we'd watch him the rest of the way."

By the time they got to the third tee, they found a good spot up front, and Mickelson's caddie, Jim "Bones" MacKay, approached them and said he needed to talk to them after Mickelson's threesome teed off.

"I thought maybe I was going to get a signed ball or something," said Drew, who plays on the Desert Junior Golf Tour. "I couldn't believe it."

That's when MacKay asked him if he liked football as he unzipped one of the pockets on Mickelson's golf bag.

Before he knew it, Drew was handed a set of tickets in an envelope and was on his way to Glendale.

"I thought it would be fun to give it to a father-son (group)," said Mickelson, who added it didn't hurt that Drew was wearing a Callaway hat. "I cherish the time I have with each one of my kids, and I thought it would be a cool experience for them."

What a prick, eh? I'm sure there's some Phil hater out there who is convinced that Tiger would have flown the kid to the game on his private helicopter or some such shit or complain that Phil's seats were probably nosebleeds. Phil haters.... I just don't get it.