The Stack And Tilt Wars: "I'm not going to say the person's name, whoever Tiger is working with, you know, he's got Andy and Mike's DVD, his book, and he always calls them asking questions."

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Charlie Wi, following Friday's round at Cog Hill, was asked about Stack and Tilt's status on the PGA Tour.

And I know that you're probably referring to Aaron Baddeley and Mike Weir, but Aaron Baddeley was the worst ball striker on the PGA TOUR before -- well, you should laugh because it's a fact. It's a stat that we -- and Andy and Mike, to their credit, took him -- he won three times with Andy and Mike, and also took him to inside top 20 in the world. And if that's not good enough for Aaron, well, it is what it is.

And also Mike Weir, he was also one of the worst ball strikers on TOUR, and it took him to -- he won two times with Andy and Mike and make $6 million in two seasons with Andy and Mike, and he thought that wasn't good enough. If you look at -- they're not here this week, so maybe they should be working with Andy and Mike.

And they're good friends of mine, too.

Andy and Mike or Aaron and Mike? Uh, probably the first two.

Q. I might be reading too much into it, but just the way you introduced them early in the press conference, you're working with them and they're the Stack & Tilt guys, do you feel they've been under an unnecessary attack lately?

CHARLIE WI: Well, yeah. All the players know and all the caddies know who all the best teachers are out here. They're really quiet. They don't go around looking for press or anything. But I think that because it is different, other teachers have a tendency to bash them. Maybe they might be one generation ahead of them, but in the end they're not teaching something that is new. They're teaching geometry, and geometry works for everybody. If you're 200 pounds, if you're 6'3", 5'5", everybody, geometry is the same with everybody.

You know, if you guys had a chance to sit down with them and talk to them about golf, you know, you would see that they know what they're talking about, and they have a huge following. I'm not going to say the person's name, whoever Tiger is working with, you know, he's got Andy and Mike's DVD, his book, and he always calls them asking questions. They know what -- they definitely know what they're talking about.

 You just had to bring Tiger and what's his name Sean Foley into this, didn't you?

Q. I don't remember it. Do you take it personally, I guess, because you're still working with Andy and Mike, and they seem to be criticized in various publications, and the guy that Tiger is working with is getting a lot of attention?

CHARLIE WI: Yeah, and I think that there's an article coming out in Golf Digest, and there was a big problem with Andy and Mike and the person that's working with Tiger because the pictures that are in the Golf Digest is pretty much straight out of their golf book that they have released.

Andy approached him and said, hey, I don't think it's fair that you're using our material. But he goes, well, you know, they asked me a question and said who do you look up to as teachers, and he said that my first teacher is Andy and Mike, the Stack & Tilt guys, so we'll see when the publication comes out if he did say that or not.

The Battle Of The Swing Instructors. It would be so much more fun than Big Break Daufuskie Island.

"And anybody good enough to play it knows what a wreck it is."

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As a conoisseur of player complaints, I have to say that the Cog Hill bashing is some of the toughest I've read and somewhat oddly timed considering that last year was the debut of Rees Jones' reestoration. But maybe what this speaks to is just how much mediocre design work--it's not like this is their first cup of Rees--the modern player will look past if a course is in good condition. If it's not, maybe the floodgates really open?
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Phil "Opts Out" Of Pro-Am; Has To Sit Through Corporate Drone Dinner Instead

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Thanks to reader Mel for Rex Hoggard's post on Phil Mickelson's withdrawal from Thursday's Deutsche Bank Pro-Am.

Unlike Furyk, however, Mickelson’s withdrawal will not cost him a spot at the second playoff event because Lefty used a special option that allows top players to miss a pro-am. Instead the player must participate in an “alternative sponsor function.”

Translation: long dinner pretending to be interested.

Players who finished in the top 20 on the previous year’s money or FedEx Cup lists have two pro-am opt outs that are contingent on sponsor approval. Mickelson used his first opt out earlier this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and instead had dinner with a handful of corporate clients.

According to Andy Pazder, the Tour’s senior vice president of tournament administration, this is the first year of the opt out provision and only about “a half dozen” players have used it.

“In a pro-am three or four amateurs are going to get five hours with Phil on the golf course, which is great, but maybe it’s better if you have a dinner with 20 executives and clients for two or three hours,” Pazder said. “Maybe that’s a better use of a player’s time.”

Sunday Promises Plenty Of Captivating Storylines And None Involve The FedExCup!

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The NCAA Match Play U.S. Amateur wraps with a final between two of the top amateurs in the land, Stanford's David Chung (who has displayed some awesome shotmaking skills) and OSU's Peter Uihlein (whose father has rendered too many USGA committees utterly impotent).
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