"Since last summer Phil has been feuding with the blue coats over a groove developed by Callaway that was called the multiangle wall (MAW) design."

Alan Shipnuck offers this background on Phil's decision to play the PING wedges and what motivated the stunt:

Since last summer Phil has been feuding with the blue coats over a groove developed by Callaway that was called the multiangle wall (MAW) design. The MAW adhered to all of the USGA specs governing the new grooves but still imparted spin comparable to the old square grooves. In profile the MAW looks a bit like a martini glass, with sharp edges where the groove wall meets the plane of the clubface. "The language in the USGA rule allowed edges to become sharper as the groove sidewall becomes less steep," Roger Cleveland, Callaway's design guru, told SI in an e-mail. "Despite the fact our MAW groove design fit within the USGA's original specifications, we clearly invented something that they didn't anticipate. It performed so well that they decided to reject it, claiming the MAW groove violated the spirit of the rule."

Contrary to reports, the face of the MAW wedge did not look like this.

Meanwhile Lawrence Donegan agreed with me that this little PR firestorm is a good thing for the game, taking issue with Tim Rosaforte's assertion that this was the last thing Tim Finchem needed to be dealing with.

Excuse me but how can 464,000 Google hits on a golf-related story be a bad thing? And what is so awful about a golf story being featured on Sportscenter (which is the nightly sports news show broadcast on ESPN)?

As for PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem having to deal with a great, big, fat controversy not long after his most famous PGA Tour member was revealed to have been leading a double life - isn't that why he gets paid the ridiculous sum of $5 million (or so)? To handle, or rather capitalise on, these things?

And because golf is a gentlemen's game where the players police themselves and therefore don't need drug testing, E. Michael Johnson reports that players are bugging their tour reps for a dealer who can supply them with some old PING wedges. They can also just go on ebay, as Ryan Ballengee explains.

But Padraig Harrington reportedly has some in his bag though he hasn't decided whether to engage in cheating (which is different than being a cheater!).

"It's a rather convoluted rule and fairly contentious right now about exactly whether or not it should or shouldn't have been promulgated."

Callaway CEO George Fellows talks about the groove rule to Bloomberg TV and is now suggesting there is some question as to whether the groove rule change should have happened. Why didn't he speak up sooner? And why is everyone so in love with the word promulgated all of a sudden?



"God forbid the PGA Tour to step on the USGA's shoes"

There was also this from Tour policy board member Joe Ogilvie. Start with the bottom Tweet:

I think it's safe to say a Commissioner Ogilvie would have invoked a local rule.

The question is, why didn't Commissioner Finchem do the same?

"I think 'cheating' is not the right word to use, but it's definitely an advantage."

Robert Lusetich on Robert Allenby's view of players using PING Eye 2 wedges to skirt the groove rule change.

"I just believe that even if they are legal, you still shouldn't be using them," said Allenby. "Just because someone has a couple sitting in their garage somewhere or they've got them off eBay or whatever, I just don't think that's the integrity of the game."

"I think 'cheating' is not the right word to use, but it's definitely an advantage."

When told that Mickelson was one of the handful of players -- including Hunter Mahan, John Daly and Dean Wilson -- who have put the 20-year-old wedge in their bags, Allenby appeared stunned.

"Oh, he's using one this week? Well, I have no comment there. I'll be a good boy," said the Australian.

Phil's Split Decision

He's turned one of his old PING Eye 2 wedges into a 64 degree, and sticking with his Callaway 60 degree. So he's only partially stampeding over the spirit of the new rule. From Wednesday's Torrey Pines press conference:

Q. What wedges are you going to use? If you wanted to address it right away, what are you using and why?

PHIL MICKELSON: I feel like my Callaway wedges have been the best wedges that I've ever used, so I'm only switching the one. What we found in our testing is that the top edge of the groove is what's been changed, and so it's not as sharp. As we add loft and create a shallower angle, if you will, into the ball, the top edge isn't catching the ball once we get past 60, 61 degrees of loft.

So what I did was a took a 60-degree i2 wedge and turned it into a 64, and those grooves seem to be catching the ball similar to what my wedge did last year. My 60 I still felt like my Callaway wedge was much better performance and got every bit of the amount of spin that I needed.

I actually net gained spin this year. I know that sounds crazy. My grooves last year were conforming to this year. They weren't very aggressive. I've always put a lot of spin on the ball for that reason, angle of attack and hand action and whatnot.

This year's groove that Callaway has is fractionally move aggressive than the groove I used last year, and so I'll end up picking up it shows about 200 to 400 rpms of spin on the launch monitor, plus with the addition of the golf ball I'm getting a little bit more spin than I did last year.

Q. How much time did you spend analyzing it?

PHIL MICKELSON: Quite a bit. Yeah, quite a bit. You know, this affects my career. This is a big change.

I think it's a ridiculous change. I think that it costs each manufacturer millions of dollars. I think it's confusing, and I don't agree with it one bit.

We could do the ball instead? Yeah, that's what I thought.

But it's a big change for the game of golf, and we've got to adapt. Like I say, I don't make the rules, but I do abide by them, and I spent a couple months working on this -- well, actually it's been a couple years, but the last couple months full bore.

Update on 2010-01-27 22:00 by Geoff

**Ron Sirak on the atmosphere at Torrey when Phil talked to the media.