Phil Thought East Lake Should Have Been Set Up Like Hazeltine

Can't say I liked the lost ball style rough at East Lake, but I can't see the logic in Phil Mickelson's post-Tour Championship thinking.

Bob Harig reports that Mickelson wanted the rough to be cut low to help the Ryder Cuppers prepare for Hazeltine National where, presumably Davis Love will go with the same low-cut-rough philosophy he advocated in 2012 when he captained.

"I'm going to point something out,'' Mickelson said, unprompted. "This is a great example of the disconnect that we have on the U.S. side because the [PGA] Tour doesn't own the Ryder Cup, or doesn't work in conjunction with the PGA of America.''

And he threw in this, which, while possibly true, also is a different situation given that the European Tour runs both its Ryder Cups in Europe and its own tournaments,

"The European Tour would never have the setup be so different the week before the Ryder Cup,'' Mickelson said. "If we were in Europe and they were going to set up the course a certain way, the week before they would set it up a certain way. We're not going to have rough like that."

And that's why the players have three practice rounds (at least) to adjust. Though I certainly understand Phil's view that the hack-out rough can be deflating and maybe even send a player away with less confidence. But the PGA Tour has to conduct its finale as it sees fit regardless of the Ryder Cup.

We don't know the rough height cut at Hazeltine, but super Chris Tritabaugh surely just left that out by accident!