19th Hole
‘Eager to cash his conscience for a check’ – Leading analyst savages Mickelson’s LIV statement
After a wild day which saw Phil Mickelson finally commit to join LIV Golf, Golfweek columnist and Golf Channel leading analyst Eamon Lynch has slammed Lefty in an explosive putdown.
Never afraid of making his views known on social media, most recently his cynicism surrounding the LIV golf series and its associates, Lynch while speaking on Golf Channel claims that the 51-year-old’s “competitive career on the PGA Tour is essentially over.”
- Related: Phil Mickelson says he’s received ‘hundreds of hours of therapy’ for ‘reckless’ gambling addiction
Following the report on Mickelson’s gambling issues, Lynch puts the boot in:
“This is his new reality, that he has a gambling issue, that his competitive career on the PGA Tour is essentially over. That he’s beholden to the Saudis and that he’s not only willing but eager to cash his conscience for a check.”
Referring to comments made in Alan Shipnuck’s now-famed unauthorized biography, Lynch says,
“And let’s not forget here, Phil Mickelson was explicit on the record talking about how the Saudis were murderers and human rights abusers.
And he’s put out a statement saying how he’s worked on becoming a better person and a better man. And if his idea of becoming a better man is to become a willing stooge for Saudi sportswashing for murderers and human rights abusers, then it doesn’t say much about the man he was beforehand.”
Lynch has been openly critical of Dustin Johnson’s move to the rebel league, tweeting a report headlined, “Dustin Johnson was presented a test of character by the Saudis. Unsurprisingly, he failed it.”
Speaking of yet another headline act in the Saudi/PGA/USGA battle of morals and money, Lynch says,
“This relationship with the USGA has always been combative, it’s a hostile relationship, and I probably think that he knows that the USGA would not necessarily be that keen on seeing Phil here. They don’t want the circus of what’s going to go on around it, and I think Phil would probably enjoy bringing that circus, and he’s also putting himself out there as the potential plaintiff in chief for the Saudis here. As to settle the question of what the status of LIV players will be in the majors.”
Hinting that Mickelson is the key to the future of golf as we know it, Lynch suggests, “Phil has status to play all four major championships right now, and if he’s the guy to be kicked out, then he becomes their plaintiff.”
“The bodies that run the majors are very much in lockstep with what they believe to be the best for the future of the game, and there is no daylight between them and the PGA Tour on that. But how quickly they can align behind the PGA Tour is really the unknown question here. I don’t think they’re in a hurry to do that until they see how the legal aspects of this are going to play out because whatever action the PGA Tour takes, you’re almost certain that’s going to trigger litigation by players, by LIV and we’ll see where the chips fall then.”
After months of Mickelson insisting the players are making a choice, that he was using the Saudi league as leverage against the PGA Tour, it appears that, according to the much-respected reporter, he may in fact be the stooge for his paymasters.
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19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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