The Week That Was, june 15, 2014

     The world of golf is showing big love for Phil Mickelson, as new evidence indicates that the popular PGA Tour star didn’t purchase any options in Clorox stock in the days leading up to Carl Ichan’s corporate raid on the company in 2011. A commentator for Golf Digest gleefully called a New York Times update on the government’s investigation “a virtual apology,” and reporters from ESPN and NBC allowed Mickelson to comment on the matter without asking any challenging follow-up questions.
     But Mickelson isn’t out of the woods yet, and he knows it. The FBI and the SEC continue to investigate investments that he and Billy Walters made in Dean Foods in 2012, the timing of which provided Walters with a $15 million gain and Mickelson with nearly $1 million. And although charges are unlikely, neither Mickelson nor the sport of golf -- the most “honest” sport, it’s often said -- needs this kind of publicity.
     Mickelson continues to profess his innocence, but to cover his bases he’s hired one of the nation’s most prominent high-stakes litigators, Gregory Craig of Skadden Arps, as one of his legal representatives. Craig has previously defended John Hinckley, Jr., Victor Posner, Richard Helms, and Goldman Sachs, among others, and he has close relationships with cabinet-level officials throughout the Obama administration, including the president himself.
     Insider-trading cases being what they are, dark clouds could hover of Mickelson for months. By putting Craig on his payroll, Lefty is offering proof of how desperately he wants the government’s investigation to go away.

     Footgolf, a sport that hardly anyone had heard of just a year ago, is taking off like wildfire. Last fall, according to the Washington Post, the American Footgolf League had just 35 courses. Today it has 144 courses in 31 states, and more are being added every week. Billy Casper Golf has begun to offer the game at some of the golf facilities it manages, and Ted Bishop, the president of the PGA of America, told the Post that the golf complex he owns in Indiana now attracts more footgolfers than traditional golfers. The bandwagon is about to pull out of the station. Are you aboard yet?

     One of the two Jack Nicklaus “signature” courses in Ireland has new owners. Mount Juliet Resort, in County Kilkenny, has been sold to a group led by Emmet O’Neill and Brehon Capital Partners. Killeen Group Holdings reportedly accepted €15 million ($20.3 million) for Mount Juliet, a 1,500-acre property that includes an 86-room hotel, other overnight accommodations, and an equestrian center. The resort’s golf course, ranked #13 in the nation by Golf Digest, hosted the Irish Open three times in the mid 1990s. The Irish Times reports that “there was strong interest in the property” from both domestic and international investors. One of the final bidders was John Malone, a U.S. billionaire who owns a pair of hotels in Dublin and Humewood Castle in County Wicklow. Golf Digest ranks Nicklaus’ only other course in Ireland, Killeen Castle Golf Club in County Meath, at #16 nationally.

     Before he agreed to operate New York City’s Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course, Donald Trump swung a hard-to-beat deal for himself. According to the New York Daily News, the forthcoming premium-priced layout in Ferry Point Park will pay a smaller cut of its greens fees than the city’s other courses, not to mention a smaller cut of the revenues it collects from its food and beverage operations, catering, merchandise sales, and the like. What’s more, Trump persuaded the city to pay for the course’s irrigation, an expense that will surely be considerable. The Daily News could barely contain its outrage, but why would anyone begrudge Trump for driving a hard bargain? The city really isn’t going to suffer from the concessions it made to Trump. It’s going to suffer when it comes time to negotiate with its other operators.

     What They’re Saying About the PGA Tour: “The Tour is politically spineless,” Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated recently wrote. “It is without a soul. It bows to money above all and takes a stand on nothing. How about the gutless way for years the Tour allowed the Masters to be considered, in essence, a Tour event when in fact Augusta National did not meet the Tour’s own requirements regarding membership policies for clubs that host events? The Tour’s drug policy is rooted in cynicism, in perception, not a real desire to see the sport be clean. The Tour addresses race issues, to use an old phrase, with benign neglect. What has that ever accomplished?”

     From the Department of Easy Money: Colin Montgomerie, the Scottish golf star, has agreed to become a “touring ambassador” for a pair of old-line golf clubs in New Jersey. For his fee, Monty will say nice things about the Forsgate and Shackamaxon country clubs and mingle with their members every now and then. Both properties are owned by affiliates of RDC Golf Group.

     Despite countless hours of near wall-to-wall coverage by ESPN, NBC, the Golf Channel, and all manner of digital media, did even once anyone mention that not a single African-American golfer participated in this year’s U.S. Open? Not to my knowledge. Instead, it took a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch to point out that every one of the players who challenged for this year’s national golf championship was white. “It seems strange that there are no black players in the U.S. Open,” wrote Rob Oller. “We’re talking about 156 golfers, including dozens from foreign countries. Simple odds would suggest a black golfer would make the trip.” Golf’s leadership always insists that the sport is color-blind, a claim that’s easier to believe when Tiger Woods is in the field.