Not-so-groovy situation

The PGA Tour's divorce from square-shaped grooves has turned messy, and Ryuji Imada's two-shot lead going into today's final round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines has taken a backseat to the tabloid news appeal of a public train wreck.

There's plenty of blame to go around. Maybe the United States Golf Association and PGA Tour shouldn't have tried the divorce themselves from the square-shaped grooves in the first place. The idea to rein in the "Grip it and rip it" mentality that has surfaced in recent years and to reward shot-making makes sense to purists, but doing so without closing an obvious loophole set the stage for controversy. A lawsuit brought by golf club maker Ping was settled 20 years ago with the stipulation that pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 irons would take precedence over new regulations. Ping's lawsuit accused the USGA and the PGA Tour of being monopolies in need of anti-trust regulation.

Maybe Phil Mickelson, the world's No. 2-ranked golfer, should have realized that he didn't need the edge he thought he could get out of using pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 wedges, which others saw as a way of circumventing the new rule against square grooves. Athletes are always seeking an edge against their competition, but in Mickelson's case it wasn't unnecessary. He's already considered to be one of the game's best short game players.

Maybe Scott McCarron could have voiced his opinion in the San Francisco Chronicle that using such wedges was "cheating" in a less abrasive manner. To defend the spirit of the rules because golf is a "gentlemen's game" while at the same time calling one a cheater seems to be in bad form. So much so, that the PGA Tour issued the following statement: "Because the use of pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 irons is permitted for play, public comments or criticisms characterizing their use as a violation of the Rules of Golf at promulgated by the USGA are inappropriate at best."

Mickelson had hinted at legal action for being "publicly slandered" before the PGA Tour issued its statement.

Meanwhile, the controversy continues. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem will address the issue in greater detail on Tuesday during a regularly scheduled players meeting and with the media during the 2010 Northern Trust Open. Because professional golfers are in a sense independent contractors, it's unclear if a resolution by a players organization against the use of the wedges will eliminate the debate or create more legal issues.

Oldgolfdawg thinks it's much ado about nothing. But it certainly isn't the way the PGA Tour wants to have its image ingrained in the public's mind. Golf's many rules are ponderous at best and have the ability to numb the interest of even the most faithful follower of the little white pea.