Picture of fans taking pictures while Tiger hits a shot during second round at Memorial
Phil Mickelson sent a message to the PGA Tour last Thursday at the Memorial Tournament — we all heard his comments loud and clear when he pulled out of Jack’s event after his first-round 79, citing “mental fatiague,” but what we didn’t know was tat he actually used his cell phone to send a text message to Commissioner Tim Finchem from the 6th fairway at Muirfield Village. Yes, really.
Doug Ferguson from the AP reported:
According to four people with direct knowledge, Mickelson sent a text message to PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem from the sixth fairway at Muirfield Village suggesting that a lack of policing fans with cellphones was getting out of hand.
Mickelson withdrawing for what he called “mental fatigue” is not a tour violation. Players can withdraw for any reason after completing a round. Using a phone to send the commissioner a text is another matter, though the tour doesn’t disclose any disciplinary actions.
If nothing else, one official said it got the tour’s attention.
Isn’t it ironic?
Sorry, Phil, but cell phones are here to stay. The current rule lets people bring in their phones, but they’re only supposed to use them to talk in “designated areas,” and they’re barred from taking pictures of video with them — which as we know, is a difficult policy to enforce when you have 40,000 people on the golf course. Well, the Commish is not reversing its policy on fans and cell phones, according to Bloomberg’s Mike Buteau:
“We’re committed to making it work,” Finchem said in an interview while playing in a pro-am round at the Champions Tour’s Tradition event in Birmingham, Alabama. “If we get to a point where we don’t have an acceptable competitive environment, we’ll do whatever we need to do, but I don’t see that happening.”
The issue seems to become more apparent when a group includes several marquee players, such as Mickelson, a four-time major winner, and Fowler and Watson, who partnered with fellow PGA Tour player Ben Crane in a popular 2011 “Golf Boys” video, Finchem said.
After testing mobile-phone use by fans at five events in 2010, the PGA Tour began allowing fans to bring them to tournaments in 2011. Phones must be on vibrate or silent in designated areas.
“We know, by virtue of the fact that we don’t get many ringers, that the vast majority of fans will use good etiquette,” Finchem said. “We have to be aggressive to some extent when the policy is violated.”
With fans using their phones to access statistics and keep in touch with players through social media, Finchem, said the benefits of allowing the devices on the course are too great to ignore.
Players like Rickie Fowler say the real problem is that most fans don’t know how to put their phones on silent. With the exception of a few outdated phones, if it’s on the silent/vibrate mode, it doesn’t make a shutter sound when taking pictures. So, hey, people, it’s easy, learn how to put your phone on silent. If you have an iPhone, it’s easy, there’s a little switch on the left-side and move it over so you see the orange, which puts it on no-sound mode.
As Rickie suggested last week, perhaps the Tour needs more signage around the course to help fans out. “Need vibrate, question mark,” he quipped.
(Getty Images/Scott Halleran)
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So Mickelson lied to us? It was not mental fatigue it was his frustration at cell phones? Way to disgrace Jack at his own place and withdraw like that .
My question is: is it the noise they object to, or the picture taking ? If it is just the noise, that is an easy fix. But I can see that even the “threat” of a click (if you are swinging, you see the cams up in the air, you don’t know if they are on silent correctly or not) would be disconcerting, maybe even more so than actually hearing it – you tense up and sort of flinch. People just need to have a brain, which is asking way to much when you are speaking of the general public.
“With the exception of a few outdated phones, if it’s on the silent/vibrate mode, it doesn’t make a shutter sound when taking pictures.”
I don’t think that’s actually true. My current Galaxy SII always uses a shutter sound regardless of the silent mode setting. My understanding is that this is required by law in some countries to prevent “sneaky people” from taking pictures. It was a proposed bill in the US in 2009 but never went anywhere. Even so, my last two phones required root access to disable the shutter sound.
@Larry – I think the phone situation was a part and parcel of his mental fatigue. i think he saw himself boiling over and getting frustrated, and figured that the phone situation was a symptom, not the cause, of his fatigue.
This shouldn’t be a problem at US Open, as it’s a USGA event and it’s at the top of their banned items list in the Spectator Guide:
Please be sure to read the following list of prohibited items carefully:
No Cell Phones (including any cell phones with photographic capabilities)
Again – how hard is it to switch your phone to silent ? Vibrate makes NO sound when taking pictures/movies/texts ?
Honestly one day a player who is distracted in a swing is going to have to get a phone from his bag and say “Look people, take all the pictures you want, just do it on SILENT, here is the button, it’s right here on the side !!!!!”
If your phone rings, or beeps or clicks when pictures are being taken you’re an idiot and your phone should be thrown in the nearest hazard !!!
Don’t ban phones, BAN IDIOTS who don’t know how to use them….
“Don’t ban phones, BAN IDIOTS who don’t know how to use them….”
Did you see my post? Many current phones have NO WAY to silence the sound by design. Unless you hack the camera app, you cannot silence the shutter. Sorry to disappoint you, but maybe everyone isn’t an idiot after all…
This is a rehashing of a story that came out three or four days ago. Why keep bringing it up? I don’t understand why people even feel the need to take pictures at a tournament. It’s not as though it will be a treasured keepsake or anything. “Hey look, let me post this crappy cell phone photo of “Golfer Name” on my twitter, that will be cool!”. If you use your phone in a way that is outside the stated policy, you should be remove from the premises. Simple. You wouldn’t need to kick many fans out before they got the picture, no pun intended.
Slow news day
Let’s put Stevie Williams in charge of enforcing cell phone policies
Players need to man up. When a plane or chopper whirls overhead, a car passes on an adjournung street or a bird chirps during their backswing it’s tough luck and nothing to be done about. Seriously, it’s not that hard to learn how to focus or „clear the mechanism“, as Costners character in that cheesy baseball movie put it.
Suck it up an move on, Phil. Noone loves a whiner.
“So, hey, people, it’s easy, learn how to put your phone on silent.” Problem solved. LOL
Dreamer.
Ban the damn things.
If the tour wants to keep people out of the gates? Go ahead and ban em.
How on earth did they get people in before the phones where allowed? Seriously have they seen THAT big of a jump in attendance? Cut the cord, if you misuse your phone you are asked to leave…pretty simple really.
McPhil could just put a cell jammer in his bag, he doesnt carry the damn thing anyway
If there are 40,000 fans and just 1% forget to silence their phone or fat finger the silence feature then you have 400 people (two dozen people per hole) that are distractions waiting to happen.
Allowing smart phones that can check stats and providing apps to follow action on other holes between shots is just good marketing. Now they need to take the next step and get out signs and reminders to silence phones. Take simple steps; send a marshall ahead of marquee groups to remind fans to silence their phones.
Or if you have 1200 fans like Sea Island and 1% forget that’s 12 people, less than 1 per hole.
Seriously? Who doesn’t have their phone on vibrate already? I’m in meetings all the time and it’s actually a little fun to get a message or a phone call during a boring meeting…….if ya know what I’m talking about!
Phil is violating the rules of golf by using a communication device during play. He should have been DQ’d before he WD!!