In his Feb. 4 column, headlined “Phil not getting the point,” it’s Rick Teverbaugh that’s not getting the point. He wrote that pro golfer Phil Mickelson was, in effect, cheating by using a legal loophole in order to use a club banned this year on the PGA tour. These clubs are irons with square grooves in them.
A lawsuit was settled between Ping, manufacturer of golf equipment, and the Professional Golfers’ Association in 1993. As part of the settlement it was ruled that clubs designed by Ping prior to April 1, 1990, were legal for tour use. Apparently the irons that were used by Mickelson on the tour this year have square grooves, and were designed by Ping prior to the 1990 date.
If indeed there was a violation involved it was by the PGA in making a ruling arbitrarily in regard to the lawsuit settlement. Any new agreement between the PGA and Ping should have been settled before the PGA made the ruling of outlawing the clubs.
Unfortunately we see this sort of thing happening in our nation in all walks of life, with total disregard for contracts, agreements, and even court settlements. In a land where at one time just a handshake was binding, most things are no longer worth the paper they are written on.
Come on, Rick, it wasn’t a loophole, the lawsuit settlement was still in effect. The PGA was the violator.
Bob Armstrong
Anderson
