What a round !!! He was too good today....

If Phil can get two more majors under his belt he will be approaching the status of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and some of the other all time greats. Right now he is one less than Nick Faldo (who nobody thinks about) and needs to get a couple more under his belt to be truly noteworthy.

Phil should already have 7 majors and possibly even more but that's neither here nor there. He needs two more. Yesterday's win was great for Phil because it was so unexpected. Usually he's in or near the lead and blows it. This time he came out of nowhere and took it.

On another note, I think it goes without saying that Westwood will never win a major.

This seems to be a new Phil. Maybe due to the recent influence of Butch Harmon. First, I noticed some time ago this season that Phil was swinging more in control and with better balance. Nowhere near as much slash and burn. Then he has his club guys put together a tee club that was less than driver but more than 3 wood. And he practices and plays with it. Then he goes over early and plays in the Scottish Open and wins the damn thing. So this new Phil is acclimated to the land of the Dour People, equipped with a swing that will not let him fall forward onto his face or backwards onto his arse, and has a tee club that he cannot hit off the edge of the earth. And he's practiced and played enough to find a couple of different gears in his swing so that he can vary trajectory, spin and curvature with his irons. No wonder he won this tournament. Next year the U.S. Open is at Pinehurst #2. The USGA chieftan said yesterday that it will be set up much the same as it was in 1999 with no rough and tightly-mown collection areas. Now Phil has about 10 months to prep for that one. And then he'll have his Slam and can quit tour golf and run for the next available U.S. Senate seat in Arizona. Maybe kick that arse-wipe McCain's beer-butt south into Mexico.

Good for Mickelson (I won't call him Phil because I don't know him). He played insanely well on the back nine on the final day which we haven't seen a lot of lately. Of course, not even needing to bring a driver to Europe cheapens the victory as a major, although not as a Briish Open.

Had to be a fun day for Tiger seeing Stevie across the green while hitting quite a few stinkers. Tiger might be fighting the full swing yips. He hit great shots but a whole lot of insanely awful ones too. Could have been the food and teeth I guess. The combination of those and a little kidney pie produces some of the worst breath on the planet.

I love majors that don't have fluke winners. Somebody new can win, but he'd better keep winning afterward.

PM is legit and had the game Sunday. Good work indeed.

I'm beginning to change my mind on Phil a bit. Not to the point of actually liking him, more to the point of respecting him. Now I just read that he's incurred a whopping tax bite from the UK, USA and California on the proceeds from his two consecutive wins. Phil's mansion in SD County is reportedly on the market and I'd be more impressed with him if he packs up the family and moves to a state with a lower tax burden. Now what would really impress me is if they left the USA and moved to some tax haven refuge.

Mongrel wrote:I'm beginning to change my mind on Phil a bit. Not to the point of actually liking him, more to the point of respecting him. Now I just read that he's incurred a whopping tax bite from the UK, USA and California on the proceeds from his two consecutive wins. Phil's mansion in SD County is reportedly on the market and I'd be more impressed with him if he packs up the family and moves to a state with a lower tax burden. Now what would really impress me is if they left the USA and moved to some tax haven refuge.

So glad I don't pay CA taxes anymore.  Except property taxes on a small place.  CA keeps trying to tax me as a resident.  Each time I send them a new piece of paper proving it ain't gonna happen.  Then a couple of months later I get something else.

Utah taxes everything and overall comes in 29th in state taxation.  But rankings are based on median.  The higher your tax bracket the better deal Utah is, particularly for permanent residents.  For example, income tax is a flat 5% no matter income level.  No graduated tax bullshit, people with higher incomes already pay more in taxes without it.  So for professionals and those with higher incomes Utah's ranking is near the best.

Also, property taxes are .5% if it's your primary residence, double that or 1% otherwise.  We shift our tax burden to wealthy residents with second homes..heh heh.  Sales taxes are 5.6% although 6.7% in Salt Lake where the big items are.  So we usually just make a nice trip up to Montana for big purchases where there are no sales taxes.  Or just go on-line.

Unfortunately for Phil it's not practical for a pro golfer to live here vis a vis weather during the winter.  Maybe he'll end up in FL with everyone else.