YAHOO SPORTS' Jay Hart noted if the PGA Tour were following its own rules, Phil Mickelson "wouldn't be playing in any PGA Tour event this year or next." The player handbook notes there is a "list of things players shall not do," and that includes associating themselves with people whose activities include gambling. Mickelson yesterday said, "I've got to be more careful in my associations going forward and so forth. But I don't really have much more to add. ... After a multiple-year investigation which led to nothing, no charges or anything, I think that that kind of says enough for me." But in "saying nothing," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem "is essentially telling every other player there are no rules when it comes to the PGA Tour" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/15). In N.Y., George Willis writes under the header, "Phil Mickelson Gets A Free Pass Because He Seems Like A Nice Guy" (N.Y. POST, 6/16).
FORWARD THINKING: In N.Y., Anthony McCarron notes we may see an MLB umpire "emerge from under his replay-challenge headset after a review and deliver the ruling over a microphone." MLB "might be open to the idea," but "nothing is imminent or even on the table, so right now it lives only in the theoretical, however intriguing it might be." MLB "would have to negotiate the idea with umpires, clubs and the players union." They would "need to figure out how television broadcasts would handle it." A source said, "The practice of making in-park replay announcements by the umpires has not been adopted to this point, largely because it could add another layer of timing to the process." But the source added baseball is "always open to evaluating potential upgrades" and the powers-that-be have "not ruled out such a possibility for the future" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/16).
