INCAgolf All you ever wanted to know about golf (well almost)

LOS ANGELES (AP)—In a tournament everyone expected him to win, Steve Stricker was trying not to lose.

Instead of firing at flags and trying to make birdies, which allowed him to build a six-shot lead at Riviera, he suddenly found himself playing it safe and trying not to make bogeys. Instead of having a chance to break the 25-year-old tournament scoring record, he feared matching a PGA Tour record for blowing the biggest lead.

The Northern Trust Open ultimately ended Sunday the way everyone thought it would—Stricker in tears after another victory.

Golf-Stricker wins Northern Trust Open by two strokes 6:39 pm EST (Reuters)

This is not the kind of publicity the PGA Tour had in mind.

Golf’s two best players are linked by accusations of cheating—one because he has a wife, the other because he has a wedge.

Oh, for happier times.

It was only four months ago when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson posed on the 18th green at East Lake with commissioner Tim Finchem, both holding a trophy, smiles filling the frame. Woods had won the FedEx Cup for the second time, while Mickelson’s victory in the Tour Championship seemed to signal a renewed rivalry between the game’s brightest stars.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-onthefringe-020210&prov=ap&type=lgns

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Phil Mickelson is ready to get back to golf.

Mickelson goes for an unprecedented third straight victory at Riviera when the Northern Trust Open gets under way on Thursday. Of the 14 clubs in his bag, none will be a Ping Eye2 wedge that put him in the spotlight and eventually at the lectern.

“How do you think that went?” Mickelson said during his pro-am round.

He was talking about his interview hours earlier, in which he shifted his angst from Scott McCarron’s accusation of “cheating” to the USGA for its “ridiculous” manner of handling the new rule on grooves.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-onthetee&prov=ap&type=lgns

SAN DIEGO — Scott McCarron is not backing away from his accusation that Phil Mickelson and other players are cheating if they use the Ping-Eye 2 wedges with square grooves.

McCarron issued a statement Monday in which he wanted to clarify that while he believes “it’s cheating” for Mickelson and anyone else to use the Ping wedges, “I never called Phil Mickelson a cheater.”

“That being said, I want my fans, sponsors and most importantly, my fellow players, to know that I will not be silenced and I will continue my efforts to get the groove issue resolved,” McCarron said.

Mickelson said over the weekend that he was “publicly slandered,” and he hinted at legal action if the PGA Tour does not discipline McCarron for his choice of words.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_wedge_dispute