On the Green

Erik Johnson, a young defenseman for the St. Louis Blues and the player considered most important in the team's youth movement, is out for the season because of a golf injury.

Johnson, the team's No. 1 draft pick in 2006, tore two ligaments in his right knee during a golf outing. The Canadian Press reports that Johnson caught his foot between the accelerator and the brake on his golf cart, causing the stress in his knee.

John Davidson, the team president and former Rangers goalie and broadcaster, said, "In our business, you get a few curveballs. This is a pretty good curveball." He added that the young player is distraught and feels responsible and that the organization is supporting him.

Naturally, people will make jokes about that. Getting hurt on a golf outing? It happened and it's a very sad moment in a promising career.

Until now, Michelle Wie's career has been all about what advertising people call the Q Rating--a certain recognizability and marketability. But it has not served her well in her development as a pro golfer.

A lot of us always felt that she was going down the wrong path, that she was famous for being famous and not for any real accomplishments. She was a prodigy, but a prodigy without progress doesn't last long. And she hasn't won a tournament anywhere in five years. Over the objections of her coach, her parents had her keep entering men's pro tournaments even though she clearly had not earned her place there.

Now circumstances have forced Wie, her parents, her sponsors and advisors to do the right thing. She is going to the LPGA Q School next week, trying to get her card for the women's tour through the daunting qualifying tournament process. She will pay her dues and earn her way, like every other athlete has to. Derek Jeter didn't get a bye onto the Yankees roster out of high school. He had to make his way through the minors.

Some golfers (Tiger Wods, Phil Mickelson) have been able to skip Q School because they earned their way in by playing so well. No free passes.

Wie will be better for this. Her career really starts now, and it will be worth watching

You can read more about it here in Mark Herrmann's story.

Few events in LPGA history have caused the stir that their proposed English-or-else policy did last week. The women's tour decided that it didn't need that kind of publicity and today rescinded it before it ever really got started.

You know the details by now: Any player who does not learn to speak effective English within two years gets suspended.

Many of our readers have sent in very insightful, reasoned responses. And a great many of those supported the LPGA, which I did not. But as I said in a column the day the story broke, I basically agree with you and the tour. Having players who cannot communicate is an immense problem for a tour that needs every bit of communication and recognition and audience-connection it can get.

You made good points in saying that the LPGA is a business and it has to do what it can to survive. You also have a point when you say that international players benefit greatly from playing in the U.S.--note the story in today's Wall Street Journal about the plummeting South Korean currency--so they ought to do whatever they can to promote their game, their tour and their own personalities.

And I agree, and have said, that the LPGA is an open-minded outfit.

On top of all that, I can understand why LPGA honchos are up in arms about all the negative spin from people who normally wouldn't give a second thought to women's golf. I get perplexed when non-hockey commentators parachute in to moralize when there's a stick-swinging incident.

Having said all that, though, I will add that the LPGA sometimes has a tin ear for public relations. It did not help at all that commissioner Carolyn Bivens was out of pocket when this story broke. Her deputy had to handle the fallout. When Bivens first took over, she created a firestorm with restrictions (also later rescinded) about covering her tour.

The big problem many of us had with this was the penalty. Suspending someone for not speaking English is too harsh. Fining them, massive amounts if need be, would--and will--be much better.

The USGA has started sending notifications to some lucky people, telling them that they have won the lottery and will be receiving tickets for the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black next June. Were you one of those?

Credit goes to Mark Mielke for keeping his game in shape. Put it this way: One of his competitors in the final round of the Met Open today, 15-year-old Cameron Wilson of Connecticut, wasn't even born the last time Mielke won the Met Open.

That was 1992, when Mielke scored a one-shot win. Very impressive that he still has the game to win one of the most prestigious local events around. This was the 93rd Met Open that finished today at the Country Club of Fairfield. Mielke, the head pro at Mill River in Oyster Bay, shot 1-under par 69 and finished at 5 under, with a three-shot win.

Golf artist Elaine Thompson of Bohemia will be at the Bethpage pro shop, signing copies of her USGA-commissioned “2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage” poster, on Saturday, Aug. 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Thompson, educated at SUNY-Farmingdale (practically only a pitching wedge from the course) has also done official posters for the Opens at Shinnecock and Winged Foot.

The 2009 U.S. Open is scheduled to be played from June 18-21.

And you thought it was amusing when Phil Mickelson used two drivers at the Masters, for different lengths and different spins.

Well, PA Sports (England's answer to Associated Press) reports today that Sergio Garcia might bring along two caddies to the Ryder Cup in Kentucky next month. Garcia has been alternating caddies, one from England, one from South Africa, with the understanding that they split the caddie's share of the winnings every week, no matter who is on the bag.

Instead of having to make a Solomon-like decision, he might just bring both to the international matches against the U.S., which always seem to bring out the best in Garcia's game.

You just wonder how he would work it out. One caddie does the morning loop, the other the afternoon? One carries the bag, the other rakes bunkers and reads putts? Or they could just take turns, especially fitting for the Ryder Cup alternate shot matches.

Forbes.com the other day listed the world's top-earning athletes, counting salaries, prize money and endorsements. Of course, Tiger Woods was first. David Beckham was second. No surprise there either.

But who was tied for third? None other than Phil Mickelson, who reportedly took in $45 million last year, about $35 million in sponsorship deals (he tied with Michael Jordan, who still is considered relevant to the athlete category by Forbes even though he is retired). That says something about the strength of his personality and appeal.

The strength of his game is another question. The door was wide open this year after Tiger Woods went out with knee surgery. Yet Mickelson couldn't even make it to the threshold in the British Open and got only to the fringes of contention at the PGA Championship Sunday.

Does he overthink or overprepare? Is he still bothered by the collapse at Winged Foot,when he was on the verge of being the hottest golfer on the planet? Or is it just a matter of not being able to hit straight enough off the tee.

It's not clear. What we do know is that he has a lot of work to do before he wins the Career Grand Slam, the mark of a really elite golfer. And he has more than a little work to do before he really earns his status at the top of the world athlete money scale.

For starters, let it be said that if you ever had met Padraig Harrington, you'd have been rooting for him to win the past two majors, which he did win. Rare is there a pro golfer or any pro athlete as down-to-earth friendly as Ireland's great golf export, who won the PGA Championship Sunday.

In some minds, his victories at the British Open and the PGA this summer rate a double asterisk because they occurred while Tiger Woods was out. Fine. But you have to say he is the best of the rest. Although the world golf rankings don't agree, you'd have to consider Harrington second best in the world to Woods.

Harrington was clutch in both majors. He made big shots and huge putts down the stretch, which is what major champions do.

Suddenly,it is worth asking how history will regard Harrington. He has three major titles, the same as Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson (see above) and both of those guys are likely World Golf Hall of Famers. Granted, Harrington hasn't had the career that those two have had, but don't we really judge golfers by their majors? There is no sign he is done winning them He did win one (last year's British Open) when Woods was in the field.