Ping and The Tour have come to an agreement to ban the use of the twenty year old square grooved Ping wedges starting March 29. The clubs previously had been exempted thanks to a 1990 settlement in 1990 from when Ping sued the PGA Tour and the US Golf Association.

No doubt neither side wanted to find out what would happen if the case actually went to court.

Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan and several others had used the clubs this year, in defiance of a new definition of permitted grooves.

The Phoenix Open is without a doubt the wildest tournament in golf, with more than 500,000 expected to attend this weekend. The eye of that storm is the 30,000 seat stadium that surrounds the par 3 sixteenth. It’s just 162 yards, and the only real trouble is the bunker left, but the atmosphere is intense. It’s likely one of two of the most famous holes on Tour (and both are par 3s).

I subscribe to the PGA Tour’s YouTube feed, and thought that the beginning of the above clip might be of interest.

The announcer, BTW, has one of my dream jobs. Just hang out and cover the Tour. He doesn’t even have to do any real reporting, which is hard work.

Finally a “regular tournament”—and one in which we don’t have to say “in the absence of Tiger Woods,” since this is one he typically didn’t play.

In spite of what I view as a lackluster performance in the early going, Phil Mickelson, has been set as the bettors favorite at 7/1.  Martin Kaymer and Geoff Ogilvy are in at 18/1, while Ian Poulter and JB Holmes are at 22/1.

Holmes is a two-time winner: 2006 and 2008. Mickelson won in 2005 and 1996. Given Holmes recent success, I wonder why he’s not higher on the oddsmakers lists.

For the complete odds, courtesy of Bodog, the world’s largest betting destination, read after the break:

Today’s Accenture Match Play duel between Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia featured an incident that both illustrated the difference between Match and Medal Play, and the good sportsmanship that usually characterizes golf.

On the seventh hole, Ian Poulter, up by two, found his approach shot in the desert under a bush, with a television tower between ball and hole. He called the walking official and asked for relief, since the tower blocked his shot.

The official, however, was not inclined to grant relief. He seemed to think it was not the shot Poulter normally would attempt, and that he was gaming the rules for a better lie. Under that logic, Poulter should instead just chip out.

Poulter agreed that would be the case in stroke play, but that it was different in Match Play. Since Sergio was already on the green, Poulter argued that he had no choice but to try to go directly at the hole. Chipping sideways, while the correct move in stroke play, would essentially concede the hole to Garcia.

Ian Poulter was absolutely correct. In Match Play, the strategies are quite different. If Poulter tried to go for the green, and caught the bush, he would be no worse off than if he chipped out. Sergio would win the hole. On the other hand, if he somehow made the green, Poulter could halve the hole.

Few players would ever go for the green in stroke play because of the potential for a double- or triple-bogey. The safe thing to do is to cut your losses and get off the hole with as little damage as possible. But because each hole in match play is held in isolation—no shots spill over—there’s no such penalty. Whether losing a hole by one stroke or two, the effect is the same.

A second official was called over, and he seemed just as skeptical.

Then Sergio stepped in, evaluated the shot, and—in a great demonstration of sportsmanship—agreed with his opponent. The only sensible thing to do in Match Play, Garcia seemed to say, was for Poulter to go for it.

Accordingly, Poulter—with Garcia’s assistance—measured out his potential relief from the tower and evaluated his options. That was no better, so he returned to his original position and hit from there. He made the green, then missed his putt. Sergio sunk it for a par, and Poulter ended up with a bogey.

There also was the subtext of the ball having moved from its original position during all the official deliberations. Again, Sergio agreed that it was nearer to a little rock, and the ball was replaced.

In all, a good lesson on both Match Play strategies and a terrific show of grace and sportsmanship from Sergio Garcia.

Postscript:

Poulter drubbed Garcia 7 and 6, meaning he was up by seven holes with six yet to play. Match over.

A surprising couple of days in the Accenture Match Play Championships:

All four number ones are gone. Of course, that’s a bit misleading, since two who would be number ones, Woody and Mickelson, were missing.

Geoff Ogilvy goes home early. I truly didn’t see that one coming.

The best match of the series thus far: Ernie Els and Retief Goosen take theirs to 20 holes. Quite a duel.

Friday’s match between Sergio Garcia and Tim Clark should be interesting. Sergio has shown at the Ryder Cup that he’s a good match player; this could be the year he wins the Match Play Championship. It fits my theory that experience counts in this tournament.

This is truly an international championship at this point, with the Sweet Sixteen including four Englishmen (Oliver Wilson, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter), three South Africans (Retief Goosen, Tim Clark and Charl Schwartzel), and players from India (Jeev Milkha Singh), Columbia (Camilo Villegas), Spain (Sergio Garcia), Japan (Ryo Ishikawa) and one Thai (Thongchai Jaidee).

Looking forward to tomorrow’s matches. As I’ve said before, I think match play is the most exciting thing in golf.