Whoops! Tiger Woods Gets The Last PIP Laugh At Mickelson

And the hits just keep on coming for downtrodden, Saudi League-loving, gambling-addicted, non-PGA Tour-apologizing  Phil Mickelson.

We all recall when Lefty took to social media last December and declared that he, indeed, was the grand prize, first place winner of the controversial Player Impact Program — a $40 million pot available to those who dominate social media per a complicated, head-scratching PGA Tour-created algorithm.

You might also recall that the PGA Tour was pretty darn insistent that it would not publish the results of said 2021 PIP popularity contest — no standings for public consumption.

Well, The Sheriff of Nottingham (aka Tour commish Jay Monahan) did a supreme about-face this week and the Tour ACTUALLY announced the winner and all of the top finishers in Ye Olde Player Impact Program.  Could said change of heart by the Tour have taken place to further dump cold water on Saudi-loving Phil?

You betcha!

So came the release out of Ponte Vedra that indeed, Eldrick (aka his Tigerness) is still the Tour’s Supreme Needle Mover and as such, the first place prize of $8 million goes to him to help fuel The Privacy or Air Tiger or whatever he wants to do with it.

First thing Tiger did do was stick that Tiger Woods needle directly into Lefty’s heart via Mickelson’s Twitter page with one simple word:

WHOOPS.

Epic, classic, one word said it all.  And release of the list was the Tour’s own way of basically saying  Screw You, Phil!

Lefty still got to pocket a cool $6 million as runnerup to Woods.  Perhaps Lefty can use said proceeds to lower some of his gambling debts.

Not that anyone was interested but after El Tigre and Saudi Phil, the list went like this:

Third:  Rory McIlroy ($3.5M);   Fourth:  Jordan Spieth ($3.5M);  Fifth:  Bryson DeChambeau ($3.5M); Sixth:  Just Thomas ($3.5M);   Seventh:  Dustin Johnson ($3M) — note to D.J., please forward the entire amount to Paulina, no one cares about you;  Eighth:  Brooks Koepka ($3M) — pick up the pace, Brooksie, Bryson beat you;   Ninth:  Jon Rahm ($3M);  Tenth:  Bubba Watson ($3M) — Bubba needs the money. 

Now the stakes are increased for this year (2022) as the Tour has jacked up this PIP pot to a nice juicy $50 million.  Maybe the Saudi League should have offered a $100 million PIP in its recruiting efforts.

In case you forgot, and probably wanted to forget, the formula, algorithm/secret selection was based on:

Internet Searches: Number of times a player’s name is searched on the internet;

Earned Media: Number of unique news articles that include a player’s name;

Social Media: Social media score that considers a player’s reach, conversation and engagement metrics;

TV Sponsor Exposure: Duration (time) that a player’s sponsor logo(s) appears on screen during Saturday and Sunday PGA TOUR telecasts;

Awareness: A player’s general awareness score among broad U.S. population.

If you go down that list, the one thing Phil Mickelson won’t have any of would be that TV Sponsor Exposure part of the deal.  Reason?  Lefty doesn’t have any sponsors left after The Great Mickelson Saudi Fiasco.

Truth be known, anyone who pays attention to this game knew that Tiger would pummel Phil in December thanks to his return to golf with son Charlie at the PNC Championship.

Tiger should probably just go ahead and throw that extra $8 million into Charlie’s trust fund.

So yes, now we know.

And we know that once again Mickelson has egg all over his face.

Want some bacon to go with those eggs, Lefty?