We look back at the epic final hole meltdown at the Farmers Insurance Open, why Tiger fans need to be alarmed that he blew another final round lead and at 9:10, one of us has issues with a mouse in the house.

So, its golf and varmints with Rick and Craig on the Teebox Saturday morning from 8-10.

Cheers.

Big-hitting Gary Woodland tries to drive the the par-4 10th at the Phoenix Open and nearly holes a trash receptacle.

Enjoy.

Here’s an intriguing story angle on how female golfers are treated at some Chicago courses based on appearance. While not totally scientific due to the small sampling size, one has to believe it may happen more times than not. With the golf industry having issues with growing its playing population, this is a great reminder to courses and male players…

LPGA Tour player Kim Hall and I went undercover to find out. Armed with beginners’ golf clubs, pro-quality clubs, several boxes of wardrobe changes and a makeup artist, we met in Chicago for three days and five rounds of golf. We didn’t identify ourselves as a magazine writer and a golf pro. Indeed, we didn’t acknowledge even knowing each other. We were just a pair of singles looking for a game.

At each course we visited, Kim portrayed a different golfer. At two she pretended to be a beginner who could barely break 120. At one she was a mid-90s shooter. Twice she played her regular game–that is, like a professional. She also changed her looks, as you can see in the accompanying photos. For one round she was made up to look as frumpy and unattractive as possible. Another time she wore a tight skirt, lipstick and stylish golf shoes. And so on. (I was the same middle-age 11-handicapper everywhere we went. Story of my life.)

I knew, going into this, that some guys would rather not play golf with women, but in Chicago I saw firsthand how brazen they can be about it. More than once, Kim and I encountered men who deliberately sped away from a woman to avoid playing golf with her.

This is their right, I suppose. But it’s also rude. And shameful. Can we really wonder why golf is struggling to attract women when they get this kind of treatment?

However, no matter how Kim dressed or how she swung her clubs, guys generally warmed to her when they realized she wasn’t going to play slowly. Kim, who grew up in San Antonio and started playing golf 25 years ago, at 5, has known this for decades. “In the grand scheme, that’s the only important thing to men golfers: Can you keep moving?” she says. “Most men don’t really care about anything else.”

The one exception was when Kim was dolled up as the girliest character, the one we called Damsel in Distress. Then, nothing she did seemed to bother anyone. “I totally could do no wrong” as that character, she says. “I could have spent 20 minutes in the bathroom at the turn and gotten away with it.”

A trio of golfers were DQ’d at the Australian Ladies Masters over a misinterpretation of the local rules. Appears they were giving themselves preferred lies in the rough. 

Choi said they’d misunderstood what the starter said before they teed off, about the local rule allowing preferred lies on the fairways because of wet conditions at the Royal Pines golf course.

“I’m devastated but I accept it,” said Choi, who was equal-leading amateur along with 14-year-old Lydia Ko after her opening two-under-par 70.

“When they’ve missed the fairway and in the rough, they’ve thought they could pick up their balls, clean them and take a preferred lie.

“They thought it was through the green, which means the entire course without the hazards.

“It’s a player’s responsibility to read the rule sheet and know the rules.”

Onetime AG contributor Stephanie Wei posts this pic of Bubba Watson arriving at the Phoenix Open in his recently bought “General Lee” from The Dukes of Hazzard. Watson won the Barrett-Jackson auto auction bidding with a $110,000 offer.

“I pulled in and about 40 people asked if they could sit in it and take photos,” Watson said. He was happy to oblige them, but reminded them to take care stepping over the roll bar.

An impulse purchase, it was not. Watson said he has “loved the show forever” and has a collection of Dukes of Hazzard DVDs to prove it. His wife, Angie, also can testify to his devotion, Watson said.

“At the time we met she knew that I loved that car and wanted one,” he said.

“We made a deal back then that if I ever won a golf tournament, she would let me get one.”

Good stuff, but he kinda needs to work on his parking.

We remember hearing rumors about these accusations swirling in media circles of Phil some five years ago and braced for it to go public. But it never did.

That is, until yesterday when it finally reared its ugly head. Mickelson immediately sued the anonymous source posted on Yahoo.

Phil Mickelson sued an Internet service provider, seeking the identity of a person who posted what the golfer calls “vicious” statements about him and his wife. Mickelson sued Videotron S.E.N.C. in Quebec Superior Court, seeking the identity of the author of “several highly defamatory statements posted by one or more individual on the Internet, in particular on a Yahoo! website, under the pseudonyms of ‘Fogroller’ and ‘Longitude’.

“The postings suggest that plaintiff has an illegitimate child, that his wife has affairs and other similar vexatious statements that are absolutely untrue and, simply put, vicious,” the complaint states.

According to Courthouse News, Mickelson said that he got the user’s Internet service provider information from Yahoo!.

In his complaint, Mickelson says the San Diego Superior Court authorized him to subpoena Yahoo! for information about “Fogroller” and “Longitude,” and Yahoo! responded with Fogroller’s Internet protocol address, which is registered to a Videotron subscriber.

Videotron’s attorney said Mickelson needs a court order for the company to provide him with the information he seeks. Mickelson seeks the court order.

Stay tuned.

CBS golf broadcaster Gary McCord is never short on words. In this interview, he recalls when he was a clueless Tour rookie and the uncomfortable meeting with Ben Hogan during his (Gary’s) early pro days…

“They’re having a conversation, and about halfway through the meal, Hogan looks at me and asks, ‘What do you do?’”

“I start to answer and as soon as I do, Hogan looks back at Kenny and starts talking to him. By now, Hogan is on his third martini. All of a sudden, he looks at me and says, ‘Well?’ ‘I play the Tour,’ I say. And I start to say something else, but then he’s back looking at Ken and talking to him. So now, I’m waiting for him the next time. Later, he goes, ‘How many tournaments have you won?’ Again, he turns away to Ken before I can answer. Now I’m getting pissed off. Eventually, he looks at me again and I say, ‘None.’ He stops and says, ‘None? Why are you still playing?’

“I was going to give him an answer but he turns back to Venturi again and starts chatting. By now, he’s into his fifth martini. They said he’d drink five martinis, go home, take a nap and then go back to the Hogan factory. Finally, he turns to me and says, ‘So no wins? You probably couldn’t do anything, could you?’ Meaning I can’t hit the ball. I say, ‘Well, I’m a pretty good putter.’ He says, ‘Bull.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Bull, you can’t putt a lick.’ I said, ‘Well, I can beat your ass.’ I actually said that to Ben Hogan: I can beat your ass! I’d just had enough of this. Hogan says, ‘Really? Well, let’s go find out!’

“I start to stand up. He starts to stand up. His glasses fall off. I’m ready to go to the putting green and he can’t get up, OK?  At this point, I’m thinking I’ve just agitated arguably the worst putter who’s ever played on earth, and he’s hammered — what if he beats me? How bad would that be?