Mickelson will be wary of dealings SPORTS In Brief
Phil Mickelson said he was disappointed to get caught up in a federal investigation that linked him to an insider trader scheme and that he needed to be more responsible for the company he keeps off the golf course.
“I feel excited to start playing golf again,” he said yesterday. “I feel excited to have that part behind me and move forward.”
It was his first public appearance since Mickelson was named in a federal complaint that accused Las Vegas gambler Billy Walters and Thomas Davis, a former corporate board member of Dean Foods Co., of making tens of millions of dollars in illicit stock trades.
Mickelson was spared criminal charges. The Securities and Exchange Commissioner alleges he benefited only from the misdeeds of others. Mickelson agreed to repay the $931,000 (plus interest) he made in a single trade of Dean Foods in the summer of 2012.
It was the second time in two years that Mickelson met the media at the Memorial to talk about stock deals instead of his short game. FBI agents met him after his first round of the 2014 Memorial to ask him about Walters during an insider trading investigation. Mickelson said that week he had done nothing wrong.
Still to be determined was any action by the PGA Tour.
The tour’s player handbook has a section under “Conduct of Players” that says a player shall not “associate with or have dealings with persons whose activities, including gambling, might reflect adversely upon the integrity of the game of golf.”
Mickelson wasn’t sure if he faced any punishment. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem would not discuss Mickelson’s case except to say that he had not spoken with the five-time major champion yet. . . .
Royal Troon Golf Club, the host of this year’s British Open, is set to end its male-only membership policy after more than three quarters of members in a survey backed allowing in women.
Royal Troon will hold a meeting on July 1 to propose the change in policy.
Muirfield was banned last month from hosting the British Open after its membership didn’t approve female members joining.
Olympics: Doping actions
Olympic leaders took action on two fronts yesterday, ramping up efforts to keep drug cheats out of the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and recommending the inclusion of baseball-softball and four other sports for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The IOC executive board agreed to double its budget for pre-Games drug testing to $500,000, to target athletes from Russia, Kenya and Mexico, and to extend retesting of stored doping samples to include medal winners from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
The IOC will hold a meeting on June 17 after the IAAF decides whether to uphold or lift its suspension of Russia’s entire track and field team for Rio for statesponsored doping, cheating and cover-ups in Russia.
The IOC said its pre-Rio antidoping program would put “special focus” on countries whose testing program is non-compliant with global rules, naming Russia, Kenya and Mexico.
Also, the board backed the proposed inclusion of baseball-softball, surfing, karate, sport climbing and skateboarding for Tokyo.
Names: NASCAR suspends 3
NASCAR suspended three Sprint Cup Series crew chiefs for infractions at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Greg Biffle crew chief Brian Pattie was fined $50,000 and suspended for all the activities through June 15 for a body design that was either not submitted to NASCAR for approval or did not comply with the approved body designs. AJ Allmendinger crew chief Randall Burnett and Kurt Busch crew chief Tony Gibson were both fined $20,000 and suspended for not having properly affixed lug nuts in Sunday’s event at Charlotte. . . .
Peyton Manning, Marshall Faulk and Steve Spurrier will be on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot this year for the first time and among 75 former players and six retired coaches up for election. The class will be announced on Jan. 6 in Tampa. . . .
Soccer great Pele was at an art gallery in London whipping up interest in an auction of medals, trinkets and memorabilia amassed during a life in soccer. Pele, 75, said “everybody needs money,” highlighting his lack of post-playing career in coaching to earn cash.