Since the weather isn't looking so great here in Toronto (and I just finished reading Friday Night Lights -- go find it and buy it!), I thought I'd suggest some weekend reading:

• Tim Rosaforte takes Phil Mickelson to task in Golf Digest for not showing up at the Tour Championship. Now, like many, I tune out of most golf tournaments after September (and at least I have to stick around for the Canadian Open), but Rosaforte raises some interesting points about Mickelson's abscence. "I've heard all the arguments. He's an independent contractor. He's played more events than Tiger Woods. He shuts it down after the PGA. He wanted to take his kids trick or treating. There's nothing to play for this week other than money. Still, it looks bad for Phil Mickelson not to be at East Lake GC this week. Never mind the Tour, his fans, his sponsors. He owed it to the game." Owed it to the game? Now that's pretty strong. The reality is that golfers can play when and where they like. Until Tim "Tin Man" Finchem realizes this policy no longer works and actually hurts the tour, then Mickelson doesn't apparently owe anyone anything, including teeing it up in Atlanta in November.
• Had the chance to play Cruden Bay, Royal Dornoch, Portrush and Crail? Think you've seen it all. Well you are probably missing Machrie, according to Links Magazine. The course is located on an island with a population of 3,500 , all of which work in the whiskey business. One Scot told me the residents were "all first cousins," though that's probably not fair. But Machrie sounds like an amazing course -- my kind of place. Hopefully I'll get back over to see some more Scottish golf soon.