Q: With Tiger Woods out with a knee injury, I expected Phil Mickelson to shine. Will he ever meet the standards set for him? Or are we expecting too much?
— Bill Williams, Birmingham, Ala.

A: That would depend, Bill, on what sort of standards you set. If they included four or five wins a year with a major in the mix, then yes, you have set the standards a bit too high.

At 38, Mickelson remains an enigma — thoroughly charming when he wants to be, often aloof, always a storyline. But like the majority of his colleagues, there are weeks when Mickelson is flat and while his immense talent will fashion a decent finish (T-19 at the British Open, T-19 at the Barclays), he is not a machine like Woods, stalking victory every Sunday.

Woods going to the sidelines presented an opening, yes, but it was the younger crowd — Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia, Camilo Villegas — who took advantage, not Mickelson. But don’t despair; the lefthander will surely be in the mix next year — at Augusta, perhaps, and probably Bethpage for the U.S. Open, and in a splattering of other tournaments. Don’t expect more than that and he won’t disappoint.

Q: When I watch tournaments on TV, I hear the announcers say that a group is on the clock for slow play. What is the penalty if they don’t speed up their play?
— Martie Whitehead, Lakewood, Colo.

A: In truth, there is no penalty.

Oh, it exists on the books. It’s supposed to be that penalty strokes are assessed, but you’d have to go back decades to find the last time it was enforced. As it is, when players are “out of position,” that is, they are more than a hole behind the group in front of them, they are issued a warning. Since all the players have to do is catch up and get back “in position,” it is easily done, so never do rules officials have to go behind the warning stage.

Frankly, Martie, this is a discussion point that goes round and round and round and until penalties are actually enforced, it will be a meaningless entry in the rules book.

Special coverage Complete coverage of Woods’ life and career

Q: What do you think about this as a solution to the FedEx Cup points system? The current format is used to determine the entries for the Tour Championship even and then each player starts even. To me, that would make the playoffs exciting and the final four rounds downright riveting.
— David Anderson, Bismark, N.D.

A: Certainly you’ve hit upon a sure way of making the Tour Championship meaningful, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t expect that suggestion to get much support with the players. They want what baseball players and football players don’t have — the assurance that their regular season means something.

Whereas the California Angels win the most regular-season games, only to start the playoffs 0-0, tied with seven other teams, Vijay Singh headed into the FedEx Cup playoffs with an advantage on everybody else — which is why he won the overall title despite having the same number of playoff wins (two) as Camilo Villegas. It all comes back to the fact that the PGA Tour opted to call it “the playoffs,” because in a true playoff system, teams are eliminated when they don’t win.

In the PGA Tour’s version of the playoffs, Singh wins even though he finishes T-22 in the finale. Your proposal would guarantee that the Tour Championship had meaning, yes, but the PGA Tour will listen to the players and the players will beg to keep it a carryover system so that their regular season works in their favor.

MORE FROM GOLF

Golf Section Front

Rain shortens LPGA Tour Championship to 54 holes Westwood wins Dubai tourney, money titles Brooks, Fowler lead at Pebble Beach Peter Senior wins Champions Tour Q-school Latest golf videos Latest player news, rumors and more Tracking Tiger: News, features and more Tiger's triumphs: Recapping all Woods' wins Vote: When will Tiger win his 15th major? Vote, discuss: Best major of 2009? Golf Section Front   Add Golf headlines to your news reader: