Ping steps in with legal reminder for PGA as groove row gets nasty

PING chairman John Solheim has reminded the PGA Tour that it cannot make a separate rule to ban Ping Eye2 wedges, the 20-year-old clubs that led Scott McCarron to claim Phil Mickelson is "cheating" by using them.

Hours after McCarron said he would "not be silenced" over the grooves controversy, the PGA Tour's situation became a little more muddled with Solheim's gentle reminder on Monday.

Mickelson was among at least four players at Torrey Pines who used the Ping wedges, which have square grooves.

The USGA has a new regulation this year that shrinks the volume and softens the edges of the grooves. However, the Ping wedges made before 1 April, 1990, are approved for competition because of a 1990 settlement from Ping's lawsuit against the USGA.

The PGA Tour said in a statement over the weekend that it would monitor the situation, noting it could adopt a "local rule" for tournaments that would ban the Ping wedges. Solheim, however, said under the 1993 agreement with the PGA Tour, the Tour could not adopt a separate rule if it differed from the USGA.

"The recent statement from the PGA Tour and several PGA Tour players that they could invoke a 'local rule' required us to remind the PGA Tour of the terms of the agreement," Solheim said in a statement.

Then, the chairman and CEO of Ping appeared to leave room for a compromise: "While I fully expect the PGA Tour to honour this agreement, I'm willing to discuss a workable solution to this matter that would benefit the game and respect the role innovation has played over the long history of golf."

Solheim is the son of Ping founder Karsten Solheim, one of golf's foremost innovators who spent millions battling the USGA and PGA Tour over the square grooves in its popular Ping Eye2 model.

McCarron and Mickelson, meanwhile, struck no conciliatory tones. McCarron, who has won three times in his 16-year career, issued a statement on Monday in which he wanted to clarify that while he believes "it's cheating" for Mickelson or anyone else to use the Ping wedges, "I never called Phil Mickelson a cheater".

"That being said, I want my fans, sponsors and most importantly, my fellow players, to know that I will not be silenced and I will continue my efforts to get the groove issue resolved," McCarron said.

Mickelson, the world's No2 player, had said over the weekend he felt "publicly slandered" and hinted at legal action if the PGA Tour does not discipline McCarron for his choice of words.

"Again, everybody has their opinions and so forth, and it's healthy to talk about it," Mickelson. "But when you cross that line and slander someone publicly, that's when the Tour needs to step in – or someone else."

John Daly and Dean Wilson were the first players to use the Ping wedges this year, at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Others who have had the Ping wedge in play include Hunter Mahan.

An industry official said three-time major winner Padraig Harrington arrived at Riviera on Monday with two sets of Ping wedges, including one set that was made before 1990 and would be approved for play.

Sports Illustrated reported on its website on Monday that Randy Peterson, Callaway Golf's director of fitting and instruction, said Mickelson's Ping wedge imparted as much as 25 per cent more spin than any of the Callaway wedges with new grooves.