I just found this article on the controversy over “Spikegate”—Vijay Singh’s asking that Phil Mickelson’s spikes be checked.
It kind of says what I wrote in an earlier post: that a lot of this has to do with the fact that Vijay is not well-liked and Phil is.
That’s how the public reacts to Vijay and Phil – Vijay the villain, Phil the altar boy. That’s now how the guys on Tour think of them, though. Vijay is far more liked by his peers than by the public; Phil is much less liked by his peers than by the public. Mickelson is seen as something of a smart-aleck poseur by his fellow touring pros.