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The Loop

Missing Links: Phil, Bones and their 25,000-mile journey, and McIlroy's no cell phone U.S. Open strategy

June 11, 2014

By John Strege

Stories of interest you might have missed…

It is the most enduring team in golf, that of player Phil Mickelson and caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay, the two having walked about 25,000 miles together, Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com calculates. Wojziechowski looks at Mackay's long journey at Mickelson's side.

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Mickelson with Butch Harmon and caddie Jim Mackay (Getty Images photo)

Mickelson's wife Amy had a starring role in the 1999 U.S. Open drama, too. Helen Ross of PGATour.com has a story on Amy's recollection of that remarkable week in golf history.

Rory McIlroy's strategy for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst includes this: He'll keep his cell phone turned off, according to this BBC story. "Sometimes you become dependent on all this new technology so it's nice to go back a bit," McIlroy said.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have been friends since 2007, when they represented the U.S. in the Evian Junior Masters. Michael Greller, a sixth-grade teacher, alternated as caddie for both at various times of their amateur careers, then went to work full-time for Spieth when he turned professional midway through his sophomore year at Texas. Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press has this story of two friends, one caddie and the U.S. Open practice round that reunited the three of them on Tuesday.

"Mao banned it; no one will admit to playing it; and it's illegal. And yet China's golf industry is booming. How?" Dan Washburn examines China's growing influence in golf.