CA State Commission State commission excludes Phil Mickelson from bidding on Torrey Pines North Renovation

This is the dumbest rule I ever heard of, and Phil's group comes in at half the cost of the budget and they boot him out on a technicality?

State commission excludes Phil Mickelson from bidding on Torrey Pines North renovation

By
John Strege

Phil Mickelson is a native Californian and clearly loves the state or he presumably would not continue to live there. But he and the state are at odds again, this time over the renovation of the North Course at Torrey Pines, one of two courses played in the annual Farmers Insurance Open.

Mickelson, who last year submitted a design master plan and general development plan, is now forbidden by the California Fair Political Practices Commission from bidding on the project, despite his having waived his design fee.

The commission’s pending ruling states that “any person or company that worked on preliminary designs may not participate in the design and/or construction resulting from this Request for Proposal and its ensuing contract.”

“I’m deeply disappointed with this entire process,” Mickelson said in a news release. “We did a lot of good work on this project, we had overwhelming support from the residents of San Diego and now we’re disqualified from bidding on it.

“My vision was to make Torrey Pines North more environmentally sustainable, more enjoyable for amateurs of all abilities, more challenging for PGA Tour players and we were planning to do it for less than $6 million. The City and Golf Division’s $12.6 million budget is far higher than we expected or intended.

“It really is unfortunate. San Diegans and visitors deserve a better North Course but they don’t need or want one that costs as much as this one will.”

Nearly three years ago, Mickelson threatened to move out of California over what he said were prohibitive state taxes. He later apologized for voicing his opinion.

After all the time Phil put into this he must be really upset. Torrey pines is who is going to lose out on this one.

Think a little money changed hands? Just doesn't sound right!

I'm just curious if the California golf commission's ruling that:

"The commission’s pending ruling states that “any person or company that worked on preliminary designs may not participate in the design and/or construction resulting from this Request for Proposal and its ensuing contract.”

...was this something that was known before hand (and if so, why would Phil have reason to complain or proceed?) or was this something that was sprung on him at the last minute?.... I think the latter.