It would be understating the point somewhat to suggest that Phil Mickelson has had a rather uncomfortable season with regard to the rules of golf. Yet the really interesting bit is that, for all his fumbling, those around him have suffered considerably more than the celebrated left-hander.

Like at the NEC Invitational at Firestone in August, when Mickelson inadvertently caused fellow American Kirk Triplett to be disqualified. And last February when, in what was unquestionably the most curious play-off of the year so far, he won the Buick Invitational with a double-bogey in sudden-death against Frank Linkliter.

The situation at Firestone concerned Mickelson's play of the long 16th hole, where he sliced his drive so badly that the ball ended up on the new West Course which is under construction.

With the help of the television camera aboard the Snoopy 2 blimp, however, he was able to find his Titleist number one ball, nestling beyond the shadow of a tree.

That was when the fun started. So as to identify his ball, he duly marked its position in accordance with Rule 12-2. He then discovered that the ball didn't have the usual, additional marking to identify it as his, but a referee in attendance was quite satisfied that the ball was, in fact, Mickelson's.

From there, he knocked the ball through the trees and onto the fairway and needed four more strokes before finishing out the hole with what everyone assumed was a bogey six. Except that it wasn't. Before signing his card, Mickelson was informed that he had incurred a one-stroke penalty for not informing his playing partner, Jim Furyk, of his intention to lift the ball for identification purposes.

As Mickelson later remarked: "Unfortunately, when I marked it (the ball) to identify it, I vocalized my intentions, but I didn't vocalize them toward Jim, my playing partner, to allow him to observe me lifting.

"So I ended up with a penalty, making my score at the hole a seven." He then admitted ignorance of Rule 12-2. So did Furyk, who said: "I'm not a rules official, but my understanding of the interpretation was that he had to indicate that to me and since I was far away on the other side of the fairway, he said it. But I guess because he didn't say it to me, he received a one-stroke penalty." Furyk added: "That was something that came up from the rules committee in the trailer. It was something we were totally unaware of out there." It was only when Triplett learned about Mickelson's situation the following morning that he concluded that he, too, had breached Rule 12-2 in similar circumstances when playing with Lee Westwood in the second round.

By that stage, howev er, Triplett's card was well and truly signed and posted, so he was left with no option other than to disqualify himself.

As it happens, ignorance of the rules among tournament professionals can be quite remarkable, given that they earn their livelihood from playing the game.

This was certainly the case at Torrey Pines, La Jolla, California on Sunday, February 11th of this year, when Mickelson and Linkliter played-off for top prize in the $3.5 million Buick Invitational.

The really interesting stuff took place on the third play-off hole, the par-four 17th. First on the tee, Mickelson carved his drive into a canyon on the left. Then Linkliter, who happens to be right-handed, proceeded to hook his drive into the same canyon. As one might expect, both players proceeded to hit provisional balls down the fairway.

As they stepped from the tee, Mickelson and Linkliter knew instinctively that they would be better-off not finding their original drives, for the simple reason that they wouldn't be able to get proper relief. On the other hand, if the balls were deemed to be lost, they could proceed to their provisionals which were in good shape.

It was then that Mickey Bradley, one of the rules officials in attendance, pointed out to the players that the notion of declaring their balls lost, was meaningless under the rules. They were fully entitled to decline to look for the wayward balls, but this didn't preclude anyone else from doing so. "As long as a spotter finds it within five minutes, that ball remains in play," said Bradley.

In the event, Linkliter's original ball was found within the stipulated time, which meant that it remained the ball in play. And since there was no place to drop it, his only option was to return to the tee and hit another tee-shot.

This heightened Mickelson's awareness that he had an advantage, provided his original drive wasn't found. So he asked the marshals not to look for his ball which, it must be acknowledged, was not in breach of the rules. But he could also had gone directly to his provisional ball, which was closer to the hole that his original might have been, and brought it into play (Rule 27-2b), even while the search for his original continued.

He opted not to. "I didn't think it would have been right," he said afterwards. "I think that would have been a very unsportsmanlike action, so I chose not to do that." With all due respect to the player, this comes across as a decidedly rum comment. Perfectly legitimate application of Rule 27-2b was deemed to be "unsportsmanlike action", yet he had been doing all in his power to prevent his original ball from being found.

As things turned out, a spotter found Mickelson's original ball within the five minutes, forcing him to join Linkliter back on the tee. And Linkliter, quite correctly, was first to hit, given that his original drive had come to rest further from the hole than Mickelson's. "But it wouldn't have been a penalty had Phil hit first," said another rules official, George Boutell. "Playing out of turn in strokeplay is not in breach of the rules."

It will be recalled that with his third drive, Mickelson almost repeated his original error. On this occasion, however, his ball hit a tree and bounced back into rough from where he went on to card a double-bogey six. And it became good enough to win the title after Linkliter had the misfortune to three-putt from 15 feet for a triple-bogey seven.

On the following day, the switchboard at US Golf Association headquarters was jammed with calls from TV viewers who were convinced that a coach and four had been driven through the rule book on the fateful 17th at Torrey Pines.

Indeed the reaction was such that the USGA considered it appropriate to put out a story on their Web site, confirming that the rulings of USPGA Tour officials were perfectly correct.

In the process, the players learned a little bit more about the rules of their chosen pursuit. Only, in Mickelson's case, to be stymied once again, the next time around.