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FILE - This April 4, 2017 file photo shows Phil Mickelson smiling after chipping in for an eagle on the third hole during a practice round at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. Mickelson isnt sure whats next for Jim "Bones" Mackay. He is sure there are going to be plenty of options for his longtime caddie. Mickelson and Mackay announced last week they had decided to split up after 25 years and more than 600 tournaments around the world, ending one of golfs most successful relationships. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

FILE - This April 4, 2017 file photo shows Phil Mickelson smiling...

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. (AP) Phil Mickelson isn't sure what's next for Jim "Bones" Mackay. He is sure there are going to be plenty of options for his longtime caddie.

Mickelson and Mackay announced last week they had decided to split up after 25 years and more than 600 tournaments around the world, ending one of golf's most successful relationships.

Mickelson's brother Tim is going to caddie for him for the rest of the year, and Lefty thinks there will be no shortage of potential suitors for Mackay.

"He's going to have some incredible opportunities," Mickelson said Monday in his first public comments since the split. "There's going to be a great player a lot of great players, but one great player's going to be lucky enough to have him and he's going to bring a lot to his game and they're going to be a great team. And then it gives me an opportunity to spend time with my brother for the rest of this year, which I'm looking forward to."

Tim Mickelson was the golf coach at Arizona State before he left the position to become Jon Rahm's agent, and Phil Mickelson thanked Rahm for approving his brother's new schedule. Tim Mickelson also carried his big brother's bag during the Mexico Championship when Mackay went down with a stomach virus.

Asked if Mackay will start working for Rahm, Phil Mickelson said he had no idea and didn't want to speculate on Mackay's next job.

"He's not told me anything and I think that he's going to have a lot of players call him and inquire about his services," Mickelson said. "That would be what I would anticipate. But I don't know."

Mickelson, who celebrated his 47th birthday on June 16, and Mackay started working together at a U.S. Open qualifier in Memphis, Tennessee in 1992. Mickelson was hoping to have their final round together at this year's U.S. Open, but he skipped the tournament to attend his oldest daughter's high school graduation in California.

Mackay went to Erin Hills in Wisconsin to scout the course in case a weather delay would have allowed Mickelson to make his tee time, but it didn't work out. Instead, their last round was in the St. Jude Classic in Memphis.

"We knew that final round in Memphis that that was our last round together or most likely," Mickelson said. "We were holding out hope that it wasn't, that we had one more week, and it was an emotional day. But we both know it's time."

Mickelson joined LPGA stars Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko and Stacy Lewis for a skills challenge at Olympia Fields on Monday ahead of this weekend's KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Mickelson and KPMG also announced a donation by the Phil and Amy Mickelson Foundation to the company's future leaders program, which awards college scholarships to young women and brings them to Stanford University for a leadership development retreat.

Mickelson signed autographs for about a half-hour after winning the skills competition, which included a couple different chipping contests and a knockout game involving images of each player behind plates of glass.

"I was nervous because I know how good they are," he said, "and it was fun because it gave me an opportunity to be around some of the best players in the world, best athletes in the world."

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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap

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Mickelson thinks Mackay will caddie again soon - San Francisco Chronicle

Every once in a while, as often as a blue moon or a politician forgoing the use of the word frankly, I utter a soft Right on in response to something President Trump has done or tweeted. This occurred recently when he took Barack Obama to task for his weak and tardy response to Russias meddling in the U.S. election. For a moment there, Trump forgot that Vladimir Putin can do no wrong.

But for that rare moment, the president was absolutely right. The Obama administrations response to Russian meddling was ineffective and oddly torpid. It was also secretive. For the longest time, only some in the U.S. intelligence community and a few people in the Obama White House knew what the Kremlin was up to. Most of Congress, not to mention the American people, were kept in the dark. Why? After all, it was our election.

Of course, Trump had his own harebrained take on what happened and who might have benefited. Somehow, Obamas weak response to the Russians was supposed to benefit Hillary Clinton. If anything, Putin had become a virtual Trump volunteer, all but chanting Lock her up, lock her up, in the safe space created by thick Kremlin walls. Putin had come to hate Clinton for her statements questioning the legitimacy of his own election. One does not question Putins legitimacy. He has that in common with Trump.

Russian meddling in the 2016 election has produced a very rare bipartisan approach to a foreign policy challenge, combining incompetence (Obama) with chaotic indifference (Trump) so that Putin has been allowed to mess with our election with close to impunity. Oh, two Russian rest houses in Maryland and New York were closed, some intelligence operatives operating under diplomatic cover were given the boot, and additional sanctions were imposed, but mostly this caper was widely successful. It may not be true that Russia managed to fiddle with the vote; Moscow did, however, mess with Clintons head, employing WikiLeaks to keep her off-balance. The Obama administrations response to Russian meddling was entirely characteristic of a president who was respected by many but feared by few. When Obama finally approached Putin at a summit in Hangzhou, China, and reportedly told him hed better stop or else, Putin essentially blew him off. He demanded proof. As Putin no doubt knew, red lines with Obama were opportunities for further study.

But Obama is no longer president. Some of the tougher penalties Obama ordered up but never used are on Trumps desk. Yet the new president continued to dismiss the unanimous finding of the entire U.S. intelligence community that Russia meddled in the election. Trump variously called the whole thing a hoax and said that maybe it wasnt the Russians but some guy in his home in New Jersey. (Chris Christie? Tony Soprano?) Actually, it was some guy at home in the Kremlin.

(Whitney Leaming,Osman Malik/The Washington Post)

The question is: What is Trump going to do about it? And the further question is: Why does the answer appear to be nothing? Can it be that he actually thinks the story was concocted by all 17 intelligence agencies? Can it be that he is somehow so indebted to Putin that his hands are tied and his mouth muzzled? And what could so compromise the president of the United States? Does he owe rubles to the Russians? Did the Russians catch Trump on tape reading a history book? He would, of course, be destroyed.

As always with Trump, the Republican Party has taken a stand on principle that it will have none. The Russians violated American sovereignty, and few in the GOP protest. The man in the Oval Office appears either inhibited or so befogged by keen feelings of victimization, that the United States the worlds sole superpower, remember? cannot respond to what amounts to an attack on our way of life.

There was yet another moment when I cheered Trump. That was in April when he authorized the missile strike on a Syrian air base after its military had used chemical weapons on civilians. He did what Obama had refused to do, he did it without months of study and it was successful. He now has the credibility that unfortunately matters in the schoolyard of international affairs the willingness to use force. I am not suggesting that he do something similar to Russia it is a nuclear power, after all but I am suggesting that he do something or explain, in possibly more than 140 characters, why he will not. In the meantime, the United States appears weak.

Cmon, Donald, make America great again.

Read more from Richard Cohens archive.

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For once, Trump is right about Obama - Washington Post

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wave goodbye as they board Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, prior to their departure for Rome on May 23, 2017.

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If America is great again, the worldwith one or two exceptionsdoesnt seem to know it yet. The Pew Research Center released a new report today comparing views of the United States and the U.S. president from around the world to the same from the end of the Obama era. The results arent exactly surprising, but they certainly are dramatic.

The survey of 37 countries taken between the end of February and beginning of May found a drop of 64 to 49 percent in those with a favorable view of the U.S. since the end of the Obama presidency. Those with an unfavorable view increased from 26 percent to 39 percent. As for Trump, the number of people with confidence in the U.S. president fell from 64 to 22 percent, while those with no confidence increased by 22 percent to a whopping 74 percent.

While the difference is most stark in Western Europe, 35 of the 37 countries surveyed had a lower opinion of Trump than Obama:

About those outliers: Obama, who had a contentious relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was widely disliked in Israel. The Trump administration has had a couple of missteps in the relationship already, but its hard line against Iran and an approach to the peace process thats deferential to Israel even by normal U.S. standards, seems to have pleased Israelis.

As for Russia, there were high hopes therefor obvious reasonsthat the Trump administration would pursue a more pro-Russian foreign policy. It hasnt quite turned out that way on a range of issues, from sanctions to Syria policy, and the pro-Kremlin media has reportedly become much more critical of the U.S. president. In other words, the good feelings may not last much longer.

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There Are Two Countries That Prefer Trump to Obama. Take a Wild Guess. - Slate Magazine (blog)

The Obama adventures continue!

Barack Obama and his family went rafting on the Ayung River in Bali on Monday amid their nine-day vacation to Indonesia, where the former president lived for several years as a child.

Obama, wife Michelle and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were invited to vacation in Indonesia by President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who also asked the family to visit the presidential Bogor Palace in West Java during their trip, according to ABC News.

Obama will also speak at an Indonesian Diaspora Congress in Jakarta on July 1.

Obama moved to Indonesia in 1967 at age 6 after his mother, Ann Dunham, remarried to an Indonesian man. The former president returned to his native Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his grandparents. According to theAssociated Press,Obama is also expected to travel with his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, to the ancient city ofYogyakarta, where his mother did anthropological research.

The Obamas, who arrived to Bali on Friday evening, are staying at the lavish Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, Ubud. Over the weekend, the familyvisited Jatiluwih village in Tabanan, hiked through the countrys picturesque rice fields, and met with local farmers in Para Subak, according to the The Jakarta Post.

WATCH THIS: People at the White House: The Final Interview with The Obamas

This is the latest of several vacations the Obamas have taken since leaving the White House in January. The former first couple also enjoyed getaways to the British Virgin Islands and French Polynesia. Obama also mixed business with pleasure during trips to Italy, Montral and London, where he took in the sights and met with world leaders.

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Barack Obama Goes River Rafting with His Family in Bali During Vacation to His Childhood Home of Indonesia - PEOPLE.com

Democratic National Convention, August 2008

With the world's eyes on her, Michelle Obama chose a simply beautiful turquoise dress by Chicago-based designer Maria Pinto for the Democratic convention in 2008.

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Her red-and-black dress with a crisscross corset by Narciso Rodriguez attracted nearly as much attention online as Barack Obama's victory speech.

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The First Lady dazzled in a one-shouldered white silk chiffon gown embellished with organza flowers and Swarovski crystals at the 2009 inaugural balls in Washington, D.C., and made designer Jason Wu an overnight sensation.

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At a dinner for governorsthe couple's first White House black-tie eventMrs. Obama looked sparkly-chic in a strapless gown by Peter Soronen and a crystal-and-pearl necklace by Tom Binns.

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At an evening celebrating Stevie Wonder, who won the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, FLOTUS wore an emerald-green silk chiffon dress by Kai Millathe musician's wife.

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A new kind of statement piece: Mrs. Obama looked chic in a marigold J.Crew cardigan and pencil skirt for a women's event. In the ensuing years, she'd also proudly wear pieces from Gap, H&M, and Target.

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She arrived in a pretty Tracy Reese floral for the President's three-day official visit to Mexico.

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The First Lady was the picture of polished-cool in a bronze polka-dot Kevan Hall shirtdress.

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When one wants to appear regal for a state dinner with Queen Elizabeth but still flash some shoulder, one wears an ivory Tom Ford dress with a crossover bodice, waistline ribbon detail, and a flowing chiffon skirt.

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The First Lady capped off the couple's visit to London with a fitted black, off-the-shoulder evening gown by Ralph Lauren.

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Few things are more stylish than encouraging youth to kick childhood obesity, as Mrs. Obama did when she started the Let's Move! initiative. Here she is, as David Beckham himself looks on, being a role model in a sporty outfit hours before the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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She wowed in a fitted Tracy Reese pink toile dress with gold brocadeand blue trim, of course.

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Once again, Michelle Obama chose a Jason Wu gown for inaugural festivities, this one a stunning ruby chiffon and velvet number with cross-halter straps.

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A sunny $169 dress from Talbots kicked off a vacation in Martha's Vineyard, one of several Talbots pieces she was spotted in during her eight years in the White House.

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Her FLOTUS-ness rocked a teal chiffon Marchesa gown with off-the-shoulder allure at a gala for Kennedy Center honorees.

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The First Lady spoke at a luncheon at the L.A. museum in a Phillip Lim midi with a window-pane design.

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At the Phoenix Awards dinner, taking center stage in a graphic white gown with a pleated skirt by Bibhu Mohapatra.

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The First Lady made a lasting impression during her first visit to Japan in a vibrant flared Kenzo dress with a mirrored belt.

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Michelle Obama wore a marigold Narciso Rodriguez dress for the President's last State of the Union address; it sold out online before his speech was done.

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She addressed the crowd at the Phoenix Awards dinner in a strapless gold Naeem Khan gown with hand-painted gold leaf over black tulle.

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Michelle Obama Made Another Surprise Awards-Show Appearance - Vanity Fair