Tom Watson, 59 years young, captivated the golf world for four days at British Open

This is what it's all about: losing. Really. You're going to win some and lose more. That was the point of last week's British Open at Turnberry. Everyone paid more attention to the loser than the winner, right? The loser, an old man — nearly 60! — lost with class and heart and serenity and tired legs. He tried to turn back time. It was a gallant effort, and he almost pulled it off.

True, somebody won on Sunday. Somebody always wins, and the newest name on the claret jug belongs to 36-year-old Stewart Cink, a native son of Huntsville, Ala., with a half-million tweeps following his Twitter page and a long, elegant, Georgia Tech-honed swing.

His shaved head covered by a Kermit-green hat, and wearing bright white pants out of a Marine Corps recruiting ad, he played a wild final nine holes, with only two pars but a closing birdie that got him a spot in a playoff with Tom Watson, a 59-year-old Hall of Famer with an artificial left hip, five British Open titles and an honorary guest bed in a million Scottish homes. In the four-hole playoff Cink overwhelmed the wee mon, two under to four over. Congratulations, Mr. Cink. You won your first major. Maybe you'll win others. You're a bright, considerate man with serious talent. You earned it.

In victory Cink thanked his caddie, his swing coach, his junior-golf teacher, his wife, his two boys, his Savior. He gave a heartfelt shout-out to Watson too. Cink most likely couldn't remember Watson in his early prime. Little Stewie was four when Watson won his epic Duel in the Sun at Turnberry in 1977 over Jack Nicklaus. But the new winner is well familiar with the Watson legend: the handful of Opens, the two green jackets from Augusta, the U.S. Open he stole from Nicklaus in '82 at Pebble Beach, the winning Ryder Cup captaincy in '93.

On Sunday at Turnberry, the Duel in the Wind was at first about the promise of sporting history, and later about defeat. There was something gorgeous and sad and exhilarating about Watson's play and finish, with his wife, Hilary, his grown kids, Meg and Michael, and close friends watching in person or on TV. Watson had one cast left, and he had the fish hooked but could not reel it in. The old man and the seaside links.

Oh, he'll win Senior events, and maybe he'll even contend next year when the Open returns to St. Andrews, although he's already saying he won't, not if the wind blows out of the west. He says he can't play the course in that wind. He's a hyperrealist.

When it was over, a hundred or more reporters gathered solemnly in a white tent and listened to Watson open the session by saying, "This ain't a funeral, you know?" He laughed, and everybody else did with him.

Still. All Watson needed was a par on the last to become, by 11 years, the oldest winner of one of golf's four major championships. If he had shot 277 instead of 278, he would have won his ninth major and tied Harry Vardon, a mustachioed Englishman born in 1870, with a record six British Open titles. In the Age of Tiger, how can a largely retired golfer, seven weeks short of 60, grow his legend? Watson did. He said, "One of the things I want out of life is for my peers to say, 'That Watson, he was a hell of a golfer.'" His peers have been saying that for decades. From here on out, they'll be saying it even more.

Tiger Woods likes to say "second sucks," and he acts as if he means it. When Steve Williams, Tiger's caddie, implored Woods to hit a provisional ball after a horrid way-right shot off the 10th tee last Friday, Tiger kept walking and muttered, "F--- it," before finally making a U-turn.

Thirty-two years earlier, when Watson nipped Nicklaus at Turnberry, the two walked off the final green arm-in-arm, the winner and the loser. Golf never looked better. When Sunday's playoff was over, Watson kept grace alive. There was his long handshake with Cink, which came only after Watson allowed the champ time to acknowledge the applause and savor the moment. There was his fifth straight session in the press tent, where, his voice hoarse after a long day in the wind and the sun, he offered no excuses. Not his age, not his man-made hip, not his infrequent play. Of his poor putt out of fluffy rough from behind the 72nd green, he said, "I gunned it." Of his ensuing 10-footer for par that would have won him the title, he said, "Made a lousy putt." Asked if he ran out of gas in the playoff, he replied, "It looked like it, didn't it?" Congratulations, Tom. You're what it's all about.

He's the same as he ever was, or better.

This will sound crazy, but it's true: His metronomic swing, always a joy to behold, has never looked this good. It goes up, it goes down, it goes through. Boom-boom-boom. A study in efficiency. (You cannot say the same of his close-range putting stroke. It is short and stubby and nothing like his circa-1977 action, which makes his runner-up finish last week even more extraordinary.)

As a man, Watson has never been more appealing, which is not to suggest there's something easy and endearing about him, because there's not and never has been. He's wound tight and he can be painfully brusque. He once asked Davis Love III for a putting lesson, and Love gave him his best stuff, to which Watson responded, "That's wrong." Watson will, at times, show no patience for reporters with questions or kids with programs to sign or tournament officials who can't give him rain-delay information quickly enough. After his first marriage ended in divorce in 1998, there was a long period when his relationships with his daughter and son were strained. Over the years, there have been dinners where he drank too much, angering his friends and family and worrying them too.

If real life were a VH1 special, we could cite a date when Watson's life changed and the road to last week began. But life of course is messy, and all we can offer are some recent milestones. He married Hilary Watson, former wife of golfer Denis Watson, in September 1999. He won the Senior British Open at Turnberry on July 27, 2003, spending a happy and wistful week with his wife and their great friends Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, while keeping tabs on his longtime caddie, Bruce Edwards, who was battling ALS at home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Edwards, 49, died on April 8, 2004. (Watson has been raising money for ALS research ever since.) He stopped drinking several years ago on a date known to him and not many others. His relationship with both kids, Meg especially, has improved steadily over the past half-dozen years. He got a new hip last Oct. 2. He missed the cut at the Masters on April 10 by a dozen shots. (He says, not happily, that he's a "ceremonial" golfer on the lengthened Augusta National course.)

Then came last week, when he led the 138th British Open after the second and third rounds and seized the outright lead one last time at the 17th on Sunday. He smoked his tee shot on the par-4 18th and clipped a downwind eight-iron from 187 yards that landed short of the hole, took a big bounce and went over the green. Three shots from there and the playoff was on. Watson was spent. His opponent was not.

Watson traipsed up and down Turnberry's dunes without a limp. As he managed his way around the course, a stunning links designed by God and some lesser-known architects, he was the picture of contentment, even as the wind whipped about. Watson, as well as anybody, could move his ball through it. In interviews, he kept talking in different ways about his serenity, and you could see his comfort all week long. He played a practice round with Charles Howell and Brandt Snedeker and told them old Tour stories, the likes of which they had never heard. Last Saturday night, Watson passed his close friend Andy North, the longtime ESPN golf commentator and, at 6' 4", the tallest winner of the U.S. Open, punched him on the hip, looked up and gave him a grin that seemed to say, Can you believe this?

After the playoff was over, and while waiting for the prize ceremony to begin, Watson stood beside his golf bag and stared at his clubs, lost in thought, his wife's arm firmly around his waist, both of them so still and focused and centered you knew they knew: You lose more than you win. The fight was over, and Watson was accepting the outcome, even as he thought about what could have been.

In real life Watson is more fun than he sounds here. He has a nice sense of humor. Asked how his old friend Sandy Tatum, the 89-year-old former USGA president, was handling his run at the title, Watson said, "It's giving him a heart attack!" He has lived in the Kansas City area all his life, and spurred on by his friend George Brett, he used to own a small piece of the Royals. He goes with friends to baseball games often. He hunts regularly, sometimes with Michael. He designs courses. He devours the news and argues politics, often taking Rush Limbaugh's side of things when debating his caddie, Neil Oxman, a well-known Democratic political strategist.

But, like Arnold Palmer and Nicklaus before him, Watson has become a sentimentalist. Oxman is on the bag because he was a friend of Edwards's; it was Oxman who first encouraged Edwards to ask Watson for work, way back in 1973. As Watson stood on the 18th fairway on Saturday, he said to Oxman, "Bruce is with us today." After his opening round on Thursday, in which he shot 65 — the same score he put up in his last two rounds in the '77 Open — he said he was inspired by a text message he had received from Barbara Nicklaus. She wished him good luck, and it opened a floodgate of Turnberry memories: his triumph over Jack in the Duel in the Sun; his 11th-place finish in the '94 Open, won by Nick Price, after which Tom and his first wife, Linda, and Jack and Barbara commiserated over dinner and a couple of bottles of wine; his Senior British win in 2003, with Oxman caddying and nightly dinners with Hilary and the Nicklauses.

That victory, he said at the time, meant as much as any of his others, because he was winning for "somebody other than myself" — Edwards, his wife, his kids. On those VH1 specials, everybody seems to talk like that. For Watson, it's about as easy as pulling his own tooth, but at least you know he means it.

On Sunday night he spoke affectionately of the Scottish galleries, who have been cheering him on for 34 years now, since he won his first Open at Carnoustie, on the country's east coast, in 1975. They stood for him as he came up the 18th the first time on Sunday, when victory was in reach, and they stood for him the second time, when the promise of victory was extinguished. "That warmth makes you feel human," Watson said. Outside, it was cool and windy, but the green hillsides and white chimneys of the Turnberry Hotel were bathed in yellow by the late evening sun. "It makes you feel so good."

The Watsons were staying in the Tom Watson Suite at the hotel, but this time the Nicklauses were not around. They were at home in Florida, just as Woods was by Sunday, after missing the cut (by a shot) for the second time in a major since he turned pro in late 1996. Some of Watson's contemporaries were at Turnberry, but only as commentators: North, Isao Aoki, Bernard Gallacher, Sam Torrance. Tom Lehman, the 1996 British Open winner, 91/2 years younger than Watson, finished his Sunday round and followed Watson all the way around on foot, hoping to see history. The two of them, along with CBS announcer David Feherty and swing coach Butch Harmon, made a goodwill visit to U.S. troops in Iraq in 2007. Watson listened as Lehman, a fellow Ryder Cup captain, chatted with a veteran suffering from severe depression. Afterward, Watson said to Lehman, "That was impressive, the way you talked to that man." Lehman was stunned. It was the most personal thing Watson had ever said to him. People change.

Golf games do too. Watson's game, he acknowledges, is aided by a titanium driver and hybrid iron-woods and graphite shafts and today's ball that goes straighter in the wind. Seven weeks shy of 60, he played Turnberry in rounds of 65, 70, 71 and 72. Two-seventy-eight, two under par. Nobody shot a lower score.

A day before the claret jug was hoisted by the new champion, Barbara Nicklaus sent a text to Hilary Watson. The first part of the message was golfer's wife to golfer's wife. The second part was golfing icon to golfing icon: "Jack says to tell Tom he still knows how to win."

Maybe that's why Watson looked serene as he stared at his clubs on Sunday night. Jack had it right. The man does still know how to win. Sure, he lost a four-hole playoff. But he won everything else.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1911886,00.html#)

Stewart Cink ends Tom Watson's bid for history

TURNBERRY, Scotland — At 6:19 p.m. Sunday, on a spit of land hard by the Firth of Clyde, an old man with a new hip strode down the center of a dusty fairway. The summer sun was bathing Turnberry in gold, exactly as it had 32 years ago, the very first time Tom Watson conquered these storied, ancient links.

Watson's moment had come again, it seemed, and all of Turnberry felt it. The grandstands at the 18th hole creaked with the weight of the young and old. A silver trophy that Watson had won five times before was waiting in a trailer off the green.

A par would make the 59-year-old Watson the 138th and most improbable Open Champion. But destiny and the languid swing of Stewart Cink would deny him.

On the 72nd hole Watson finally, heartbreakingly, started to look his age, hitting his birdie putt from behind the green 10 feet past the hole, and then leaving his par putt for the championship inches short. The next hour, and a four-hole playoff, belonged to the 36-year-old Cink, who topped Watson by six shots and won the British Open for the first major of his career.

"It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn't it?" said Watson, who nearly claimed a record-tying sixth British Open. "It wasn't to be. It tears at your gut, as it always has torn at my gut. It's not easy to take."

Instead, it was Cink — who three-putted the 72nd hole at the 2001 United States Open to miss a playoff by a shot — claiming the oldest major championship in golf.

"This week, for some reason, I just believed that I had something good," Cink said. "I felt like I was just totally at peace."

Before Watson's bogey at the 72nd hole, Cink had made a furious run to catch him, offsetting three back-nine bogeys with four birdies, including one at 18, to reach two-under 278.

Cink looked spry and focused in the four-hole playoff over the fifth, sixth, 17th and 18th holes. Watson appeared tired.

After both players hit into different greenside bunkers on No. 5, Cink got up and down for par while Watson bogeyed. After matching pars at No. 6, highlighted by Watson's brilliant up and down from a patch of rough 60 yards right of the hole, Cink pulled away. He birdied No. 17 while Watson drove into the left rough and made double bogey.

"I hit a chubby 5-iron for my second shot on the first playoff hole," Watson said. "The hybrid I hit on the second [playoff] hole, I got stuck. My legs didn't work at the drive at 17. By that time Stewart had it pretty well in hand."

In 2009, the major championship golf season has been about sentimental stories that almost were. Kenny Perry at the Masters, nearly winning a green jacket for himself and his cancer-stricken mother before two late bogeys derailed him.

Phil Mickelson at the United States Open, trying to win a trophy for his wife, Amy, who is battling breast cancer.

Watson's week was about pure nostalgia, about a former champion who had undergone a hip replacement in October, channeling his younger self on a golf course where he had defeated Jack Nicklaus in the famous Duel in the Sun in 1977.

Cink realized quickly that he would not be the crowd favorite in the playoff. Afterward, he said he was familiar with the role.

"I've played plenty of times with Tiger and hear the Tiger roars and Mickelson," said Cink, who closed with a final-round 69. "I'm usually the guy that the crowd [appreciates], but they're not behind me 100 percent of the way.

"I feel like whether Tom was 59 or 29, he was one of the field, and I had to play against everybody in the field, and the course, to come out on top."

Cink's victory was the culmination of a wild day atop the leader board. Both England's Lee Westwood and Chris Wood bogeyed their final holes to finish a shot out of the playoff. England's Ross Fisher, whose wife, Joanne, is expecting the couple's first child, held a two-shot lead through four holes but melted down on the par-4 fifth.

After hitting his drive into tall fescue on the right, Fisher swiped at his second shot but barely moved it. His third swing dislodged the ball, but it shot across the fairway into an even worse lie to the left. Fisher took an unplayable lie, which cost him a stroke, hit his fifth into the wispy rough to the right, knocked his sixth onto the green and took two putts for an 8.

On the back nine, the leader board continued to tighten, with Watson and Westwood jostling for the lead, with Cink staying within shouting distance. Even the golfers who had finished their rounds walked back onto the course to watch the conclusion, including the 1996 Open champion, Tom Lehman, and 1997 Open Champion, Justin Leonard.

Clinging to his one-shot lead on the final hole of regulation, Watson found the fairway with his drive and then hit an 8-iron toward the flagstick, where a par appeared likely. The ball bounded off the back of the green. It was one club too many.

"In retrospect, I probably would have hit a 9-iron rather than an 8-iron," said Watson, who nearly became the oldest major champion by 11 years. "I caught it just the way that I wanted to and, sure enough, it went too far."

Once in the playoff, Watson didn't have much left. As his game deserted him, the crowd began to murmur and, finally, grow silent. Cink kept peppering fairways and greens.

On the final hole of the playoff, Cink hit an iron to a few feet and made birdie to finish at two under for the playoff to Watson's four over.

Afterward, the two men embraced on the green, just as Watson and Nicklaus had 32 years before. Watson was on top of the world then, young and powerful and a master of links golf.

Once more, Watson was walking in his old footsteps, one stroke short of completing a remarkable circle.

"It was 'almost,'" he said as gray clouds obscured the summer sun. "The dream almost came true."

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1911611,00.html)

Tiger Woods gets to know Turnberry as British Open week begins

TURNBERRY, Scotland (AP) — Walking up to the 15th green at Turnberry, his ball safely in the middle, Tiger Woods turned to his left and pointed to a spot a few yards off the putting surface.

``Is this where Watson made the putt?'' he asked Monday morning.

Indeed, it was. Tom Watson holed a putt from some 60 feet for birdie in the final round of the 1977 British Open, pulling into a tie with Jack Nicklaus and sending him to a one-shot victory in one of the great duels in major championship history.

Two holes later, as gray clouds gathered at sea over the Ailsa Craig, a gust came up over the dunes. Woods then asked about the time Greg Norman shot 63 at Turnberry in similar conditions in 1986, which some believe was the best of the 23 scores at 63 in any major.

Woods is hardly a history buff, certainly not in the same league as Ben Crenshaw, from another generation, or Geoff Ogilvy, from this one. He does have a working knowledge of where he is playing, however, which is why his thoughts on Turnberry sounded ominous.

``It's a lot more difficult than people are letting on,'' he said after his second practice round.

Turnberry has the least amount of history of any British Open venue, a links course gutted by the Royal Air Force Coastal Command, which used it as an air base during World War II.

Not until 1977 did it host its first British Open, and the 138th edition of golf's oldest championship will be only the fourth visit to Turnberry. Even so, the scores stand out. Watson set a record when he won at 268 in 1977. Nick Price matched that score in 1994. In blustery conditions, Norman won at 280.

``Sorry, I just don't see 12 under winning,'' Paul Goydos said. ``Maybe that's just me.''

Turnberry has been lengthened significantly, and a wet spring has created lush conditions, which can be fearsome for those who can't seem to keep it straight off the tee. Colin Montgomerie told of a tournament for club members within the last few weeks in which 480 golf balls were lost in the rough.

``Except for Carnoustie in 1999, it's as good as any of them,'' Rod Pampling said with a chuckle, referring to the history he made 10 years ago when he went from the first-round lead to missing the cut.

Pampling only got into the British Open on Sunday when no one from Loch Lomond qualified for the one spot available, and it went to him as the next alternate. He drove down to this tiny golf town about an hour south of Glasgow and played his first practice round.

The rough got his attention, but he found it to be fair.

``This is right there with the best of them,'' he said. ``If you get yourself out of shape, you're in big trouble. But you've got to hit a pretty bad shot. You can lose a golf ball.''

Pampling did just that on the 16th hole, waiting for a gust off the Firth of Clyde to push his ball toward the fairway. It never happened, and while the ball landed only a few yards from the marshals, it was never found.

``I know where not to go,'' Pampling said.

But he realized this was the place to be, especially on a pleasant day of stunning sights.

The lighthouse is the signature landmark at Turnberry, perched along the rocks at a bend in the shore, reminiscent of the stretch at Pebble Beach from the fifth hole until the coast straightens at the ninth hole.

Josh Geary and Mark Brown walked up the 10th fairway and turned back toward the water. Monday was a time to gaze, with patches of sunshine and clouds, enough light in the morning to shine on the far corner of the Ailsa Craig, the 1,100-foot mass of island that rises out of the sea. The rain came in the afternoon, and more is expected throughout the week.

``They can say what they want about the weather,'' Pampling said. ``They won't know until Thursday.''

That's when the British Open begins amid much fanfare. Padraig Harrington will be going for his third straight claret jug, a feat no one has matched since Peter Thomson in 1954-56.

Woods returns after missing the British Open last year with knee surgery. This is the first time since 2004 that the world's No. 1 player has been without a major title in his possession.

The last year Woods was not eligible for the British Open was in 1994, which was also the last time it was held at Turnberry. Woods did not arrive at the course until Sunday morning, and already he has played two practice rounds.

It is nothing new for him to see a major championship course for the first time, even in the United States. Remember, no one had seen Royal Liverpool from this current generation when the Open returned there in 2006.

``I've done that before,'' Woods said, referencing his victory at Royal Liverpool. ``You've just got to do your homework.''

The study session began in earnest Monday, with several U.S. tour players arriving on a charter flight from the John Deere Classic, many of them heading to the range to begin adjusting to the time difference.

Goydos arrived Sunday to play a practice round, with his 18-year-old daughter Chelsea in tow. He arranged for her to have an instructor's badge, reasoning that she was taking photos of his golf swing.

That was the idea, anyway.

``We got down by the lighthouse and she probably took 100 pictures,'' Goydos said, nodding to the spectacular scenery. ``It's got a Pebble Beach feel, especially down by the 11th tee, which is right out there on the rocks. The only thing missing are the otters.''

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1910172,00.html)

PGA Tour Confidential: John Deere Classic

Our insiders give their picks for the British Open and the new LPGA commissioner, plus reaction to the U.S. Women's Open and Cristie Kerr's collapse

Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.

Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: We have a new U.S. Women's Open champ. We had a shootout at the Deere. We have a father caddying for his son. And we have a golfing association in search of new leadership. But before we get to all that, it is British Open week. Let's hear everyone's picks.

Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: I like Martin Kaymer, who won this week at the Scottish Open on the European Tour. He's the best player across the pond right now.

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Kaymer is hot but links golf is a different kettle of birds. That's why it is so hard to predict Open winners. But it won't be Garrity's buddy, Robert Karlsson, because he withdrew. So did Trevor Immelman.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I'll take Stricker. He's the American Kaymer.

Dick Friedman, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Just when you least expect it ... senors and senoritas, riding out of Spain to redeem his wayward season ... (trumpet flourish) ... Sergio!! Especially if conditions are such that driving is paramount.

Van Sickle: Links golf requires more imagination and shotmaking. Tiger is the best shotmaker in golf, by a mile. You have to like his chances every time he tees it up, even more so in a major. I would not bet against him at Turnberry, or at Hazeltine for the PGA.

Jim Herre, editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: So, Gary, you're picking Tiger, as always.

Rick Lipsey, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Definitely NOT Greg Norman. How about Ben Curtis? He does nothing to catch your eye, what with that funky Furyk-esque swing, except make lots of money, win once in a while and contend under insufferable pressure. Ben would become the Andy North of the British Open.

John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: How about this for a sucker pick: Padraig Harrington for the hat trick. I know it's crazy, because Paddy's sucked all season while working on his swing. But he's just won the Irish PGA for the third straight time, and the European Club is a classic links course with really thick rough, exactly like Turnberry will be this week. Harrington himself doesn't sound like a believer — he was very skeptical of his prospects despite winning by seven shots — but Jack Nicklaus wasn't exactly puffing up his chest when he showed up for the '86 Masters. So give me Paddy.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I'm with John: I like Paddy. My real pick — everyone's real pick, I would think — is Tiger. If you were betting your own money, you'd take Tiger, right? But if Tiger doesn't win, I like Paddy. Links golf — Open golf — is not for everyone and repeat winners are common: Harry Vardon, Peter Thomson, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington.

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: I'll take Lucas Glover, for no real reason other than the fact that he drives it well and he may as well win that Open, too.

Herre: I like the Stricker pick, but I'm going with Geoff Ogilvy. Seems like the dude would really want to earn this merit badge.

Ryan Reiterman, producer, Golf.com: Look out for Lee Westwood. He's finished in the top 10 in the last two events, and he's been playing pretty solid for more than a year.

Garrity: Our Irish friend Dermot Gilleece, writing in the Sunday Independent, points out that Tiger's three Open wins all came on dry, burned-out links courses. Turnberry's rough is lush and long, more like Carnoustie and Muirfield, where Tiger hasn't had as much success.

Friedman: Brandt Snedeker (T2 this week, T5 last week) is on a nice run.

Hack: Carolyn Bivens, who only weeks ago was in the offices of Sports Illustrated trumpeting her vision for the LPGA, was taken down in a dinnertime coup by the biggest names in women's golf. Her tenure was short, eventful and rife with tension. What's everybody's take on what went wrong with Carolyn?

Friedman: Losing the Kapalua was the obvious tipping point. In more general terms, Bivens had very grand ambitions for her game, but by not sticking to her knitting — that is, failing to maintain traditional stops like Corning, even at a reduced prize structure — she alienated her base.

Morfit: Her lack of golf background hurt, and her brash style. And the economy prevented her from leveraging what everyone agrees is a very promising bunch of personalities.

Evans: The LPGA Tour players who went after Bivens don't understand the golf business or the history of women in sports. I don't care if you had Pete Rozelle or P.T. Barnum or Jack Welch to cut the fat and streamline the business, selling female athletes in one of the worst economies in recent memory is a very difficult proposition. Carolyn Bivens is not a great commissioner, but how can anyone be a great leader of a sports league without great stars to attract marketing and sponsorship dollars?

Those disgruntled LPGA players need to get a grip on the realities of sports marketing or let the business people take care of the business of the Tour. They should just play golf and try to learn lessons from the women who came before them.

Van Sickle: Bivens had the right idea at the wrong time. She wanted to upgrade and enrich the tour at a time when a recession/depression hit. It just wasn't going to happen, and she didn't adjust her hardball tactics. Having not gone out of her way to build support among players, media or sponsors during her tenure didn't help. She clearly didn't know anything about public relations. Every time an issue came up, she ran and hid.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1910077,00.html)

Hot? David Toms. Not? Anthony Kim.

Hot

1. Old guys. Kenny Perry went crazy low in Hartford and Bernhard Langer had a top 10 at the BMW. I've endured a million Cialis commercials during golf telecasts but never heard it mentioned that the pills can help firm up your putting stroke, too.

2. Aaron Stewart Looking for someone to root for at this week's North and South Amateur? Payne's boy, a redshirt sophomore at SMU, is teeing it up at Pinehurst No. 2 practically 10 years to the week since Stewart's defining U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst.

3. Ryo Ishikawa. The so-called Bashful Prince sure doesn't play that way, making a nine during the final round at the Mizuno Open but still pulling out a victory with a chip-in for eagle on the 70th hole. Now he's heading to the British Open. And how did you spend your summer when you were 17?

4. Rafa Echenique. He finished second at the BMW International Open but still managed the wildest round of the year — a closing 62 that included a 27 on the back nine featuring an eagle and an albatross. Andres Romero, you now have even more competition for the title of most charismatic Argentine.

5. David Toms. He's turned into the straightest driver on tour — on Sunday at Hartford he hit 14 of 14 fairways — and he still has that buttery putting stroke. The fact that this wily vet hasn't won in three years just tells you how cutthroat the PGA Tour is.

Not

1. Lorena Ochoa. Not only is Jiyai Shin continuing to push for the number one spot but now Ochoa has fired her longtime caddie, Dave Booker. I wouldn't call it panic, exactly, but clearly all is not right in Lorena's world. And don't look now, but the U.S. and British Opens are coming up fast.

2. Grooves. The rules changes proposed for 2010 were confusing enough and now comes word that the PGA Tour may rebel against the USGA's decree. I know I'm the first one to think of this, but wouldn't it have been easier just to throttle back the ball a little bit?

3. Anthony Kim. He's the defending champ at this week's AT&T National, which gives us a chance to reflect on how much his game has matured in the last year. Uh, on second thought...

4. The Ryder Cup. Bidding has begun to host the 2018 extravaganza, and the countries vying to offer up the most mediocre golf course are France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Sounds like a nice bicycle trip, or maybe a special edition of Playboy, but couldn't they have scared up at least one or two countries with some actual golf tradition?

5. Morgan Pressel. Hey, I love her tweets, too, but playing in the final group on Sunday at the Wegman's she went seven over on the back nine, free falling to 15th place. Then she blew off the reporters who had assembled in the rain to ask a few questions. You can probably guess which of the two blunders I find more unforgivable.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1907885,00.html)

Fan favorites put on a show during marathon day at Bethpage

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Just when you thought Phil Mickelson had the fairy-tale angle all to himself, the fractured first two days of the U.S. Open served up a couple of other protagonists whose surprise appearances on the leader board added even more emotional resonance to a tournament that has suddenly gone soft.

Mickelson began his Open a day late and opened with a solid 69 in front of adoring fans, then finished up by going even par over 11 holes in a second round that began at 4:30 p.m. and was halted by darkness three and a half hours later. But during an endless Friday at rain-softened Bethpage he had to share top billing with Rocco Mediate and David Duval, a couple of warriors who, respectively, are trying to steal the show for a second straight year and continue a climb out of the abyss.

Mediate was a lovable loser last year in his epic 91-hole tussle with Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines but he suddenly seems determined to be more than a mere sideshow as he produced a series of stellar iron shots en route to a first-round 68 that left him tied for fifth behind Mike Weir's sizzling 64 (a score that somehow included a double bogey). Before the second round was suspended by darkness Mediate played 10 holes in four over, leaving him eight behind Glover, the Southern gentleman who scorched Bethpage for five birdies in 13 holes during the afternoon. Having completed 13 holes in the second round, Glover stood at 6-under, one stroke ahead of 2002 U.S. Amateur champ Ricky Barnes, who was through nine.

Duval has had a perceptible swagger ever since he played his way through Open qualifying, and in his first round at the Black he went 5 under over the final 14 holes to post a 67, tying for third. Duval, whose last few seasons have been a struggle to recapture even a semblance of his old form, hung in there during a scrappy afternoon and was clearly energized by the dawn-to-dusk tour of Bethpage. "I hope I would appreciate it more," the 2001 British Open champ said of being in the mix at another major. "I have a very good idea what great golf is about and what bad golf is about."

The U.S. Open is supposed to be the most heartless of tournaments but all the warm and fuzzy storylines on the leader board only add to the unreality of the first two days at Bethpage. The greens were so soft that players were routinely sucking back approach shots out of the rough. What is supposed to be golf's ultimate examination was turned into a potluck banquet as muddy golf balls were the norm in the fairway, especially when the first round was restarted at 7:30 a.m. Tiger Woods let a good round get away with a sloppy finish that included an errant mudball on the 16th hole. Woods's 74 was over by the brunch hour and he isn't scheduled to appear again until 11:06 a.m. on Saturday when he, like the others in the early Thursday groupings, will embark on their round two.

The foreboding Saturday forecast includes a high probability of thunderstorms. Best case is that the second round is completed by Saturday evening and the Open concludes on Sunday in the dark after a rousing 36-hole finale. Worst case is the cut isn't made until sometime on Sunday evening and the Open finishes on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or, if the long-range forecast is correct, in July.

How sunny a player's attitude is through these upside-down opening rounds largely depends on the numbers on his scorecard. Despite his balky back Mediate was raring to go between rounds. "Even though I'm old I can still get around a little bit," he woofed.

With his iron game dialed in, Weir was among the many afternoon and evening players anxious to squeeze in as many holes as possible on a defanged golf course during a warm, windless Friday. "Our side [of the draw] definitely had a big advantage," said Weir, who has finished in the top-6 at three of the last six Opens. "For us to be able to play in nice conditions all day like this is huge."

Glad Weir enjoyed it. Everyone around beleaguered Bethpage is hoping the rest of this Open is equally pleasant. It's a nice thought, but it might just be another fairy tale.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1905966,00.html)

An emotional return to golf for Mickelson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The idea was for Phil Mickelson to return to a routine as best as possible in his world now shaken with fear.

It has been three turbulent weeks since he announced his wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mickelson has always felt like he was in control, even if his golf at times suggested otherwise. Now he feels helpless.

"I've never been this emotional, where if I'm driving alone or what have you, I'll just start crying," he said Wednesday at the St. Jude Classic, his eyes tinged with streaks of pink, his voice no longer steady and sure.

"We're scared, yeah," he said. "I think a lot of it is the unknown."

Tests on his 38-year-old wife have provided enough optimism that surgery has been pushed back to the first week of July, allowing Mickelson to return to competition this week, then go to the U.S. Open in New York, where he is beloved under normal circumstances.

His wife faces treatment for at least a year, so they decided to do what they normally would - play golf tournaments, take their three children to camps and activities. They plan a tropical vacation after the U.S. Open and before Amy's surgery.

Even so, this was not a normal routine for Mickelson in Memphis.

Some 300 fans lined the walkway at the bottom of the stairs leading to the clubhouse where Mickelson had lunch, waiting for autographs or pictures, some wearing pink shirts in support.

Mickelson, however, went around the front of the clubhouse to avoid the crowd, setting up shop at the far end of the range that had been reserved for the amateurs before his pro-am round, far away from his peers. Woody Austin, his partner at the Presidents Cup last time, and defending champion Justin Leonard walked over to welcome him back with a handshake that turned into a hug.

He does not know what to expect from his game. Mickelson said he would hit balls for an hour while his wife was resting, and he feels he is not far off from earlier this year, when he won at Riviera and Doral.

"But certainly, I haven't played in a while," he said. "I had an emotional month, and I don't know where I will be on the golf course as far as being able to focus. I don't know that yet."

If nothing else, Mickelson said he looked forward to being inside the ropes, allowing him to get his mind off cancer.

But there was no escaping it Wednesday.

He started on No. 10, hitting driver down the hill into the water, hitting the next one in a bunker. Then came the par-3 11th over water, and a tournament tradition that hit home like never before.

Patients at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital caddie for the professional on this hole. Mickelson met Michael Anderson, 27, who is coming off his fourth surgery for a brain tumor. A half-dozen children suddenly surrounded him, most of them losing their hair.

Lefty knelt to speak to them, giving each a golf ball and a glove until he had to send his caddie, Jim Mackay, back to the bag for more.

"I can't shake hands," one girl said to Mickelson, steadying herself with a crutch.

"Well, you have a very strong hug," Mickelson said after leaning in to embrace her.

Anderson had enough strength to lug Mickelson's bag to the green - "It's heavier than mine," he said with a smile - but Mickelson wouldn't discharge him of his duties until he read the birdie putt. He just missed.

They talked briefly about his outlook, and Anderson inquired about Amy.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1903823,00.html)

All it took was a few words from Jack Nicklaus to get Tiger Woods to rediscover his awesome swing

Everything's faster in New York. On Monday morning, on the sports page of the New York tabs, Tiger's win at the Memorial was right there, alongside the Yankees and the Mets. (Woods Hi-Jacks Nicklaus' Tourney, exclaimed the Post.) New Yorkers, though, were on to the next thing: "Yeah, but can he win the Open?" That is, the U.S. Open, to be held next week at Bethpage Black, a vast oasis of fescue rough and magic-carpet fairway surrounded by dense Long Island suburbia. Woods won the 2002 U.S. Open there, in the days when his fist pumps could rattle trees. But this new Tiger, the one who won at Memorial — the one who drives it in play with three-woods and five-woods, who barely celebrates his hole-outs, who wins from the clubhouse, long before 60 Minutes starts ticking — who is this guy, and how did he suddenly get here?

Johnny Miller, the winner of the 1973 U.S. Open and lead analyst at Bethpage for NBC, has long been Tiger's most incisive critic (and, at times among the microphone crowd, his only objective fan). Last week, before the Memorial, Miller said in an interview, "I've had a dream about 20 times where he comes to me and asks me for a lesson." In Miller's dream he instructs Woods to hit shots with a slight pause at the top of his swing, as he did from 1997 through 2000. Miller also asks Woods to soften the squat move he has been making in recent years, where his head and body come too close to the ball on the downswing and he gets in his own way.

Miller, and others steeped in swing mechanics, watched in amazement as Tiger played some of the worst shots of his career this year at the Masters, at the Quail Hollow tournament in Charlotte and at the Players. In those tournaments Woods let loose a year's worth of f bombs. His postround practice sessions, where an elite player can quickly pinpoint problems and turn things around, were often brief, in deference to a left knee still in recovery from ACL surgery following the 2008 U.S. Open. Tiger didn't say much about the state of the swing in his interviews. (He seldom does.) But his coach, Hank Haney, may have revealed more than he intended in an interview last month with SI.

Haney said, "I don't understand why everybody thinks I'm going to get fired. Am I going to get fired when he asks me to come to Isleworth? Is he going to fire me when we go to Bethpage? During the Yankees game we're going to afterward? In August when he releases his new video where I'm his teacher?

"He has a new leg. He has a new swing because his knee isn't flopping around like it once was. The media give him no slack. It wears me out, and it wears him out as well. I told Tiger about all this crap about me being fired, and he smiled and said, 'Welcome to my world.'"

It's easy, and maybe correct, to see Haney's mini-rant as a by-product of Tiger's erratic play. Haney knows that Miller, and prominent teaching pros, have been second-guessing what Tiger was doing, and what Haney was teaching.

But then Tiger went to Ohio, and there everything changed. Jack set him free. Nicklaus, generally straightforward when talking to reporters, said he felt that Tiger, in his return from surgery, was making a swing that protected his left knee. Presented with Nicklaus's observation, Tiger acknowledged for the first time that he was, in fact, doing just that. He went from the press tent to the practice tee at Muirfield Village and started hitting balls, in the rain, and took some of the most beautiful, rhythmic swings he has made in years, with much less dip. It was as if he had absorbed Johnny's dream lesson by osmosis. It was this new-and-improved swing that allowed Tiger to win at Memorial.

But ball striking alone will not win you a U.S. Open. You must putt, too. At the Memorial, Tiger's putting was spotty, but the putting guru Stan Utley, who uses Tiger's stroke as his model, thinks Woods will putt well at Bethpage. He has seen glimpses of Woods's putting this year on TV and in person and has concluded that his stroke is as sound as ever. Mechanics, Utley noted, come back quickly from a layoff. Feel is slower to return.

At Bethpage, Utley said, Woods will have one additional and important thing going for him: The greens there are poa annua, the grass on which Tiger grew up putting, and the type of grass on which he putted so well last year at Torrey Pines. The ball tends to bounce on poa annua, Utley said, and Tiger hits his putts with a slight (and ideal) hooking action that encourages the ball to hug the grass, hold its line and finish at the bottom of the hole.

Reclaiming his feel is a work in progress for Tiger, and that applies not only to the putter, but also to his entire body. Last year Woods won the U.S. Open on a left leg that was falling apart, but at least he knew what it could and couldn't do. One of the difficult things for Woods at this year's Open will be to know exactly what he can and cannot count on his left knee to do, particularly when playing out of deep rough.

The former Ryder Cupper Brad Faxon had ACL surgery on his right knee in 2005 and again in '07. Faxon says that since his surgeries he has not felt like his old self. Tiger, likely, doesn't either.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1903488,00.html)

A focused John Daly returns to the PGA Tour in Memphis

I'm going to be playin' Memphis, been reinstated from the PGA — John Daly, via Twitter, May 26, 5:50 a.m. EDT

As those 11 words, sent from John Daly's computer in the late-morning hours in Kent, England, hurtled through cyberspace last week, Phil Cannon, tournament director of next week's St. Jude Championship in Memphis, was already preparing for the coming storm.

It was Cannon's sponsor's exemption that officially ended Daly's exile from the PGA Tour, a six-month suspension following a spate of incidents in 2008, including a night spent in a North Carolina jail after an evening of drinking. Daly, the prodigal son of professional golf, would soon be walking in Memphis.

Cannon's phones at St. Jude Championship headquarters were beginning to ring off the hook, with folks calling to confirm the reports about Daly's imminent return and, of course, to scoop up tickets for the tournament. "I call them Daly's dailies," Cannon says. "They're the people who buy a daily ticket just to watch him play."

Cannon says he felt no queasiness about giving Daly a precious sponsor's exemption, his off-the-course combustibility notwithstanding. One year during the Memphis tournament, Daly arrived at TPC Southwind with what appeared to be fingernail scratches on both sides of his face. He said Sherrie, his fourth wife, had tried to stab him with a steak knife the night before. Despite that incident and other odd behavior over the years, Cannon prefers to highlight the positive when it comes to Daly and his support of the Memphis Tour stop.

In a year in which the St. Jude Championship lost its title sponsor, Stanford Financial, due to an alleged fraud scandal, Daly provides a crackling story line, whether he wreaks havoc or not. "I don't want to get too hyperbolic," Cannon says, "but there was another Memphian named Elvis Presley whose popularity was also hard to quantify."

Just weighed in at 225, LOST 55 POUNDS!! That's AMAZING! — Daly, via Twitter, May 17, 5:06 a.m. EDT

Like Elvis, Daly has also gone through huge weight swings, starting as the fit and mustachioed ninth alternate who won the 1991 PGA Championship, becoming the pleasantly plump bomber who won the '95 British Open, and ballooning into the obese, sweat-stained golfer who let himself go in the new millennium.

This spring, the pictures beamed across the Atlantic to the U.S. have shown a trimmed-down Daly, thanks to lap-band surgery on his stomach in February. The weight loss (he wants to get to 190 pounds), a new girlfriend (former Hooters promotional director Anna Cladakis), a new swing guru (Phil Mickelson's old coach Rick Smith) and a new habit (Twitter) have given Daly a new sheen.

But what will the Tour be getting when Daly plays in Memphis, attempts to qualify for the U.S. Open and then tees it up on another sponsor's exemption at the Buick Open in late July? Is this a new John Daly?

"I saw him on TV. He has a few more pounds to lose, but don't we all," says Jeff Maggert, who has known Daly since they competed against each other in college (Daly at Arkansas, Maggert at Texas A&M). "From my perspective it's not about him coming back and playing golf. It's about getting his life in order. You don't want to pick up the newspaper and read that something bad has happened. That's the road he's been on."

At the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, won by Steve Stricker, the emotion and focus of the week centered on Amy Mickelson's breast cancer, but Daly's return was also a topic of conversation. If Daly's Tour brethren have grown tired of his stops and starts and endless incarnations, they aren't saying so. Instead, they're softly cheering for a 43-year-old golfer entering perhaps his final act as a professional.

"He's the sweetest guy. He's always so kind to everyone he's around," says Ben Crane. "Well documented are his struggles. We simply want him to go forward."

Says Gary McCord, the Champions tour pro and CBS announcer, "Hopefully he gets a little wiser. He needs to focus and have something to do. If he's tending to his business and doing his job, it helps himself and the Tour. If he's cast adrift, who knows what's going to happen?"

MISS YOU BUB got your message!! Bad luck of the draw in Ireland w/weather but stayin focussed & workin hard practicin' — Daly, via Twitter, replies to Rick Smith, May 16, 10:15 a.m. EDT

Daly has played in seven European tour events since his suspension, interspersing competitive rounds and practice days with a strong embrace of the European life. If he is not the rock star overseas that he is in the U.S., Daly's baseline for popularity is his Open triumph at St. Andrews, the kind of cachet that never expires.

Last month Daly tied for second in the Italian Open while wearing yellow pants, one of many sartorial choices that squares nicely with the splashier golf outfits in Europe. (Daly recently signed an apparel deal with Loudmouth Golf, a California company whose celebrity roster includes former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon and rocker Alice Cooper.) And though he missed the cut at the Irish Open at Baltray, Daly used the occasion to buy an Irish wolfhound at Nutstown Kennels near Dublin. (He named the dog Greg.)

Without status on the PGA Tour and unsure of how many sponsor's exemptions he will receive (the maximum allowed is seven), Daly is instead chasing a spot in the European tour's Race for Dubai, in which the top 60 on the money list compete in the $20 million Dubai World Championship in November. Daly is 100th in earnings. But with Tiger Woods still a question mark and with Mickelson out indefinitely, Daly's wattage would provide an instant boost to the Tour. Says McCord, "[Daly] is still one of the biggest draws out here — him or Freddy [Couples]."

Says Tour veteran Bart Bryant, "It does nothing but help our Tour when John shows up and plays well. The fans know it." Problem is, Daly hasn't shown up or played well for most of the last decade, save for an out-of-nowhere win at Torrey Pines in 2004 and a stirring playoff loss to Woods at the '05 American Express Championship at San Francisco's Harding Park.

If Daly can refrain from becoming an Internet sensation — hitting tee shots off beer cans, playing shirtless and shoeless (as he did in Missouri) while doing a television interview, drinking heavily and ending up with a mug shot in an orange jumpsuit — he might last a little longer in his return from his European adventure.

After missing the cut at last week's European Open, Daly made plans to fly back to the U.S., where the PGA Tour was awaiting him. He was a new man, or at least he looked like one.

We'll have the rest of the year to see if looks can be deceiving.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1902175,00.html)

Sabbatini, Mallinger lead after 3 rounds at Nelson

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Rory Sabbatini has already won at Hogan's Alley. Now he shares the lead going into the final round at Byron Nelson's tournament.

"Anything associated with his name would be an absolute honor," Sabbatini said after a 5-under 65 Saturday to keep a share of the lead at the Byron Nelson Championship.

Two years after his last victory, at the Colonial where Ben Hogan's larger-than-life statue is prominent, Sabbatini is in position to win again after five birdies in a seven-hole stretch midway through his third round.

Sabbatini and John Mallinger, who entered the third round tied as co-leaders, both shot 65 to get to 13-under 197. That is two strokes ahead of three other players.

"Obviously got off to a good start, just putting the ball in the right spots, putting it on the greens, hitting some good putts," Sabbatini said. "And then never really got anything going until No. 5."

Even for the day until he got to the 174-yard fifth hole, Sabbatini's pin-high tee shot rolled back and lipped the cup to set up a 3-foot birdie. He also had three consecutive birdies before making the turn, capped by a 41-footer on the 427-yard ninth hole.

Mallinger, without a win in his first 76 PGA Tour events, had his second consecutive 65. The bogey-free round was much different from Friday, when he had two eagles, four birdies and three bogeys.

"Today was the type of golf that I like to play. Normally, that's my game," Mallinger said. "I kind of had a game plan going in and I stuck with it. I executed, and that was the biggest thing. Being the leader, it was always a little different feeling."

Dustin Johnson struggled after going 6 under through eight holes. He shot 66 to get in at 11 under with D.A. Points (65) and Brian Davis (66). At 10 under were Kevin Streelman (64), Glen Day (65) and Briny Baird (67), who was 5 under through seven holes before three bogeys in a five-hole stretch.

Sabbatini, playing only a few miles from his home this week and next at the Colonial, had a season-low round of 64 Friday. Now he has the best two-round stretch of the season.

After his only bogey, when he missed fairway at No. 14 and had to punch out short of the water, Sabbatini got that stroke back with an 11-foot birdie at No. 15.

Sabbatini wore a pink ribbon atop his cap, the symbol for breast cancer awareness. Phil Mickelson this week indefinitely suspended his golfing schedule following wife Amy's diagnosis.

"Phil and Amy Mickelson are definitely forefront in everyone's thoughts out here," Sabbatini said. "We all know that she's a strong and determined person, and she'll pull through it."

Mallinger made a 9-foot birdie at the 528-yard third, and tapped in for par on the next hole after missing an 8-footer. Consecutive birdies followed, and his only other birdies after that came at Nos. 14 and 15.

Sabbatini had supporters wearing black T-shirts that read "Rory's Rowdy Roadies" on the front and "Team Sabo" on the back. One of the supporters in Mallinger's gallery was his tennis-playing buddy Mark Knowles, who delayed his trip to Paris for doubles competition at the French Open.

"He was supposed to take off (Saturday), and we had a bet if I got in the leader group he had to change his flight," said Mallinger, who has to go to Paris if Knowles makes the finals.

Because of the threat of thunderstorms, players teed off in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10 and everyone was done by mid-afternoon without any delays or rain. There will be normal tee times with twosomes off No. 1 in the final round.

Davis (66) was in the last-group threesome that included the leaders. He had two birdies the first three holes before the first of his four bogeys.

Johnson was 13 under when he capped a streak of four consecutive birdies with a 9-footer at the 461-yard No. 8 after hitting his approach from the rough.

But Johnson then went right and then left on consecutive wayward tee shots, taking penalty strokes on both. The tee shot at the 427-yard ninth hole went into the water and his 33-foot par putt slid just right of the cup.

After hitting his drive at the 435-yard 10th way left into an unplayable lie near more water, Johnson momentarily stood on the box staring ahead. Once he got to his ball, he took a drop in an adjacent fairway and knocked the approach to 3 feet to save par.

He had three bogeys the final six holes, including the par-5 16th.

"Turning on the back I struggled with my tee balls a lot," Johnson said. "I ended up with 66, so that's never bad. I'm right there in it."

Divots: PGA Tour rookie Marc Leishman had a career-low round of 63, the best of the day. Starting on the back nine, Leishman had three consecutive birdies, back-to-back bogeys and then three more birdies before his first par came on No. 18. ... There are four defending Nelson champions still playing. The closest to the leaders is 1987 winner Fred Couples at 8-under 202 after his three rounds in the 60s.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1900713,00.html)

Goydos opens 3-stroke lead at Texas Open

SAN ANTONIO(AP) Paul Goydos remembered hitting one mediocre shot Friday in the Texas Open, but not any bad ones.

Goydos followed his opening 7-under 63 with a 65 to reach 12 under on the La Cantera Golf Club course - three strokes ahead of three-time champion Justin Leonard and four others. It's the biggest lead Goydos has ever had on the PGA Tour.

``It's just kind of like being the pace car, for lack of a better word,'' the 44-year-old Goydos said. ``We're going to go out and play two more rounds of golf, but the tournament's going to be in front of me tomorrow, which is kind of cool.''

Goydos had six birdies after dropping a stroke on his first hole, the par-4 10th,

``This is why you play. If I wasn't comfortable where I am right now, I need to find another profession,'' said Goydos, the 1996 Bay Hill and 2007 Sony Open winner. ``This is why we play, practice and endure rough weeks, so we learn something, to improve and get better. And tomorrow is going to be another chapter in that learning process of becoming a better player.''

Leonard, tied with Goydos after the first round, shot a 68 to join Scott Sterling (63), John Mallinger (64), Mathias Gronberg (65) and Ted Purdy (67) at 9 under.

Gronberg opened the tournament with a 66, then went to work quickly chasing Goydos. Using a pitching wedge, he holed out for eagle from 123 yards on the par-4 12th and followed with birdies on the next two holes.

``It's a good place for me,'' said Gronberg, who finished third in 2007. ``Normally certain players play good in certain places, and this golf course has been very good to me over the years.''

Defending champion Zach Johnson was seven strokes back after a 67.

``Maybe a little polishing on the weekend, and hopefully we can make a push,'' Johnson said.

David Duval shot a 69 and was seven back, fading down the back nine after birdieing four of his first nine holes and getting within a stroke of the lead. Still, the world's former No. 1 made his first tournament cut in three months.

Trouble began for Duval, who hasn't won a tournament since 2001, when his tee shot on the par-4 11th hooked badly into the rough.

Duval and a rules official studied the ball, tucked around dry brush and rock, and Duval's options for about a minute. The 2001 British Open champion tried about every angle that might of given him a chance before resigning himself to take a penalty stroke and start over.

He sputtered to another bogey two holes later, when he missed a 12-footer on No. 13. The 37-year-old rebounded with a birdie on the next hole, but finished the round with by missing a 7-footer that would have saved par.

``I feel like I've been playing exponentially better than my scores have been,'' Duval said. ``I'm finally getting closer to scores I think are representative of how I'm playing. ... I'm trying to have a chance to win golf tournaments.''

Among those not making the cut was Jesper Parnevik - or his caddie, Lance Ten Broeck. In a rarity that PGA Tour officials in San Antonio believed hadn't happened on the tour in years, Ten Broeck caddied and played in the tournament when he filled in as an alternate.

The 53-year-old former tour regular shot an even-par 70 on Friday before toting Parnevik's bag the rest of the afternoon. He pulled the same double-duty Thursday, and was so unprepared that he was driven to a nearby mall to buy pants. Ten Broeck also had to borrow clubs both days.

He finished at 1-over 141 to miss the cut by two strokes.

But he finished ahead of Parnevik, who was 4 over.

``Physically, I'm fine,'' Ten Broeck said. ``I'm just disappointed that I didn't play any better. I know I was close.''

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1899053,00.html)

Alex Cejka has overcome Communism and injuries on his way to Players lead

The midway leader of the Players Championship swam across the Rhine River at age 9 after fleeing Communism in the former Czechoslovakia. As an immigrant in Germany at age 15, he followed his golfing idol for 18 holes in a steady rain, dreaming that one day he might find the same kind of work.

Just last week, at age 38, he took an epidural injection in his right arm to relieve the pain from a pinched nerve and numbness in his fingers.

It has been an interesting life for Alex Cejka, who lacks the star power of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson but who is dusting both at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Cejka, after a round of 67, leads the championship by two shots over England's Ian Poulter, seven shots over Woods, and 11 over Mickelson, who made the cut on the number at even-par 144.

Even better, Cejka's back story might be the most amazing at the TPC Sawgrass.

"For me, it was just a little trip," Cejka said Friday, reflecting on the circumstances of leaving Czechoslovakia with his father. "I was too young to understand what was going on. For me, it was a vacation, a smooth ride. Probably my dad was nervous as hell just leaving everything behind, taking the son and a little backpack through three or four countries into the West."

They traveled by any means necessary — "by foot, by train, by bike, everything," Cejka said — and eventually settled in Frankfurt. Cejka's father was an engineer and part-time piano player during the 1980s, at about the same time Bernhard Langer was becoming a golfing legend in Germany.

"It was the Langer boom," Cejka said. "He'd just won the Masters. He came to play the German Open in Frankfurt every year back then, and of course, I watched him. He was the only German guy who was on tour, the only German guy who won tournaments, the only German guy who won a major. That was the inspiration. I watched him whenever I could."

Cejka would eventually become a solid international player, taking 11 titles around the world but never finishing higher than second on the PGA Tour. This week he has looked comfortable playing against the deepest field in golf, shooting 32 on his front nine Friday and making two more birdies against a bogey on the back. He has built his lead despite dealing with numerous physical ailments.

He missed three months last season after neck surgery, which included inserting a titanium plate and a cadaver bone to stabilize the area.

"After the surgery, everything was fine until I woke up one day and it was just numb and it was just inflamed, irritated," he said. "That was kind of a shock for me."

In addition to last week's epidural injection, Cejka has had to ice his neck twice a day and skip the long practice sessions customary on the PGA Tour.

"It's tough to just hit one bucket and relax, but that's what I have to do the next couple of weeks," Cejka said.

If Cejka leaves extra practice balls on the range, he might want to send them over to Woods and Mickelson. The duo that jousted during the final round of the Masters continues to cede the spotlight to other competitors. Woods, at least, broke 70 thanks to three straight birdies in the middle of his round and a scrambling par on the difficult 18th after he drove behind a tree, hit a low punch to 10 feet, and took two putts.

He predicted that the pin placements on Saturday would be punched for scoring.

"You can probably shoot a good one if you play well," Woods said.

For the second straight day, Mickelson couldn't get any magic going on the course he conquered just two years ago. He had several birdie looks that slid past the hole. (He has needed 61 putts through two rounds). On the par-3 eighth hole — his 17th of the day — he missed a 4-footer for par, which forced him to make birdie on the par-5 ninth or miss the cut.

From the fairway, Mickelson reached the 575-yard hole in two shots, and two-putted for birdie. He was safe for the weekend, if well out of contention. "I knew I had to make 4 to have a chance," he said.

For now, the stage is Cejka's, even if there are some big names lurking behind. Masters champ Angel Cabrera is four shots back, and so are David Toms and Henrik Stenson. But Cejka has been through more harrowing events than four rounds on Pete Dye's taxing golf course. A childhood escape, an immigrant experience, and, ultimately, a career in golf. Maybe, at the end of Sunday, there will be a crystal trophy, too.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1897102,00.html)

As temperatures rose, scores hit some rare lows at the Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — When we left the Players a year ago, the wind was howling and so were the players. Those who didn't break 80 outnumbered those who broke 70 by more than four to one. On that memorable bloody Sunday, the 40 mph gusts even blew the enthusiasm out of young Anthony Kim, who said he "wouldn't wish playing in this on anybody."

That Black Sunday seemed long ago and very far away on this calm, warm, summery day that we'll call Red Thursday at the Stadium Course, since that's the color the scoreboard was painted by an impressive barrage of birdies and eagles, one seldom seen in these parts. This won't go down as the lowest scoring session in Players history but it was one fine day nevertheless.

"The course is playing fairly easy," said Swede Richard S. Johnson, who shot 66 which tied with John Mallinger for low score in the morning draw and was good for second at day's end behind Ben Crane's 65. "If it ever plays easy."

Easy is a relative term at the Stadium Course. There were still plenty of disasters and horror stories. Brian Gay, who won the Verizon Heritage in a runaway, took a nine at the par-4 fourth. The island green 17th's victims included ex-Pebble Beach champ Steve Lowery, who dunked two shots on his way to an eight. Even the nondescript par-4 seventh elicited a quadruple-bogey eight from former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell. Ouch.

Overall, scores were good. David Toms is the first to admit his track record here isn't all that heartening, but even he lit up the Stadium Course for eight birdies in his first 13 holes. However, Toms settled for 67 after a bogey-bogey finish. The moral: No matter how "easy" the Stadium Course is, it's never so easy that there isn't a seven waiting out there with your name on it.

"It's an awkward course, I think everybody would say that," said Toms. "I think the key to why I've played pretty well so far this year is my driving. I still throw in a bad drive here or there, but I feel good about my swing off the tee. As long as I can commit to the shape of the shot, I've been driving it pretty well."

Three more days of quiet weather like this--and that is indeed what's in the forecast--and we may wistfully remember those March dates when it was windy and rainy, and misery and suffering were a dynamic duo that was fun to watch, not fun to experience. Now that it's May, this balmy week feels like the start of summer.

"It's this humid when we play the Malaysian Open," said international star Jeev Milkha (The Milkman) Singh, who posted a 68, "but [there] it would be another five, six degrees hotter. And more humid."

Thanks for the weather report. Now, back to sports.

Crane, who played in the afternoon, had nine birdies en route to his 7-under 65. (Alex Cejka shot 66 to tie with Johnson and Mallinger).The world's best players aren't exactly lurking. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, for instance, weren't among the top 25. Woods shot 71, one under par, and was tied for 38th place. Mickelson shot 73, despite being three under after his first four holes, and ended his round tied for 79th. He suffered five bogeys, including one after hitting his second shot into the water at the par-5 16th.

Woods had a decent day off the tee, missing only four fairways, but was simply unable to cash in. He eagled the 16th but managed only two other birdies. Once again the World No. 1 was hit by a wave of lip-out putts. Even by a conservative estimate, near-misses cost Woods half a dozen shots. "This was the highest score I could've shot today," lamented Tiger, who didn't hole a putt longer than four feet.

Defending champion Sergio Garcia had an odd day. Despite struggling badly of late, he birdied three of the first four holes. But Garcia struggled coming in and, like Woods, posted 71. Garcia was still searching for something in his swing. "It feels like I'm trying to steer everything to make it go the right way and it didn't go the right way today," he said. "The way I played, 71 is not that bad of a score but when you're three under par and the course is playing the easiest it is going to play all week — if you play halfway decent, you are going to shoot 65, 68, 69."

Garcia is right: It is difficult to imagine this course playing any more receptively than it did on Thursday. That's why it was so costly not to take advantage of it.

Paul Goydos, the defending runner-up (your new Golf Term of the Week), had a tougher time than Garcia, the man who defeated him last year in a playoff. Goydos suffered a bogey-bogey-double-double stretch early on the back nine that ruined his round and led to a 78. "Time to go," Goydos jokingly told reporters after a few minutes. "I hit too many shots out there. I'm very tired."

Scott Verplank was among a posse of players at 67, five under. He holed a 150-yard shot for eagle at the 15th hole and then sank a 50-foot putt at the par-5 second hole for eagle. "I had two eagles in one round and I can't remember doing that, probably ever," said the short-hitting Verplank. "That always helps the scorecard."

Nine birdies will usually do the trick, too. Crane's finish surpassed his entrance. Because his wife had the car, he rode to the course on a friend's moped. "How fast does a moped go?" he was asked. "About 30," he said, laughing.

He should've said 32, his score on his final nine when he birdied four holes in a row, starting at No. 2. His round was also a surprise based on his recent play. Crane had missed three cuts in his last four appearances. Or, as he put it, "three of my last four events have been trunk-slammers."

The only things slamming in his first round were his putts, into the bottom of the cups. He had 22 putts, and they covered more than 170 feet.

"It was just one of those days a golfer lives for," Crane said. "I just tried to start the ball on line. Sometimes, you have a day like today."

Yes, it was a rare day at the Stadium Course. Enjoy it while you can, gentlemen. Who knows what Friday will bring?

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1896827,00.html)

Players: A tournament where the course is the star

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.(AP) Even with the strongest field in golf, The Players Championship is among the few tournaments where the biggest star is the golf course.

The Stadium Course on the TPC Sawgrass has a personality all its own.

Sure, it is renowned for its island green on the par-3 17th, perhaps the most notorious short hole in golf where players have hit 312 balls in the water over the last five years alone. But the shot is only 137 yards, a wedge for most players.

The winning score has ranged from a record 24-under 264 by Greg Norman in 1994 to 3-under 285 by David Duval in 1999.

The list of champions is as impressive as any - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Nick Price, Fred Couples - yet no one has ever repeated as champion.

It can look easy. But it can play hard.

A small sampling of players in the days before The Players Championship showed how complex this place can be. They were asked to describe the TPC Sawgrass in one word.

``Exciting,'' offered three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, the only player to be runner-up in consecutive years. ``What I mean by that is that it's not a big brute of a course with long, boring par 4s. There's quite a lot of short, tricky par 4s out there. And there's a lot of intimidating shots. A lot of water. It's a course that's exciting at all times.

``Even without the players this week, it would be an exciting event.''

The Players Championship did not have Woods last year, the No. 1 attraction in golf, and there was excitement aplenty. It ended with a sudden-death playoff - the first playoff to start on the 17th hole - and Paul Goydos promptly hit his tee shot into the water.

``Tricky,'' is the word chosen by Woods.

His record is most peculiar. Woods was runner-up in 2000 to Hal Sutton, then won the next year over Vijay Singh. But he has not cracked the top 10 since then, his longest such streak of any PGA Tour event. He has never led after any round in any year except for when he rallied to win on a Monday in 2001.

The Stadium Course does not discriminate, offering winners who are power players (Woods, Norman, Couples, Mickelson) or short hitters (Fred Funk, Lee Janzen), stars (Price, Duval, Davis Love III) or unheralded winners (Craig Perks).

Only eight of the champions at Sawgrass have failed to win a major.

Most people consider The Players Championship as the fifth major, which is why Steve Stricker used ``challenging'' for his word.

``It not only challenges you physically, but it challenges you mentally,'' he said. ``It's like a major. There's no letup on any hole. On every single shot, you have to be committed.''

Sergio Garcia is the defending champion when The Players Championship begins Thursday, its 28th consecutive year on a course designed by Pete Dye and often described as ``Dye-a-bolical,'' for the punishment the course metes out on whim.

Goydos earned more notoriety for his playoff loss than any of his two PGA Tour victories, in part because of his everyman personality that served as such a contrast to Garcia's illuminating career.

Some debated whether starting a playoff on the 17th hole was fair or done purely for promotional purposes, but the guy who paid the steepest price had no qualms.

``There's no advantage to any one player,'' he said. ``All tour players pretty much are standing on that tee equal. You can look at a hole like 16 or 18 and you say there's an advantage to a guy who hooks the ball. Seventeen doesn't favor anybody.''

His word to describe the course?

``Surprising,'' he said. ``When you look at each hole individually, it really shouldn't be that difficult. It's just that each hole is designed to the point where if you make a mistake or get out of position ... in trying to get back into position and trying to be aggressive from that point, it tends to kind snowball away from you.''

Phil Mickelson called it ``interesting.'' Zach Johnson said it was ``all-encompassing.'' Retief Goosen called it ``dramatic.''

Harrington never feels comfortable on the Stadium Course, and he pointed to the island-green 17th as the consummate hole to define the character of the place.

``It's not a difficult birdie, but it's a very difficult par,'' he said. ``It's a strange game on this course that there's a lot of holes that if you play them well, you get rewarded. And if you play them badly, you get punished.''

Of course, no survey would be complete without the wisdom of Boo Weekley. His one-word description?

``Flush,'' Weekley said.

Flush?

``Yeah, flush'' he said. ``Because you've got to hit it pure, or you're going to want to flush it down the toilet.''

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1896543,00.html)

PGA Tour Confidential: The Quail Hollow Championship

Our insiders breakdown Tiger's finish on Sunday, the chances of a major coming to Quail Hollow and picks for the Players Championship

Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: It's time for PGA Tour Confidential, when our merry band of analysts (some in need of analysis) discuss the week in golf. Lots of interesting issues, but let's start with Quail Hollow.

Sean O'Hair made up for his Bay Hill failure by playing near flawless golf and getting the win. He outplayed Tiger Woods, who alternately looked like his old self and a man fighting swing issues with his driver. Tiger actually got outplayed by a lot of players Sunday, including the likes of Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner and Lucas Glover.

The course also merits some discussion. If Quail Hollow ever loses its tour sponsorship, the USGA ought to jump in and get this track in the U.S. Open rotation. It's already tough enough for an Open, even without six-inch rough.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I'm with you, Gary, on endorsing Quail Hollow for a U.S. Open. I caddied there 30 years ago in a Kemper Open, and nothing about it is the same. Shades of Augusta and even the Old Course, with the creeks, and the only penalty that means anything to Tour players: water in play.

Van Sickle: We raved in our Players preview issue about the finishing holes at the Stadium Course. I'm not sure I wouldn't rather try to par those three than 16, 17 and 18 at Quail Hollow. Imagine watching today's finish with the pressure of the Open on the line. I'm starting to drool.

Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: According to Golf Channel, Quail Hollow will get a PGA Championship and Ryder Cup in the next 60 days or they'll withdraw. The club says it won't go for an Open because Pinehurst is the USGA's in-state go to, and they wouldn't want to mess with that.

David Dusek, deputy editor, Golf.com: I heard a rumor that the club might not re-up with the PGA Tour in 2014 in hopes of landing a future major or a Ryder Cup.

Gorant: Exactly. If they get the PGA nod, they'll stop the Tour event. If they don't get it, they'll continue as is.

Bamberger: Quail Hollow would do well to keep the Tour event, and get something else, as Congressional does. They don't need to play hardball like that.

Jim Herre, editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: Didn't get the sense they were just playing hardball, that's just the time frame for when it will or won't happen.

Van Sickle: Sounds like it's easier to host a major than to find a sponsor willing to drop big bucks on a tour event. Another bad omen for the tour.

Gorant: Wonder if more courses will go to this kind of setup? Light rough favors the guys who hit it long and have a good short game, almost guaranteeing that Tiger and Phil will always be in contention, and bombers like Bubba Watson will get more shots.

Dusek: Increasing the entertainment value should be reason enough to consider cutting some of the rough down. We love the U.S. Open because it's so tough, but who wants to watch 20 weeks of survival of the fittest?

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: Golf fans and sports fans in general should be thanking their lucky stars that, as major season heats up, Tiger and Phil are showing signs of having their A games. With the economy in the doldrums, the entertaining diversion that is the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world going head-to-head (or at least the tantalizing prospect of it) could not come at a better time.

Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: It seems like the Tour wants to set up courses that suit Phil and Tiger: layouts where you can hit it all over the place and still score. I'm bored with everyone needing Tiger and Phil to be there at the end for the TV numbers. Just let them play.

Van Sickle: These courses absolutely should go to less rough. The pendulum swung too far the other way. The Florida swing is like U.S. Open Lite these days. What players want that in March? They'd like to go to PGA National and Doral and make some birdies and eagles like they used to. I've heard the Players has less rough this week. I hope that's true.

Bamberger: In recent years, the Tour has done a good job of moving tees, getting holes in tough spots, getting playable rough. It's a tough balancing act, and I think they do it well. The pro-am pin placements are so simple guys think they should shoot 66 on Thursday, too — and they get whacked.

Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Kym Hougham, the Quail Hollow tourney director, said the membership agreed to cut the rough, in part, because of the recession and to bring some excitement to the gallery. "We think that, especially in this year's environment, this needs to be entertaining," he said. "People are spending hard-earned dollars to come out here, and we want to reward them with birdies and eagles and roars and smiles."

Rick Lipsey, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Cutting the rough because of the recession? That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Only a country club meeting could produce such a goofy decision.

Van Sickle: I agree with Rick. Again? Yes. Cutting the rough means more mowing, more gasoline and more expense. That's total club-meeting gibberish.

(From Website : http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1895563,00.html)