wild finish at Jeld-Wen

It was a wild finish at the Jeld Wen Championship on Sunday. Craig Stadler had the championship fall in his lap after he birdied 18 and everyone else seemed to find a way to fall out of the lead.

The most amusing spectacle was Peter Jacobsen trying to hit his ball, while standing in the creek on 17. While tied for the lead, he hit his drive into the hazard, but his ball nestled on a sidehill embankment. To hit the shot, Peter got into the water, but the ball was so far above his feet on the embankment. To me, it was an impossible shot. Jacobsen hit a low liner right into the water. Double bogey...his tournament over, feet soaked, and door closed.

Euro Ryder Cup: old and young

Bernhard Langer went with experience and youth, selecting veteran Colin Montgomerie and rookie Luke Donald. Joining them will be:

Padraig Harrington
Sergio Garcia
Darren Clarke
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Lee Westwood
Thomas Levet
Paul Casey
David Howell
Paul McGinley
Ian Poulter

across the pond

Across the pond, the BMW International is going on, with Retief Goosen with the first round lead at -6. John Daly and Colin Montgomerie are one stroke back, at -5. It's a big week for Monty and Luke Donald, who are trying to make the Ryder Cup as captain's picks. Should Bernhard Langer pick them, or someone else?

3 -- check that, 4 buicks?

Buick must think that golf is a good investment. Today, it's hosting its 4th tournament of the year, the Buick Championship in Connecticut (fomerly the Greater Hartford Open). If you recall, Buick also had the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines (which John Daly won) , the Buick Classic (which Sergio Garcia won), and the Buick Open at Warwick Hills (which Vijay Singh won). Four tournaments in one year, with 4 different names? That's impressive. Maybe they should call it the "Buick Grand Slam." (Thanks, Anonymous, for noting the Classic.)

olympics, part 2

Padraig Harrington supported the idea of having golf in the Olympics, as did Davis Love III. Harrington thought it could be a 5th major, while Davis thought the amateurs should play in it. Anyway, you heard the idea here first.

UPDATE: Ron Sirak of Golf World has just joined the debate in favor of including golf at the Olympics, while Tom Watson and Nick Faldo are against it.

ernie the disconsolate

Ernie Els, who played horribly at the NEC, appears to be demoralized from losing all 4 majors this year. My advice: get over it, and move on.

comments from Anonymous

One of our readers posted this comment, defending Tiger from naysayers who post on our blog. It was a very thoughtful post that I thought deserved everyone's read because there are nothing like empirical facts to shed light on arguments:

"Anti-Tiger comments by media and fans are growing old. You people will find something to complain about when he's winning too. This year, Tiger is:
#1 in putting average
#2 par breaker
#3 top ten finishes
#4 in scoring average
#4 in money
#6 in driving distance

Also, his career marks valididate "hype" for the next 200 years:
#1 career money leader
40 PGA Tour victories
7 International victories
8 other victories
8 major victories
130 consecutive cuts

Oh, and he's 28 years old! Get over it. Tiger Woods deserves every bit of positive attention he gets, and only a fraction of the negative attention he gets. "

Very well said.

stewart cink

Apparently, Stewart Cink likes playing after the majors. All of his tour victories have come the week after a major. Stewart won the NEC by 4 strokes (at -11), besting Tiger Woods and Rory Sabbatini who tied for 2nd.

So, if I'm not mistaken, Stewart, Tiger, and Sabbatini all play Nike clubs. This may be the first tournament Nike finished 1-2-2.

While finishing 2nd, Tiger fended off challengers for World No. 1. Vijay finished +3, Ernie +13.

Cink has a commanding lead!!

After attending and watching the NEC Invitational yesterday, I can understand why the players are struggling. First of all, the course is completely soaked and at 7300+ yards with a bit of wind can give any player not hitting the ball in the fairway has no chance to really score. Second, the rough in spots is ridiculous. When I saw some of the grounds crew going around with rakes and "fluffing" the rough, hitting the ball in the rough doesn't allow many players to go at the hole. Third, I feel there is a bit of a post PGA let down. The NEC Invitational is a "big" tournament, but it is not a major and after beating themselves up at Whistling Straits, players like Vijay, Phil, and Ernie are not interested.

As far as the fans go... People still love Phil. I saw him on 16 and he hit a horrible wedge for his standards, missing the green from 60 yards. However, he still was able to make par. Tiger still has the largest crowd, which was 5 deep when I saw him. John Daly doesn't really care about his image and just wanted to get off the golf course, collect his check, and go back to his RV and drink a beer or 2 or more.

My prediction for today's round: Cink shows why he should not have been chosen for the Ryder Cup and Tiger comes back and wins by 3.

NEC What?

Well being born and breed in Akron, I've gone to the NEC Invitational multiple times. In fact, I'm going this afternoon and Sunday, so I'll be able to figure out the nonsense that is the NEC Invitational this year.

The tournament this year has gotten the similar treatment that most of the golf tournaments I played in this year. Lots and Lots of rain. Thus, the 7300+ yard Firestone Country Club's South Course is probably playing nearly 8000 yards. The rough supposedly is nearly 4-5 inches deep and if you do not keep it in the fairway, forget about hitting it onto the green. (remember Phil on #3 the first day).

What I'm most dissapointed about this year is the fact that this tournament was supposed to be the "Changing of the Guard". Tiger was supposed to continue his "slump" and fall out of his #1 spot in the World Rankings. However, Tiger is currently in 3rd place 4 back of newly elected Ryder Cupper Stewart Cink. But Vijay, Ernie, and Phil are playing like a middle of the pack high school team. Ernie is tied for 72nd after shooting 72-77. Vijay is T64 (73-73). Phil is T61 (70-75). Obviously the course cannot be playing that difficult if Cink is -9. CBS and Tiger will probably be showing the "Coming of Tiger" and how he always wins at Firestone!

Anyways, I'll be out there today and will post later this evening about why I feel Firestone South is winning this week!!

World No. 1 ranking on the line

It's no longer complicated. If Vijay places better than Tiger at this week's NEC, Vijay takes over No. 1. Of, if both tie in any position outside the top 10, then Vijay overtakes No. 1.

For Ernie Els to overtake No. 1, it's more complicated. He needs to finish at least 3rd, and then Tiger and Vijay finish in certain positions. See here for scenarios.

NEC at Firestone

The NEC Invitational is back at Firestone this year, in Akron, Ohio. This week could be the week that Tiger loses his No. 1 World Ranking status, although I don't think there's a cut for this event so his other streak will be intact. Tiger loves Firestone, having won in 1999, 2000, and 2001, so maybe he can recapture the old magic.

The season rolls on

With the PGA Championship put in a nutshell by mulligan, this week will prove to be a week for those to try and fulfill their season goals. The NEC at Firestone has been lengthened and will repeat as course built for bombers. You have to expect the usual subjects to fight it out (Els, Woods, Singh, Phil). But in my opinion, you have to assume Tiger has his world ranking foremost in his head, and will do everything in his power to try and build some type of buffer between himself and his chasers. Granted, his play this year has been nowhere near that of the #1 player in the world, but I have to assume he is spending all his waking hours getting whatever problems he can identify out of his system. Thus said, I have to view him as the favorite, as the oddsmakers in Europe have already done. For the Renoe/Tahoe, it will be a crapshoot as always, but there are some items to point out. Both Duffy Waldorf and Tim Herron are favorites, and both have strong records at this course. Duffy also put together three good rounds in The PGA Championship. But I would look at those on the bubble for some surprising possible winners, if not top finishers. Lucas Glover and John Rollins are both on the money list between 125 and 130, and would love to get their playing priveledges secured for next year. They are both good overall drivers, and by their records, Rollins has made the cut in his last 7 tournaments, and Glover has made the cut in his last six. And as a final note, what would make me happiest would be to see Corey Pavin put on a show and get himself a spot in next year's Mercedes Championship. It's been far too long since we've seen that occur.

the olympics

The Olympics now has tennis, softball, and even synchronized diving -- I kid you not. So why doesn't it have golf? True, it might throw a monkey wrench into the tour schedule, but tennis seems to have adjusted quite fine every 4th year. The golf Olympics would combine the best from the Ryder and Presidents' Cups, including all countries from around the world. You could even have a team event, too, not just individual matches.

PGA recap

Sunday at Whistling Straits was the site of a train wreck. Vijay Singh shot 76, with no birdies in regulation, but ended up winning in a playoff. It was a gift, one of the highest rounds to win a major. Some afterthoughts:

1. I don't want to say Justin Leonard choked, but he failed to "step up" when the championship was sitting in his lap. Missing 4 putts within 10 feet on the last 6 holes was devastating. Trying to hit a 5-iron on 18th from 200 plus yards into the wind was costly the first time in regulation; trying to hit the same club from about the same yardage in the playoff was idiotic.

2. Chris DiMarco played well on Sunday (-1), but hit 2 costly bogeys after badly pulled drives on 15 and 16. Leaving his birdie putt short on the 18th -- that would have won the tournament -- was unfortunate.

3. Chris Riley. He missed a 5-footer in the playoff with John Daly earlier this year. Then, he comes to the 18th yesterday at -8, needs a par to get into the playoff, but then proceeds to 3 putt, again missing a crucial 5 footer. All I hear about Riley is how great a putter he is. Could've fooled me.

4. Ernie Els. Amazingly, even though he seemed to be spraying his ball all over the course, Ernie could have made the playoff had he parred the 18th. As usual, he drove his ball into the rough, though, and could barely muscle his approach to the monster green. Like Riley, he three-putted.

5. Phil Mickelson. Would he have played the course differently had he known that he would have made the playoff had he shot even par?

6. Tiger Woods. A complete non-factor this week, and this year.

Hal: Jay Haas and Stewart Cink

Hal's made his picks. Hard to argue with them. Stewart Cink has the best putting average on tour. Both almost made the top 10 in Ryder Cup points.

Hal considered Scott Verplank, but had some concerns about his ankle problem. Verplank was the only person, other than the selections, that Hal called last night. When asked about Todd Hamilton, Hal said that he was somewhat of an unknown and, although he won twice and stared down two fierce competitors, Todd won on 2 courses that are exact opposites of Oakland Hills. About Justin Leonard, Hal said it wouldn't be fair to judge a person based only on 1 tournament, good or bad.

Hal was very gracious in his comments, and said that he only had 2 picks and a lot of other people deserved to be on the team.

ryder cup: hal, your move

We'll have more on the grueling (and somewhat forgettable) last round of the PGA, in which most golfers shot over par. But the most pressing issue is the Ryder Cup. Hal Sutton will be making his 2 captain's picks by tomorrow.

Here are who made the team: Tiger, Phil, Davis Love, Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry, David Toms, Chad Campbell, Fred Funk, and with their play today, Chris DiMarco, and Chris Riley (who never seems able to make a clutch putt).

Some people who are left out: Steve Flesch, Stewart Cink, Jay Haas, Jerry Kelly, Jeff Maggert, Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton, John Daly.

My prediction of whom Sutton will pick: Jay Haas and Scott Verplank.
If I were captain, who'd I pick: Jay Haas and John Daly, or possibly Todd Hamilton.

P.S. The U.S. Ryder Cup scoring system seems just as mysterious as the BCS Championship for college football. Why would Justin Leonard have vaulted from 30th in the standing to the top 10 if he had won the PGA? That's an incredible jump and would have seemed odd, given that Todd Hamilton has won twice this year and still wouldn't have made it.

Leonard on the Ryder Cup??

Just a thought... What if Justin Leonard wins? Does he deserve a captain's pick?

Leonard is by far one of the best clutch putters and clearly has a lot of experience in the Ryder Cup. With Kelly, Cink and others fading, give Justin a shot!!!

game on

The majors have not disappointed this year. The PGA is shaping up to be another instant classic. Here's the leaderboard:

Vijay Singh -9
Justin Leonard -9
Ernie Els -8
Darren Clarke -8
Briny Baird -8
Chris DiMarco -6

Others:
Padraig Harrington -5
KJ Choi -5
Phil Mickelson -3
Tiger Woods E

I'd really like to see the winds blow. They have been silent.

Spilt Milk

I know I've sort of harped on this, but it seems to me that when you go into a major, your mindset can't be primed to complain about the course. Outside of other whining about how hard the course is before the tournament began, he now is upset that they played several holes from the front teeboxes. I know other players have said the same thing in both regards (too hard...too easy), but since every player plays the same course, complainign about the course only gives your own admission that you may not be the best player at the time. Granted, at the U.S. Open certain conditions brought too much luck in as a factor; and once that occurs, perhaps the best player does not win (although Goosen deserved to win that one). But if you are complaining that a course is set up too easy with forward tees, you have no excuse to shoot over par. If you are complaining that the course is set up differently than how you played your practice rounds, even Dimarco admitted that he expected tees to be set up on certain holes since there were designations during the practice rounds that forward tees on certain holes would be used...and thus, your complaint has no validity. In short, suck it up. I know the press is looking to get something out of you, but whining about the course only shows that you are no longer in it to win it. Perhaps that is a little harsh, but I can't remember Tiger or Vijay complaining about a course when they are on the top of the leaderboard.

els takes lead, tiger drives into water

UPDATE: Ernie has taken over the lead at -9, followed by Briny Baird at -8. Tiger opened birdie-birdie, but just has sliced his drive 40 yards right into the water on the par 5 5th. Tiger dropped, and then tried to hit a 3-wood over the water. It was a dangerous shot because the "Snake" has water on the other side, too. I don't know what he was thinking, but Tiger hit his shot and it got stuck in hay like rough. From there, Tiger muscled a kamikaze hack out of the rough 20 yards short of the green. He pitched to about 5 feet and managed to "save" bogey. He's 2 over par, hovering right near the projected cut line.

john daly, 81

He's leading -- by far -- our poll for a captain's pick on the Ryder Cup, but John Daly just about shot himself out of contention. Hal Sutton probably would not have picked him anyway (read in between the lines of his comments about playing well on the par 3s and 4s and making putts on the 18th), but JD gave Sutton the easy way-out with his opening day round of 81, which had a snowman 8 on the 18th hole.

I'm very sad for JD because, until yesterday, he had been playing so well and consistent. Two weeks ago, he finished 2nd to Vijay Singh. I would have loved to see him in the Ryder Cup. But it looks like, not this year.

Because I'm a JD fan, I need someone to blame. I could blame Hal Sutton, but it would be hard to the way Scott Verplank, Chris DiMarco, and others are playing at the PGA (Jay Haas looks like he will finish in the top 10 for the Ryder Cup on points). So I guess I have to blame the tournament hosts for suddenly switching 5 different tees to the "up" position, dramatically changing the yardage on those holes from the practice rounds. They changed the 18th hole to the up position, and John Daly decided to hit the 2-iron, when he probably hit driver all week. I know this is a bit of a stretch, and everybody had to adjust to same course, but sometimes neither life nor golf is fair to John Daly.

michelle wie loses

Michelle Wie was leading 2-up at the 16th, but lost the last three holes in match play to InBee Park. I didn't see it, but the write-up suggests that Michelle, well, choked.

david duval: I'm back

DD is -1 after 9 holes. The biggest surprise of the tournament, ... so far.

Phil's Starting Strong...

-3 through 4... Much better than Mr. Woods who was +3 through 4.

Come on Phil!!!

-17

This threesome (playing together) won the best ball competition today:

Darren Clarke -7
Justin Leonard -6
KJ Choi -4

Opportunity Knocking?

With Norman dropping out of the field, and possibly out of playing golf professionally, Joe Durant steps into a pretty good situation. His stats appear primed for the PGA Championship. First in total driving on the tour, 2nd in Greens in Regulation, 3rd in driving accuracy. If this guy could just putt reasonably well for four rounds (which he is not prone to do as his statistics show), he would be a lock for a top 10 in this tournament. This just shows another reason why the last majors have been won by so many newbies, and why the players have got it right when they claim, "the quality of players on the PGA Tour runs deeper than ever before."

photographer distracts tiger

Here's how Tiger's round went bad. On the 11th hole, a photographer started clicking while Tiger was about to drive. Tiger heard it and had to stop. Stevie Williams warned the photographer. Tiger reloaded and proceeded to duck hook his drive and ended up double bogeying the par 5 11th. He then bogeyed the next two holes.

But Tiger seems to have composed himself now, shooting par golf and still on the course.

Power Fade, on target

Well, we said this guy would have some good insights. Two days ago, Power Fade correctly predicted that Darren Clarke "will be one to follow." It's still early yet, but Darren is leading the tournament at -7, followed by Els at -4 and Choi at -3. Vijay is at -2, Tiger and Daly are +2. Scores here.

Wie All Square through 9 in 2nd round

Michelle Wie (one of Mulligan's favorite golfers) is all square through 9 in the 2nd round of the US Women's Amateur. Wie is playing 2 time US Girls Championship (which Wie has never won) In Bee Park. Should be a great final 9 holes!


For complete results click here. The quarterfinals through finals will be on television this weekend.

Tiger +3 thru 4

Tiger is close, but has not gotten off to a good start.

KJ Choi Birdies the first 5 holes on the Front. Whistling Straits must not be playing too difficult this morning!

Bob Sowards, a local Columbus, Ohio Club Pro, is +1 through 6.

Jay Haas is -2 through 7.


For real-time scoring click here.

Dear John Letter...

Poor Big John. I saw the pairings last Sunday, and I thought, "this could be the perfect situation or the worst situation." Why? Think about the Battle of the Bridges. When Mickelson was playing well and backing John up, John was making birdies like his life depended on it. As Phil faded towards the end, John no longer made the clutch putts to save his team. The same is true for this pairing. Had Tiger and Vijay lit up the course, I have to think that John would have done the same. But with Tiger headed South quickly, and Vijay riding along at 1 under, John let the 6 inches between his ears take over, and has faded to the back of the pack (Granted, John may not have the patience to play this course anyway, but it seems that when he gets on a roll, he shuts off the voices in his head, and makes birdies automatic).

The 15th Club in the Bag

On Tuesday, players were asked what the most important thing would be to shoot well at this weeks PGA Championship. I remember Els and Clarke stating "patience," and "6 inches between my ears." Then there were others that stated, "if the wind blows, this may be the hardest course I have ever played." I think we all know who said that. In other words, watch the interviews after today's round, and I bet those with positive attitudes are the ones to watch, and those who complain about factors of the course will fade away (thus my comment early in the week regarding Clarke). I also predicted Vijay and Mickelson with their driving accuracy would finish better than Els and Tiger, despite Els and Tiger being favored by the oddsmakers. Els is making me look bad, but I'm sticking with my gut feeling. Jerry Kelly hasn't teed off yet, but he is my darkhorse pick...he had the same attitude as Clarke, positive and complimentary of the course.

8:20 a.m.

Tee time on hole 10: Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, John Daly.
Bring it on.

Where will the danger lie?

Last night was extended coverage on the Championship, including interviews with all the fovored players, and insight on the diobolical mind of Mr. Dye. But the most entertaining piece was Dave Pelz's adventures on #18. In case you missed, he showed hom many players will have to play to the front of the green if their drive lands in the rough. From there, it is a 76 yard putt if the pin is tucked back. That's right, a 220 foot putt. So Dave tried to show how difficult it was, left his first attempt 50 feet short, and then promptly sank his second attempt. I've never seen someone make a feet, but it was a sight. Anyway, the reason I bring this up, from Tiger's interview, he claimed the course was not playing as a link-style course because the fairways fronting the greens were a different grass, and were not allowing the players to bump and run their shots onto the green (the shots were plugging or spinning back). No other player made this comment, and I did not find this to be the case when I played the course. I attribute this comment to the fact that the course was playing into a opposite wind than what is normal in this area. For example, on the 618 par 5, Els hit a good drive that left him 340 yards to the green. That means his drive only went 278 yards. Usually, this hole has a wind at your back, and may be reachable for some of the long hitters...but as yesterday's wind played into the player's face on many of the long holes, they were hitting long irons into many of the holes. With the wind in their faces, and with the height that the American pros hit their irons, a long iron will spin back on the fairways fronting the greens, and will make the bump-and-run shots ineffective. I saw several holes where European players hit stingers into the long holes, and the bump-and-run shot was effective. American players will need to adapt this shot for the tournament if the wind continues to blow in this direction, or they will face many of the putts that Pelz demonstrated when the pin is tucked in the back.

tiger: most difficult course I've ever played

Tiger said that, if the wind blows like it did today, Whistling Straits is the most difficult course he's ever played. Wow. Tiger said the winds are cross-winds, so you can never quite tell how hard to hit it. Also, near the greens are bent grass, so you can't really play bump and run like a true links course. But, if there's no wind, Tiger said that the scores should be good.

The course is over 7,500 yards, the longest for a major championship. No. 11 is 619 yards. For the tournament, No. 15 and No. 18 will be over 500 yards each, as par 4s. Tiger said every hole has a double bogey lurking. Should be interesting.

welcome, Power Fade

Given his familiarity with Whistling Straits (see comments in last post), we've asked Power Fade to guest blog this week during the PGA Championship. Power Fade usually has good insights, so this should be fun. Welcome, Power Fade. And, others, listen up!

pga week: whistling straits

Majestic, awe-inspiring, breath-taking. Need I say more? That's all you need to know about Whistling Straits, the site of the PGA Championship this week. This is the first Pete Dye -designed course used in a major, and I absolutely love the layout. Take a peek, it might be the best ever.

bogey train

Chris DiMarco had a 9 point lead at the International, which uses the Stableford scoring system. The lead was so big, I decided not to watch yesterday's round. But then DiMarco rattled off 8 bogeys yesterday, barely hanging on for a tie for the lead with Rod Pampling. The round must have been pretty ugly.

michelle wie goes with leadbetter

Michelle Wie dumped long time coach Gary Gilchrist (who left Leadbetter's Academy) and switched to David Leadbetter full time. Not a bad move.

dd spotting

David Duval is playing today at the International in Denver. The burning question is whether DD will be like Hal Sutton or Corey Pavin and turnaround from terrible swing woes? Or will he be like Ian Baker Finch and be forced to give up competitive golf for good? The turnaround for Sutton and Pavin took years, but I can't think of a better example except Andre Agassi from tennis (who plummeted to 140th in the world and took 2 years to recapture his top 5/10 status).

UPDATE: DD shot 75 and is currently tied for 120th place.

ryder cup poll

The Ryder Cup is almost here, and players are trying to get within the top 10 in Ryder Cup points. The current standings are here. Besides the top 10, Captain Hal Sutton gets to pick 2 others. We've started a poll (see below) with some of the possibilities. The number in parenthesis next to the name indicates the player's current standing. During this election year, it's time to vote!

father-son poll results

Here they are:

1. Duvals and Haas's tied with 29 percent

3. Nicklaus's and Stadlers tied with13 percent

5. Millers with only 4 percent

I'm really surprised that the Duvals did so well, given David's disappearing act, and that the Stadlers didn't do better, given Kevin's stellar play this year.

Callaway CEO Steps Down

Remembering my high school golfing days (1994-1998), I recall saving up my money to purchase the hottest driver, the Callaway Great Big Bertha. It was my first ever golf club purchase. It was a "new" club: Titanium, Larger Head, Graphite Shaft. It was "The" driver. Everyone I knew had a "GBB", as we called them. Now if you look into most golf bags, you'll see a plethora of different driver makes. Titleist, Taylor Made, and Nike just to name a few. However, where did the Big Bertha go? What happened to Callaway's market share in the Metal Wood market?

Well there are many different theories of why we now longer are looking towards the Callaway ERC Fusion Driver, but instead the Taylor Made R7 series or Nike Ignite Driver.

1. Callaway created the ERC driver with a COR that did not comply with USGA rules. Therefore, no one could play them in "tournament" golf.

2. Callaway decided to forgo the "big headed" drivers and move towards a more "midsize" driver head. Unfortunately, golfers today believe that bigger is better.

3. Once Callaway opened the door to enter, they were attacked by Taylor Made Golf which literally paid an arm and leg to get PGA players to use their driver. Now, Taylor Made has taken away much of the market share Callaway once had.

4. The loss of Ely (pronounce "L - E") Callaway allowed the CEO position of company to move to the former CEO of Lynx golf. And yesterday he resigned, sending the stock price down. (note: link only good through 8/6).

It is probably a tell-tale sign that Callaway is slowly losing its grasp on the golf market. As they say, "whatever goes up, must come down." Goodbye Callaway!

what a battle of the bridges

For 9 holes, the event looked pretty one-sided. Phil Mickelson and John Daly were 2 up for most of the way, and won both long drive holes. JD hits it a mile -- even farther, on a more consistent basis, than Hammerin' Hank Kuehne! On the front nine, Hank Kuehne was playing horribly, no better than a long-hitting weekend hack. And that's putting things charitably. But Tiger Woods was there to settle "Henry" down, and then, starting on the 13th hole, T Woods and Henry rattled off 4 straight wins, going birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle. Henry should be given credit for hanging in there and draining 2 birdie putts. And Tiger sealed the deal with an eagle putt on the 16th. T Woods definitely had the assassin look under the lights. PGA competitors, you better watch out. This may have snapped Tiger out of his "slump."

Don't Drink and Drive...

Especially golf carts....

Here is an interesting story about a woman who got arrested for a DUI for taking a golf cart out on the road while intoxicated.

Remember: if you are going to drink while playing golf, make sure you keep the cart on the golf course.

tonight: battle of the bridges

Tiger Woods and Hank Kuehne, who leads the tour in driving distance, will face Phil Mickelson and John Daly in an intriguing match-up at the Battle of the Bridges, tonight at 8 p.m. Six of the holes will be long drive competitions, with the proceeds from those holes going to charity. This should be fun, don't miss it!

no daly double

John Daly won the Buick Invitational earlier this year, but he could not pull out a win at the Buick Open, losing to Vijay Singh by 1 stroke. He gave it a good shot, though, going birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie in his first 4 holes. John's putter and driver cooled off by the turn. Many of his birdie putts grazed the hole. For one of them, Bobby Clampett, the commentator for CBS, mistakenly yelled that the ball was in, but the ball broke at the end.

Things got very interesting on the last hole. Vijay, who had a 1 shot lead over JD, sliced his drive pretty badly into the trees. He, in fact, was in jail, with his ball nestled close to a tree trunk. Then, JD -- using driver -- pushed his drive into the trees, too. I thought JD should have pulled out a 3-wood or 2-iron after seeing Vijay's bad drive. But you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

Vijay then flubbed his chip shot from under the tree and barely moved his ball 10 feet in the rough. Apparently, that was all he needed, though. Vijay then stuffed an 8-iron to 6 feet. JD pitched out from under the tree, and then stuffed his sand wedge to 6 feet, too. Vijay gave JD one last shot at it, after Vijay missed his par putt. JD, however, couldn't make his, either. Two bogeys to finish, not very pretty.

Other notes: Vijay has gone back to conventional putting, no more belly putter or cross-handed. Both Vijay and John Daly use the new TaylorMade R7. Tiger tied for 3rd with Carlos Franco, 2 strokes back. Watch out for Tiger at the PGA: his new Nike driver with graphite shaft is looking in really good form!