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by Michael Fitzpatrick… The proverbial “they” say that a picture can speak a thousand words.
I had heard the phrase before but never paid much attention to it until yesterday evening when I saw the picture of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson standing side-by-side on the 18th green at East Lake Golf Club.
The two greatest golfers of this generation each holding seperate trophies while standing side-by-side on the 18th green —I wonder who the big winner was?
Well, who do you think?
This one single photo accurately captured the careers of these two golfing heavyweights.
Mickelson posted a bogey free round of 65 and won the Tour Championship going away, yet Woods still managed to walk away as the big winner.
Woods was given the larger, sleeker looking trophy and will see an additional $10 million on his next bank statement for winning the FedEx Cup. Mickelson, on the other hand, was left standing with an inferior looking trophy and will receive just $1.35 million for winning the Tour Championship (plus the additional $3 million he earned for finishing second in the final FedEx Cup point standings).
Woods was sporting his billion dollar smile (literally) while Mickelson had that ever-present awe-shucks look on his face.
The Nike swoosh seen on Woods’ trademark Sunday red shirt has earned him significantly more money over the years than Mickelson’s KPMG, Barclays, and Callaway gear.
By now, it’s well known that despite being one of twenty greatest golfers of all-time, Mickelson has had to take a back seat to Woods for the past 13 years, and yesterday was no different.
Not only did this photo sum up the Woods/Mickelson rivalry, but it also exposed the one major flaw still present in the FedEx Cup playoff system.
How can a player win the Tour Championship and not win the FedEx Cup title?
Is it possible for an NFL team to win the Super Bowl but not win the Lombardi Trophy?
“I like the way today went,” Mickelson said sarcastically. “I was two back of him, I beat him by three. He gets the $10 million check, and I get $1 million. I’ve got no problem with that.”
Well Phil, as I’m sure you are painfully aware of, all is not fair in the Tiger Woods’ era and the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
But then again, considering that Mickelson’s wife and mother have both beaten cancer this summer, perhaps defeating Tiger Woods on the golf course isn’t quite as important as it used to be.
Could there be more important things in life than taking down Woods and winning the 2009 FedEx Cup?
I’m fairly certain that Mickelson’s answer to that question would be a resounding ‘yes’, as it should be.
(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
by Perry King… 
With one round now finished, is the public convinced that three straight wins for Eldrick Woods is a possibility?
As a golf writer, I deal with one philosophical conflict every time I write an article: do I analyze the game while excluding that juxtaposition with the Tiger?
There is so much the golfing world gives us. Yet as a whole, the only time we see a golf course is if we are golfing or if we watch a major. Even then, discussing this week’s course and the cache of player stories that follow should be taking up my time.
Yet, here I am about to elucidate on the world’s top-ranked golfer. For the first time in a while, in Tiger terms, we have a situation that could make the watching public just wonder what else Tiger could do?
This article begs the following question: what are Tiger’s odds on winning?
“Tiger has won something like 1 out of every 3 events he has entered since turning pro, so his odds of winning each week are 1/3,” said Scott Simmons, Executive Director of the Royal Canadian Golf Association. “So the odds of 3 in row are 1/3 X 1/3 X 1/3 = 1/27.
“But, given he has 2 out of the way and Tiger LIVES for Majors I’d say his odds this week are 1/3 at the worst!”
The golf industry is watching just as sternly as I and Tiger is poised to show us that whatever happened at the Turnberry Ailsa course was a mulligan.
Allow me to summarize what happened since he missed the cut at the Open Championship, where Tiger went 5-over par on a stretch of 6 holes in the second round.
He took a break and has won two straight weeks: at the Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational. To put that what he has done in context, it would be similar to the New England Patriots winning streak in 2007. That is, before they lost to the New York Giants.
Getting back to reality, Simmons may have something there. By the numbers and sheer reputation, Tiger is a lock to win.
But every lock has a key.Is relying on calculated chance the way to predict the outcome?
Speaking to industry people this week, they were optimistic about Tiger’s chances but keeping an eye on everything about this. “I think the fact that Tiger has the opportunity to win for a third straight week is pretty remarkable, especially considering how poorly he is hitting his driver,” said Scott Pritchard, Associate Director of the Ontario Professional Golfers’ Association.
“Both Firestone and Warwick Hills are older style courses which are more forgiving off the tee which obviously benefited Tiger. Hazeltine is a newer, very long golf course which might pose some challenges for Tiger if he continues to hit wayward drives.”
Pritchard is spot on, but Tiger has been scrambling his way to victory for a decade.
Much of the recipe for Tiger’s success may be staying alert and correcting mistakes quickly. And at last check, Hazeltine is 7674 yards nothing to laugh at.
“That being said, if Tiger can pull it off, it will be great for the game and just another chapter in his illustrious career,” said Pritchard.
What seems more odd about this turn of events is that Tiger never plays three straight weeks.
The last time he did, it was just before he had reconstructive knee surgery close to 16 months ago. If one can look back that far, prior to his surgery, he won the U.S. Open on one leg.
“It would be another impressive feat by Tiger to his already long list of accomplishments,” said Mike Kelly, Director of Sport Development for the Golf Association of Ontario.
“Tiger doesn’t play three in a row too often so his chances of pulling it off are very slim … but then again we are taking about arguably the greatest player of all time.”
As Tiger continues to break golf records at a massive pace, it looks like Tiger may be the greatest. As a regular skeptic as a whole, this is the first time I have admitted to that. As for the primary question: Tiger has a very good chance.
So as I continue to hone my craft as a golf writer, it seems more like the juxtaposition of my writing has to be balanced between bringing context and detail to many stories and using Tiger as a talking point.
And by the way, how can I deny Tiger’s time to shine?
by Martin Fitzpatrick… Hazeltine National was a late riser on Thursday.
For those players who happened to have morning tee times, the birdies were plentiful.
But by around 1pm, Hazeltine National finally began showing her teeth and by late afternoon, she had teamed-up with Mother Nature to launch an all-out assault on those players still out on the golf course.
90 degree temperatures dried out the poana greens resulting in longer approach shots bouncing over the green as if they had just landed on a springboard.
As the afternoon wore on, the greens not only became increasingly fast, but subtle bumps became more prevalent, leaving many players standing with baffled looks on their faces as seemingly perfect putts inexplicably bounced off line.
Players with afternoon tee times held on for dear life, brushed off the beating they were given by Hazeltine National, and are now looking forward to better scoring conditions in the morning.
Now, don’t let Adam Scott’s 82 fool you as the level of difficulty certainly wasn’t that extreme this afternoon.
However, only five out of the top-16 players on the leaderboard played the golf course during the afternoon hours.
But don’t worry folks, this is not a repeat of the US Open debacle at Bethpage where players who got the wrong end of the draw on Thursday were climbing Mt. Everest for the remainder of the week.
Cooler temperature will move in with the setting sun, and a rain shower or two overnight should replenish the course and create considerably softer conditions tomorrow morning.
Those players who received a beat-down from Hazeltine this afternoon should be able to take their revenge on the course tomorrow if they are striking the ball well.
The last time Tiger Woods played a competitive round of golf at Hazeltine was during the final round of the 2002 PGA Championship where he finished with four consecutive birdies.
Well, seven years later Woods picked up right where he left off back in 2002.
Woods, who teed off at 8:35am local time, opened with a five-under-par round of 67 and is currently the sole leader after 18-holes.
It has long been said that a golf tournament is not won on Thursday, which is true.
However, another solid round from Woods tomorrow and he might have the rest of the field locked in a sleeper hold heading into the weekend.
That being said, the forecast for tomorrow afternoon is calling for wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour, which could allow the morning wave to make their move on Woods before he even tees off in tougher, windier conditions.
But, the way Woods has been striking the ball lately, a category 5 hurricane could sweep through Hazeltine tomorrow and he would simply adjust his ball flight appropriately and still walk off the course with a 68.
Although Saturday is typically known as ‘moving day’ on the PGA Tour, there should be a decent amount of moving done on the leaderboard tomorrow.
The rest of the field will just be hoping that Tiger Woods doesn’t do his moving by taking off up the leaderboard on an F-16 fighter jet while everyone else is forced to try and catch him in their Buicks.
by Martin Fitzpatrick…
If you continue to walk around in a circle for along enough, you’ll eventually make your way right back to where you started.
We may finally be getting to this point in terms of the lengthening of major championship golf courses.
After Tiger Woods completely decimated Augusta National back in 1997 with length previously unseen in the game of golf, courses around the country immediately began scrambling to ‘Tiger Proof’ their courses.
Unfortunately ‘Tiger Proofing’ meant one thing and one thing only: adding additional length.
Members of prestigious country clubs don’t want to see the likes of Tiger Woods and J.B. Holmes getting home in two on their par-fives with sand wedges, that’s downright embarrassing.
So, for more than a decade now, courses have been lengthened by hundreds of yards in order to contain the longer hitters and attempt to equalize the field.
There’s been just one fundamental problem with that strategy.
When you play a major championship at a 7,500 yard golf course, you are certainly containing the likes of Woods, Holmes, Mickelson, etc. However, you are also immediately eliminating a large percentage of excellent ball strikers simply because they don’t average 320 yards off of the tee.
In essence, by ‘Tiger Proofing’ golf courses, the longer hitters have actually gained an even greater advantage due to the fact that much of their competition has already been eliminated before the first tee shots are even struck.
So, now back to the circle theory.
Next week’s PGA Championship will take place at Hazeltine National Golf Club, which plays nearly 7,700 yards.
Hazeltine will be the longest course ever to host a major championship and already has many players, fans and golf historians wondering when the course lengthening madness will come to an end.
Although we are fast approaching the day when a major championship will take a place on a golf course where players tee off in New York and putt out on the 18th green in California, the fact of the matter is that Hazeltine is so ridiculously long, that it has actually come full circle and equalized the field.
How is that possible?
Well, for starters, there are three par-fives that will play longer than 600 yards. This means that almost no one in the field will be getting home in two; hence a premium will be placed on accuracy and strong wedge play on the par-fives.
Second, aside from the 518 yard par-four 12th, none of the par-fours are playing overly long.
The real danger on the par-fours will lie in the thick rough lining the extremely narrow and winding fairways; which once again places a premium on accuracy more than length.
The par-three 13th plays 248 yards and will require most players to hit long irons or hybrids.
Once again, at first glance, you might assume that the bombers would have a marked advantage on a 248 yard par-three.
But, how often do guys like J.B. Holmes, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson really hit long irons?
On the other hand, guys like Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, and David Toms are often forced to hit long irons at major championships and have become comfortable in doing so.
Amazingly enough, by lengthening a golf course to astounding proportions, things have actually come full circle, and the advantage may have even swung towards the shorter hitters.
That’s certainly not to say that guys like Woods or Mickelson will be not wind up winning next week.
Mickelson is one of the greatest short iron players of all time, and in Woods’ case, you simply don’t win 14 majors without being able to hit wedges and long irons.
But, guys like Mike Weir, Zach Johnson and Trevor Immelman have all shown how possible it is to pick apart an extremely long golf course by relying heavily on their solid wedge play.
Perhaps we could be looking at a similar outcome this year at Hazeltine.
by Martin Fitzpatrick… 
How are you meant to teach your children about good sportsmanship when they turn on the television every Sunday and see NFL players engaging in ridiculous, taunting celebrations after every single play?
How are you meant to teach your children about refraining from arguing with their coaches and the refs when every time they watch an NBA basketball game they see players whining to the refs like spoiled 5-year-olds after every single posession?
How are you meant to teach your kids about not cursing and slamming down their clubs on the golf course when they turn on the television and watch the best players in the world do just that at the British Open?
How are you meant to teach you children about taking responsibility for their actions when every press conference they see on ESPN contains yet another athlete blaming everyone and everything else other than themselves for their poor performance?
How are you meant to teach your children about being a team player when they constantly watch baseball players skip practice and turn their backs on their teams because they are being paid $20 million instead of the $22 million they wanted?
As unfortunate as it is to say, this is the modern day professional athlete.
To paint every athlete with that brush would be grossly unfair, but let’s just say that a very large majority of modern day athletes can be painted with this brush from head-to-toe.
Tom Watson’s improbable run last week at the British Open was truly amazing for two reasons.
First, and foremost, was the fact that he was nearly 60 years old. 60 year olds are simply not meant to win or even contend at the British Open.
Second, this is one of very few occasions in the history of sports where an athlete transcended a generational gap.
Tom Watson is not supposed to contend at a major championship that contains Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey in the field.
Tom Watson won majors during the era of Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Larry Nelson and Seve Ballesteros.
A penguin waddling around the Arizona desert would have been less out of place than Tom Watson was standing on the tee box of the 72nd hole while holding a one-stroke lead.
Ladbrokes set the odds of Watson winning the 2009 British Open at 1,000-to-1 prior to the start of the tournament.
We always hear and read about how athletes from earlier generations were more graceful in defeat, were more courteous, were more engaging with the fans, were more honest and were more apt to take responsibility for their failures.
Now, as if it were some kind of scientific experiment, we were able to look through the glass and see an athlete from yesteryear, Tom Watson, compete in the modern day sports arena.
So, were athletes from previous generations all they were cracked up to be?
Well, if even half of them were anything at all like Tom Watson, the answer would be a resounding YES.
The way Watson handled himself in the face of what would have to be one of the toughest defeats of his career is something you simply don’t see today.
Watson didn’t blame the golf gods when his approach shot on the 72nd hole hit the green and took off as if it had just landed on a spring board.
Watson didn’t sit in the interview room and blame the strong cross winds for his errant shots in the playoff.
Heck, he didn’t even bring up the most legitimate excuse of all time– that’s he’s 60 years old and simply didn’t have much left in the tank during the playoff with Stewart Cink.
Nope, Watson was honest and shouldered all of the blame for not closing out the tournament when he had the chance.
Following his dreadful performance against Cink in the 4-hole playoff, Watson was graceful in defeat and could be seen smiling with his arm around Cink as the two of them looked at the names engraved on the Claret Jug.
Watson didn’t decline to speak with the press after the tournament and he didn’t sit in the interview room pouting and making excuses. He was courteous and honest.
Watson spoke about how this loss would rip at his gut just as all the others had during his career.
He took the blame for hitting an 8-iron over the green on the 72nd hole when a 9-iron would have clearly been the correct club.
Even when a reporter brought up the fact that he looked tired during the 4-hole playoff, Watson never once pointed to his age as a reason why he played poorly.
After he made all the rounds with the media, Watson could be seen signing every autograph asked of him as he left the clubhouse at Turnberry and as he walked into the Turnberry hotel where he was staying for the week.
Even as he was getting into the car that was there to take him from the clubhouse to the hotel, Watson got back out because he saw one last child that he had not yet signed an autograph for.
Granted, Watson does not have to deal with the same media circus that modern day athletes have to deal with day-in and day-out.
Perhaps it’s easier to deal with this sort of thing for one week, knowing that it will be over and done with and you will return to your normal life the following week.
But, the way in which Watson handled himself both on and off the golf course all week at the British Open is not something that you often see from modern day athletes.
Of course, most children don’t want to look up to a 60-year-old golfer as a role model. They are more interested in the flashy, larger than life characters that grace the football fields, baseball fields and basketball courts.
But, if you really want to teach your children about sportsmanship, honesty and taking responsibility for their actions, get yourself a copy of the 2009 British Open and use Tom Watson as your teaching tool.
Younger generations of sports fans typically roll their eyes when the older folks talk about how the ‘golden era’ of sports is over.
But, as is so often the case, perhaps the ‘older folks’ are correct.
By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter…
There’s no getting away from it, Tiger Woods is an iconic golfer, arguably the best in the World. We all have our favorite Tiger Woods moments filed away in our sports highlights vaults, the 16th hole at Augusta in 2005, his amazing shot in the dark at Firestone in 2000, the fact is, Tiger may be the greatest clutch athlete ever. Yes, Tiger has a mountain of highlight reel shots, what’s troubling is Tiger is close to having just as many meltdowns on YouTube, and I for one am tired of watching it.
By now, every golf fan knows that Tiger Woods has missed the cut at this years British Open, “It” happens, no biggie, everybody is entitled to a bad day on the links, or so you’d think. The fact that Tiger missed the cut is somewhat shocking, Tiger has only missed a cut twice in his career, what shocked me more was the way in which Tiger acted while he was going through his trials and tribulations. Fact is, Tiger Woods was a poor sport and, for the lack of a better word, a “Suck”.
Watching the Open, it just seemed that every time Tiger hit the ball poorly he was pounding his club in the ground, swearing at himself, throwing his club to the ground, essentially acting like a 5-year old child. Is this the behavior we expect out of our role models? Is this an acceptable way to act while millions of children watch their “Hero” on T.V.?
Like any sport, Golf has its fair share of meltdowns, so Tiger is not the only golfer to ever throw his clubs around, but, like it or not, Tiger is held at a different level, and he should know better. This is not the first time we have watched Tiger have one of his temper tantrums, fact is it’s getting annoying, I suspect it will not be the last time we watch Tiger “Lose it”.
It takes a pro to win a Championship, but it is a true test of one’s character to lose like a Champion, Tiger has yet to learn this. Clearly, Tiger knows he is under the microscope, what Tiger needs to understand is that when he has a meltdown he takes away from an otherwise great tournament. The media was glued to Tiger’s meltdown, all the while 59 year-old Tom Watson was having the round of his life, the focus should have been on Watson, sadly, Tiger and his bad temper stole the show.
The media has been criticized for broadcasting Tiger Woods too much. Tiger, through no fault of his own, is the number one focus of every major golf tournament, regardless of his level of play. This works out great when Tiger is “On”, but when Tiger is “Off” or is making a spectacle of himself it diminishes the sport.
“All Tiger all the time” is getting old, this weekend will be an anomaly. What will the broadcasters focus on without Tiger? Whatever the case, hopefully we can watch some better sportsmanship, hopefully the remaining golfers hold themselves up to a higher standard of behavior and decorum than Tiger did.
Hey Tiger, next time you are having a bad day on the links, suck it up Tiger. Whether you like it or not you are a hero and a role model for millions of kids, act like it, will ya? Start acting like a “Tiger”, stop acting like a “Pussy”…..Cat….
by Perry King… 
Golf courses are altered all the time. In pro golf, the influx of big money and a certain Tiger named Woods are causing golf courses to expand to numbers not seen anywhere at any point in modern.
Think about it. If you crop together the difficult North American courses of the early 1990s and compare them to the likes of Winged Foot and Baltusrol today, I think you could compare it to bringing a knife to a gun fight.
Not even a skill set equal to Nick Faldo in 1992, when he was the number one ranked golfer on the planet, could not handle the harsh terrain of Bethpage Black today, the only public course used in a major. But it looks like Nicky can analyze himself to death.
When pro golf runs their majors, these current courses are modified with even more of a cynical brush. Even Augusta National, the course that Southern gentlemen and pro golfers covet alike, is lengthened more than some versions of plastic surgery.
At last check, up to last year, Augusta was lengthened 28 straight years. Hills, more vegetation and larger greens are still a regular feature of modification projects at the southern club.
Aside from citing conspiracy theories, visions of parity and some biases to beauty, change in golf has done a little good. The stakes in majors alone have increased with the purses, increasing almost tenfold in the last decade.
Golfers have also gotten better.
The emergence of Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan, combined with the longevity of guys like Miguel Angel Jimenez and even Mike Weir, have shown us that golfers are at least trying to catch up with the learning curve.
It is like forcing a small child to eat spinach. They will reject it for years, go out of their to not eat it, but eventually learn to cope. That may a “Tiger effect” but will be saved for another discussion.
While over-modification is commonplace, there is a place of sanity that exists: the Open Championship. This tournament uses less courses and modifies less than I have dates in the next week.
It feels good to see parity in a form of the exact opposite of what operating bodies like the US Golf Association have been executing on PGA golfers. If Tiger wins this week, I am comfortable in the reality that the field has a better chance.
But let me be very clear: the Turnberry Ailsa course is traditionally a nightmare.
The field has a good chance, but gas bills also have a good chance of increasing next year.
Turnberry is long and tight, with plenty rocks and pot bunkers – those wonderful graves already put in place for any golfer willing to gamble. To add to the madness, this is what course’s website says about one of the course’s easiest holes: “the steep incline of the plateau green on the thirteenth hole … makes one of the largest putting surfaces on the course look rather small.” This course does not hold back.
Links courses do not need makeovers. What they lack in beauty they make up in brawn. The wind will howl, the rain will mist and the slopes will setback more than enough well-hit balls. The course is 7,200 yards of “swing straight.”
Colin Montgomerie loves the course and his chances. Tiger Woods does as well. But we have to be realistic; average scores this week will dip to about 72 or 73 this weekend.
For those who are less than casual golf fans, if you are going to place money on this tournament, do your research and trust whatever confirmed numbers you find. Regardless of the odds, there will be factors in play that set out the outcome.
And despite The notion that staff at Turnberry can manipulate conditions, despite the course’s non-surgery, is one of those factors.
Pro golfers need to stay alert this week, for their greatest lesson is to always have respect for things that have not had major surgery.
This is my site: citadel.sports.blogspot.com
By Martin Fitzpatrick… 
There was really only one way for Kenny Perry to put the disappointment of the 2009 Masters behind him once and for all: win.
Not only did Kenny Perry win last week at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., he also did so in unbelievably convincing fashion.
In the PGA Tour’s long and illustrious history, only four players have ever had better scoring weeks than Perry did last week at TPC River Highlands.
Not only did Perry’s 258 tie for the fourth-best scoring week in PGA Tour history, it was also the lowest score ever recorded in the 57-year history of the Travelers Championship.
Perry is a polite, soft-spoken man, so he would never in a million years stand up in front of a crowd or room full of reporters and scream at the top of his lungs, “The Masters is over and done with!”
However, if his golf clubs and particularly his confident demeanor on the back nine on Sunday could do his talking for him, that’s exactly what they would have said.
Perry went out and took the 2009 Travelers Championship, which is something that’s become a bit of a novelty in this day and age of the game.
Perry was playing solid but by no means exceptional golf through the first seven holes on Sunday.
It was on the par-three eighth where the momentum would swing to Perry’s corner and remain there for the rest of the afternoon.
Paul Goydos, the 54-hole leader, lost his lead to Perry after Perry got up and down from a green-side bunker for a birdie on the par-five sixth.
But following just an average approach shot by tour standards, Goydos rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-four seventh to tie Perry for the tournament lead at 17-under-par.
This would be the last time Goydos would hold a share of the lead during the 2009 Travelers Championship. Kenny Perry was about to turn on the afterburners and never look back.
Perry hit a five-iron to less than three feet from the hole on the par-three eighth. When Goydos three-putted from the fringe for a bogey, it was a two-stroke swing.
“Eight was the sweetest five-iron I’ve hit in a long time” Perry said after his round in Cromwell. “That sucker never left the flag. Looked like it was going in, and it just kind of creeped off to the left and I had a three-footer, tapped in.”
Perry caught a bad break on the par-four ninth when his ball partially embedded in a hill that could have been mistaken for quicksand due to all the rain that had swept through the area in recent days.
The best Perry could do was punch his ball back out into the fairway, and with Goydos already on the green and only six feet from the hole, it was looking as if there would now be a another two-stroke swing in the other direction.
However, Perry’s pitch shot checked up eight feet from the hole, where he would go on to sink the putt, while Goydos was unable to convert on his birdie opportunity.
During the course of any round, there is often one single shot that is crucial to keeping a player’s momentum going, and for Kenny Perry, it was his eight-foot par putt on the ninth hole.
“My putter was on today,” Perry said. “I knew I was putting well. I rolled that one in to perfect speed. Slipped in the right side of the hole. That was a nice momentum-saver to keep the round going.”
Perry went on to birdie the 10th and 11th, just missed a birdie putt on the par-five 13th, and lipped out his birdie putt on the 14th.
On the 296 yard par-four 15th, Perry put his opponents up against the ropes. After hitting his tee shot just short of the green, Perry would get up and down for birdie and extend his lead to two strokes over a charging David Toms and three strokes over Goydos, despite Goydos’ eagle two on the hole.
Goydos followed his eagle at the 15th with an impressive birdie at the par-three 16th to pull within two strokes of Perry with just two holes to play.
A two-stroke lead with just two to play?
Sound eerily similar to the 2009 Masters?
But this was neither Augusta National nor the Masters, and this Perry had learned from the mistakes of his past.
“That deal taught me a lot today,” Perry said of the 2009 Masters.
“To think all I gotta do is make two pars to win a tournament, and I couldn’t get it done. I really played heavy the way I played that back nine today. I knew there was so many guys right there in contention that could catch me. David was playing great in front of us. I was looking at the leaderboard watching on the back side, so I knew I had to keep making birdies. So I wasn’t going to let up. I wasn’t going to play defensive golf, and I learned something from that mistake.”
Perry would deliver the knockout punch in the form of a seven iron he hit to less than seven feet on the par-four 17th. He would go on to make birdie and extend his lead to three strokes heading to the 72nd hole.
“That gave me a three-shot cushion, to make the 18th hole, where I didn’t have to stress out. I knew pretty much anybody could probably play that hole and win the golf tournament,” Perry said.
Last week, Perry put on one of the finest displays of golf seen on the PGA Tour in quite some time.
Perry opened with a 61 and closed with a 63, which could have easily been another 61 had several birdie putts decided to fall rather than lip out on Sunday.
The win, which was his second of the 2009 season and fifth in the past two years, moves Perry to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and jumps him to fourth in the World Golf Rankings.
During the trophy presentation, which was hosted by ESPN’s Chris Berman, a jacket was placed upon Perry’s back. The jacket was navy blue and not green. But to Kenny Perry, it must have felt almost as sweet.
By Martin Fitzpatrick… 
CROMWELL, CT - After Lucas Glover calmly rolled in his three-foot putt to win the US Open, he didn’t jump out of his spikes with joy, toss his putter fifty feet in the air or run around the green pumping his fist.
He simply sunk the biggest putt of his life, shook a few hands, hugged his wife and family, and went off to sign his scorecard.
Some might have viewed Glover’s celebration, or lack-there-of, as dull and boring.
Perhaps Lucas Glover didn’t provide the same theatre that other players do through their often animated, and intense celebrations, but then that’s just not Lucas Glover.
At no time during the U.S. Open did Glover stray from either his game or personality. Why would he start on the 72nd hole of the tournament?
When he arrived at the Traveler’s Championship, just forty eight hours after his improbable US Open victory, Glover was still the same quiet, shy, and at times, overly polite man he always is.
Glover walked into the press room with his face barely visible under his Nike hat which was pulled down so low, it’s a wonder he could even see where he was going.
As his name was announced and all eyes turned on the newly crowned US Open champion, Glover lowered his head and looked more like a young boy who had been caught by his mother in a mischievous act than a man who had just won one of the largest golf tournaments on the face of the planet.
There was not a drop of arrogance or overconfidence in him. He had gone from a little known touring pro, to a national celebrity literally overnight.
In this day and age when we are constantly subjected to NFL and NBA players involved in taunting celebrations after every single play, when we watch baseball players sit at home rather than attend training camp because they are being paid $20 million instead of the $22 million they want, Lucas Glover can be seen as a refreshing change.
Glover sat in front of the microphone and answered questions with, “Yes, sir’s” and “No, sir’s”.
Shouldn’t it be the other way around? After all, he was the one that just won a major championship less than two days ago.
After his US Open victory at Bethpage on Monday afternoon, Glover spent all of Tuesday in New York City making appearances on Regis & Kelly, The Letterman Show and several radio shows.
“I don’t crave the attention I got yesterday. But it was there, and it was really fun. I don’t think I could do that every day. But it was a good time” Glover said.
When asked if he every considered skipping the Traveler’s Championship after he had won the Open, Glover responded by saying “No, sir. I was committed before the US Open. I was committed to here next weekend, John Deere, I’m going to keep those commitments. I feel that’s the right thing to do. Just because I won a golf tournament doesn’t change anything. I was committed, and I’m going to honor that commitment”.
“I’ve got to use last week as a spring board….I don’t want to fizzle out after two wins or after one big one. I want to use that as motivation to keep getting better and back in that situation. I’m not planning on winning five majors in the next four years. I’m planning on getting back into contention. And to do that, I’m going to have to keep working because everybody else is. Just because I won one doesn’t mean I deserve to be there again” said Glover.
Lucas Glover may not be flashy, loud, or even recognizable to most non-hardcore golf fans, but who says that a major champion has to be flashy?
Locus Glover’s reserved and modest personality is just fine with him, and it should be just fine with the rest of us.
By Martin Fitzpatrick… 
If this weather continues, Steve Williams may need to carry Tiger Woods’ bag while navigating through Bethpage Black’s fairways in a rowboat.
The US Open was a complete washout today, and there is a lot more rain on the way.
Play was suspended at 10:15 am and officially cancelled for the day at around 1:00 pm.
“The volume of rain falling was outpacing our ability to squeegee the greens, that was the bottom line. The greens just became unplayable and we needed to suspend.” said USGA Chairman, Jim Hyler.
Play is currently scheduled to resume at 7:30 am tomorrow morning. But, there’s only one problem with that—it has not stopped raining all day, and more rain is in the forecast for tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.
At this rate, it may be Wednesday before a US Open champion is finally crowned.
Bethpage Black is long and difficult enough as it is. If the rain continues, the fairways and greens will turn into a swamp and eliminate any roll that players normally receive on their drives. In short, players will literally be playing all 7,400-plus yards of this brutally difficult golf course, and will likely be attempting to do so in more rain and wind.
Mother Nature may have just swooped in and taken away any hope the shorter hitters in the field had of plotting their way around Bethpage Black and contending this week.
If the weather was decent, the winning score for the week could have been five-under-par or more considering the receptive greens, widened fairways, and graduated rough.
With the weather that’s forecasted over the next three days, it will be a truly heroic performance if someone shoots around even par for the tournament.
There is a 50 percent chance of rain tomorrow morning, with some clearing during the early afternoon and a chance of more rain later in the day.
Saturday is typically known as moving day, but with a 70 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, the only moving that is likely to be done on Saturday will be in the form of players lifting their arm to change the channels in their hotels rooms.
And it doesn’t look much better for Sunday.
There is a 60 percent chance of rain on Sunday morning with a 40 percent chance of showers later in the day.
Could the USGA just reschedule the Open?
Although the shorter hitters in the field might be praying for that, the US Open will not be rescheduled; it will finish at Bethpage eventually, whether it’s this week or early next week.
Tiger Woods, who took his raincoat off and put it back on at least 10 times today, better have Nike overnight him some comfortable rain gear, because he’ll need it all weekend.
Prepare for high scores and ugly conditions over the next few days.
This is not San Diego or Torrey Pines. This is New York in the late spring and it’s already rained 15 out of 18 days this month.
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