Tiger's post-streak press conf.

Here are highlights from Tiger's streak-snapping loss to Nick O'Hern in the Accenture Match Play on Friday

Q. What, did the ball hit on a spike mark?

TIGER WOODS: No, it was a ball mark. I was so enthralled with the line and where I had to start it. It was just left center, just go ahead and hit it, and I didn't see the ball mark.

Q. So you just forgot to fix --

TIGER WOODS: I wasn't even looking. I was just looking at my line. I knew if I hit it inside -- left center, the match is over. That's my fault for not paying attention to detail.

Q. So it was a fixable blemish?

TIGER WOODS: Totally, yeah.

Q. Do you think the extreme change in the weather from one day to the next not just affected your mental attention but your physical being, as well?

TIGER WOODS: Well, physically I felt fine. My golf swing didn't feel very good, did not feel good all day. I just battled through it, and the only thing I knew I could do was putt and just try and get on the green somehow. I felt anything inside -- anything on that green I had a chance of making today, but I just couldn't get there consistently.

Q. You had a battle with cactus and everything else.

TIGER WOODS: It was a struggle. I just didn't have control of my golf swing. I had a two-way miss going today. I hit it right because I was hitting it left, and it's one of those things where -- if you can hit it right or left you can play for it, but I had a combo thing going today.

Q. Can you remember the last time you were that off for a four-hole or a similar stretch, maybe Muirfield, but that was pouring that day in 0 2?

TIGER WOODS: I was pretty off because obviously I've been playing pretty well. It was disappointing. The only thing that saved me coming in was the holes were downwind, so I couldn't hit too far off line.

Q. Could you just repeat what happened on that four-footer? The ball mark was -- your ball hit the ball mark?

TIGER WOODS: Hit the left side of the ball mark and kicked it right. All I had to do is just fix it and it's in. It was a very simple thing to do. I was so enthralled with just left center, left center, left center and the match is over. I just didn't pay attention.

Q. Almost continual vision on the line --

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I get that way at times. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad.

Q. Just curious what happened on 17. Did you just overcut that? What club was it?

TIGER WOODS: No, it was 3-iron. I hit straight on the toe. It was a terrible shot.

Q. That's the only place you can miss really, the worst place you can miss?

TIGER WOODS: Well, that's probably the best place to miss is long and the worst place to miss is where I missed it. Anything short of the green it's a pretty easy pitch. You know, it was 220 yards dead down with a 3-iron. It was pretty simple to carry that and I hit it straight off the toe.

Q. You go from looking as bad as you've ever looked to mounting one of the more impressive and unlikely comebacks that you've ever had. What did you do between the 7th hole and -- what happened?

TIGER WOODS: It wasn't anything. I was struggling, and I just said, Just give myself looks at putts. That's all I can do because I know I was putting really well today. You know, it felt like every putt I was -- except for the putt I hit on 3 the first time around, I blocked that putt, but other than that every putt I hit was right on-line. So just gave myself plenty of looks and I just felt like I was going to make them. But could I give myself the looks was the question. Starting out, no. But I kept telling myself, At least it's downwind and my two-way miss won't go too far off line dead downwind.

Q. You talked about the most disappointing loss was with Darren in the final because you worked so hard and won five matches to get there. Granted, it's a PGA TOUR streak as you call it, but you work so hard. Seven in a row is still seven in a row. You worked so hard to get there. What's the disappointment level regarding the streak?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's not the streak. It's the fact that I'm disappointed I didn't pay attention to detail, something so simple. I got so enthralled and so focused like I normally do on the line, and I just -- something so simple like that just escaped me.

Q. A word about Nick O'Hern, and did he win it or did you lose it today, you think?

TIGER WOODS: Well, obviously I had a chance to win the match with a little four-footer. Nick played very consistent golf. You know, he's not very long, but all he had to do was just keep putting it in front starting out on the front nine, because obviously I couldn't, and he won two holes with bogeys. That's not very good on my part.

Q. When you look back at the seven in a row, it's still something I assume you're pretty damn proud of.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, very proud of. To go basically from July until now without ever finishing out of the top three, that's not bad.

Fuzzy fuming

Maybe Fuzzy Zoeller isn't so warm and fuzzy -- at least not when it comes to his reputation.

Check out this story from the AP...

MIAMI (AP) -Pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is suing to track down the author who posted what he considers a defamatory paragraph about him on the Internet reference site Wikipedia.

For the rest of the story, click here.

Prediction: Tiger v. Ogilvy on Sunday

After one glimpse at the Accenture Match Play brackets, how can you not predict -- and hope for -- a Sunday showdown between Geoff Ogilvy, defending champion, and Tiger Woods, the streaking wunderkind?

With Phil Mickelson getting unexpectedly dismissed 3 and 1 in the second round by Justin Rose, Tiger's biggest hurdle to reaching the finals would appear to be Charles Howell III, winner of last week's Nissan Open and a man who is riding his own hot hand. If they meet in the semi-finals, however, expect Howell to wilt under the heat of Tiger.

On the other side of the brackets, Ogilvy, the U.S. Open champ, has a rougher road to the finals. If he can get past the Niclas Fasth, a formidable Swede, today, he would face the winner of the match between European Ryder Cup member Paul Casey and Shaun Micheel, the former PGA Champ who took down Tiger last year in match play in Europe. And after them, three U.S. Ryder Cup members remain: David Toms, Chad Campbell and Stewart Cink. Still, my money is on Ogilvy to survive.

Upsets aren't just possible, they're probable; my hoped-for scenario could spoiled very quickly. But I can hope for a reason to watch the final match on Sunday.

My round at The Gallery

Watching the Accenture Match Play at the new venue, The Gallery, outside Tucson, reminded me of my memorable round there in 2000.

Here it is, retrieved from the Inquirer data base...

SKINS GAME FINDS A FOOL IN PARADISE

By Joe Logan
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Looking back, I was probably a fool. I stood to lose a
little money and even more dignity.

I refer, of course, to getting fleeced in a skins match with
a very fast crowd.

I got myself into it thanks to my obsessive desire to play
yet another fabulous golf course. Pinehurst No. 2, Medinah,
Merion, Pebble Beach and the Old Course at St. Andrews, to
mention just the brand-name tracks, weren't enough for one
year. I needed more.

So naturally, when I was in Tucson last week trailing Mike
Schmidt in his failed quest to qualify for the PGA Senior
Tour, I couldn't help myself when a golf-writing buddy
remarked: "Before you leave town, you've got to play this
new Tom Lehman course, the Gallery. It's the one with the
725-yard par 5. Unbelievable course. "

Excuse me, I thought you said a 725-yard par 5.

"Yeah," he said, "Golf Digest did a piece about it. "

Suffice it to say, three days later I was standing in the
pro shop at the Gallery, fretting that an unusual frost
delay was going to push back my tee time so late that I
would not get in all 18 holes.

"You're in luck," said the pro, turning to me as he hung up
the phone.

Some guy named Don had just called to cancel because of a
bad back. The rest of his threesome was off in 10 minutes,
and I could take his place.

In no time at all, I was standing on the first tee trying to
take in the beauty of the clubhouse, the greenery of the
course, and the surrounding desert and mountain, as well as
introducing myself to Tom and Jim, a couple of Michiganders
down for a week or so of Arizona golf.

Tom, like me, was in his mid to late 40s. Jim was younger,
maybe 30, and a strapping specimen to boot. They were sorry
to hear that their buddy Don, who I gathered lived in
Tucson, couldn't make it. They were also wondering whether
our fourth, some guy named David, who was coming with Don,
would show. There was nothing to do but go ahead and tee
off. If David showed, he could catch up.

Meanwhile, as we were taking a few cuts on the tee and
sizing up the first hole, Jim said, "Same game as yesterday,
Tom? "

Tom shrugged. "Yeah, why not? "

Then Jim turned to me. "We're playing a little skins game.
Nothing too rich. A buck a skin, two bucks for birdies. Want
in? "

Now, I am not opposed to a friendly wager on the golf
course. Even the late, legendary Harvey Penick suggested
some sort of match, if only for a soft drink, just to keep
the competitive juices flowing. But I am also a firm
adherent to the old Dave Marr adage: "Never bet anyone you
meet on the first tee who has a deep suntan, a 1-iron in his
bag, and squinty eyes. "

They were from Michigan, so neither had a deep suntan or
squinty eyes. And only I was packing a 1-iron.

What could I lose? A maximum of $36, if they birdied every
hole. "Sure," I said.

With that, Tom poked his tee shot straight up the fairway -
it wasn't long, but you couldn't place it any more in the
center of the fairway. A bit rusty from a week layoff, I was
pleased that I, too, kept my first tee ball on the short
grass. Jim, the young guy, flat-out bombed it - his shot
landed on the fly well past where my ball had come to rest.
I raised an eyebrow.

Thank heaven there was no blood on the first hole. I
3-putted from 30 feet for bogey - what else is new? - but
Tom and Jim both parred. At the second hole, just as we had
reached our tee shot, a cart appeared back by the tee,
headed our way.

"This must be David coming," Tom said.

It was. David was a nice guy, all smiles and handshakes, and
probably not even as old as Jim. Tom and David had never
met; they had this mutual friend Don, who, by the way, David
said, sent his regrets. Tom explained our little skins match
in progress and invited David to join in. Why not just drop
a ball right there in the fairway alongside ours and play
from there?

Fine. David dropped a ball and, with little ado, pulled his
9-iron from his bag and, with only a couple of practice
whiffs, absolutely stuck it.

It was about that moment that I noticed David's golf bag. It
was one of those big, black-and-white Titleist bags. I'd
seen them before. Davis Love 3d has one just like it. So do
David Duval and Tiger Woods.

I also noticed that on his, in fancy-looking stitching, it
said: "DAVID HOWSER. "

"So how do you know Don? " David asked Tom.
"We played together on the University of Arizona team
together a lot of years ago," Tom said.

"Hey, I played for U of A, too," David said. "Graduated in
'94. "

"Great," Tom said. "What do you do now? "

"Some Nike Tour, mostly the Hooters Tour," David said.
That's when I sidled up to Tom. "Who is Don? "

"Don Pooley," he said.

"The tour pro? "

"Yeah," he said.

With that, Tom, Jim and David all drove off toward the
green, leaving me standing there in the fairway shaking my
head. Terrific. I had somehow gotten myself into a skins
match with two former big-time college players - one of them
is now a pro - and some other guy who looks to be better
than both of them and hits the ball farther than all of us.

Never mind the money. It had become a matter of salvaging my
dignity.

I won't bore you with a hole-by-hole account of the match. I
will tell you that your faithful and diligent golf scribe
did his best to hold his head high and suffer a minimum of
humiliation.

Sadly, as I look over my card, I see that I did leak a
little oil in places, owing no doubt to the 2,000-foot
elevation in Tucson and the sad fact that I couldn't make a
putt under pressure if my life depended on it.

There was the bogey at the par-5 sixth, where both Tom and
Jim got into trouble off the tee. That left me head-to-head
against David, to prevent him from winning another skin.
His 18-foot birdie putt lipped out for a tap-in par. Out of
the hole, Tom and Jim cheered me on, but not too effusively,
as I lined up my 15-foot downhill putt for birdie. They
tensed slightly as, moments later, I lined up my eight-foot
uphill putt to make par and halve David. They silently
walked off the green as I buried my one-footer for bogey
with authority.

"Sorry, guys," I called out.

Finally, we arrived at the ninth, the hole I came to play.
To say it is a lot of golf hole is as cliched and
understated as saying England is "across the pond. " At 725
yards, the ninth at the Gallery is, well, awesome and
intimidating, to say the least. Nobody seems quite sure if
it is the longest par 5 in the world, but if it isn't, it's
close. There is a much longer hole in Virginia, 841 yards,
but it is listed as a par 6. Naturally, we decided to play
the ninth at the Gallery from the tips.

The tee faces the clubhouse, which looks to be somewhere
between one-third and one-half mile away, which it is. From
the slightly elevated back tees, the tee shot alone requires
a 208-yard carry over desert gunch to reach the fairway. For
most golfers, that is a serious poke. After that, the hole
opens up to a very generous fairway, assuming you miss the
fairway bunker on the right, then it all falls off. That, of
course, makes the hole play shorter, but it is offset by the
prospect that the ninth usually plays into the wind.

Nobody reaches this green in 2. One guy - a mere
golf-writing mortal - told me that the day before he had hit
driver-driver-driver to reach the green in regulation.

Pooley, the Tour pro, it turns out, generally needs to hit a
3-iron on his third shot to reach the green. Even if Tiger
Woods were to smoke one of his patented 360-yard tee shots,
he'd still have another 365 yards to go. And if the distance
isn't problem enough, a dozen strategically placed bunkers
are staggered every step of the way. Also, 600 yards down
the fairway, there is a pond on the right side - precisely
the spot where any leaked second or third shots will land.
I hit my best tee shot of the day there. It carried far
enough to catch the downhill slope of the fairway and roll
forever, settling alongside David's.

"We just hit those tee shots 287 yards," David said.

I don't usually hit the ball 287, of course, but he made
that pronouncement after looking back toward the tee through
his handheld laser-beam yardage thingy that resembles
binoculars. Thin air, the downslope of the fairway, best tee
shot of the day. OK, if you say so.

Going for the green in 2 was still out of the question. It
still looked a half tank of gas away. I pulled my fairway
wood - a strong 4-wood - and reached back for all I had.
Thwack!

It wasn't a stone-cold top, but I didn't get all of it - the
kind of shot John Updike always refers to in his stories as
a "foozle. " Doggone it. Now I still had close to 300 yards
to the green, which, by the way, is elevated and tucked
behind five bunkers. I decided to hit the 4-wood again,
hoping to lay up short of the green and to the left of the
pond.

Pumped, determined, I hit it solid this time, but it leaked
right. Suddenly, I was reduced to begging, but the golf gods
weren't listening. The ball splashed in the left corner of
the pond.

Fuming, I pressed forward and dropped a ball behind the
pond, still a good 130 yards from the green, hitting 5.
Finally, I hit what looked to be a decent shot - looked to
be. The ball hit a sprinkler head or something and careened
to the right, settling in the fringe right of the green.
When I reached the ball, I still looked to be 50 yards from
the hole.

Demoralized, resigned to a "snowman" 8 on my card, I
chipped. The ball rolled to the edge of the shelf, broke
downhill and sideways about 20 feet, and came to a halt
about one foot from the hole.

I had not exactly brought the ninth to its knees, but it was
a stylish double-bogey, if I do say so myself.
We all stood there for a moment, looking back up the fairway
toward the tee.

"So, you've got a lot to write about this hole," Tom said.

Wise guy.

Mercifully, inexplicably, I won a skin on the back nine,
sneaking in a twisty six-footer at the cruel and unusual
par-5 11th. My day was made. Snaring a skin in this league
made my day. I was bent but not broken.

In fact, somewhat invigorated, I played much better from
there on in. At the utterly breathtaking par-3 16th, I
carved a little 7-iron in there so pretty that even David
was urging my ball, "Go in the hole! Go in the hole! "
Unfortunately, I 3-putted for bogey.

Finally, when it was over, we totaled up the damage. I paid
a few bucks and I was paid a few. My net loss, to David, for
a birdie, was $1. I smiled.

As we walked toward our carts, I shook hands with Jim, the
big winner on the day. "Sorry you got me instead of Don
Pooley," I said.

"That's all right," he said. "It probably saved me a few
bucks. "

Tiger @ Match Play

I've been pouring over the brackets as I watch the first round of the Accenture Match Play and there is no possible way that Tiger Woods doesn't at least make it to the semi-finals on Saturday.

At least that's my theory until he gets taken down by somebody like K.J. Choi or Luke Donald. In which case, Tiger's win streak on the PGA Tour dies at seven and the rest of the Match Play suddenly becomes about as compelling as the second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Assuming Tiger does hold off J.J. Henry in the first round -- he's 2-up through 7 at the moment -- there is no one in the rest of the Bobby Jones bracket that ought to give him a problem.

If things go as you might expect on the left-hand side of the brackets, which they never do, Tiger could meet Phil Mickelson in the semis on Saturday. Match play being totally unpredictable, the chances of that star-studded showdown are virtually nil. But we can hope.

On the other side of the bracket, you've got to like No. 1 seeds Jim Furyk and Adam Scott. But I'm not fooling myself about those two facing each other in the semis, either.

Bottom line: Match Play will be the toughest slog Tiger has in trying to extend his streak.

O'Hair's slow start

If you haven't been paying attention, Sean O'Hair, the third-year PGA Tour player from West Chester, has had his struggles so far in early 2007.

Hoping to merely knock some of the rust off his swing with a run of four straight tournaments, O'Hair went CUT-CUT-CUT in the first three, the Buick Invitational (73-74), the FBR Open (72-69) and the AT&T Pebble Beach (75-73-72). It didn't look good.

But at this past week's Nissan Open, O'Hair steadied his ship and shot 72-71-69-73, for a tie for 56th and his first paycheck of the year, $11, 596.

The difference in his stats between 2005, when he was rookie of the year and won the John Deere Classic, and this year, say it all.

In '05, he averaged 300.1 yards off the tee (23rd), compared to 291 yards (38th) this year; that mostly is because is O'Hair is hitting more 3-woods off the tee.

But in driving accuracy, he has dropped from 62nd to 127th, in greens in regulation from 40th to 127th, and in putting average from 149th to 171st. In all-around average, which is a combination of all the major stat categories, O'Hair has dropped from 32nd in 2005 to 153rd.

In O'Hair's defense, he spent the off-season in Philadelphia, far from the warmer climes where he could get his game in shape. Also, he and his wife Jackie welcomed their second child in mid-January.

It's early, obviously, but O'Hair needs to reverse those statistical trends if he's going to put together a good year.

Hot Hand Howell

I don't know about you, but I would have bet the farm the Phil Mickelson would have won the play-off against Charles Howell III at the Nissan Open on Sunday.

More to the point, I would have bet Howell would find a way to lose it.

Once labeled a future can't-miss superstar, has made more than $13 million in career earnings -- but, until Sunday, only one victory, the 2002 Michelob Open at Kingsmill. Along the way, racking up 10 second-place finishes, he has found new ways not to win.

That's that why his showdown with the red-hot Mickelson so impressive. Maybe Howell, at 27, is hitting his stride. In three events this year, he already has a win and two seconds.

Here are a few excerpts from his post-victory interview:

CHARLES HOWELL III: I'm speechless. You know starting out today, I thought I almost shot myself out of it yesterday. Especially with Phil Mickelson ahead, and at Riviera the birdies weren't easy to come by. You know to finally catch him there at the end on 18, man, that par putt, that was the longest par putt I've hit in my life. And just to force him to have to make a par to win the golf tournament. And the playoff, as we all know, I lost in a playoff here before with Mike Weir. And the first thing I asked was what was the rotation because I just wanted us to get past that 10th hole. My reason for that is obviously I lost the last playoff on that hole. But, you know, on top of that, that's such a tough hole and anything can happen on that hole especially with the flag in the back where it is right there. And to get past that hole, I was pretty excited.

Q. What goes through your mind when the last one goes in and it happens?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I wish I could tell you, but I wasn't even thinking. You know, I truly, I don't know. I said a prayer before I hit the putt. You know, I said ‘It's time, let's go in.’

Q. Can you contrast this, a few weeks ago you are at Sony, your head is in your hands, this is 180 degrees, talk about where you were there and how you felt and how you feel now.

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, you're right, Sony, Sony was a better one because I had a lead with nine holes to go. I managed to stay ahead of Luke (Donald) the whole back 9, and obviously until 18 we end up tying. But at that time I truly thought Luke was the player to beat there. That was extremely disappointing just not to get that ball up and down on 18, at least not to force a playoff, just to give myself a chance at it. You know, prior to that, talking to you guys here a few years ago, was pretty bitter. So to finally win here, I'm speechless. I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now.

Q. You had seconds coming in this year, two more, does that weigh on you at all? You have been in playoffs, are you thinking ‘I'm not going to win, I keep finishing second.’

CHARLES HOWELL III: No, truthfully the other. If you look at the state of where my golf game was in the middle of last summer I would have cut my arm off for a second place finish. They were looking pretty darn good. No, I kept looking at it as I'm getting closer, I'm getting closer. The second at 84 Lumber, towards the end of last year, was really important for me to get an affirmation I'm starting to get back. I'm starting to get there. And then to start this year off this way, I knew I was close.

Tiger bagging Nissan

If you thought Tiger Woods was being just a little too blase about his PGA Tour winning streak of seven-in-a-row, you're right. No matter what he says, he really does want to break Byron Nelson's once unthinkable record of 11 in a row.

The proof is in Tiger's schedule. A peek at his official website shows that Tiger's next event is the Match Play Championship in two weeks, meaning he's skipping his hometown Nissan Open next week at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.

This would be the Nissan Open that Tiger has been playing in every year since his amateur days. This is also a tournament he hasn't won in 11 attempts.

"We have to see if he plays L.A.," Luke Donald said about Woods' streak in an LA Times story. "If he skips L.A., it might be more important than he is letting on."

For the full LA Times story, click here.

Tough day for Quinney

If you watchted the final round of the FBR Open on Sunday, it was hard not to feel for Jeff Quinney, the former U.S. Amatuer champion and PGA Tour rookie, as he blew the tournament in the late holes.

After leading from late in the second round, the tournament was Quinney's to lose on Sunday, and that's exactly what he did. He went bogey-bogey at the 17th and 18th at TPC Scottsdale, just as Aaron Baddeley was birdieing four of the final six holes, giving him the win.

It's not the first time we've seen a rookie meltdown under the pressure and it won't be the last. It's all part of the process of learning how to win.

I am always fascinated by how players take the disappointment of such a loss. Does it crush their spirit or spur them on?

Here are a few snippets from Quinney's post-tourney press conference:

JEFF QUINNEY: Obviously it didn't end the way I wanted it to, but all in all I'm pretty happy with the performance. I was sleeping on the lead the last couple days and it was a lot of pressure and I'm happy how I handled the whole situation. I played pretty dang good golf today. I started off on the front nine, just felt in control of my game just like I have been all week. Baddeley played really good and put the pressure on me, and we had a lot of fun, though.

Q. On 17 you had a one-shot lead going in. Just the thought process taking driver there instead of 3-wood?

JEFF QUINNEY: I knew I needed to make birdie because I knew basically they were going to make birdie. Obviously it's a tough pin. He hits it longer than I do, and basically his 3-wood is like my driver, and I felt really great over that shot. I was shocked to see it go left. I was really confident I was just going to knock it on the middle of the green. One those things, you look up and it's going left. I hit a great recovery shot. A tough little slider, it was a tough pin back there, and I didn't execute, but I'm not going to dwell on that.

Q. The way you headed in, it kind of came down to a neighborhood bragging rights story?

JEFF QUINNEY: No, we had a good time talking all day about where we live. We live pretty close to each other in Grayhawk and have mutual friends and everything. If I didn't win, I guess I'm glad a local guy won. You know, I just hope to be back in the hunt quickly. I just want to get back there again, and I know my time will come soon.

Q. How are you looking at it from a season point of view? I mean, obviously you've had a positive start to the year. You must be looking at it positively with your start?

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah, I basically locked up my Tour card for next year and it's barely even February. I've got a lot of golf left, a lot of tournaments. I'm just going to look back and learn a few things this week, but all in all, I'm pretty happy. I mean, if you would have told me this a couple weeks ago, that I made whatever amount of money I made, I'd take that in a second. You know, I'm still a very confident player. I'm not going to let this bring me down at all. I can learn from it and just get better next time.

GAP team matches

This just in from the Golf Association of Philadelphia...

The 2007 Golf Association of Philadelphia Team Matches schedule is complete and posted on-line at www.gapgolf.org. This year’s matches are set for three successive Sundays in April (22, 29) and early May (6) with the Playoff and Challenges scheduled for Saturday, May 12.

More the entire announcement, click here.

Tiger feats

In his latest online column, Gary Van Sickle, senior writer at Sports Ill, has ranked what he sees as Tiger Woods' top accomplishments. Read'em and debate...

1. Tiger Slam
2. Twelve major championships
3. Six straight national amateur titles
4. Lowest scores in all four majors
5. Seven PGA Tour victories in a row
6. Fifty-five career PGA Tour victories
7. One hundred forty-two events without missing a cut
8. Seven money titles
9. Forty-six wins by a player in his 20s
10. Ten Straight years in the top 10 on money list
11. Nine wins in a year
12. Winning three different tournaments five times

...Curious, but I see no mention of marrying Elin...

Tiger tackle

Have you seen that TV commercial in which Tiger Woods tackles a guy trying to make off with his golf back? Think it's a stunt double standing in for Tiger?

Think again. Check out the outtake here.

By the way, don't expect to see Tiger's crib on MTV; he's upgrading from this starter house.

E Notes From the PGA Tour

His win last week at the Buick Invitational was the fifth in the event for Tiger Woods. He’s now won three different events five times. The only other players in TOUR history to do it are Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus.

More on Tiger: The win at the Buick Invitational was his third in succession at the tournament. He’s now won four different tournaments three times in a row, including four in a row at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Prior to Tiger, no one had accomplished the feat since Tom Watson won the Byron Nelson Classic three straight seasons in 1978-1980.

One more on Tiger: He now has 92 Top-3 finishes in 215 career starts. That’s 42.8% of the time he finishes either 1, 2 or 3.

When Brandt Snedeker got to 10-under through his first 10 holes last week at the Buick Invitational, it was the first time any player had done so since the TOUR started keeping records in 1970. Pat Perez came the closest during the 2003 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic when he was 10-under through 11 holes.

Mark Calcavecchia is always a man to watch at the FBR Open. A three-time winner of the tournament, Calcavecchia has nine Top-10 finishes in 20 starts at the TPC Scottsdale and is a collective 165-under at the tournament. He comes in playing well, too, after a T4 last week in San Diego.

Another good possibility this week is Chris DiMarco. The veteran earned his last TOUR win here in 2002 and has a strong record at the FBR Open over the past six seasons. During that span, DiMarco has five Top-15 finishes, has posted 19 rounds in the 60s (out of 22) and is 66-under par.

The Nationwide Tour’s Class of 2006 was well represented last week at the Buick Invitational with three players earning Top-10 finishes--Brandt Snedeker (3rd), Andrew Buckle (T4) and Jeff Quinney (T7).

CHAMPIONS TOUR
Fred Funk not only won last week’s Turtle Bay Championship by a record 11 strokes, he also went the entire tournament without making a bogey.

More on Funk: The victory boosted his all-time combined earnings on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour over the $20-million mark.

Loren Roberts finished in a T2 last week behind Funk, but in doing so he extended his streak of consecutive par-or-better rounds to 20 over the past two seasons.

Denis Watson finished in a T2 last week in Hawaii for his first Top-10 finish in a PGA TOUR co-sponsored event since a T9 at the 1998 Greater Austin Open on the Nationwide Tour. His last Top-10 on the PGA TOUR came at the 1993 B.C. Open where he finished second.
Hale Irwin now has 108 Top-3 finishes in 274 career starts on the Champions Tour—that’s 39.4% of the time.

NATIONWIDE TOUR
Miguel Carbello of Argentina won last week’s season-opening Movistar Panama Championship to become the first player from his country to win on the Nationwide Tour. Players from 17 countries outside the U.S. have won on the circuit.

Chris Nallen finished in a T7 last week for his best finish since winning the 2004 Gila River Golf Classic.

Veteran Jim McGovern finished in a T2 last week in Panama for his second runner-up finish in the event in the past three years. He was also T2 in 2005.

Ted Potter Jr. finished T12 last week after making his first career cut. As a 20-year old rookie in 2004, Potter missed the cut in all 24 of his starts. He earned Player of the Year honors last year on the Hooters Tour, winning twice and earning more than $100,000.

Golf Channel in HD

Good news for sports fans who miss seeing golf in HD on the Golf Channel. For the first two rounds of tournaments which CBS or NBC will broadcast the weekend, the Golf Channel is able to use those network's HD feeds of the Thursday-Friday rounds.

Here's the tricky part: To get it, you've got to be a customer of Comcast and have their HD package, and it's not on Channel 39, where the Golf Channel is normally found. The HD broadcast can be found on Channel 207, which Comcast splits between the Golf Channel and Versus, which it also owns.

Why hadn't the Golf Channel made this news known? Because until now, for some reason, they didn't get credit for viewers watching in HD on Channel 207. They still aren't promoting it; I called them after I stumbled across golf in HD on Channel 207 the other day.

Anyway, the deal is, the Golf Channel gets Channel 207 from noon to midnight (East Coast time), meaning they can air the live broadcast and the prime time repeat.

The Golf Channel doesn't yet have it's own HD equipment, so on those weeks they carry all four rounds, the broadcast will be in something calls "up-converted," which is better than a regular picture but not as good as HD.

Excerpts from Tiger Woods' victory press conference at the Buick Invitational

January 28, 2007

Tiger Woods

LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

Q. You've had a lot of streaks with the USGA, cut streaks, four majors in a row, what's seven in a row do for you, and what about Nissan, people are going to kind of wonder where we are going to see you again and whether you would take a seven-game winning streak into that place.

TIGER WOODS: I'm going to Dubai. But as far as how special seven is, you're in elite company. There's only one person that's ahead of you. You know, he's one of the greatest legends in the history of the game. To be in company like that with Mr. Nelson and Mr. Hogan up there as well, it's pretty special to be in that kind of company.

Q. Just kind of following up on that Tiger, what is your sense where seven in a row belongs in the list of accomplishments you've had, the Tiger Slam, the cut streak and so forth?

TIGER WOODS: If you want to rate it, I think the -- you can't compare four in a row in majors. There's no comparison in that. That' what we play for. As far as the cut streak, I think that goes to show you, consistency and heart. You know, sometimes you don't always have it, but you just have to find a way to keep yourself eligible to win the tournament on a weekend. As far as seven in a row, as I said earlier, it's pretty elite company to be mentioned in the breath of Mr. Nelson.

Q. You have to take advantage of the opportunities when you're there and that's what you do. Describe the mode that you go into back nine on Sunday and the tournament is there for the taking?

TIGER WOODS: It's just fun, fun to be there. That's why you bust your butt as hard as do you in practice sessions to get yourself in that position. And when you do, I feel comfortable being there, been there enough times, and I've had success and also I haven't had success. You learn from both. I knew this golf course and how it plays and the things I need to do to get it done. When you somehow pull it out, that's what makes it so much more special. All of the challenges that were up there, Charlie played just an amazing back nine. He put some serious heat on me there on 16 with that tee shot there right at the flag. I was lucky enough to dodge one there. It looked like it was closer than it was. When I got up there, I figured he would make three and I would make three.

Q. Your cut streak was hard to compare, and Nelson's streak he had one or two team events in there and it seems like it's getting harder and harder to compare records in one generation to previous ones. Curious your thoughts on that, and secondly, what categories do you think can be compared no matter what the generation?

TIGER WOODS: You're right, it's hard, because some tournaments are gone and we've added new events. Compare generations is apples to oranges a lot of times. I guess the only thing you can compare is major championships, but then you have to alleviate Bobby Jones. So that part's hard. You'd have to say just professional majors, but it would be up to a certain time era and you don't to justice to a lot of champions in the past.

Q. There's been kind of an anti-streak sentiment over in Europe because the Shaun Micheel factor and because of the Asian events, etc., etc. What would you say to them if they were to grill you on this quote unquote streak, and does it mean something to you no matter what your global record is?

TIGER WOODS: You have to clarify it. It's not a worldwide streak. I play all around the world. It's a PGA TOUR streak, which it is. And on top of that, it encompasses two different years, just like '99 and 2000. I play all around the world. I lost to Shaun Micheel, I lost the Ryder Cup, I lost in China and I lost in Japan. There are some L's in there, and they are not all W's.

Q. Is it on your mind?

TIGER WOODS: The thing I'm really excited about is the fact that, you know, my stroke-play record since the Western, well, since the U.S. Open. My worst finish has been second in stroke-play events. That's pretty good I think.

Q. Charles was in here and said, I really can't imagine what he feels like on the inside when you get in these positions and you said you just feel comfortable. I'm wondering from there's a comparative factor that you could share with us, how comfortable, what is the feeling, like when you get to that moment when, okay, got to start making these shots down the stretch?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I've been lucky over my career to have had successes doing it. And I can only say, I've done it before, and know that I've done it. Some guys say I've done it before but they have never done it on Sunday in a tournament before. Well, I've done it on Sunday in a major championship, so I know I can pull these shots off and I just keep reminding myself of these things. It's like what Jack had always said. Winning breeds winning and the more you win, the more you understand how to do it, and you do it different ways. I've done it with great ball-striking, I've done it with lousy ball-striking, I've done it with great putting and so-so putting and sometimes I've done it with my short game. If you're able to do it different ways, it just breeds more and more confidence when you're put in that situation again.

Q. How did you feel when you did it this week?

TIGER WOODS: Starting out not so good on the North Course but after that I feel like I hit the ball better and better each day. The stats may not show I hit the fairways or, but my misses were so much better. I could play these misses and I could easily fix these, which I did. They were not misses off the planet, they were just off the fairway in the rough or bouncing in the bunker. Those are things that -- that's how I know I've really improved over this off-season and towards the end of last year when I played in the American Express as well as in Asia. My misses were getting so much better off the tees.

Q. Where will we see the next PGA TOUR installment of this streak, and also Charles said that even at Isleworth, he doesn't recall beat you, is that feeding the mythology or is that true?

TIGER WOODS: As far as when I'm going to play again, I don't know yet. Going to go to Dubai, play over there, come back and see how I feel. I always feel -- it's always hard to get back for some reason over that time zone when I come back, I don't know why. But we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll come back and play but we'll see what happens. As far as Charles, I don't think he has. (Laughter).

Q. Is it safe to say it's either Nissan or Accenture?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah.

Q. Because you've won seven, this might sound like a stupid question, but is it tougher to win or easier to win now than say a couple of years ago?

TIGER WOODS: I'd have to say it's harder. Fields have gotten deeper. Look at the guys on top of the board now. All of these rookies, they all can play now. Couldn't say that they weren't playing before, but the overall fields have gotten deeper. That's only going to get more so in the future as well.

Q. Do these other golfers have to lift their games higher because your game is at a higher level?

TIGER WOODS: We all have to lift our games, period. If you're not getting better, you're getting worse, period.

Q. If you don't play Nissan for whatever reason, if you're not ready or what-have-you, there will probably be some speculation like at East Lake where you're now at a point where you're trying to protect your streak, especially at a place like Riviera where you've never come close to winning; what would your answer be to that?

TIGER WOODS: People can say whatever they want. That's their opinion. They are entitled to it.

Q. Are you saying you're not looking at the courses to say, where is it best for me to be able to continue the streak?

TIGER WOODS: My whole goal is to get ready for Augusta and prepare and make sure my game is peaking towards that.

Q. Seven in a row or fifth green jacket, what's more important?

TIGER WOODS: Fifth green jacket.

Q. We threw out Torrey Pines South, Firestone South, Bay Hill, where you've had a lot of success too, where does that fit it in the comfort level of adding to a streak if it's still there?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it's another one of the golf courses do I feel very comfortable at. Actually Doral is very similar. For some reason, some golf courses fit your eye, and some courses just don't and it's just the way it is. Every time I played on the Cottonwood Course at the Byron Nelson, it doesn't fit my eye at all. I've shot some low rounds over there, but it doesn't really fit my eye. But that's how it is sometimes and you've just got to overcome it. It's more of a mental challenge. You've still got to place the ball correctly around the golf course. That doesn't change, just because the golf course doesn't fit your eye doesn't mean you can't execute. Granted some courses I've had more success at and maybe it's different comfort level.

Q. What turns you on more, the process or the outcomes during all this winning?

TIGER WOODS: It's both. It is both. You have to understand the process in order to have the outcome.

Q. When the last time you spoke to Byron, what were the circumstances and did you guys ever talk about streaks, even back in, say, 2000?

TIGER WOODS: No. We never mentioned that. Usually it was always about his ranch, we would usually talk about what he does on it, things that he's bought and things like that. Sometimes we would talk about golf. But you know, it really wasn't about that. I was very lucky to have a different type of relationship with Mr. Nelson where we could talk about other things besides golf, and that's what made it so neat was that I picked up the called him every now and then just to see how he was and he said, oh, I'm out here at the rather, blah, blah, blah, doing this, I've got to go cut this wood down. It's pretty impressive.

Q. Can you recall the last time you spoke to him?

TIGER WOODS: Unfortunately it was at the Masters this year, or last year.

Whoa, Wie, Part II

Judging from the reaction, I struck a nerve with the item in Sunday's column in the Inquirer headlined, Whoa, Wie.

The gist of the item was Michelle Wie is doing harm to her golf game and her reputation by failing time and again -- 14 times so far -- at making the cut in a men's tournament. Enough already. She has become an embarrassing side show, failing spectacularly chasing the men when she could so easily be a celebrated star on the LPGA Tour. Why go on?

Here's a sampling of emails from readers:

"I am in total agreement. I eel she's really trying to take advantage of her talent in the wrong way. And...it's sad." -- Charlotte

"I am beginning to feel very sorry for her. I just don’t understand who is advising her. Where are her parents? Or is it the money? I am with you she needs to do what all our great women golfers have done play in the LPGA. Prove yourself with your peers before you go after the men. Men and women were created differently (Some people might not believe that) but she needs to accept that and move on. She could do so much for women’s golf but right now she is an embarrassment. " -- Helen

"Your piece on Wie was spot on. At least as true as the fact that someone should have taken Arnie’s “competitive” sticks away 20 years ago rather than he himself finally recognizing the insanity of it all and closing the door himself (I think – I hope). While some of the responsibility has to be placed on Wie herself (after all, she seems reasonably intelligent and is not, given what she has lived for the past four years, a typical “kid” anymore), I think you have to look at her enablers.

"Her father of course who seems like your typical pushy, blindered parent. The tournament directors and sponsor whores who care nothing about the humiliation Wie generates with her spectacular failures for the sake of more bodies through the turnstiles – at least on Thursday and Friday.

"And lastly Nike, for enriching a teenager beyond any reasonable level before she had accomplished anything. I can’t imagine Michelle is held in anything but utter contempt by her LPGA colleagues and will be for years to come regardless of any success she might find there. As to her ability to play full time on the PGA Tour (dad’s idea if I remember correctly), who's kidding who? Guys you and I have never even heard of who struggle to even make a living playing out there can play rings around her week in week out – now and in the future. At least Annika had the intelligence and grace to take her shot at Colonial, have some fun with it, and after getting her butt kicked (relatively speaking) retreat full-time to her world.

"Michelle and her advisors need to back off, step away from the cameras, put some work into establishing a career on the LPGA tour, win something, and then think about this superfluous garbage. Not that ESPN, The Golf Channel, Nike, tournament sponsors and directors, her parents, and to a great extent our society and its culture will allow this to happen. As long as there is a buck to be made they will continue to exploit her until she implodes spectacularly or simply fades away.

"Of course she has the skills to win on the LPGA tour. But as anyone who truly understands the game of golf knows, playing at and winning at the professional level requires a “mental” side of the game that she has yet to demonstrate command of. If she once had these mental skills, only time will tell if she can regain them. If not, she’s finished before she starts. Can anyone say Ty Tryon? " -- John

Calling All Golfers

Once spring arrives, my plan is to do everything I can to update the golf course reviews I've done over the years. It is a selfless act, I know, but I undertake it with diligence and enthusiasm on behalf of you, the golfer/reader.

Unless I get a lot of chin music from the yahoos that write the expense account checks around here, my vow to you is to play round after round of investigative golf. That's right, I'll scope out the dog tracks and the dumps so that you don't have to waste your time or your money. If I play some gems along the way, hey, it's my job. Work, work, work, that is my promise.

Where I need your advice is in helping me compile and prioritize the list of courses that need immediate attention. You know better than me whether your regular course has changed -- for better or for worse -- since I reviewed it, maybe as long as 10 years ago. Has it been renovated, rerouted, ruined? Maybe you dispute my original assessment. You may even know of a course that I've overlooked altogether.

So, speak your mind. Give me a holler. I will thank you. Your fellow golfers will thank you.

Notes from the PGA Tour

Oklahoma State provided the most players to the PGA TOUR this year—10. The Cowboys are one ahead of UCLA and two ahead of Florida. Three schools—Texas, Arizona State and Georgia Tech each have seven players on TOUR. There are 92 colleges or universities represented, including 43 that produced more than one player.

The youngest player on the PGA TOUR is rookie Anthony Kim. Kim is 21 and will not turn 22 until June 19. He is one of 16 players who begin the year under the age of 25. Two of them, Sean O’Hair and J.B. Holmes, have already recorded TOUR wins.

The tallest player on TOUR is Jay Delsing at 6-5 and the heaviest is Scott Gutschewski at 260. The shortest player is Gavin Coles at 5-4 and the lightest is Jeff Sluman at 140.

There are 24 Australians on TOUR this year. There were only 23 international players total on the PGA TOUR as late as 1997.

Former Nationwide Tour players now make up 65% of the active players on the PGA TOUR.

There are 27 rookies on TOUR.

The 2007 roster includes players who hail from 41 different states (plus the District of Columbia) as well as 22 countries.

The 2007 season will see the TOUR visit 22 states as well as Mexico, Scotland and Canada.
In the 47-year history of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the winning score has been 330 only three times. That happened in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with a lefthander winning each time—Mickelson in 2002 and 2004 and Mike Weir in 2003.

Mickelson will be making his first start of the season this week and he’s demonstrated an affinity for quick starts since joining the TOUR. He’s won his first outing of the season five times in his career, including twice at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (2002 and 2004).

When Paul Goydos won the Sony Open in Hawaii last week he displayed a great putting touch, making 59 of 63 putts (93.7%) inside of 10 feet. Even better, he made six of 13 putts between 15 and 20 feet.

The top rookie finisher in the first full-field event of the year was Doug LaBelle II. The Nationwide Tour graduate finished in a T4. It was his first career cut made and he was one of nine rookies to make the cut in Hawaii.

Mickelson returns to action at Hope

A few highlights from Philly Mick's first press conference of the year at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.


January 16, 2007


Phil Mickelson

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA



PGA TOUR: It's been a while since we've seen you, so maybe talk about your off-season and we'll go from there.


PHIL MICKELSON: It was a great off-season. I watch sat on my couch all day and watched TV and didn't do a thing. Just kidding.

I'm looking forward to getting back to playing golf. Amy and I had some great trips. We did a week in Italy, went to Venice and Rome and hung out there with some friends. We had a chance to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we went down to Bora Bora and had a Polynesian wedding to renew our vows and just had a great time together.

Q. You haven't played since the Ryder Cup, I believe, as you know, there was a lot of criticism aimed at you because of your performance in the Ryder Cup, did you read about that, did you care, and could you explain what happened?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, my performance at the Ryder Cup was every bit as disappointing as my finish at the U.S. Open. Those two events were what made 2006 a disappointing year. Even though I won The Masters, I looked back and those two events, those were the ones that needed to be addressed. Why did that happen and what is it that I can do to fix those. And the first one was the U.S. Open. You know, I really believe that the past former presidents of the USGA that passed away were looking down and said no one should win the Open hitting two of 14 fairways, and that certainly came back to bite me and I have got to address that need. I addressed it with Rick Smith and Dave Pelz who devised some devices to help me with the driving. Rick is helping me with why that happened; why after The Masters I was not able to pick up where I left off and get my swing back.

And then I used Callaway's technicians to help with the design of a driver that will eliminate that left shot because not only was it on 18, it was on 17 and it was all throughout the final round. And so we're working on designing a club that eliminates that, and I think we've got it right. So I'm excited about that.

And then I feel like the Ryder Cup performance was more of -- as opposed to a game problem, more of a physical problem. It's late in the year, it's the last tournament for me of the year and I don't feel as though I stood up physically throughout the nine months, and especially we're playing 36 holes a day. And I needed to address that.

So the last three or four months, I've done a lot with my trainer, Sean Cochran, to address that. I immediately lost 20, 25 pounds and put on about 10 to 15 more with muscle from lifting, trying to build up stamina doing 45 minutes to an hour and a half of cardio five or six days a week. I've started a new martial arts, a different type of martial art from what I've been doing. We also continued with our core strength and so forth. But I'm hoping that this will improve stamina so that at the latter part of the year I have a better performance. I don't expect so see much in the start of the year because I usually play well in the start of the year. I expect to see the same. But I think at the latter part of the year I'm hoping to continue or sustain that level of play throughout the whole year now.

Q. After you left after the Ryder Cup, it seemed like a popular game around the country was: What's Phil's state of mind and how is his shattered psyche. It doesn't sound like you played into that game much in the off-season.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, dealing with failure is part of the game. I deal with it 90 percent of the time.


Q. You mentioned the new stamina, the emphasis on that. Is that directed at all toward the FedExCup finish with the four tournaments in a row?

PHIL MICKELSON: Very possibly. Not just the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, but hopefully it will help out through the FedExCup finish where we're looking to be most likely playing six of seven events. That's going to be a big element of it, and one of the things that I added, too, was weight training. I haven't really done that in the past. I started lifting a lot more and instilling kind of a weight program that should hopefully help with endurance throughout the year.


Q. I apologize for asking the first Masters question of the year, you've had a lot of success and good things that have happened to you, is there one Masters memory that stands out now as your favorites?



PHIL MICKELSON: Come on now, 18, '04? Absolutely. (Laughter).

Q. When you talk about the one shot, you mean the drive?



PHIL MICKELSON: The drive, yeah.


Q. Because you couldn't do anything after?



PHIL MICKELSON: But it wasn't just that one drive on 18. I missed them through the entire tournament but that one drive made me look back at the entire tournament to say, what's going on here.


Q. A couple of years ago, everybody remembers the Tiger versus Phil, everybody was watching it, of course you came on when Tiger was being introduced at the one tournament, do you dislike that, like it; do you think we're going to see a rekindling of that or what are your thoughts?


PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I don't know, he's obviously played very well. He's won the last six tournaments. It was fun. It was fun and I certainly want to get back to that level where I'm able to compete in each tournament, compete against Tiger week-in and week-out. But again, it's not easy. He's a remarkable player.

Q. What advice would you give to Tadd Fujikawa and talked to you about the temptations that are headed this way as far as being 16 years old?


PHIL MICKELSON: The only advice I can say is to grow. I think another six, seven inches would be great. (Laughter) I'm just kidding.
I think that the great thing about Tadd is his demeanor or. I just love the way he presents himself. He has so much fun playing golf and I love watching him play. I think that he's going to be a tremendous talent and add so much at that time game, because he's unique. He's different than your typical TOUR player and I just love that. To do that well at 16 shows what kind of game he has and we just need to get him out sooner.


Q. You talked about the swing changes in the off-season, can you give us sort of a synopsis in layman's language that readers might understand about what basically you've done to change your swing off the tee?


PHIL MICKELSON: Well, what I really want to do is instead of having the face at impact aim left, I want it aimed more down the middle. That's the goal. (Laughter) Otherwise, you know, technically, everybody's swing is different. It's not going to make much sense, but all I'm trying to do is square up the face a little bit quicker.


Q. What did you find when you look back at it, how do you reflect that as opposed to right afterwards?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I need to make a change. I need to make a slight change so that my miss is not to the left and I drive it in play. Any major is an emotional event, and I find myself very tired at the end of each major. Whether I win lose or come close at all to winning and lose or miss the cut, they are all very draining because so much effort goes into performing well there.


Q. Do you feel like the media are if I can to sort of linger on the negative things that have happened to you over the years?


PHIL MICKELSON: Do you? (Laughter).

Q. In general as a whole.

PHIL MICKELSON: Do I feel that way? I don't know. I think it's probably the same for everybody.

In a bit of other news, Mickelson announced he is has opened a golf course design business.

Good for Goydos

Out on the PGA Tour, they don't come much more low-key and unassuming than Paul Goydos. That's why it's so great the guy just won his first tournament, the Sony Open, after 17 years as a journeyman pro.

I don't know Goydos well. I see him at tournaments, but we almost never speak. He always seems to be quietly going about his business, fading into the background behind the big name stars. He's not big -- 5-foot-9 with slumped shoulders -- and he looks more like an actuary than a pro athlete. How this guy can shoot 63 is beyond me.

The only time I ever had a real conversation with him was during a rain-delay a few years ago, when he and I and a few others ducked into a shed out on the course rather than trudge back to the clubhouse in the downpour. I recall him talking about his days working as a substitute teacher early in his golf career.

The next time I took much notice of Goydos was last summer, at Canoe Brook in New Jersey, where he and Michelle Wie were among the hundreds of hopefuls trying to qualify for the U.S. Open. At lunch, in a room set aside for players and media, I happened to sit down at the table next to him. He was alone and looked very glum after a lousy morning round that made his afternoon loop essentially a waste of time. I remember thinking how frustrating life can be for a plenty of pros not named Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson.

Now Goydos has finally won on the PGA Tour, which is gaurateed to change his life. His reaction? "I'm stunned."