Women's British Open at St. Andrews

For the first time ever, the Women's British Open is being played at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

For as good a preview as you'll find, check out Ron Sirak's story in Golf World:

History says the first woman to play the Old Course at St. Andrews was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, sometime in the mid-1500s. But likely the real first female on the Home of Golf was Sheena the shepherd's daughter who most probably sneaked on during one of those endless summer evenings in Scotland when a full moon can illuminate the landscape in a dull brilliance bright enough to follow the flight of the ball.

For the rest of the story, click here.

Whatever happened to David Duval?

I don't know why but something about David Duval still fascinates me.

True, in his comeback attempt, I watched him hit it sideways. During a practice round at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock, I stood there on the tee behind him and watched him pump three in a row so deep into the woods that the smattering of fans couldn't believe it. Me, either. It was that bad.

Still, with so much talent still residing somewhere in that angst-ridden mind and body of his, how could the former No. 1 in the world effectively walk away from the game? A long-overdue happy family life waiting for him had a lot to do with it.

But as John Hawkins of Golf World wrote in this recent piece, Duval had one foot out golf's door before his game went south. If you like Duval, it's worth reading.

Natalie Gulbis wins!

Ever since Natalie Gulbis joined the LPGA, the rap on her has been that she was the Anna Kournikova of golf -- all hot babe, no victories.

All that changed Sunday when Gulbis, in her sixth year on tour, won the Evian Masters in a play-off in France. Now, sudenly, male golf fans can oogle her without feeling guilty. They are, after all, studying the finer points of her golf swing.

Here are excerpts from Gulbis' post victory press conference:

Q. What does this mean to you in?

NATALIE GULBIS: What does it mean? How long do you have? This is my sixth year on Tour, and obviously the U.S. has been quite a bit of hype on if I would ever win a tournament. I was really close last year where I lost a playoff, and coincidently it was right after the match play. It was like déjà vu. There was a match play event in the United States. Lost in the first round. Worked really hard on my game. Came over here was hitting the ball well, and these two events I really wanted to play well in. I had been injured for a lot of the season and was way back on the Money List, like 44th, maybe 50th. Probably the lowest I'd ever gotten to. Just tried to stay positive, so that means a lot, that the hard work has paid off. So many great people supporting me in the U.S. from the media to my team to my fans. It's great.

Q. Was it special to have your mom here with you?

NATALIE GULBIS: Having my mom here is really, really special. The last time I was in a playoff she was not here and she was really mad. So this was great to have her over here this week. She's helped me so much throughout the week and throughout my career, I'm very happy that she was here to see it. She was way more nervous than me. Like I couldn't look at here because she was biting her nails and wouldn't drink water. So it was great.

Q. Would you say there was one thing that sort of turned your game around?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yeah: My back injury.

Q. Clarify that one.

NATALIE GULBIS: I got hurt two months ago. Had a lower back injury and had to take about a month off. I had to change my golf swing because of my injury. I had to work on my posture and I had to do all the things that I had been working on with my father for about four or five years. We had been working on these same things and they just weren't happening, and it took an injury. I was kind of thinking this might be a blessing in disguise with the injury, and I kept working on it and working on my posture and I kept hitting it further and all the things I wanted to happen on my golf swing started happening.

She's b-a-a-a-c-k

Contrary to advice from me and pretty much everybody but her inner circle, Michelle Wie is not taking a long break from golf. Rather, she's in France for the LPGA's Evian Masters.

Here are excepts from her pre-tournament press conference:

PAM WARNER (LPGA media staff): You've had a wrist injury this year. Talk about how it's doing right now. How everything is going?

MICHELLE WIE: My wrist is doing BETTER. Unfortunately I had a tough year this year, because it was very unfortunate that I fell on it, but it's all better; it's healing. The bone's healed and everything, and I have to get it stronger because it's been in a cast and splints and bandages, and it needs some fresh air now. It needs to get stronger. I've been working out a lot now and trying to get back into the shape and trying to get the feel back.

Q. Are you in favor of introducing doping controls?

MICHELLE WIE: I think drug testing is drug testing. I mean, they do it in every other sport, but I think it's sad that they have suspicions of people, but drug testing is drug testing. I don't think I'm going to get caught, so I'm not worrying about it.

Q. I saw you here a couple of years ago when you played. How do you think you have changed in the last two years with your maturity as a golfer? What are the things that you've learned about dealing with media people, et cetera? How much better are you now in those two years?

MICHELLE WIE: I don't know. Hopefully I got a lot better. The first time I played here I was 14, and it seems like way back! I look at pictures back then and I think, wow, I look really different. A lot of things have changed. The world has changed, I've changed, grown a little bit taller, hopefully my game has matured a lot. I felt like last year playing when I was healthy my game was consistent, and I feel like my putting and my short game I'm gaining a lot more shots on. I feel like I'm getting better and better. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked this year with my injury, but I feel like what doesn't kill me is going to make me stronger, and hopefully this will make me a stronger mentally and physically. I feel like I'm maturing as a person, changing a little bit every year, but hopefully staying true to myself.

Q. What will you do if it starts bothering you?

MICHELLE WIE: If it does hurt during the round, I know I have some things I can do, I have a brace, so it puts comfort into my mind. I don't feel like I need it at this point. Like I said, it's getting stronger and stronger, and I just have to play until it feels better.

Q. You turn 18 in October. Will we see you full time on the LPGA?

MICHELLE WIE: I'm not sure yet. I haven't really decided what I really want to do yet. 18 is a big year. It changes everything. I'm going to make a smart decision, figure out what I really want to do and move forward onto it. I'm not really sure yet.

Q. Is it in the back of your mind -- you are incredibly young. Is there something other than golf that interests you in doing as a career?

MICHELLE WIE: Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm still so young. Other kids my age are just thinking about what they want to do as a career, and obviously golf is what interests me the most, and I just love it. I love doing it; I don't think of it as my career, I just love playing golf. Obviously, I do have a lot of interests; that's why I'm going to college, to broaden my interest, in case I turn 25 and I want to do something else, then I have my education to fall back on. I'm interested in the whole business side of things and really interested in that and obviously fashion. I like a lot of things. I just don't want my life to revolve around golf. Golf is my main interest and my main passion, and I love doing it, but at the same time I love doing other stuff as well, and you never know what's going to happen ten years down the road or whatever. So I'm keeping my options open but right now golf is my only interest.

Q. So the world actually expects to see you on the LPGA, but in reality that may not happen?

MICHELLE WIE: A lot of things happen. People don't realize that I'm still young and I have my whole life in front of me, and it's just -- I want to be able to choose what I want to do in my life, and right now I'm just so happy playing golf right now.

Q. Can I just check, which wrist is it? I thought you had problems with both wrists?

MICHELLE WIE: It's mainly the left now.

Q. So the left was the real problem?

MICHELLE WIE: Well, they were quite big, but the last one was the "accident" one, so to speak.

Q. Do you have a target in mind for this event?

MICHELLE WIE: This week I just want to be able to play as freely as I did last year, as happy as I did. No thoughts in my mind, just out there, me and the golf ball and the golf hole and the beautiful golf course and just to play. Just to be my 17-year-old self again and to have no worries and hit the golf ball into the hole, and that's all I'm asking right now. I just want to be able to play a pain-free round, not hurt and be able to play very well.

Q. Does that mean if you play rounds without pain but perhaps miss the cut you will be satisfied then?

MICHELLE WIE: Is there a cut this week? There is? Oh, yeah, there is. You know, it all depends. I just want to be able to play pain free. If I do play pain free and I don't play very well, it's going to disappoint me, but I just want to be able to play care free, and I think if I do that then I'll play very well.

Sergio's blame game

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Over the next few majors, keep an eye on Sergio Garcia. He took this loss in the British Open very hard.

After years of being heralded as a future major winner and coming oh-so-close, plenty of people, including Garcia, figured it was finally his time at Carnoustie.

The time did seem right. At 27, he is older, smarter, more mature. A wizard with an iron or a driver in his hand, only his putter had been holding him back.
He no sooner goes to the belly putter two weeks ago than he shoots a 65 in the first round of the British Open and holds the lead for three straight days. Unfortunately for Garcia, he couldn’t hold it for four.

In my experience, when this kind of heartbreaking defeat occurs, players have one of two reactions: They either use the experience as scar tissue to harden them, make them stronger or they let it pretty much destroy them.

Padraig Harrington, another almost major winner until Sunday, was quite candid in his press conference afterward. He said if he had let this one slip away, he’s not sure he would have been able to continue playing competitive.

It’s hard to know what the long-term fallout will be on Garcia, but his immediate was to be, frankly, petulant, brooding.

When an R&A official opened his press conference by asking him to address the disappointment he surely must feel, Garcia was sarcastic. “No, I’m thrilled,” he said.

After that, he went on to blame all manner of things for his loss. He got bad breaks, he got held up to long when two grounds crew workers took too long to rake a bunker, he had putts that should have gone in but lipped out.

At one point he even hinted that somebody, or something – the gods or maybe a even higher – was conspiring to keep him from winning a major.

When somebody asked about his shot during the play-off that hit the pin at the 16th , Garcia said, “It’s funny how some guys hit the pin and go a foot. Mine hits the pin and goes 20 feet away.”

When somebody else asked Garcia if he thought maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, he said, “I don’t know, I’m playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field.”

Finally, when somebody asked him about the pressure of owning the lead for three days, Garcia said, “It seems like every time I get in this kind of position I have no room for error.”

Well, duh. Even I know that’s why closing the deal in a major is umpteen times harder than doing it at, say, the Booz Allen, where he last did it.

The one guy that Garcia never pointed the finger of blame at was himself. He can talk all he wants about bad breaks, but the fact is he started the day with a three shot lead and couldn’t protect it.

As the weather in Carnoustie cleared Sunday afternoon and guys all around him were going low, Garcia could do no better than 73, 2-over, when it mattered most. Harrington shot 67 and came and got him, plain and simple.

Until Garcia can look himself in the mirror and admit that, he’ll never win a major.

Ain't got no sweet tea, and ain't got no fried chicken.

Back home, you don't get the BBC feed of the British Open, which I fear means you missed one of the all-time great interviews.

Here are the highlights of Boo Weekley's post-round interview Friday. He's doing America proud.

Most of the best stuff is lower down, and I've highlighted it.

BOO WEEKLEY

Q. How are you liking this kind of golf?
BOO WEEKLEY: I like it. It's very similar to how it is back home on the golf course I grew up on. It's a lot shorter than the one I grew up on, but it's firm like this and it plays pretty fast. You can bump it around the greens. You can use any club you want around the greens, which is a good thing. The putting surface here is really excellent. They're a little hard to read sometimes, but they roll real good and they're real flat.

Q. What's your impressions, you've been here a few days of the country, of the golf, of the people?
BOO WEEKLEY: The people are great. I haven't run into too many ‑‑ I'm going to leave that one alone. It's been nice getting to meet some people. The golf course is great. The atmosphere is great. It's a bigger atmosphere than I thought it would be.

Q. In what way?
BOO WEEKLEY: Just a lot more people. It's kind of like the U.S. Open back home. I knew it was the British Open and everything, but I figured the way the weather was going to be there wouldn't be that many people out. But today is a beautiful day, I almost blame them for not coming out today. But yesterday was awful.

Q. What didn't you know about Britain or Scotland before you came here?
BOO WEEKLEY: I would say my family was from here. That's all I knew. I knew it was a long way from where I grew up.

Q. Did they tell you much about it?
BOO WEEKLEY: No.

Q. Any background?
BOO WEEKLEY: No, sir.

Q. Where exactly is your family from?
BOO WEEKLEY: I couldn't tell you that, neither. But I know they're from here, south of here, down south on the border down there, I think. That's all I know. You'll have to ask my aunt.

Q. Did you have a passport before this season?
BOO WEEKLEY: I got one right at Christmas, you know, earlier this week.

Q. A lot of people thought you had to have tattoos out there, you know that?
BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah, I've heard. I mean if I do, I've got them all the way up my leg and my back. I ain't got no tatoos.

Q. What about away from the course, the food, things like that here?
BOO WEEKLEY: It's rough. It's been rough on that food. It's different eating here than it is at the house. Ain't got no sweet tea, and ain't got no fried chicken.

Q. I thought you were a fish guy?
BOO WEEKLEY: I've been eating a lot of fish.

Q. Fried?
BOO WEEKLEY: No, they've got the guy smoking some right over here, probably some of the best you'll ever eat. Yes, sir, it was good.

Q. Arbroath Smokies, you like those?
BOO WEEKLEY: Oh, yes, sir, very good.

Q. Is there anything new that's better than back home?
BOO WEEKLEY: I can't go there. (Laughter). I don't know, sir.

Q. What about driving around, is that putting you off?
BOO WEEKLEY: I ain't driving. I ain't driving nowhere.

Q. Scary?
BOO WEEKLEY: I think so. On the wrong side of the road? Yes, sir.

Q. Rumor had it that you had to smuggle in a few cans of dip because you heard they didn't have it here.
BOO WEEKLEY: I didn't smuggle a few. I brought a bunch. I think about 20‑something and my caddie brought like 30‑something.

Q. You're not going to run out, are you?
BOO WEEKLEY: Nope. Got six more to go.

Q. You have three more days.
BOO WEEKLEY: That's perfect.

Q. Did you watch any British Opens in the last say 15 years before you came here?
BOO WEEKLEY: No.

Q. On TV, you didn't?
BOO WEEKLEY: If I did it was flicking through it and stopping and wondering who it was or something like that, but I didn't. I don't watch golf. I watch it every now and then when my friends are playing it and stuff like that, but I don't care to watch it.

Q. There wasn't a curiosity how ‑‑ British as opposed to the PGA TOUR?
BOO WEEKLEY: No.

Q. Do you know about the previous Champions and previous great players?
BOO WEEKLEY: No.

Q. Paul Lawrie, you apparently played with him last week?
BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah. I kind of stuck my foot in my mouth there, didn't I (laughter), but I didn't know. If you don't know, you don't know. I hated I said what I said, especially with him just saying what he said a couple of days before that, he don't get no respect. And then I say something like that, you know, it's like, wham, here's a slap in your head (laughter).

Q. Have you watched television here? What do you make of the television over here?
BOO WEEKLEY: I don't watch much TV.

Q. You can't get the race on Sunday?
BOO WEEKLEY: No.

Q. Are you a NASCAR fan?
BOO WEEKLEY: Yes, sir.

Q. Are you going to St. Andrews, the home of golf, when you finish here and have a game of golf? It's only just down the road.
BOO WEEKLEY: I didn't know it was the home of golf. I thought the home of golf was where I was from (laughter).

Q. Have you developed an appetite for being abroad and playing abroad? Would you like to visit other places in Europe?
BOO WEEKLEY: I don't like to visit, I just go and do what I got to do and get home.

Q. Had you been out of the country before you went to Mexico for the Cancún thing?
BOO WEEKLEY: I've been to Canada once, but that ain't really like leaving.

Q. Jim Furyk was out in some of the local pubs last night. Are you thinking about going out with a drink and mixing with some of the locals?
BOO WEEKLEY: No, probably not.

Q. They'd love to meet you.
BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah, I'm pretty sure they would (laughter).

Smokie

I've got a belly full of smokie.

It's local specialty fare, sort of the cheesesteak of a nearby town, Arbroath. The original idea dates back to the Vikings 900 years ago, according to Ian, the guy doing the actual smoking. Somehow, Arbroath became the "home of the smokie."

To cook it, they dig a pit in the ground, line it with slates and put a half barrel of whiskey in the bottom of the pit for juicy favoring. Then they take haddock, or trout, cut it, tie up the tail, spread it over a plank and cook it for 40 minutes over smoking beech or oak fire, which is covered by some sort of sackcloth. In the end, the smokie is "golden brown." Quite tasty.

I had my first smokie a couple of nights ago in a pub in Arbroath, mostly at the urging of the locals at the next table. Today, a few of us discovered some guy from Arbroath has a smokie stand not far from the media center. He served his smokie on paper plates and we all stood around eating and picking tiny fish bones out of our teeth. It's sort of like standing around Pat's in South Philly eating a cheesesteak. You can't beat it.

Daly dose

You want to know the state of John Daly's life and golf game?

A few minutes ago, Big John holed out from about 100 yards out in the 11th fairway to grab the solo lead at the British Open at 5-under. On the very next hole, he lipped out a two-footer for bogey, giving it all back.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that just because Daly was the momentary leader, I wouldn't bet you $2 he hangs on to make the cut. Heck, I wouldn't even bet you $2 he makes it through 36 holes without walking off the course.

Thomson on Tiger

Here's a British Open note that got bumped from the paper...

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- If Peter Thomson knows what he’s talking about, Tiger Woods could win eight straight British Opens.

“I’m serious about it,” Thomson said this week. “If I can do three or five, then Tiger can certainly do better than that.”

Thomson, of course, is the last man to win three straight Opens (1954-56) – and the only player to do it in the modern era. He and his record are in all their glory this week at Carnoustie because Woods, with back-to-back wins at St. Andrews in 2005 and Royal Liverpool in last year, is gunning to match Thomson’s record this week.

Two other long-gone players, Jamie Anderson (1877-79) and Bob Ferguson (1882-82) won three straight Opens. But the list of twofers who fizzled going for three-in-a-row is long and impressive: Old Tom Morris, J.H. Taylor, Harry Vardon, James Braid,, Bobby Jones, Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino.

Thomson, winner of five Opens over his career, not only doesn’t count Woods out for three straight, he believes he could raise the bar to unthinkable heights – eight straight.

“I nearly went five in a row,” said Thomson, 77, a native Aussie. “The fourth one I sort of threw away, not quite the way Mickelson did, but I finished second at St. Andrews at my fourth run. And I felt I should have won that if I had been a bit smarter. But then I won the next one.”

If Woods does pull off the three-peat this week, Thomson will be there to congratulate him. “I’d be as proud to be linked with his name as with three-in-a-row.

Thomson thinks the only thing standing between Woods and eight straight is illness, desire and preparation and, potentially, weather.

Thomson also takes his hat off to Tom Watson, the only other modern-era player with five Open titles.

“He’s still walking around winning, too, I believe,” said Thomson.

Welcome to Scotland

After two days of clear skies, warm days and a light breeze at my back, I walked out of my rented house in Carnoustie this morning to be greeted by an arresting chill and a driving rain. Man, is it dreary.

So what if it's July 18th, welcome to Scotland.

I grabbed a light rain jacket but, not to be discouraged, I struck out for the golf course wearing shorts and short-sleeved golf shirt, refusing to admit that there was any chance the sun might not come out later in the day. Halfway throught the five-minute walk to the course, I was cold and wet, telling myself what a dope I am. This is what a rainy day in late October feels like at home. All around me, cheerful native Scots were bundled up in wool sweaters, pullover fleeces and rain gear.

So what. I'm from Philly. We laugh in the face of nasty weather.

Ah, the Open

If I had to pick a favorite golf tournament, it would be the British Open.

I like the trip over, I've learned how to drive on the left side of the road and I like wandering the streets of the small towns and villages where the Open is usually played.

After an overnight flight, with my body clock haywire, I was up by 5 a.m. Scotland time this morning -- midnight back home. The sun was up already, so I made a cup of coffee, grabbed my camera and struck out from the house I'm sharing a few hundred yards from the course to hit the streets of Carnoustie.

I don't care where you go in the U.S., we don't have the kind of little ancient villages they have over here. By 6 a.m., a few shopkeepers were already preparing to open. Dressed in shorts, loafers with no socks and a fleece pullover, I stuck out like a sore thumb -- or a typical America.

People nodded and greeted me on the street with a cheerful hello.

Sandbagging, cheating or remarkable golf?

I've just seen something I can't recall seeing in the generally friendly confines of club golf -- what appears to have been a blatant case of sandbagging, cheating or remarkable golf.

A buddy of mine invited me to play in a one-day member guest at his club, which shall remain nameless. I was one of three guests and, along with my buddy, our foursome competed as one of 18 teams in a modified Stableford format.

Using your handicap for net scores, pars were worth one point, birdies two points, eagles three points, bogeys and worse counted for zippo. Each green even had a second, much more difficult hole location, where point values were doubled. Of course, it all came down to legitimate handicaps and the honest accounting by each team.

At the turn, hoping to gauge our success or lack thereof, we asked one of the assistant pros what it took to win this thing? High 60s, sometimes 70 points, he told us. Our team didn't play great and we went on to finish with a total of 53 points, putting us back in the pack. Plenty of teams finished in the mid-50s, the 60s and even the low 70s.

To the astonishment of most everybody, the winning team finished with 98 points -- 19 points ahead of the second-place team's 79 points. In other words, most of the teams were bunched together, except for the winning team.

As we all watched the results get posted, the doubt set in and the eye-rolling began. This foursome of middle-aged, soft-bellied, non-athletic looking guys had almost lapped the field? Was anybody buying that? No.

The pro was helpless to do anything, unless he wanted to publicly question the integrity of the member and his guests. But everybody else let their feelings be known.

At the awards ceremony and dinner, when the names of the winning team and their winning score were announced and they made their way up for their pick from the prize table, they must have been embarrassed to be greeted by snickers, hoots and hisses. One guy in the back even did that thing that where you cough, while under your breath you're yelling, "BULL----!"

Except for the prizes, those guys got exactly what they deserved.

Upheaval at the USGA

There are all kinds of upheaval and head-ducking going on at the U.S. Golf Association.

The manure first hit the oscillator the week of the U.S. Open at Oakmont when Golf World magazine came out with a cover story headlined "Can the USGA survive Walter Driver?"

Driver, of course, is the high-powered, hard-driving Atlanta businessman who is president of the USGA. Even Driver's fans -- and he has his fans -- tout him as a "change agent," meaning nothing and nobody is safe these days at the USGA.

But the cover story, which was long, well-researched and damning, suggests that in the first 1 1/2 years of his two-year term Driver has tried to bring a corporate-style management to the USGA not used to it.

That might not be such a terrible thing, but Driver comes off as an impersonal, imperial, impervious man who has left many of the USGA staff of 300 cowering in fear. While the top dogs at the USGA earn hefty salaries and fly around in leased jets and drive leased Lexuses, the rank-and-file folks aren't paid nearly so well and they are seeing their benefits get cut.

In the past week or so, two top people have left: Tim Moraghan, the USGA's chief of agronomy, and a man who plays a major role in setting up U.S. Open courses. Many insiders believe Driver had been gunning to take down Moraghan ever since the disaster at Shinnecock in 2004.

Also gone, suddenly, is Marty Parkes, senior director of communications, and No. 4 on a USGA staff flow chart. Insiders suggest Parkes got the blame for not being able to kill the Golf World story before it ever got published.

I don't know Driver well. The longest conversation I've had with him was maybe 10 minutes long at the Open a few weeks ago. But I remember well the impression he was making on USGA staffers at the U.S. Amateur at Merion two summers ago, just as he was about to take over.

I remember him walking past me and a couple of USGA staffers one day. As he passed I could almost feel a chill. And as I looked over at the USGA staffers, they were almost shuddering.

"I'm not looking forward to the next two years," said one.

Tiger's swing

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Tiger Woods swings at the ball so hard. Never could.

I mean, I am sitting here watching the AT&T National as Tiger takes the violent swipes at the ball with his driver. And while the stat sheet says he's hitting more fairways than he misses, it seems like every time I look up he's dropping the club in disgust or wading around in ankle-deep rough looking for his tee ball.

I cannot help but wonder if he couldn't hit almost every fairway if he would just dial it back a little.

The guy's got power to burn. Even if he let up just a itty-bitty bit, how could it not give him a little more control and accuracy? How could it hurt?

His driving accuracy is just over 55 percent and he ranks 165th on the PGA Tour. Imagine how many tournaments he would win if he improved that ranking to, say, 65?

Abortion politics on Sports page

When I checked my emails this morning, I was already hearing from angry readers accusing me of promoting a liberal pro-abortion bias on the Inquirer sports pages.

Because of a story I wrote from the AT&T National golf tournament quoting Tiger Woods on the wonders of fatherhood, some readers mistook what he said for what I believe.

Specifically, I wrote that Tiger and Elin had spent much of the first night staring at Sam, wondering how they could love something so much that "didn't exist the day before."

For the record, I don't know anybody who has any idea of where Tiger stands on abortion or on when life begins; and I know readers have no idea where I stand, despite their best efforts to jump to conclusions.

Here, exerpted from the transcript of Tiger's pre-tournament interview, is the question and answer:

Q. Everybody before they have become a father has expectations or guesses about how they will feel, but usually it doesn't -- things happen that surprise you those first couple of weeks. How have your emotional responses been different than you might have guessed?

TIGER WOODS: Well, you know, something that I think Elin and I talked about on our first night, said, how can you love something so much that didn't exist the day before. We never experienced anything like that. And certainly it's one that was different and one that was special, and something that we want to experience again.

O'Hair to British Open

O'Hair, 24, from West Chester, overcame a triple bogey on the first hole to shoot 68 at Oakland Hills Monday to play his way into the upcoming British Open at Carnoustie.

Here's a story from the Detroit paper on all the qualifers.

Philadelphia Open qualifer

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

VILLANOVA, Pa.–Alan Borowsky, a 22-year-old amateur from White Manor CC, heads to the historic East Course of Merion GC for the first time in the summer’s marquee event, the 103rd Open Championship.

Borowsky, a recent Lehigh University graduate, earned a trip to the fabled Main Line venue with a 4-under-par 66 on Monday at Radnor Valley CC (par 70, 6,531 yards), the first of three Open Championship qualifiers administered by the Golf Association of Philadelphia. Borowsky and 15 others advanced from the RVCC site into the championship field of 72.

For the rest of the story click here.

How did Tiger Woods develop those pecs?

The No. 1 golfer in the world finally spills the beans about his workout regiment in a story in Men's Fitness magazine.

Hint: Low weights, many reps. Workout six days a week.

Vacation

I'm outta here for a week...

Huh?

It's 1:30 in the morning, I can't sleep and I'm pacing the floor, pondering the great questions of the day:

-- How to solve the health care crisis in America?

-- What to do about Iraq?

-- Why does David Letterman wear white socks every night?

-- What's up with Tiger and Elin naming their daughter Sam, not short for Samatha, but only Sam?