RIP Rory

I agree with Golf Mag's rhetorical (or so it seems to me) question and expected answer.

Yes, this was Rory's worst majors loss ever (well, with hindsight, No. 2 outside of his Masters meltdown of 13 years ago.)

Second, per its description, yes, his pace, despite all his talk otherwise, seems to be a problem. It was for the King as well. Besides Palmer's risk-taking, which McIlroy mainly avoided this past week, he too had a rapid pace of play.

To put it another way? Both of Rory's late missed putts were shorter than the one Bryson made.

As for the future?

I think Rory remains snake-bitten at Augusta. He might pull out one more PGA title. The US Open will remain out of reach until he slows himself. The Open? Like the PGA, maybe one more.

So, bet on 5, hold on 6 and bet against the career Grand Slam.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the end of an era

Red Shirt and Philly Mick are now in the golf history books in a new way.

At the Open at Royal Portrush, for the first time in 83 majors they were both entered into, they both missed the cut. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if it is not the only one in the next three years, even.

Phil's floundering and who knows where his arthritis is at. Tiger we know is a gimpy old man.

So, it also wouldn't surprise me one bit, despite the Woodsaholics and Tiger fellators, is if they're permanently capped at 15 majors and 5, respectively.

Ian O'Connor at ESPN fellated the hell out of Tiger Thursday, making a pun on Portrush being "no country for old men," which I easily refuted:

Oh, Ian, your attempt at metaphor-pun aside, Portrush was INDEED "a country for old men." Just not Red Shirt Tiger.
Darren Clarke, 50, even.
Ernie Els, 49, even.
Lee Westwood, 46, -3.
Henrik Stenson, 43, -1.
Just stop the Tiger Woods fellating, Ian.

— reallyDonaldTrump  🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) July 19, 2019

Dave Shedloski, while not fellating Red Shirt as much as O'Connor, bad enough, claiming the weather is the only reason Tiger didn't do better in non-Augusta majors this year.

No, not really.

The real reasons are twofold.

One is that Eduardo Molinari and Brooks Koepka, both of whom know better, yakked away the 12th hole on Sunday at Augusta. The toooneyment was given to Tiger as much as  he won it, arguably.

Second, the reason Tiger did better at Augusta is that it's the first major of the year. Once the golf season gets rolling after that, the new schedule of a major a month simply will not accommodate Tiger if he's not playing at least a little bit in between, no matter the weather. (So, just as The Masters DID Tiger-proof Augusta National, if only to make it lefty-friendly, per Hank Haney, the PGA Tour and the FedEx pot of gold have Tiger-proofed the tour schedule, I guess.)

And, per Woods' comments about his 2018 schedule being too much, don't expect a lot of changes in 2020.

As I told O'Connor, the same to Shedloski. Tiger ain't winning anywhere else on majors, and he ain't winning three more, let alone four more times at Augusta National.

So put away this "he could still pass Jack" bullshit as the bullshit it is. Hell, contra Shedloski, I'm not sure Tiger passes Sam Snead's career wins record.

The Masters: A tradition of bullshit unlike any other

I'm a fairly ardent fan of golf, and focus in during the four majors.

But, golf is a rich conservative man's sport. Mainly white, with occasional exceptions.

And, the Masters, until relatively recently, was the worst of the four.

Cue up histories of Lee Trevino. Or worse, Lee Elder. Or worse yet, Calvin Peete.

Or look at pictures from 1950s-60s Masters, just unearthed by Golf Digest. The fans (fuck that "patrons" shit) ... well, they might have liked golf, but ... to go one better on the GD cutline on this:

Masters galleries of the 1950s and 60s resembled people who, if not waiting for a Klan rally,

were waiting for the next meeting of the local Concerned Citizens Council.

So, no ... the British and US Opens didn't have galleries like that.

And, for the snootiness of the toonyment otherwise, as you look through those old pics?

Before the mid-60s, at earliest, the course itself looked frayed. Scuffed, Like a cheap small-town Southern motel with beyond-its-wearout-date carpet, to extend the theme.

No. 12 with no azaleas behind it looks almost bleah. But, even worse, look at the holes in the cheap apartment
carpet that's called the fairway.

That's not today's Masters. And, though the pix are black and white, I assume the water had no blue dye in it at that time.

I would divide the Masters into four not-quite-equal quarters.

The first is 1935-62. The first one-third of this, before World War II intervened, was just Cliff Roberts, Bobby Jones and a list of swells and golfers playing around. After the war, it picked up more, but as the picture of No. 12 shows ... it still wasn't The.Masters.™

1963 starts are second quarter. "Fat Jack," as he was known then, won for the first time. 1986, with his last win, is a good transition.

This split into roughly a two-thirds front and a one-third back. Tom Watson's first win in 1977 followed by Gary Player's last in 1978, is the break. Or, go back a couple of years earlier. 1975 is the first Masters I remember and still possibly the greatest ever — with Jack beating Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller by a stroke.

From there? We're going to 1997, right?

No. 1987-2005 is my next stretch. It's shorter than the first two, but it breaks just about in half. The first half was the rise of Greg Norman and the greater rise of Nick Faldo, with lesser lights and the last years of Tom Watson part of the scene. The second half covers Tiger Woods' four wins.

And now, we're in the post-Tiger era. The course was Tiger-proofed in multiple installments. And, apparently lefty-enhanced, a sentiment of Hank Haney and other coaches and players.

Mike Weir won his only major in 2003 here. Phil Mickelson took three Masters, starting in 2004. Bubba Watson has won two, and no other majors. That's six victories for lefties in 16 years.

Phil's win at Muirfield in the Open is the only other win by a lefty in a major in the last 20 years. Bob Charles of the 1963 Open is the only other lefty to win a major. But, Weir is golf detritus now, Phil is nearly 40 and Bubba is 40, and no top-notch lefties are on the golf horizon.

The reality of Augusta National is that a tournament with a history of changing invitational standards, resetting pairings between first and second rounds in the past, going with non-traditional send-out order for the final two rounds in the more distant past and similar capricious whims, arguably isn't a major. Or, at least, it certainly wasn't in the first segment of its history and not in the first half of the second segment.

Besides, as Josh Sens notes, a lot of modern traditions and legends are also overrated.

ESPN's Ian O'Connor has the temerity to suggest Augusta not invite amateur women but instead host a pro tournament. Sean Zak explains why that won't happen any time soon.

And, I went beyond Sean on Twitter:

.@TheMasters ain't doing a pro women's gig, Ian. Per a piece from The Independent a few yrs ago, first, they can't create instant memories in today's online world. Second, there's already a passel of women's majors and #TheMasters and Augusta National won't play second fiddle.

— reallyDonaldTrump 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) April 10, 2019

Teh bottom line.

Per that piece from The Independent I reference, Cliff Roberts' toonyment is full of "faked, instant traditions Americans love."

Speaking of fake instant real traditions, probably the best way to divide The Masters is into pre- and post Roberts eras. Roberts, around whom a whole cultus has grown, stepped down as chairman in 1976. That's just about midway in the current timeline, and the tournament started modernizing, in fits and starts.

RIP Dan Jenkins

Was Dan Jenkins very good?

Yes.

Was he the GOAT of sportswriters, or even of Texas sportswriters?

No.

That was his mentor, Blackie Sherrod. And, there was no comparison on them in opining about news issues.

Jenkins, IMO, had a couple of minor and a couple of larger issues against him.

On the minor side, he was such a Ben Hogan fanatic that — contretemps with "the kid" Tiger Woods and his agent Mark Steinberg aside, he couldn't give Tiger a fair shake at times. (At other times, he was awed of Woods, though.)

I wrote about some of that here. Here's an outtake:

Dan's fetishizing of Ben Hogan to the point of trying to count things like the North/South as a major is ridiculous. 

Plus, Hogan, setting aside his car accident and miracle comeback, played in a relatively barren era for golf. Sam Snead had a long career, playing at a winning level throughout the 1950s, but Byron Nelson had retired, and until Arnie and Gary at the end of the decade, when Cary Middlecoff and a young Boros are your next in line, it's not good depth. Given that the PGA banned Bobby Locke, using a face-saving excuse to cover for jealousy, that only adds to the egg on the collective golf face of the 1950s in the US.

Indeed. Hogan won six of his nine majors after his car wreck. Other than his one Open, the 50s in Britian belonged almost totally to South Africans and New Zealanders. America had a bunch of one-major winners and a couple of two major winners at the other three Slam events in the 50s. Hogan simply had weak competition.

And, as for his love of all things Hogan, as reflected in his World Golf Hall of Fame induction as well? A lot of his fellow golfers didn't like Hogan as a person that much.

And, if you're going to count alleged one-time majors, Dan? The Haig would be ahead of Hogan anyway. If Jenkins would just have admitted this was biased fandom, not objective, and at the same time belittled Woods a touch less? Different. I got no problems with admitting you're a fanboy. Trying to used Twain's lies, damned lies and statistics for a pseudo-objective sheen? Different.

On the bigger side?

Unlike Blackie, he couldn't do news commentary and analysis as well as sports. And, even to the degree he could do that, he was ... "less reconstructed" than Blackie. In other words, he was conservative beyond political correctness. I'm far from alone in that take.

Contra Ray Ratto and others in the sports column world, I never tried to imitate Dan. That's because I never thought too much about it. Also, I never thought too much about whether or not Jenkins was that imitation-worthy.

I, and many others, though, did take Blackie's "scattershooting" idea, complete the lede graf in our own way, and run with it. I otherwise imitated Art Buchwald at times — someone of whom Blackie reminded me a bit.

Beyond that, if Jenkins' invented dialogue between golfers is a good sample, his writing there — never read by me — is probably a bit turgid. (Tiger was right, I think, that his fake Tiger interview didn't come off well as parody, and I think that is part of why.) I was NOT a big Landry Cowboys fan, and besides, "North Dallas Forty" was the best on that. And, Jenkins never covered baseball in detail, let alone the NBA. (Thank doorknobs for that one, too. His non-PC rips on the NBA would have been semi-Trumpian, probably.)

But, we're going to get some good RIP, too.

I do think he was the best golf writer we've seen in half a century, bar none. And the car wrecks we call the U.S. Open brought out some of his best. His observation of majors in general is also good. And SI wraps up his best in golf and football writing from his time there.

Let's honor him for that.

And, for leaving a posthumous gift at Golf Digest.

And, his best sports coverage wasn't golf.

It was, per his memoir, "His Ownself."

Let's be honest about that.

Of course, we're all our own best subjects as authors. The key is to disguise that and make it interesting.

Your #USOpen winner for 2017 is?

First, I have confidence that Erin Hills will be much better than Chambers Bay of two years ago, if for no other reason than having real greens. Its particular blind spots may challenge many golfers, but unless the rain there is heavy, it should play "short," despite its stated length, and the wider cuts on some fescue will allow for aggressiveness.

In short, perhaps a bit like nearby Whistling Straits, yet not exactly the same. Even more links-like, perhaps, in some ways.

That said, it DOES have some blind shots, which are very links-like. And, it's going to have a lot of uneven lies.

And, of course, it's a first-time track.

So, how does that factor into picking a winner?

Two stories are a guide.

The first? This, suggesting a top-10 player is the likely winner at a first-time U.S. Open or PGA track. 

The second? This one, suggesting that the blind shots, the sideways lies, etc., will all likely favor a European golfer.

So, European. Top 10.

In order, that's Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, the hot Alex Noren and the hot earlier this year Jon Rahm. Justin Rose is just outside that list at 11, and gets bonus points for being a previous major winner and his second at this year's Masters.

So, that's six against the field. I'll take that as a prop bet right there.

But, which of the six? Rory's still rebounding from the rib injury. Scratch him. Stenson's been not so hot this year, with five missed cuts. Scratch him.

Sergio may be on a post-Masters high, or he may be locked in, per this piece. Let me think.

The final three?

Rose isn't thought of as a bomber, but he has a slight driving length edge over Rahm and a bigger one over Noren. The three play the same on putting average, too.

So, with that in mind, my money is on Justin Rose.

With Sergio locked in enough for second.

And my money, along with that of the Weather Channel, is NOT on Phil Mickelson playing. Sorry, Philly Mick fans, but weather delays only likely Friday and Saturday.


That said, per Golf.com, maybe rain will be bad enough on Saturday to force a Monday finish if Sunday's start is a problem.

A swoon at Troon? For whom?

So who wins The Open Championship and becomes The Champion Golfer of the World?

I am going to bet against Dustin Johnson just because it's so hard to win two majors in a row. Scratch Jason Day. Rory and Jordan don't impress right now.

Adam Scott is kind of trending, but he's not quite floating my boat.

Per him picking up some recent steam, looking to add a third major to his bag and cement a Hall of Fame invite many a year from now...

I am tagging Martin Kaymer. I think he's got good enough all-around driving skills to pull this off.

Dear PGA, golf writers, Spieth and McIlroy, yes, we have a rivalry

Jordan Spieth (corrected throughout), after winning the Masters, downplayed the idea that he was in Rory McIlroy's league.

Rory, the week before the just-passed U.S. Open, did a LeBron James and claimed to be the best in golf.

Well, Rory couldn't putt well and LeBron James couldn't carry a team forced to start Matthew Dellavedova and others.

That said, let's start with some 21st century golf history.

Since the turn of the calendar, five people have won back-to-back majors. Tiger Woods has done it multiple times, most recently at the 2006 Open and PGA. Phil did it before him once, with the 2005 PGA and 2006 Masters.

We've had three others, all since Tiger's last major.

The first is Padraig Harrington, with the 2008 Open and PGA.

And, in the last year, we've had the last four majors won with two back-to-backs.

And, both McIlroy and Spieth are, at a minimum, better than Harrington and at least as good as Philly Mick. Both of them.

We have a rivalry,  And, yes, per this Irish Times piece, it's what we've been waiting for. And, Spieth is still downplaying it somewhat, but not as much as two months ago. Whether it's true humility, a psychological control mechanism for himself, a bit of anti-Rory or a combo of all of the above and more, I don't know. But, Jordan? You're part of a rivalry now.

Further proof of that? Spieth has closed McIlroy's once-massive gap in the Overall World Golf Rankings to less than two points.

Everybody's been wondering if Rory is the next Tiger or Jack. What if, instead, he's the next Arnie, aka a step up from Phil, and Speith is the next Tiger or Jack? After all, after two early U.S. Open wins, a lot of people thought Ernie Els was the next wunderkind, and Tiger then blew his doors off.

Back to the current rivalry, and Rory's comments a week ago.

Golf is an individual, not a team sport. Rory's not lugging around Delly, the highly inconsistent J.R. Smith, or the players formerly known as Mike Miller and Shawn Marion. He's in this solo.

Sure, Rory's arguably got the best swing in the game today. But, maybe he's not as much a "grinder" as Spieth. Or he may let putting go by the wayside at times. In any case, maybe he needs the focus a real rivalry brings. And, maybe, per the last part of that last link, Jordan will have his own struggles in dealing with a new level of fame. Time's going to tell soon enough.

Spieth is already starting to enter the higher stratosphere, getting some free swag from Lions wideout Calvin Johnson, aka Megatron, after a shout-out to him. (And giving a shout-out to Stephen Curry.)

Finally, Spieth has Michael Greller. Rory doesn't.

It's arguable that Steve Williams helped Tiger indeed on winning a couple of his closer majors. The same may be true now.

My 2014 British Open thoughts and quasi-picks

Or, just "The Open" for true golf aficionados.

Yes, the All-Star Game is tonight, but, golf starts Thursday with the third of its four majors. And, even as a long, long baseball fan, Bud Selig's various shenanigans have made me less interested in the ASG every passing year, anyway.

So, on to Royal Liverpool!

My hunch favorite is that young "Ulsterman," as American media likes to call him, Rory McIlroy. Tis true that he's said he doesn't like links golf a lot, but, the fairways and greens are green enough to be semi-American at Hoylake this week. Now, Rory just needs to stop imploding on Fridays. He's been solid in general, even with that. He knows this is his week to put it all together.

It is supposed to rain during the week. Now, if it's more of an American-type soaker, that could help Rory. If it's a classic British Open gale, who knows? 

That said, Weather.com's forecast calls for 16mph winds on Friday, lesser ones otherwise. I usually use Weather Underground but, while much of that site's recent update is great, the wind speed part is not. Anyway, WU is using the word "thunderstorm," not just "rain" as a possibility on Friday, so stay tuned.

My second choice is Justin Rose, who played himself into this position by winning the Scottish Open. A shot at the world No. 1 ranking, if not after this week, then soon, would be at stake. So would putting himself in talk for the future with a second major. And, a third win overall would push him past Martin Kaymer and others for Player of the Year rankings.

Kaymer is in my top 10, though not necessarily my third choice. He's familiar with European playing conditions, but a semi-American Hoylake might benefit him.

Jason Day is "due" for a majors breakthrough, and seemingly recovered from his thumb injury, but so far, he's not had a humongous track record at the Open.

Adam Scott's been consistent this year, but mid-level consistent. I see him in the mix, but not winning.

Other than Rose, I'm not holding my breath on any English golfers. From Northern Ireland, I expect Graeme McDowell to put himself in the top 20, at least.

And, I'll continue to mention Sergio Garcia as a sentimental choice until he either finally wins a major or else turns 40.

That said, the really sentimental pick would be John Singleton. Read here for the story of a non-pro forklift operator making his dream come true just by qualifying.

That guy some call Red Shirt? I'll give you 50-50 odds he misses the cut. I find it interesting, also, a recent anecdote Steve Williams told, that Red Shirt, at least when Williams was his caddie, was bad at judging distances, and distance-club issues, so Williams would regularly give him overlength yardage estimates.

British Open — 16 for 16

Can Adam Scott do it?/Wikipedia photo

While Tiger Woods is certainly in the running, and Graeme McDowell not too far off, they're the only two golfers in reasonable position to keep this year's British Open from producing the 16th different consecutive winner of one of golf's four majors. Indeed, they're the only two within nine shots of the lead (and in the top 27 after two rounds, although 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and this year's Masters' winner, Bubba Watson, are just one stroke further back, tied for 28th).

It all depends on Saturday's rounds, I think. Weather Saturday is supposed to be at least as good as Thursday and Friday, which means low scoring is there for the taking.

UPDATE, July 21: Looks like my guesses below, made after Friday's second round, were right, at least No. 1 and No. 3, who (Scott and McDowell) will be in the final twosome. The only thing "wrong" is that it's not Scott and Woods as the final twosome, with Scott's current caddy, former Woods bagman Steve Williams, and tension as thick as a British fog.


But ... winds are supposed to be up on Sunday. Now, not gale force, like at some Opens, but 15 mph is definitely in the forecast. Add that to any tricky Sunday pin placements, and greens drying out, and, while there may be plenty of "backward" motion by golfers who struggle, don't look for major low numbers on Sunday.


Beyond that observation in general, I'll expect the winner to come from one of the last two pairings on Sunday. And, in keeping with form, for Tiger not to win if he's only in the second-last pairing.


I'll go out on a limb, without saying any of these will win, and make some guesstimates:
1. Adam Scott. Being close in a major, and Stevie Williams on the bag, could be enough.
2. Paul Lawrie. Sentimental favorite, and certainly he'd like to "earn" an Open on his own, but at 43, he may be a bit long in the golfing tooth. Flip side is that he knows the conditions,  if weather gets bad.
3. McDowell. Ditto on the weather knowledge, and he's been in other "hunts" besides his 2010 U.S. Open win.
4. Ernie Els. He would be the most sentimental non-British crowd favorite, I think. But, can he "close"? That's been part of the question mark on him for a few years. Still, he may know this could be his last, best shot at Major No. 4.
5. Brant Snedeker. "All" he has to do is stay steady. If he can't do that well on Saturday, he certainly won't on Sunday.
6. Luke Donald. Even more sentimental than Els, but, a stroke further back.
7. Woods. I think he needs a strong, intimidating start Saturday. If he gets that, it could be him. However, with the Sunday weather forecast, he could hold the Saturday lead and still lose it; his bad-weather track record at the British has been somewhat iffy.


Also, half of those first six, by winning, would also make us 10 straight in different first-time majors winners.


Stay tuned!

Sidebar — Woods won't get to No. 1 in the world rankings, but he will finish ahead of Donald here, I predict, and close enough ground to have a good shot by the PGA Championship. At the least, he's almost guaranteed to pass Lee Westwood into third and quite likely to pass Rory McElroy into second.

UPDATE 2, July 21: If Scott wins, he had better enjoy it now; the USGA and R&A are looking at making "anchoring" of a long putter, at least, illegal.

KUDOS to NBC on "godless" pregolf Pledge

Before the start of the U.S. Open golf tournament's final round, NBC ran a special video segment of patriotic images and previous tournament winners, with a Pledge of Allegiance voiceover.

One "problem," which Red State wingnuttia immediately noticed. The Pledge was the original, pre-1954, pre-Red Scare version without the added phrase of "under god."

Here it is:



Unfortunately, corporate media NBC/Comcast then felt the need to apologize for this.

Accenture-ate the FedEx Cup

This week's Accenture WGC Match Play golf tournament has many pro golfers, especially but not limited to Europeans, lamenting the lack of more match-play events on PGA Tour.

Meanwhile, more and more golf writers are getting tired of the barfolicious early-season flogging of the FedEx Cup, not just by the PGA Tour but also by CBS on broadcasts.

So, here's the solution.

Let's make the final day, say, of the Tour Championship, a 36-hole match play event. Top four (and ties) from the first three days qualify for a Sunday finale, all playing the same group. To keep it from bogging down too much, once a player is officially eliminated, he stops playing. Probably, after 30 holes, we'd be down to, say, 3 players.

Match play for $10 million? That would HUGELY jazz up the FedEx Cup. And, per Tiger Woods still not on top of his game at Accenture, we'd really see how much domination and intimidation mean.

Tiger Woods could fall to No. 3!!!

Been a while since this happened, but, if Martin Kaymer wins in Dubai tomorrow, he vaults past Tiger into No. 2 in the world rankings behind Lee Westwood. Given that he has a five-shot lead after three rounds, the tournament is his for the taking.

And, since Westwood is 19 shots off the pace, his reign as No. 1 may not last too long.

Phil Mickelson? Almost as far back as Westwood.

Update: It's official, as Kaymer smokes the field for an eight-shot win. It seriously would not at all surprise me for him to hit No. ! by the time of the U.S. Open. Philly Mick falls from T-4 to 5 and pooh-poohs it, talking about majors. Well, Phil, outside the Masters ,you have sucked, by and large, and you fade at the end of seasons anyway.

Also, I think McElroy's second place may have him in the world top 10 now.

Your 2011 golf No. 1 is .... ?

The way I see it, five golfers have a realistic shot at eh World No. 1 next year — Westwood, Woods, Mickelson, Kaymer and McDowell. The question is, how many will hold the honor, if only for one week, and who will hold it the most?

At ESPN, Bob Harig offers his take on who's most likely to break out. He and Jason Sobel devote an Alternate Shot duo column to more on this issue as well as other 2011 predictions.

My prediction? Everybody but Philly Mick will get it for at least a week, but he will continue to find ways not to. And Westwood will have the most weeks overall.

Let me have your thoughts in the polls at right.

Harig then discusses Tiger's 2011 possibilities.

Meanwhile, both Harig and Sobel offer their predictions about some up-and-comers.

Did Philly Mick choke at Bethpage?

I’d agree with Jeff Passan; that’s a big yes.

Beyond choking itself, as Passan notes, you have his “oh, well” statements after he was done.

Then, as I note, you have his pledge every year to do more in the way of conditioning, then by summer, we see that he’s never come close to matching Tiger, or Vijay Singh, or others, in that effort.

Yeah, he should have half a dozen majors, at least.

But, as I already told a friend of mine a year ago… after his Whiff at Winged Foot, he’ll never win another. And you can make book on that.

Published on ESPN!

Well, not "published" in that sense, but the limerick I e-mailed to Jason Sobel's U.S. Open liveblog:

As rains poured anew at Bethpage
Conspiracists fell into black rage.
Would Tiger not win?
The golf fix was in!
Methinks they lost a big betting wage.

THIS golf club goes to 11

And, if it does, that Spinal Tap-style titanium drive could damage your hearing, including tinnitus and reduced hearing. Ping's new G10 tops out at 130 decibels at contact, well above doctors' recommended 110dB limit for close sounds.

Once again, call the wahhmbulance for Sergio

It’s just not his fault he didn’t win the PGA, he insists:

“There’s guys that get a little bit fortunate,” Garcia said. “They get in contention in a major and manage to get things going their way. And unfortunately, it hasn’t happened to me. I feel like I played well enough to win probably more than two majors throughout my career.”

Hmm, could have sworn you were skilled fortunate enough to have a 4-foot birdie putt on 17, six feet closer than Harrington.

Down the stretch, yesterday, particularly on 16 and 17, nope, you didn’t quite play well enough. Dunking your second at 16 certainly didn’t help.

And, one of the oldest clichés of golf is that you manufacture your own breaks.

My U.S. Open thoughts after round two

Looking at the scoreboard, it’s probably Tiger’s to lose. He can grind out two more rounds on a still-sore knee, then take the whole pre-British summer off if he hurts that bad. Then, he can take off again until the PGA.

But, “can” doesn’t necessarily mean “will.” So, let’s look at the rest of the field.

Phil’s out of it at plus-4 and seven off the lead, and yes, while he might have some chance, I think this was his “last, best hope,” and Master Samwise ain’t carrying his bags this weekend. I think he’s going to have to rethink the idea of not carrying a driver if he wants any shot at a comeback, too.

The Big Easy? Boy, wouldn’t this be a comeback win for Els?

Karlsson — two subpar rounds, playing steady. D Love III could have a last gasp? Jimenez has potential. And, Ogilvy is up there. If Harrington had not had that 78 in the first round, I’d give him more of a shot, but maybe he can make up six strokes. Maybe Goosen can. Luke Donald could break through, too. Westwood has never done much at majors.

And, that's it as far as people with realistic chances, in my book.

I’m still not ready to bet Tiger against the field, so I’ll put one red on the Big Easy to win his third U.S. Open.