Padraig Harrington wins 2nd Open in a row

A few days ago I made a post saying that Padraig Harrington was questionable for even playing in the Open due to a wrist injury. Thus he didn’t make my fantasy team. He stuck it out through the pain and had a great performance to win his 2nd Open in a row. Truly impressive.

On the 17th hole Padraig hit one of the best shots I’ve seen on the back nine at the Open. He reached the par five in two with a fairway wood in winds that were 30-40 miles per hour. Not only did he reach, he knocked it super close. His eagle putt fell and sealed his four shot win.

Congrats to Padraig. I’m sure the pubs in Ireland will be rockin’ as they celebrate his victory

Greg Norman

Greg Norman put on a hell of a show at the British Open this week. I was rooting for him to win the whole thing. Starting with three straight bogeys didn’t help his cause, but he was in the hunt most of the round. He lipped out what seemed to be almost every putt. If a few of those dropped he could have cruised home with his 3rd Open win.

After the round today you could see that Greg’s new wife Chris Evert was devastated that he didn’t win.

Brutal conditions

The winning score was +3 for a four shot margin. T3 was +9. Nine over par. The brutal winds and severely deep rough of this year’s British Open made the U.S. Open look more like the Bob Hope.

If you thought there were a lot of erectile dysfunction ads the first three days of the British Open broadcasts, you are in for a treat. 53 year old Greg (freakin’) Norman is leading by two going into Sunday’s final round. Norman is a 500-1 long shot.

Oldest player to win a major?

Know who it is? I bet you figured it was Jack Nicklaus who was 46 when he won the 1986 Masters. Nope. It was Julius Boros. He won the 1968 PGA Championship at the age of 48.

If Norman wins

If any player was to win a major championship at 53, that victory would be an all time accomplishment in the golf world. Combine that with the brutal conditions of this year’s Open, and the fact that Norman has played virtually NO competitive golf for years, and this victory would be off the scale amazing.

Having met Greg a few months ago I’m really hoping he can pull it off.

My pal Greg Norman is 53 years old and missed the cut in all three tournaments he’s played this year. He has zero FedEx Cup points, zero dollars earned.

Somehow Norman has shot two 70’s in a row and is at even par at the par 70 Royal Birkdale. Meanwhile some of the younger big guns are flaming out.

Can Norman’s 53 year old bones handle two more days of cold and wind? Does he have enough ibuprophen in the bag?

UPDATE 2PM E.T.

K.J. Choi has taken the lead over Greg Norman at -1.

The weather was pretty bad on day one of the British, I mean, “Open” Championship.  Three players share the lead after day one:  Rocco Mediate (WTF?), Graeme McDowel and Robert Allenby.  They’re all -1.  Notable players who didn’t fare as well were Geoff Ogilvy (77), Phil Mickelson (79), Boo Weekly (80), Vijay Singh (80), Ernie Els (80),  John Daly (80), Rory Sabbatini (79).

Quote of the day

Brendan Jones made this funny comment about the weather:  “If I lived in England I wouldn’t golf for a living.”

Padraig Harrington has an injured hand and may not play in the (British) Open Championship.  He sprained it practicing, swinging into an impact bag.  I’ve never been a fan of impact bags.

Tiger Woods VS Rocco Mediate in an 18 hole playoff a the U.S. Open!

ESPN: Monday 12 pm - 2 pm &

NBC: 2 pm - 4 pm ET

If you missed today’s 3rd round of the U.S. Open, find someone who recorded it and WATCH IT. This round was perhaps the most amazing round I’ve seen Tiger Woods put together, from a Seve Ballesteros or perhaps Houdini perspective. His driving was horrid, yet he managed to get the job done in an incredible fashion with two eagles and a hole out chip-in on the back.

Tiger did all this while his freshly cut-on knee was practically buckling under the stress and pain.

A pass for TGC

I’m very critical of The Golf Channel (TGC, or Tiger is God Channel) for their constant Tiger worshiping. Last night I watched them interview Woody Austin for five minutes and all the questions for Woody were about Tiger and none about him. They interviewed round two leader Stuart Appleby and the first question they asked him was about Tiger.

As sick of it as I am, I’m granting a 24 hour pass to TGC (Tiger Golf Channel). They can do all the googooing and gagaing (those are words) over Tiger they desire.

Appleby?

Yesterday I wrote “Unfortunately I’ve seen him falter with pressure, missing some short putts while in contention of tournaments which have much less pressure.” Sorry to say that I was right. Apples had a four-putt from 15 feet and a three putt as well. It was not good.

Sunday

So now Tiger has the lead going into Sunday. Will his knee hold out? Some of the best performances in sports happen when someone is hurt or sick.

I remember watching Michael Jordan put on one of the greatest performances in NBA finals history to beat my Utah Jazz. All this while he was puking his guts out with food poisoning.