Eldrick Woods: Human Being

Let's go ahead and get a few things out of the way right now.

Yes, Tiger Woods is my favorite golfer and favorite athlete period.

No, I don't think what he has all but admitted to doing is ok or should be looked at as anything other than wrong.

Now that we have those two points out of the way, I do have a few thoughts on this issue.

First, I don't believe we should all be that shocked that something like this happened. I know he's Tiger Woods and to this point the worst thing anyone could say about him is that he swears a lot on the golf course and occasionally throws a club in anger. However, given the extra-marital exploits of power players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Bill Clinton, et al., can it really be a surprise any more when this sort of thing happens? I think not.

Here's To You Phil and Amy

From the time Phil Mickelson first teed it up in a PGA Tour event he has had the weight of expectation planted firmly on his shoulders by those mesmerized by his uncanny shot making ability.

Since the dawn of the Tiger Woods era it seemed that if there was anyone on the golfing landscape that could challenge the world's best player, a task that's knocked him down more often than it's lifted him up, it would be Lefty.

Monday Musings (The Tuesday Edition)

Welcome to a special Tuesday Edition of Monday Musings thanks to the Labor Day holiday. I won't bore you with my golfing exploits over the weekend, so on with the show...

• The college football season started with a bang and picked up right where last season left off with upsets a plenty.
  
  Three top-25 teams lost to unranked opponents (Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh), another was beaten badly by a lower ranked team (Clemson) and Michigan found a way to lose their second-straight home opener.
  
  This is why I love college football, because for those five teams it will be virtually impossible for them to win a national championship. Every game counts equally and there is no room for slow starts.
  
  
  
  Oh, and they're OK too.
  
  
• Tennessee head coach Phil Fullmer may never set foot in the state of California again. At least he won’t if he’s smart.
  
  
• Cliff Lee became the major league’s first 20-game winner after he tossed a complete game shutout against the AL Central leading White Sox.
  
  Lee now has credit for 20 of Cleveland’s 66 wins, which is remarkable. What’s even more impressive is that in seven of his wins the Indians have scored four runs or fewer and he picked up no-decisions in four games in which he gave up two runs or less.
  
  He hasn’t lost since July 6th and has won six straight decisions giving up eight earned runs and seven walks in 47.2 inning pitched. Dominant doesn’t quite describe what Lee has done this season and he should be a lock to win the AL Cy Young Award.
  
  
  
  
• There are reports that the Bengals’ wide receiver formally known as Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco. This might be at the same time the dumbest and greatest attempt to market ones self in the history of sports.
  
  One thing is for certain, if the NFL allows him to put Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey (and I can’t see how they can stop him now), his will be the most purchased jersey in the league and it won’t be close.
  
  
• Ricky Williams got a one-year contract extension with the Miami Dolphins. I have him on 1,400 yards and 8 touchdowns, no joke.
  
  
• The San Francisco Giants have lost six of their last seven games and Barry Zito got lit up by the Reds on Friday. Order has officially been restored to major league baseball.
  
  
• The Knicks traded for Patrick Ewing Jr. apparently hoping to distract fans from the awfulness that is the New York Knicks. Honestly, it will be pretty cool to see Ewing emblazoned on the back of a Knicks jersey once again, but they still suck. A lot.
  
  
• Tiger Woods and his wife Elin are reportedly expecting their second child sometime this winter. This of course brings into question the story about him injuring his knee while running. You the man Tiger!
  
  
• Brazilian superstar Robinho signed with Manchester City, favorite club of Oasis front man Noel Gallagher (new album in stores Oct. 6, yay!). This after powerhouse Chelsea thought it had the inside track on the 24-year-old.
  
  
  
  I’m sure no one reading this will care, but anytime a talent like Robinho switches clubs it’s worth mentioning in my book. Thus ends the soccer portion of the program.
  
  
• Vijay Singh won his second straight tournament by demolishing the field at the Deutsche Bank Championship, firing a final round 63 on his way to all but securing the $10 million bonus that goes to the winner of the FedEx Cup.
  
  At 45, Singh looks as fit as ever and even his often-balky putter seems to be behaving for him.
  
  I am supremely impressed by Singh who looks like he could play until he’s 55 without losing a step. He still hits it a mile and has the experience and moxy to do some serious damage in the majors next year.
  
  
• Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost for the first time in 112 matches when they were beaten by the American team of Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh.
  
  The loss came just over a year after their last defeat, which was also at the hands of Youngs and Branagh.
  
  Say what you want about beach volleyball being a fringe sport, but you have to be impressed by the total dominance May and Walsh have shown over the last year.
  
  
• Cal beat Michigan State 38-31 on Saturday in spite of senior quarterback Nate Longshore’s two crucial interceptions in limited duty.
  
  
  
  I have no idea why Cal head coach Jeff Tedford continues to run him out there, but here’s hoping Longshore’s terrible effort on Saturday will further tighten sophomore Kevin Riley’s grip on the starting job and decrease the amount of playing time Tedford gives his senior QB.
  
  
• Lastly, the LPGA is trying to pass a rule that requires its members to speak English or face suspension from the tour.
  
  While it’s true that a growing number of the best players in the world hail from non-English speaking countries, making it mandatory for them to learn the language or lose playing privileges is out of line.
  
  For a game that markets itself as a global competition the LPGA has clearly over-played its hand in this instance. They could never get this kind of rule passed on the men’s tour, and they are foolish to think they can do it for the women.
  
  The LPGA needs to be happy about the rise in their popularity as a tour and keep its greatest assets, its players, as happy as possible and this is no way to do it.
  

Monday Musings

The Olympics are now a distant memory, baseball is headed for the stretch run, college football starts this week and the NFL gets underway next week. It's a great time to be a sports fan.

• The so-called "Redeem Team" won its gold medal after sweating through a spirited effort from Spain who gave the U.S. all it could handle. It wasn't the prettiest performance of the games for the NBA's brighest, but in the end they got the job done.
  
  I stayed up late to watch the game live and I couldn't help but think about why the NBA game in my opinion is suffering a bit right now. Despite showcasing some of the biggest stars in the history of the game in Kobe and LeBron, it was disturbing just how fundamentally deficient most of the American players are.
  
  Outside of point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams who I thought managed the game well and played under control, the rest of the team did what NBA players do and relied too heavily on their stunning athleticism.
  
  Too often they got out of position on defense because of poor footwork and it cost them as the Spanish team was able to penetrate at will while the Americans gambled for steals. On the offensive end it was an endless stream of out-of-control dashes to the basket or ill-advised three pointers that nearly got them beat in the one game that mattered most.
  
  Like I said, a win is a win and bringing home the gold medal is the most important thing. However something needs to change about the way young American basketball players learn the game if we expect to get back to the type of utter dominance we all expect from the best players from the world's premier league.
  
  


• Big props to the little league team from Hawaii who dominated the team from Mexico to take home the state's second Little League World Series title in four years.
  
  
  
  I was really impressed by the team's style and especially pitcher Caleb Duhay's strike zone pounding approach. Too often the 11 and 12 year old players rely on big breaking balls and have a hard time locating any of their pitches because of poor mechanics. But I have to give it up to Duhay and his coaches for stressing the importance of throwing strikes.
  
  I could have done without the big league home run trots from some of the kids, but hey, they were having fun with it so I can't really hate on that.
  
  


• As it turns out the San Francisco 49ers may have been doomed no matter what when it came time to pick a quarterback in 2005.
  
  The prevailing thought that year was that if Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart had left USC early that he would have been the Niners' #1 pick. As it turned out he stayed in school and they picked Utah's Alex Smith instead.
  
  Fast forward to today and both Smith and Leinart have been passed over for starting gigs on their respective teams. Hey, maybe they could swap the signal callers for one another and see what happens.
  
  


• Two of the NFL's fiercest defensive players have been hit with major injuries in the last week as Chargers' defensive end Shawne Merriman found out he has two ligament tears in his left knee, and Giants' end Osi Umenyiora is out for the season with an ACL tear.
  
  Merriman has yet to make a decision whether or not he'll try to play through the injury, but if I were him I'd take the season off and try to get healthy. It does make you wonder however if his past steroid use has anything to do with the sudden breakdown of a once unbreakable physique.
  
  
  
  For Umenyiora the injury is unfortunate, but reports are that it may have saved us from having to watch Michael Strahan yuck it up on Fox this season as he is considering a comeback.
  
  Fellow NFC East defensive end Jason Taylor escaped a potentially devastating end to his first season in Washington as he only sprained his right knee against the Panthers Saturday night. He'll be out 10-14 days and may miss the season opener.
  
  These types of injuries can of course occur at any time in a game as violent as football, but once again it has to call into the question the need for four pre-season games. When you add mini and training camps to the mix it seems to me that most teams would be able to make personnel decisions with just two of the meaningless contests. Of course then the poor NFL might lose out on millions in revenue, so we know that won't happen anytime soon.
  
  


• If you like baseball even a little bit you have to be impressed with what's going on in Tampa Bay this season. Even without their two best players (Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria) the Rays have managed to hang onto a 4.5 game lead in the AL East with no signs of slowing down.
  
  Last week I wrote that they should be taking a closer look at Barry Bonds as a possible fill-in in the middle of their batting order, but the way they are playing right now makes have to re-think that. Hell, if it weren't for the non-hustle of center fielder B.J. Upton they might have an even bigger lead right now.
  
  


• Cal head football coach Jeff Tedford finally came to his senses (sort of) and named sophomore Kevin Riley the team's starting quarterback after a heated competition this spring between Riley and and senior incumbent Nate Longshore.
  
  
  
  Of course Tedford wouldn't commit all the way to Riley, saying that Longshore would indeed play in the season opener against Michigan State. That of course is exactly what you want to do with a young quarterback, have him looking over his shoulder constantly. Just ask Matt Leinart how that is working out in Arizona.
  
  


• Thanks to NBC's coverage of the Olympics, most of the world missed out on one of the best performances by one of the brightest young golfers on the planet, New Zealand's Danny Lee.
  
  Lee, who was born in South Korea, became the youngest ever to win the U.S. Amateur, wiping out one of Tiger Woods' myriad of amateur records. At just 18 years (and 1 month) old, Lee is the top-ranked amateur player in the world and he justified that ranking by steamrolling Florida State's Drew Kittleson, 5 and 4.
  
  
  
  Lee was an impressive 11-under par through the 32 holes played on Sunday on the famed and monstrously difficult Pinehurst No. 2. The Golf Channel broadcast every round of the event, but for a tournament that has seen its share of non-descript champions over the last several years, it was really too bad that Lee didn't get the network TV treatment the biggest tournament in amateur golf usually gets.
  
  Look out for Lee in next year's first two majors, The Masters and the U.S. Open, where he would be teeing it up with the big boys as long as keeps his amateur status. Lee was great to watch with his go-for-it style and Tiger-like ability to extract himself from trouble all over the course.
  
  When told of his possible pairing with Woods in the 2009 U.S. Open Lee was, lets say, a little excited.
  
  "Oh, my God. ... Yeah. That's a, oh, that's a special thing for me. ... Wow. I'm going to beat him."
  
  Good luck with that Danny.
  
  
• The other U.S. Open starts today, begging the question, if a tennis tournament happens and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
  
  
• The San Francisco Giants have won a season-high 5 straight games and Barry Zito has won back-to-back starts. Someone check on Hell to make sure no one down there needs a coat.
  
  
• 7 Miami football players have been suspended for the season opener against Charlston Southern and the sun will rise tomorrow morning. So not much has changed really.
  
  
• Had my first fantasy football draft last night and landed the #1 overall pick. I had to take LaDainian Tomlinson even though he's not who I really wanted. Not sure why exactly, I guess I'm just dreading a decline in his production at some point.
  
  
  
  The rest of my roster includes QBs Drew Brees and Davis Garrard, RBs Darren McFadden, DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and Ray Rice, WRs Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Ted Ginn Jr., Nate Burleson and Ronald Curry, TE Vernon Davis and Ks Mason Crosby and Jeff Reed.
  
  Not bad, but I look at this team and I think I'm either going to win the whole thing or finish dead last. There will be no in between.
  
  
• One last late note from today. Oregon QB Nate Costa will be sidelined for a minimum of 8-10 weeks after he re-injured his surgically repaired left knee. As you'll remember it was another knee injury that torpedoed the Ducks chances at a shot at the title last year when former QB Dennis Dixon was injured.
  

Monday Musings

Welcome to an all-new feature here at Quick Hits... that I like to call "Monday Musings". Every Monday I'll take a quick look at the stories that caught my eye from the week prior and share my thoughts on each.

• What better place to start of course than with Michael Phelps, the man who may have cemented his place as the greatest Olympic athlete of all time with a week-long performance for the ages in which he tallied eight (that's 8!!!) gold medals and surpassed the once thought untouchable record held by the great Mark Spitz
  
  I've been alive for eight (spooky) Olympic Games and never before have felt the type of palpable heart-thumping nervousness during an Olympic event that I felt each and every time Phelps took to the pool.
  
  His truly astounding feat of athleticism is something that I feel privileged to have seen and something that I will no doubt be telling my kids about years from now.
  
  
• Another Olympic athlete who grabbed the spotlight and refused to let it go was gymnast Nastia Liukin. Now anyone who knows me knows that I don't particularly care for the non-sport that is gymnastics (we'll save that discussion for later), but I was captivated by the perpetually leggy Liukin and her stunning gold medal performance in the individual all-around competition.
  
  
  
  Perhaps it was the influence of her Olympic champion father, 1988 gold-medalist Valeri Liukin, but the unbelievable focus that Nastia exhibited in the face of a highly-biased crowd as well as some questionable judging was nothing short of extraordinary.
  
  Phelps had me glued to the television for obvious reasons, but it was Liukin who surprisingly grabbed my attention and became arguably my favorite Olympian in 2008.
  
  
• Staying with the Olympic theme for just a bit longer, I'd be remissed if I didn't mention the disappointments that unfortunately stood out among all the American triumphs in Beijing.
  
  First would have to be gymnast and team captain Alicia Sacramone, whose two major mistakes during the the team finals will forever be seen as the difference between silver and gold for the American women.
  
  What was saddest about the situation was that it was clear that Sacramone was the inspirational leader on a team poised to make history. In the face of key injuries, Sacramone could be seen pumping up her less experienced teammates and you could feel the disappointment when she failed to hold up her end of the bargain.
  
  Impressively, Sacramone refused to pout or make excuses, choosing instead to do what all good leaders do and take responsibility for her missteps.
  
  The other massive disappointment in my eyes was the non-performance of swimmer Katie Hoff who came into the games as a strong favorite in several events and yet consistently came up short in the biggest moments.
  
  
  
  First she failed to qualify for the event most had her pegged to win pre-race, the 800-meter freestyle, and followed that lackluster performance up with several more down-the-stretch fade jobs.
  
  While her Olympics weren't a total failure as she managed two bronze medals and one silver, the lasting image of Hoff for me will be the bewildered look she seemed to flash at the end of every race, as if to imply that even she could not believe how poorly she performed overall.
  
  
• Jamaica's Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world and already I can't wait until someone slaps that stupid grin off his face.
  
  
• Mixed feelings about the San Francisco Giants $6.2 million bonus for their top draft choice, catcher Buster Posey out of Florida State.
  
  Part of me is excited to get the young man into the fold and happy to see the organization's commitment to scouting and signing big time talent. But I also find myself having to question the notion of any team giving a guy with exactly zero major league at-bats that kind of money guaranteed.
  
  I can't fault Posey or his agent Scott Boras for seeking the large payday as they clearly were just exploiting the system as it stands. I just hope for the Giants sake that Posey reaches the big leagues quickly and has the kind of impact that many in the know think he can.
  
  By comparison the number one overall pick, high school shortstop Tim Beckham, received a $6.15 million bonus from the Tampa Bay Rays.
  
  
• Vikings' QB Tarvaris Jackson suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee during the team's second pre-season game on Saturday. An injury that at first was believed to be only a bruise.
  
  
  
  Reports are that Jackson should not miss the Vikings' season opener on Monday Night Football in Green Bay, and may in fact play as early as this Saturday vs. the Steelers. As many people have mentioned, Jackson holds the key to the Vikings' fortunes in 2008. However I hardly see the difference in the offense when Jackson is at the helm and when veteran backup Gus Frerotte is leading the charge.
  
  Sure Jackson brings the added element of athleticism and escape-ability, but with a nicked up leg you have to wonder just how effective the still unfinished Jackson can be should he be forced to miss the final two pre-season games.
  
  
• That other quarterback who nearly landed in Minneapolis did pretty well in his first action with his new team. Yay. But his name will still never grace this blog.
  
  
• If we have indeed seen the last of Tom Glavine, the sure-fire Hall of Fame pitcher will be remembered as one of the best ever and a true inspiration to me in my younger days as a pitcher.
  
  
• What in the Eastern Hemisphere is going on with all of these B and C-list NBA players defecting overseas? The latest player on the move is former New Orleans Hornet Jannero Pargo who agreed on a one-year deal with Dynamo Moscow worth a reported $3.5 million after taxes.
  
  Now I've never been one to say a guy shouldn't do something that is clearly in their best interests financially, but this is an alarming and disturbing trend if you're a fan of NBA basketball.
  
  Along with Pargo, former Magic guard Carlos Arroyo took a three-year deal from Israel's Maccabi Tel-Aviv, former Bobcats guard (and my wife's favorite player) Earl Boykins signed a one-year deal with Italy's Virtus Bologna and former Hawks forward Josh Childress signed a three-year deal with Greek club Olympiacos.
  
  Now I don't believe for a second that the Kobe Bryant's and LeBron James' of the world would make that kind of jump, but it makes you wonder just what's going on in the NBA when legitimate NBA-caliber talent is choosing to play somewhere other than the best basketball league on Earth.
  
  
• In the same week the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays lost arguably their two best offensive players to injury, left-fielder Carl Crawford and the game's best rookie, third baseman Evan Longoria.
  
  Longoria may be back sooner than later, but Crawford will miss the remainder of the regular season and it would be quite impressive if he were ready for the playoffs should the Rays make it that far.
  
  Of course there is one man out there who by all accounts is in great shape, rearing to go and willing to play for the minimum. He hit 28 home runs in 2007 with an OPS of 1.051 and did it all while playing in only 126 games, the bulk of which he played in one of the best pitcher's ballparks in all of baseball.
  
  
  
  His name of course is Barry Bonds and even the Rays, who have gone from annual cellar-dweller to first place darlings in the course of the last calendar year, will not touch him with a 34-inch/32-oz. maple bat. Did I mention he's willing to play for the league minimum?
  
  Unfortunately for Bonds and the few of us in the world who long to see him play one more time, there is virtually no chance he will find himself on a big league roster ever again. It's near impossible to prove collusion of course, but I for one firmly believe there is no solid baseball reason why a team in contention and in need of a bat couldn't take on Bonds and his unquestionable talent.
  
  
• Meanwhile the Arizona Diamondbacks gave up two prospects and a legit big league starter in the form of Micah Owings to acquire Reds' slugger Adam Dunn for the next two months.
  
  Dunn will hit the open market at season's end and is likely to receive a hefty payday from someone. I watched him all last year and you can't tell me Barry Bonds is any worse in the outfield than Dunn and I'd be willing to bet Bonds wouldn't hit .236.
  
  OK, I'll stop.
  
  
• The Georgia Bulldogs are the consensus No. 1 team in the country according to the major pre-season college football polls. It's the first time since 1982 that the Dawgs have been ranked that high.
  
  Good luck fellas. One look at that brutal schedule which includes road games at #15 Arizona State, #7 LSU and #10 Auburn, not to mention games against #24 Alabama, #18 Tennessee and #5 Florida and it's hard to imagine Mark Richt and company maintaining their lofty perch.
  
  
• Tiger Woods should be player of the year on the PGA Tour, period. Four wins including a one-legged U.S. Open win, a 2nd place finish at the Masters and a 5th at the WGC-CA Championship is all the proof you need.
  
  
  
  Apologies to back-to-back major winner Padraig Harrington, but Woods still tops the tour money list by over $1 million with $5.75 million in earnings, and despite not playing since June would enter this week's FedEx Cup Playoff opener as the top seed.
  
  Aside from a 5th place finish at the Masters, Harrington's best showing in a tournament with Woods in the field was a 17th place finish in the WGC Accenture Match Play tournament.
  
  I rest his case.
  
  
• As for my beloved San Francisco 49ers, it's looking like journeyman quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan will be the opening day starter for new offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
  
  This decision baffles me as I had a chance to see first hand just how dreadfully awful O'Sullivan (they're calling him JTO, of course) really is at Vikings training camp in 2006. That team broke camp with Brad Johnson as the starter, Mike McMahon as the backup and a rookie Tarvaris Jackson as the third-stringer. In other words, they just said no to JTO.
  
  
  
  Suddenly the man deemed not worthy enough to hold a clipboard in front of Mike McMahon has seemingly supplanted former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith. Smith has never really had a chance in my opinion, as Martz is now his fourth different offensive coordinator in his four years as a pro.
  
  Niner fans have no fear however, we'll soon get to hear these words again:
  
  With the first pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers select...
  
  So that should be fun.
  
  
• Lastly, I feel compelled to mention that former Vikings' practice squad wide receiver Jason Carter is just about assured of making the opening day roster for the Carolina Panthers and thanks to a few key injuries he should see significant playing time right out of the box.
  
  He was already turning heads at Panthers camp and now it looks like his opportunity has finally arrived. I've long been a fan of the versatile Carter who I'm convinced could have helped the Vikings in the passing game from day one but never got a real shot.
  
  Stay tuned for an update on his progress and a possible Q&A session with the man himself.
  
  
  

The Goose Is Loose

Retief Goosen is a two-time U.S. Open champion and one of the best golfers in the world. But apprently he's not the brightest golfer in the world.

Goosen claimed he was be "light-hearted" when he accused Tiger Woods of exaggerating his knee injury on his way to the U.S. Open title last week, but I'm not buying it.

When asked if Tiger could have been faking it, Goosen responded, "I think so. It just seemed that when he hit a bad shot his knee was in pain and on his good shots he wasn’t in pain.

“You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and was shouting ‘Yeah’ his knee wasn’t sore. Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured he would not have played.”

OK, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here in that if you only saw the highlights of Woods' win you might get the impression that only his bad shots were followed by painful grimaces.

Goosen clearly however failed to see Tiger nearly falling over in pain on several drives that split the middle of the fairway or watched him limp around the greens using his putter as a cane.

The fact of the matter is that Woods had multiple stress fractures in his left leg as well as a ruptured ACL. The injuries will cost him the rest of the season, so clearly they are serious.

“No one but Tiger knows how badly hurt he was," said Goosen. "But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn, wouldn’t he?”

The answer is no Retief. Maybe you would have pulled out, and most likely just about anyone else would have too, but that's why he's Tiger Woods and you're not.

More Human Than Human

So I've spent the better part of the last few days trying to first digest what was truly one of the best U.S. Open's ever played and second how in the world a man with one leg could have won the damn thing.

The revelation that Tiger Woods prevailed after five days of grueling, pressure-packed golf while at the same time suffering from a ruptured ACL AND two stress fractures in his left leg has left myself and the sporting world as a whole in awe of his major triumph.

What can you really say, other than Woods is the greatest competitor in sports today and probably one of the five greatest athletes to ever live?

Woods' U.S. Open performance makes the comeback stories of Willis Reed and Kirk Gibson look downright weak, and I mean that with all due respect. Those two limped onto the field of play for a matter of mere minutes, while Woods endured five days of the highest level of competition the game of golf has to offer.

Even Woods' close friend Michael Jordan, who famously took the court with the flu in the NBA Finals and led his team to a crucial win, never went through the type of physical and mental anguish that Woods did.

Knowing what we know now of the severity of Woods' injuries, that performance was quite simply one of the three or four best of all time, in any sport.



The fact that he won ten times, came in second twice and fifth once in 13 events since rupturing his ACL running at home in Orlando makes him one of the toughest SOB's anyone has ever seen.

Don't believe me? Go tear your ACL, then walk 15-20 miles over the span of four days for 13 weeks, all the while every 300 or so yards planting your bad leg in the ground and twisting it with as much force as you can. Go ahead and try it, it'll be fun, trust me.

The larger question of course is whether or not it was worth it. Was it worth missing the remainder of the 2008 season and possibly compromising the rest of a career to limp onto Torrey Pines and gut out a 91-hole win?

Only Woods truly can answer that question, and from all that we've heard it obviously was worth the risk. That of course should surprise no one given Woods' track record of success on the biggest stage.

Woods also has a track record of being able to bounce back from surgery and rehab to play at his abnormally high level. I would not be surprised at all to see him right back at Torrey Pines in late January of 2009, hoisting the trophy for the Buick Invitational, a tournament he's won six times before.

So if your name is Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Luke Donald or any other non-major winning star, the time is now. The time is now for you to step up and win that elusive big prize because if you don't you're going to have to deal with a healthy Tiger Woods and who knows what could happen if he is able to play on two good legs.

I've joked in the past that Woods is not human. Well the truth is that he's very human, he just might be a little more human than the rest of us. Get well soon Tiger, we can't wait to see what you do next.

Great Scott

Adam Scott is one of the best golfers on the planet. He's young, good-looking and along with Sergio Garcia is probably the best player who has yet to win a major championship.

He's long off the tee (8th in driving distance), can be a clutch putter down the stretch (see: 2008 Byron Nelson, 2006 TOUR Championship, 2004 Players Championship) and it would seem only a matter of time before he wins the big one.

He's the third ranked player in the world, and when he tees it up in the first two rounds of next week's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines he could very well be the most insignificant player in the field.

How is that possible, you ask?

Simple. His playing partners on Thursday and Friday will be none other than Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. If you're keeping score at home that's Tiger 13, Phil 3 and Adam zero when it comes to majors won. Yikes.



You have to wonder who with the USGA did Scott piss off to find himself in what can only be regarded as the group of death? Did he play "hide the pitching wedge" with a tournament officials daughter? In a fit of rage did he bury a 9-iron in the door of someones Mercedes?

Whatever he did, it clearly wasn't good as the powers that be have decided that this year's U.S. Open sacrificial lamb will be sporting a Burberry polo.

Scott, who is known for his very attractive galleries, will have to hope that the stone-cold SoCal hotties who come out to see him strut around Torrey's fairways have their stilts handy because they'll be lucky to catch a glimpse of his Titleist hat let alone a full on view of the Australian star.

Now there are two ways to look at this if you're Scott.

The first way is to simply pack it in and try to stay out of the way as the games two biggest stars trade shots. Enjoy the gorgeous San Diego weather, focus on making the cut and cash a nice little check.

The second way however is to take the USGA's decision to insert you in this pairing as a vote of confidence in your game, then go out there and show the world that you're a force to reckoned with.

True golf fans everwhere will of course hope that Scott will choose the latter and make it a true battle of the games elite players and not just a week long two-man show which the media seems to want to make every major.



For Scott this is (pardon the pun) a major opportunity to take the next step in what has already been a very good career. This is his opportunity to make his good career great.

Armed with one of the most technically sound swings you'll ever see and all the bubbling star power we want in our big time athletes, if ever there was a time for the 27-year-old Scott to turn the corner, I think it's safe to say that the time is now.

Viva Sergio!

You name it, he's tried it.

Long putters, short putters, mallet putters, blade putters. Sergio Garcia has been the Dr. Seuss of putters and putting styles over the last several years as it became painfully clear that if he ever wanted to win a big tournament he had to figure out a way to put the ball in the hole.

So as the final round of The Player's Championship unfolded, it seemed only a matter of time before the flat stick let him down again in a crucial moment.

However it was that seemingly inescapable reality that made Garcia's playoff-forcing putt on the 18th green just that much sweeter for those of us who have long hoped for him to realize his immense potential.

Once that putt dropped and tournament leader Paul Goydos bogeyed 18, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that this would finally be Sergio's time. And indeed it was as Garcia stuffed his tee shot on the first playoff hole and walked away with his biggest win to date.

Since he burst onto the scene at the 1999 PGA Championship, the golfing world has waited for the Spanish sensation to finally break through and take his place among the best golfers in the world. But until now it seemed like all that potential would be wasted thanks to his inability to make a putt under pressure.

Time and time again Garcia has come up short in the biggest tournaments despite his glorious ball-striking skills that most in the know will tell you are second to none on the PGA Tour.

Interestingly, Garcia's greatest triumphs prior to Sunday came at possibly the most pressure packed of tournaments, the Ryder Cup. It was in those moments where the exuberance of his game has been able to shine through as he has performed with the feel and energy that made him a star.

That's what we love about Sergio, the energy. OK, so his Adam Scott-type eye candy galleries are nice too, but when it comes to what happens inside the ropes you can't help but be drawn to his game.

So when it was reported the Garcia had gone back to the putter he used as a teenager it seemed only fitting that he would be able to lift his game to the heights that so many had seen on his horizon.

Perhaps no one in the world hits it better tee-to-green than Garcia (apologies to Tiger), and those skills were on full display at this past weekend as he led the field in fairways and greens hit, including a stunning third round performance in which he hit every single fairway on the TPC of Sawgrass' treacherous layout.

Detractors will point to the absence of Woods as a major factor in Garcia's ability to win The Player's Championship, and Garcia himself thanked the world's best player for not being there. But what I saw on Sunday was the young Sergio, the confident Sergio who can play with anyone in the world, including Woods.



With most of golf's biggest stars going dim in the presence of Woods time and time again, one can only hope that quite possibly the most talented of the bunch may have finally found himself just in time to make a run at number one.

Watch out Tiger, Sergio is back.

Frustrating Sunday, Painful Tuesday

Update 4/16/08: It was reported last night that Tiger Woods underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee. That's the same knee he's had surgery on twice before.

This setback means Woods will miss the Wachovia Championship as well as the Players Championship before hopefully returning in June for the U.S. Open.

As it is with any athlete, the great equalizer is injury, and in Woods' case would appear to be the only thing that could stand between him and every meaningful record in the game of golf.

No one knows for sure how long Woods has been dealing with the injury, some say it's been since the middle of last year. But the fact that he has won already three times on tour in 2008 is just another of his amazing athletic feats.

There is probably not another athlete that is tougher than Woods mentally, and I have little doubt that he'll be able to recover physically and return to form quickly. However it is a concern that this knee problem continues to flare up.

Anyone who has ever had knee problems knows that it never really gets better and eventually it just becomes a matter of mitigating the pain on a daily basis. Given Woods' freakish workout and practice habits you have to wonder how continued knee issues might impact his unequalled preparation.

That said, the last time Woods had surgery on the knee he returned to win three of the first four events he entered.

The one thing that I think the knee problems rule out in the future is the Champions Tour for Woods once he turns 50. My guess is that he'll be too busy with outside ventures and family to be able to commit himself the way he would want to to that tour, and the knee will probably make it an even easier decision.

Luckily for us it'll be a long time before that happens.

-Doc

Like he had so many times before, Tiger Woods stood over a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th green at The Masters. And like so many times before the putt dropped.

Only this time it was quite different.

As Woods put the finishing touch on what was by most accounts the most frustrating four days he's ever experienced around the hallowed grounds of Augusta National, Woods gave the birdie a sarcastic wave as if to say, "oh sure, now you go in".

It was just one of those weeks for the world's best player. A week in which his brief moments of brilliance, like the long birdie on the 11th Sunday afternoon that looked like it might signal a Tiger-charge, were eclipsed by untimely mistakes.

In the end Woods recorded his fifth runner-up finish in a major, which is certainly nothing to scoff at. However, when your expectations are as high as his, anything less than a fifth green jacket was going to be a disappointment.

Give all the credit in the world to South Africa's Trevor Immelman for putting together a very Woods-like performance, leading the tournament wire-to-wire and minimizing his mistakes on Sunday to make sure he locked up his first major championship.

Unlike Woods, Immelman followed his brief lapses in solid play with timely moments of brilliance. Interestingly enough it was the 11th hole for Immelman that proved to be his turning point shortly after most thought it would be Woods'.



After playing safe and missing his approach to the treacherous hole to the right, Immelman came up well short on the fringe with his pitch shot. Staring bogey or worse dead in the eye, Immelman canned the long par putt and ultimately stemmed the growing Woods-tide.

Even a terrible tee shot on the par-3 16th hole from Immelman that inexplicably found the water was not enough for Woods to take advantage of down the stretch.

A short miss for birdie on the par-5 13th seemed to signal the end for Woods, and an even worse bogey on the 14th ended any hope of a Sunday comeback as well as Woods' march towards the calendar year Grand Slam.

While it's little consolation for Woods, the end result of The Masters points out just how amazing his accomplishments to this point have been and just how slim the margin between winning and losing on the PGA Tour really is.

Woods' four-day performance at Augusta was one of the flattest, most uninspiring of his career at a major championship. Rivaled only by his lone missed cut at a major in his professional career, two years ago at the U.S. Open, shortly after the death of his father.

And yet as poorly as he performed in the big, tournament-changing moments this week he still managed to find a way to finish second alone and shoot one of the better rounds of the day on Sunday.

It'll be several weeks before we get to see Woods back out on the course, and that's probably a good thing for those of us who are admitted Tiger wonks, because if history has shown us anything about him it's that he'll figure out what went wrong and bust his Tiger-ass to fix the problem and move forward with a vengeance.

Woods' next major challenge comes in June at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, a course Woods has owned over the years. This week showed that nothing is for certain in golf, but if I were the field I would prepare my runner-up speeches ASAP.

Wow!

Just when you think you've seen it all from Tiger Woods, he does something that defies whatever explanation of his exploits that you may have had before.

Such was the case Sunday afternoon when the world's number one player captured his fifth straight PGA Tour win, and seventh in a row overall, by sinking a 25-foot, downhill left-to-right slider on the 18th hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

As the tournament host watched from greenside, Woods erupted into a never-before-seen from him celebration, complete with a slam of his hat, a la Fred Funk (shouldn't he owe the Funk-ster a royalty check for that?), and bicep-flexing crowd-pump (I just made that up).

Meanwhile his closest competitor, 45-year-old Bart Bryant, could only chuckle in awe as he watched his hopes of qualifying for the Masters swallowed up by the all-encompassing force that is Tiger Woods.

You have to feel for Bryant who became the first player not named Phil Mickelson in quite some time stand up to Woods shot-for-shot on a Sunday.

Throughout Sunday's final round as players like Vijay Singh and Sean O'Hair made crucial mistakes, it was Bryant who played nearly mistake-free golf in very Tiger-like manner, forcing Woods to make birdie on a hole that had surrendered only four up to that point in the round.

Early on in the tournament Tiger by his own admission was struggling to find his swing and it seemed he would finally be a bit of a non-factor in a tournament. Don't forget that it was at this same tournament last year that he limped down the stretch with a backside 43 on Sunday while Singh took home the trophy.

But instead of putting him in a hole on Saturday, the rest of the field allowed Woods to ride an up-and-down round of 66 into a tie for the lead heading into Sunday. That mistake would of course prove fatal to the field's chances.

Honestly though, should we be surprised? Should it come as some sort of shock that Woods once again proved why he is the most dominant athlete of our time (sorry MJ)?

Well no, of course not. But that doesn't mean that we can't gasp in awe of his overwhelming virtuosity and revel in the knowledge that as amazing as this latest moment was he will undoubtedly give us many more in the future.

I for one can't wait to see what's next.

Unbeatable?

The Patriots couldn't pull it off. The Memphis Tigers couldn't get the job done. Hell, not a single team in Division I-A football could do it and the National Championship was won by a two-loss LSU team.

Leave it to the greatest athlete in the world today to toss his swoosh-emblazoned hat in the ring and embark on a quest to complete the rare undefeated season.

Blasphemy you say? No golfer could make it through the PGA Tour season without losing a single tournament. The fields are too deep and too many things could go wrong along the way for that to every happen.

Or could it?

While I agree that the likelihood of Tiger Woods ripping off 13 or so more wins, including all four of golf's major championships is quite low. Something tells me that the man himself believes in his heart that he could accomplish the seemingly impossible, and that means a lot.

He's already admitted that he thinks completing the regular season Grand Slam is within his reach and when asked if he could eclipse Byron Nelson's record of 11 straight wins he simply grinned and replied, "Mmm Hmm" as if to say, "you ain't seen nothing yet".

Consider that Woods already owns PGA Tour win streaks of six and seven in a row and his current streak of four is actually six if you count his wins at the Target World Challenge and earlier this year in Dubai, both of which boasted high-quality fields.

In fact that "strength of schedule" may be the one thing that keeps Woods from running the table in 2008 as it has been his custom to only play the highest profile events with the deepest fields in golf.

That coupled with the uncertain nature of the game would seem to put the undefeated season outside of his considerable reach.

Personally I don't think it's all that outandish to believe that Woods could win every time out in 2008. In his three starts so far he's won in a myriad of ways from run-away victories at the Buick Invitational and the Championship Match at the World Match Play, to stirring comebacks in Dubai and the first round of the World Match Play.

His stats are nearly as impressive as his ability to gut out wins so far in 2008.

Woods ranks first on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation, putting average, scoring average and average birdies per round. All while ranking 176th in total driving. Which means when he gets his driver warmed up he really could be unbeatable.

People will of course point to the erratic nature of his driver as ultimately the reason why he couldn't possibly remain undefeated in 2008, but I would argue that he can only get better (he finished 45th in 2007 in total driving) and when that inevitablity finally comes to pass he will be so far out ahead of everyone else that it won't matter if he misses some fairways.

I'm not going to walk out on the plank here and say that it's a foregone conclusion that Woods will run the table, but should this streak continue through April and the Masters and then into June and U.S. Open one would have to concede that an undefeated season is a real possibilty for a man that up to this point has done nothing but exceed expectations at every turn.

Quick Hits...

Been a few days since my last post, so here are a few Quick Hits covering the week in sports...

The Stunner Down Under:



No, the stunner I'm talking about is not Novak Djokovic's upset of world number one Roger Federer, but rather the leggy Russian blonde named Maria who captured her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open without losing a set.

Most people don't know this about me, but I am a big tennis fan. Growing up with a tennis-playing father and older brother it was kind of hard not to be. So I have to say it was refreshing to see the now 20-year-old Maria Sharapova beat the best players in the world on her way to the championship.

After winning her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon at age 17 I was sure that Sharapova would take her place among the game's elite shortly thereafter. But personal troubles and an inability to harness her game caused her to come up short more often than not over the last few years.

This Sharapova however was clearly a different person and a different player as she showed the ability to dominate as she did against world number one Justine Henin, as well as win without her "A" game as she did against Serbian star Jelena Jankovic.

The men's game has long been dogged by the lack of true superstar player/personalities, save of course for Federer and his French Open-foil Rafael Nadal. And as Serena and Venus Williams have battled injury and inconsistency, the once star-studded women's game has started to become just as bland.

That looks like it's about to change however as a focused and renewed Sharapova seems ready to take her game to the next level. Fair or unfair, it's always a good thing for women's sports (and tennis in particular) to have at least one attractive superstar to draw in the casual viewership, and Sharapova's statuesque physique is quite easy on the eyes if I do say so myself.

Personally I'm very excited to see what she can accomplish from here on out as beyond her good looks Sharapova's game has evolved into one of both power and control. It would not shock me if she won at least one more Grand Slam this year and overtook Henin as the best player in the game.

Welcome Back:



This just in, Tiger Woods is pretty good.

As I write this the best player the game has ever seen is taking an eight shot lead onto the first tee of the Buick Invitational to start what should be a victory lap around Torrey Pines. The win will be Woods' fourth straight at the event, a feat he's also accomplished at Bay Hill, the site of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The win will be his 62nd on the PGA Tour and will put him in a tie with Palmer for the fourth most wins all-time.

The fact that he's on his way to another win really isn't the story however. No, the real story is in the idea that some how he's managed to become even more dominant than he was last year, and perhaps more dominant than he's ever been before (the year 2000 included).

I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but anyone who has watched him over the first few days of the Buick and knows anything about golf can see just how far out ahead of the field he is.

It had been reported during golf's off-season that Tiger had become comfortable with his latest round of swing tweaks and had started to devote more of his time to his putting stroke which apparently was not up to par with his own super-human expectations.

The work has clearly paid off this week as it seems every time he touches his Scotty Cameron to his Nike One Platinum the ball has a real chance of going in the hole. Through three rounds he's only hit 47% of the fairways and still he has an eight shot lead.

Think about what he's going to do once he shakes the rust off his game (hahaha, rust) and starts hitting a more customary 60% or so. Over the last month Tiger has stated that he thinks winning the calendar year Grand Slam is possible, as well as topping Byron Nelson's streak of 12 straight PGA Tour wins.

In the past Tiger would have deflected talk of such feats, saying that it would be special if he could do that, but never coming right and saying it could be done. If I were Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, or any of the other best players in the world I would be scared out of my Foot Joys hearing stuff like that from a guy like Tiger.

They say when he's on everyone else is just playing for second place. We should get used to hearing that quite a bit in 2008.

Pitching? Who Needs Pitching?:



During his time as GM for the Minnesota Twins, Terry Ryan was considered one of the best in the game. Ryan built that reputation by building teams that won with a solid mix of pitching and defense, even at times at the expense of offense.

Which is why the first few months of new GM Bill Smith's tenure has been a bit odd to say the least. Regardless of what the homer-ish local media would have you believe, the Twins are quickly going down a path that is leading them further and further away from the success they had in the first half of this decade.

Don't get me wrong, signing former AL MVP Justin Morneau to a contract extension was a solid move and locking up strong-armed right fielder Michael Cuddyer was nice to see as well. But it's been the team's willingness to part with some of the best arms in the game that is troubling to me.

It started with the trade of Matt Garza to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielder Delmon Young. On the surface it seems like a good trade and it certainly was an even one if you believe Garza is ready to take off as I do.

But with teams like the Tigers, Indians and White Sox all sporting big time offensive lineups it seems to me if you're the Twins you'd want to combat that with top of the line pitching and avoid a slug-fest.

Not having Garza around is one thing, but now the impending trade of Johan Santana and the seeming unwillingness of the organization to lock up closer Joe Nathan, a team once known for it's big time pitching is looking square in the face of a starting rotation of Francisco Liriano (big time injury concern), Boof Bonser, Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker and a Triple-A grad of your choice.

It's not going to matter how good people think the bullpen is going to be with that kind of staff in front of them. Perhaps Liriano can make a full recovery and regain his dominant form, but even then they have nothing but a staff full of #3 starters and worse behind him.

If Smith has any sense at all he'll beg and plead for the Yankees to re-enter the fray as it pertains to Santana in the hopes that he can pry Phil Hughes away from the Bronx Bombers. However recent reports have the Mets as the leading candidate to land the best left-handed starter in the game and their best offer centers around outfield prospects.

Unless Twins ownership decides suddenly in the next year or two to up the payroll and attempt to land a few more top notch offensive talents I fear they will get caught in between so to speak, with neither the offensive firepower nor the pitching prowess to match up with the best teams in the American League or their own division for that matter.

Give Me a Break:



Tom Brady spotted with a boot. Tom Brady spotted with flowers. Tom Brady not at practice. Tom Brady uses a port-o-potty. OK, I made that last one up.

But this is what I hate about the two week layoff between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. All the non-stop non-news generated by the media is so overwhelmingly annoying that I can't believe I'm dedicating space on my blog to even mention it.

You want more compelling Super Sunday action? Think the game has become more about the ads and the halftime show and less about the final score? I know I do and the remedy is clear to me.

Play the game the Sunday following the AFC and NFC Championship games and you accomplish two things. First you avoid the off-field crap news that always dominates the off week, and second you allow the natural momentum of each team to carry over into what should be the biggest game of the year.

Sure there have been some close games following the two week layoff recently, but for my money the last two great Super Bowls were in 1999 and 2001 (Rams vs. Titans and Rams vs. Patriots respectively), and each came the Sunday after the conference championship games.

The year in between those two classic games? The 34-7 drubbing by the Ravens over the Giants that will be remembered more for the Ray Lewis stabbing incident during the week off than the game itself.

As much as I love the college game, even I will admit that the level of play suffers because of the long layoff between the end of the regular season and the bowl games, and the same is true in the NFL. Yeah, the week off helps some players get healthy, but overall the impact can be seen more in the sharpness (or lack thereof) of play from the two teams involved.

I know how much advertising people and network executives love to get the hype machine going, but for those of us who would rather see quality football it's clear that the week off is not a good thing.

Five to Watch in 2008

I love a good sports list and I know you do too. That's why here at "Quick Hits" I've decided to give you one of my own, the 2008 "Five to Watch" list.

This list includes guys you've heard of and guys perhaps you haven't, but what they all have in common is that they should impact the sporting world in 2008 and if they happen to play for your team you might want to take notice.

So without further ado...



Francisco Liriano - SP - Minnesota Twins

In case you forgot the lefty on the Twins staff with the nastiest stuff is not named Johan Santana, and with Santana most likely on his way out no player means quite as much to the success or failure of the Twins in 2008 than Liriano.

Liriano, you'll remember, burst onto the scene and into the national baseball consciousness in 2006 when he fanned 144 batters in 121 innings while posting a 2.16 ERA and earned a trip to the All-Star Game.

Just to point out how dominant Liriano was in 2006, if you added up his hits allowed, earned runs allowed and walks you'd get 150. Just six more than his strikeout total on the year.

The fact that he only became a starter in mid-May that year and only made one start in August and September respectively due to injury speaks to just how untouchable he was.

Liriano won 12 of his 16 starts and never gave up more than four earned runs in any start and struck out 10+ in a quarter of them. Combined with Santana the Twins boasted arguably the best one-two punch in baseball and the team's longest losing streak (5 games) came from May 14-18; Liriano made his first start on May 19th.

It's become clear that the Twins are going to move Santana at some point and after trading away Matt Garza they absolutely must have Liriano back at full strength if they hope to compete with guys like Boof Bonser, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker filling out the rotation.

All signs point to Liriano being fully recovered from Tommy John surgery come the start of spring training and that's great news for Twins fans who last year suffered through the team's first losing season since 2000.

Terrelle Pryor - QB - Jeannette, PA (College Undecided)



If you aren't glued to Rivals.com like I am then you may not have heard of college football's next big thing, QB Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette, PA., who happens to be the #1 high school football recruit in all the land.

When new Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez decided to leave West Virginia for Ann Arbor the first person he called was Pryor.

Reports are Pryor has had to get a second cell phone to avoid the non-stop, day and night bombardment of calls and text messages from fans, coaches and media who all want to know what school will be the happy recipient of his signature on the dotted line of a scholarship.

Pryor says he'll decide on national signing day which is just over two weeks away, but signs point to one of two places, Ohio State and Michigan.

Wherever the 6'6" 235-pound Pryor decides to go he'll bring with him considerable dual-threat skills that helped him rack up 4,250 yards rushing and 4,249 yards passing over his high school career.



In addition to being ranked as the nation's top football recruit, Pryor is also ranked third in the country among small forwards in basketball. So it should come as no surprise that the schools on his short list include the aforementioned Buckeyes and the defending national champion Florida Gators who just happened to play one another in last year's national title game.

My guess is that Rodriguez and the Wolverines will ultimately win the battle over Pryor who could easily step in and be starting quarterback from day one in Rodriguez's read-option offense.

Anthony Kim - PGA Tour Professional - Age: 22



Lets face it, no one is going to overtake Tiger Woods in the world of professional golf any time soon. And as Tiger's closest pursuers like Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Ernie Els get older and seem resigned to this fact it's all that much more refreshing when a young, American golfer steps up to take on the world's best.

No, Anthony Kim isn't going to reach #1 in the very near future, but don't tell him that. Last year the then 21-year-old Kim racked up four top-10 finishes after earning his tour card at qualifying school and by the end of 2007 was ranked 75th in the world with over $1.5 million in earnings.

Kim's final round scoring average in 2007 was a staggering 69.80, good for 7th on the PGA Tour and a testament to his ability to play well down the stretch. The next step of course is for Kim to give himself more opportunities close to the lead on Sunday.

Like many young players Kim can be erratic off the tee (134th in driving accuracy in 2007), but he can bomb it (12th in driving distance) and that can be a major weapon for him. More than stats however Kim has the attitude and short memory necessary for any player looking to score and ultimately win.

In addition to his golfing prowess, I have to admit it's nice to see a young American player who isn't lily white (Kim is of Korean descent). To me, Kim is the embodiment of what we were promised way back in 1996 when Tiger turned pro, and that is a more diverse PGA Tour in terms of non-white, American-born players.

In his first event of 2008 Kim finished T-3 which equals his second best finish on the PGA Tour. Watch for this talented youngster to pick off his first win at some point this season.

Evan Longoria - 3B - Tampa Bay Rays



When the Rays traded away one of their brightest young stars in right fielder Delmon Young, it seemed like a curious move. Getting rid of a 21-year-old who finished second in the Rookie of the Year balloting isn't something you just do.

Luckily for the Rays (they dropped the "Devil") they have as much if not more young talent in their organization as any in baseball, and third baseman Evan Longoria is arguably the best of the bunch.

Drafted in 2006 out of Long Beach State, Longoria has risen quickly through the Rays farm system, making it all the way up to Triple-A Durham last season while hitting a combined .299 with 26 HRs and 95 RBIs between Durham and Double-A Montgomery in 2007.

No relation to smoking hot Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria, Evan projects as the most coveted of hitters, those who not only hit for power but for average as well. He plays a solid third base and is noted for his competitiveness and leadership ability.

Ranked as the Rays top prospect for 2008 by Baseball America, Longoria could shed the "prospect" mantle with a strong spring training and is on the fast track to claiming the Rays starting third base job for years to come.

Chase Budinger - Shooting Guard - Arizona Wildcats



Everyone knows the big name guys like Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon and O.J. Mayo who seem primed to set the NBA on fire as soon as next year. One name that gets overlooked however is Arizona's sophomore standout Chase Budinger.

At 6'7" Budinger plays above the rim and also has legit NBA range, a combo scouts covet. As a freshman last season Budinger started all 30 games for the Wildcats and averaged 15.6 points per game in the ultra-competitive Pac-10.

So far this season he's averaging 17.1 points per game, and on a team loaded with players who have NBA potential, Budinger has established himself as arguably the Wildcats best player.

At 12-6 and looking strong, the Wildcats have already endured the loss of their head coach Lute Olsen who is on a leave of absence for the entire year and it's been the 19-year-old Budinger who by all accounts has stepped into a leadership role.

That mentality along with his ability to score have made him a top target for many teams in the 2008 NBA Draft should he choose to leave school early after this season. A rare athlete, Budinger was also named the MVP of the 2006 U.S. Junior Olympic Volleyball Tournament; a sport he's since given up.

Whatever Budinger chooses to do he might be overshadowed by bigger names, but as they say, talent rises to the top and Budinger is primed to take his talent all the way up.

Call it the Emperor's Cup

This week's playing of the 7th President's Cup has me glued to televised golf for the last time for the next two and a half months. That of course is the amount of time Tiger plans on taking off once the event is over, and I think I'll do the same.

It also got me thinking about what it would be like if we could actually have one of the these biennial team golf events that actually features the best players from everywhere around the world.

For those of you that don't know, the President's Cup features an "international" team consisting of all the best players from countries outside of the United States and Europe. Meanwhile the more popular and more contentious Ryder Cup is the U.S. vs. the best that Europe has to offer.

Now that's all well and good, but wouldn't it be great if we could combine the two Cups into one "us against the world" slugfest? It's a pipe dream, but something that I think would be great for golf.

The Emperor's Cup, as we're going to call it, would consist of two teams of 16 players each. The other Cups have 12 man teams, but with the expanded list of players to choose from, 16 seems like a better number.

The selection of the teams would be based solely on the World Golf Rankings which takes into account a players performance over two years. This is would be a point of contention for some who would rather see the hottest players play, but this is my Cup and I think there should be a reward for playing well over a longer stretch of time.

If this uber-Cup were to be played today the teams would look like this:

United States: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Scott Verplank, Aaron Oberholser (if healthy), David Toms, Brett Wetterich, Woody Austin, Charles Howell III, Mark Calcavecchia, Boo Weekley, Hunter Mahan, David Love III

World Team: Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Padraig Harrington, Rory Sabbatini, Sergio Garcia, K.J. Choi, Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Henrik Stenson, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Angel Cabrera, Aaron Baddeley, Niclas Fasth

I'll admit, I wouldn't want any part of that World Team which is absolutely stacked, but the U.S. team wouldn't exactly be soft. With the rosters expanded to 16 it would allow for veteran players like Calcavecchia and Love to perhaps bring that experience "x-factor" to the table.

The scoring and format would pretty much stay the same, with one major exception. In the Emperor's Cup there would be eight foursome matches on day one, eight four-ball matches on day two. However instead of another day of team matches there would be instead eight singles matches on day three and finally eight more singles matches on the final day.

That would make for 32 total points available, with 16 1/2 points necessary to take home the cup. The format would also not allow teams to "hide" players like they do in those other Cups because everyone plays three total matches no matter what.

The decision to hold half of the singles matches on day three in my mind would do a few things. For one it would bring another major tactical element into play for the team captains. If you're behind heading into day three you might want to get your big guns out there to make up the ground and avoid suffering an early defeat.

On the other hand if you have a lead heading into day three you might want to set things up so your weakest guys go first. Of course you could employ the opposite strategy and let your team's best get out there and end the thing.

Another reason for starting singles play earlier is, despite the fact that team play is fun to watch, golf is an individual game and a one-on-one battle is always going to be the most exciting form of match play.

Lastly, the other Cups use a 6/6/10/12 match-per-day format which means some of the early action on days three and four goes unseen on television with the matches starting early. With eight singles matches on days three and four respectively, all the matches can be shown each day without a problem.

I can just envision a comeback on day three by the U.S. Team where they square the point total at 12 apiece, setting up a Sunday showdown between 16 of the world's best players. Tiger vs. Ernie, Phil vs. Sergio, it would be beautiful.

So if anyone has Tim Finchem's cell phone number and wants to send it to me I'd be more than willing to propose my idea. Oh, and I suppose I could run it by Tiger too.



Don't have a Google account and want to leave a comment? E-mail me at adoc1980@hotmail.com.

Goodbye World

In case anyone forgot, Tiger Woods is the best golfer on the planet. In fact, I'd say he's probably the best golfer this or any other planet has ever seen, with apologies to Jack of course.

When he decided to remake his swing and adjust his game after the memorable year that was 2000 we all thought he was crazy. What we didn't know was that the evolution of his game was a necessary step and that he'd only continue to get better despite "Tiger-proof" courses and the deepest fields the PGA Tour has ever seen.

Of course that's why he's Tiger and the rest of us only post our good rounds in order to make our 15 handicap game smell like it's a solid 10.

With the new FedEx Cup playoffs coming to an end this Sunday, Tiger decided to end any thoughts the world's #2 player Phil Mickelson or surprise contender Steve Stricker may have had about stashing away that $10 million annuity that should make sure Sam Alexis Woods' great-grandchildren will be able to eat.

His first round 64 in the season-ending Tour Championship was followed up by a second round 63 which included five birdies and an eagle, on the front side, in a row. The mere fact that he only shot 63 should tell you that while I often times think otherwise, the man is indeed a human being.

You wanna know what the really scary part about this Woods guy is? He's getting better every day he laces up his Nike spikes and hits the course with a game that cannot be contained by normal standards. And no matter what the Rory Sabbatini's of the world tell you, they're not even close to him and the gap between him and the rest of the golfing world continues to grow.