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October 2008
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With the first round of the U.S. Women's Open halfway through, Temecula's Sydnee Michaels and Beaumont's Yani Tseng find themselves near the top of the leaderboard after shooting matching 2-under-par 71 at the testy Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn. Ji Young Oh shot a 67 and is leading. Tseng, who became the second-youngest player to win a major title when she claimed the LPGA Championship earlier this month, carded four birdies and one double-bogey on the 316-yard par-4 seventh hole. Michaels, a junior-to-be at UCLA, got it going with a tap-in birdie on the par-5 18th (her ninth hole.) The 20-year-old notched birdies on three of her next five holes, before finishing her round with her fifth birdie on No. 9. "I kind've was trying to do something swing, and I didn't get it down until my back nine," Michaels said by phone. "Then once I got it down, I really attacked the pins." Neither player has made the cut at an Open in two appearances apiece. "Have I broken through? I guess so," Michaels said after her best Open round. "It just shows that hard work pays off, and my game is really improved a lot over the past couple years." This from the USGA... Half-Price Sale At U.S. Open Merchandise Pavilion Tuesday
"This is probably the greatest tournament I've ever had." -- Tiger Woods An estimated 24,000 plus in attendance on a Monday -- lots of sudden sicknesses and dead grandmothers phoned in to bosses in San Diego, I'd gather -- and they've all traipsed back over to the seventh tee for the first hole of sudden death. Tiger had birdied it twice and parred it three times through the first five rounds. Rocco had a bogey and three pars before a birdie today. Tiger is on the fairway after his tee shot. Rocco found another bunker, and it looks like he's in a bad spot, close to the lip of the trap. Rocco's second shot is 183 yards to the hole out of the sand ... except he went way left, nestled next to the grandstand. Tiger, with 156 yards to the hole at the extreme right hand side of the fairway, puts it on the front of the green, about 20-25 feet from the pin. Rocco takes a drop before his third shot, and it actually bounced out of the marked drop zone. His shot rolled past the pin, leaving him a 20-footer for par. Tiger, with a chance to close it out, is short on his birdie putt. He falls to his knees in disgust, then taps it in for par. That leaves it up to Rocco Mediate, attempting at 45 years, 7 months to be the oldest U.S. Open winner ever and the oldest first-time major champion ever. But his 20-footer, slides right, and Tiger Woods wins his third U.S. Open and his 14th career major. Rocco had an 18-footer for birdie to win it, and slid it left. Tiger, who had a 40-footer for eagle and slid it past the hole, then had about an 5-footer for birdie and a tie -- and put it in. Which meant Rocco had to make his par putt, of about three feet, to extend the tournament to sudden death. He made it, and we're going to overtime. Tiger had a 25-footer for birdie but left it four feet short at 17. He took his par, and Rocco made his five-footer for a par and a one-shot lead going into the 18th hole. Tiger had a 40-footer for birdie at the par-3 16th and almost pulled it off ... but the ball stopped just short of the hole. Both men parred the hole, so Rocco goes to the 17th still up by a shot. Mediate curls in an 18-footer for his third birdie in a row at 15. Tiger, whose tee shot once again went beyond the ropes, got within 15 feet of the pin and left his birdie putt wide. And with three holes to play, underdog Mediate has a one-shot lead. Yes, if we are still tied after 90 -- 90! -- holes of golf, the 108th U.S. Open will be decided in a sudden-death playoff, using holes 7, 8 and 18 in rotation. No. 7 is a 461 yard, dogleg right par 4 that faces out toward the Pacific. Woods birdied today, Mediate parred. No. 8 is a 177 yard par 3 with a large bunker protecting the front of the green. Mediate parred, Woods bogeyed. No. 18, of course, is the finishing hole that Woods birdied to force a playoff. Woods is 3-under for his round at No. 18. Mediate is 2-under. --Michael Becker In answer to the question we posed earlier, Tiger went for the green on the 269-yard 14th rather than laying up, as he did Sunday. So did Rocco, and both came up short. But when Tiger's 12-footer lipped out, after Rocco had birdied, they were all tied up after 14, meaning Tiger had let a three-shot lead get away in the span of four holes. Mediate picks up another shot on Woods on the par-4 12th, thanks to another Tiger foray into the sand. Tiger had a 15-footer for par and put it wide. Mediate missed a 15-footer for birdie, but sank the par putt and now trails by just one shot. Rocco Mediate's problem might be that there aren't enough par-3's on this course. He picked up yet another shot on the par-3 11th, thanks to Woods missing a makable 15-footer and bogeying. Woods now leads by two shots through 11. Again, Tiger. His chip to the 10th green hit and spun weirdly, all the way off the green. But Woods, putting from the fringe, curled in a 14-footer. And when Mediate missed his 10-footer, Tiger had a three-shot lead. ... for Tiger after his drive on 9, which still carried further than Mediate's and landed in the left side of the fairway. If he winced later in the hole, it was because his sand shot didn't get to the green, but wound up in the rough in front of the front bunker. Yet Tiger still made par, and Mediate missed a 6-footer for par, wound up with bogey and fell two shots back going into the turn. His first shot on 8 went into the sand, and he wound up making a 3-footer for bogey. Mediate had his own 4-footer for par and drained it, cutting Tiger's lead to one shot going to the ninth. Just like it sounds, folks. He was chewing seeds, or something. Maybe sipping on some orange juice. Either way, he was standing right next to me and my gray New Balances caught a little residual splatter. Mr. October has somehow procured a media badge. He's inside the ropes, and if it weren't for Roger Maltbie, might be getting the loudest cheers out there for someone not named Rocco or Tiger. The Regester on Rocco's chances... "If you can catch (Tiger) when he's limping, you might be able to get him. When he's struggling, you might have a chance." --Michael Becker Woods rams in a 10-foot birdie putt on 7 and goes two shots up on Mediate, who had a 25-footer for birdie come up short again. The ESPN/NBC crew has been speculating about whether Tiger took some pain reliever or something to ease the discomfort in his knee, because he hasn't favored it, hasn't limped and hasn't had any problem with his swing. Prediction: Tiger has a Motrin or Aleve endorsement in his future. (Or else cortisone.) As far as adulation goes Monday, here is the list of crowd favorites at Torrey Pines. 1. Rocco As in, Roger Maltbie, the portly on-course analyst for NBC. The man has a devoted following, 1) because he is good at what he does. 2) he looks like Santa Claus. Maltbie has a voice like crunched gravel -- a bit rough, but lyrical and comforting. He seems so perfect for the role of analyst, it's easy to forget he has 5 PGA Tour wins. --Michael Becker Woods birdies the par-4, 501-yard sixth. Mediate saves par after getting into trouble on his approach shot. Through six, Tiger's ahead by one. Rocco Mediate's second shot out of the sand on 5 overflew the green, hit one cart path, hit a second cart path, and came to rest somewhere behind the gallery. Yet Mediate still had a 10-to-15 footer for par, but curled it short. Tiger missed a 20-footer for a birdie, but made his 3-footer coming back. Through five holes, it's even. |
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