Everything Breaks the Tour's Way

Sunday was a rotten day for us hard-core cynics of the world.

There just wasn't much to rail about as the best player in the world rightfully captured the flawed FedEx Cup, while the people's choice on this day overcame some wrenching off-course issues to win the Tour Championship itself.

When Tiger Woods locked up the FedEx Cup title with his second-place finish Sunday, and Phil Mickelson won the tournament itself, everything came up aces for the PGA Tour's third rendition of the 'playoff' series, proving you can often forget about the bumpy journey, when the destination is all wine and roses.

Woods all but locked up Player-of-the-Year honors when he, er, scored enough points at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club to narrowly win the yearlong FedEx series. Points, bleh.

But whether the PGA Tour's counting points, goals, birdies, or whatever, justice was done.

Woods, despite going winless in the majors this year, is still the world's best player, and did more than enough over the course of the year to secure the $10 million bonus that went to the FedEx winner -- even if was a lot closer than it should have been.

Meantime, gallery favorite Mickelson was rolling putts in from all over the Georgia countryside on his way to a victory in the series' final event. One can only hope that Phil's flourish was a sign that things with his family are also going so well.

Mickelson's wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. Only six weeks later, it was announced his mother, Mary, was diagnosed with the same blasted disease.

Mickelson sounded positively bouyant after his round Sunday.
"It feels great to have won," he said. "It's been frustrating as far as the last few months, but I look at it as a fortunate year because [wife] Amy and my mom are going to be great."

Which, of course, is the best news of all.

See what I mean? It was a bad day for cynics.

Lipouts

If you were listening closely this weekend you might have heard that LPGA veteran Sophie Gustafson cruised past Lorean Ochoa to win the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge in a place called Danville, Calif.
It was Gustafson's first win in six years, and kept Ochoa winless in last her last 11 events. Ochoa has dominated the tour the past three years, winning 21 times over that period, so her mini-slump is raising eyebrows.

But most of you probably didn't know that, because most of you probably don't pay attention to the LPGA.

One of the big behind-the-scenes stories in the off-season will be who is picked to run the tour. When Carolyn Bivens was sent packing, or packed and sent her regards in July, the circuit was left without a commissioner, and a bit of a mess on its hands.

There is simply no excuse that a tour featuring talented, attractive players should be languishing permanently in the back woods of the Golf Channel.

The Grill Room firmly believes the tour is a sleeping giant of a sports league if only it were given some good direction. We'll have more on this in the coming weeks...

And one more bit of cynic-busting news from East Lake...
Turns out the weekend TV ratings were nearly double what they were a year ago. The event did a 3.3 overnight rating Sunday compared to 1.8 a year ago. On Saturday the numbers were 2.4 compared to 1.3 in 2008.

Pretty respectable when you consider they were up against ratings-hog football.

Last year, you had Camilo Villegas holding off Sergio Garcia in a playoff.
This year, Woods and Mickelson got loads of TV time. Not hard to figure out what happened.

Lanny's back to leading with his lip

Golf Magazine features one of the best sports interviews you'll ever read when it goes shot for shot with Lanny Wadkins in its October issue.

Writer Alan Bastable stood in there strong and put a number of potentially contentious issues in front of the feisty Wadkins.
Wadkins (pictured) seldom backed off and gave as good as he got, taking on, among other things, the World Golf Hall of Fame, CBS Sports, and Tiger's lack of competition.

But rather than continue to tease you, we'd like you to check out of the Grill Room and go to this link so you can read the thing.

Yeah, yeah, we know that by directing you out of here, we are probably breaking some golden tenets of website traffic, or page views, or unique visitors or something else we don't understand. No matter, we are nothing, if not committed, to serving our clientele with the very best in sports prose.

Go on, you can leave your coat on the hanger and drink at the bar. We'll keep your tab open, and chug down a cold one until you return...

Gulp, gulp, gulp...Ahhh, Pfungstadter bier...nothing better...

You're back! Man, you folks read for speed! We'll just take it as a compliment that you hurried back.

Pretty good interview, eh?

If you didn't know much about Wadkins, 59, before reading that piece, you know now that on tour he was as fearless with a microphone in front of him as he was with a 7-iron in his hand. They used to say you couldn't hide a pin from Lanny Wadkins. They might have also said there wasn't a question he'd hide from.

Frankly, this made him a golf writer's dream, which made what happened to him at CBS Sports all the more perplexing.

Bluntly, if Wadkins had even been half -- hell, a quarter -- as candid on the air as he was in this interview, he'd still be sitting in the lead analyst chair next to Jim Nantz, and pushing Johnny Miller as sports' best analyst.

But Wadkins was released by CBS in 2007, after an unremarkable five-year run as the network's lead golf analyst. He was replaced by the suddenly chirpy Nick Faldo, who, ironically, treated the press like a crowd of lepers during his playing days. This probably only served to rub even more salt in Wadkins' wound when he was given his walking papers.

The truth is, though, Wadkins was a punch-puller in the booth, and I never got that.

Instead of the brash Wadkins that stalked a golf course and press tent like he owned it, we got a guy at CBS who might as well of have been running for mayor.
Oh, occasionally, Wadkins would blow fresh air, but most times he played both sides, and instead of protecting his most important constituency, the viewers, he too often took the side of the players, coddling and making excuses for them.

In the interview, Wadkins blames CBS for his demise, saying, "It's what some suit wanted in New York, and he got what he wanted — for better or for worse."

Maybe, Lanny, but if what that New York suit wanted was the guy who called it like he saw it before taking the analyst's chair, neither the suit nor the viewers ever got that, and that's a damn shame.

Wadkins is always welcome in the Grill Room, as long as he's in front of a microphone, not behind one.

Lip-outs...
The FedEx Cup comes to a close this weekend when the Tour Championship is played at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club.

Not surprisingly, Tiger Woods is in the driver's seat, though four other players can claim the Cup if they win this weekend -- Steve Stricker, No. 2 in the standings, Jim Furyk (3), Zach Johnson (4) and Heath Slocum (5).
There are all kinds of other scenarios that give all 30 players a shot at the $10-million first-place bonus if none of the Big 5 win, but for that bit of rocket science, we'll send you away again to go here. ...

For all intents and purposes, the Tour Championship marks the unofficial end of the PGA golf season. But because the Tour is the gift that never quits giving, there are still five more events to be played through Nov. 15, that count on the 2009 money list.

The top-125 money-earners retain their playing privileges on tour for 2010, so guys on the fringe will be playing their butts off to keep their almighty tour card, and avoid one of our favorite tournaments in the GR, the gut-wrenching PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, Dec. 2-7. ...

A select field of 20 women competed at venerable Torrey Pines Golf Course this past weekend in the Samsung World Championship, and Na Yeon Choi held on for the win.

The GR was intrigued by the LPGA's visit to Torrey, and believes the ladies can better highlight their dynamite talent by playing on the same respected venues as the men do.

Unfortunately, crowds were reported to be light the first two days of the event in sleepy, sunny San Diego. There was a ray of sunshine on Sunday, however, when the Union-Tribune reported that many Asian-Americans flocked to the course to root for the final group which featured South Korea's Choi and Jiyai Shin.

No shock, the players reportedly loved the place.

No final decision has been made whether the tournament will return to Torrey next year, or if Samsung will retain sponsorship.

(Richmond Times-Dispatch, photo)

We're altogether fedup with the FedEx

Great minds...

On Tuesday, we laid out a simple suggestion to the brass at PGA headquarters aimed at making their confusing FedEx Cup playoffs less like chess and a lot more like checkers.
Our aim was to offer up a simple scoring system that would allow pros and high-handicappers alike the opportunity to follow the event with a real good clue of how it worked.

Basically, we advocated using good ol' golf scoring to determine the standings, rather than some point system that only Apple and Dell understood.

So today, while refurbishing the joint (we hope you like the upgrade), and busily readying for another busy weekend of football, we came across this column from Sports Illustrated's superb golf writer, Gary Van Sickle.

Essentially, Van Sickle is advocating almost the exact approach to putting the fix on these playoffs as the Grill Room, and for the same reasons.

In fairness to Van Sickle, he points out he's made this suggestion before, so it looks like the GR unknowingly drafted his good idea. Either way, we feel like we are in pretty good company with a pretty good suggestion.

Van Sickle also made another excellent point as to why this confounding scoring system needs changing: If a player has no idea where he stands on the golf course, how does he know how to approach the closing holes tactically?
For example: If a guy needs only bogey on the final hole to get the requisite points needed to advance, or in the case of the final tournament maybe even win, wouldn't it be a tremendous help if he knew that?

As is, unless his caddy is also lugging a TV around, a player might as well be playing with a blindfold on, because there is no way this information can make its way onto the golf course. That's inexcusable

Van Sickle also suggests that the winner of each event earn a five-stroke bonus in order that a win really means something. We can go along with that.

As we pointed out in Tuesday's column, adopting this new approach might mean, "some dude named Tiger could play out of his mind and go into the final weekend with a 16-shot lead or something."
Once again, we didn't know how right we were. It turns out that Tiger would actually have a 15-shot lead over Paddy Harrington heading into next Thursday's Tour Championship at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Course if our suggested scoring format had been adopted this year (see chart below).

Granted, the chances of Tiger blowing a 15-shot lead are about as good as me playing in next year's event, so the drama would be tempered next week at East Lake, but at least the best player would have been identified over the course of the event.

On the other hand, if Tiger finishes strongly in the event, yet under the current jury-rigged system still comes up short for the overall title, what do you want to bet the FedEx finally gets the fix it needs pronto?

By advocating the use of cumulative scoring over the Cup's four stops, and allowing five shots to the three winners, this is how the current leaderboard would look entering the final event:
(*) denotes current standings

1. (1) -44 Tiger Woods
2. (6) -29 Padraig Harrington
3. (3) -27 Jim Furyk
4. (2) -24 Steve Stricker
5. (8) -18 Scott Verplank
6. (18) -18 Kevin Na
7. (4) -18 Zach Johnson
8. (11) -16 Dustin Johnson
9. (25) -12 Steve Marino
10. (27) -9 Mike Weir
11. (12) -9 Nick Watney
12. (30) -7 John Senden
13. (28) -5 Luke Donald
14. (15) -5 Retief Goosen
15. (19) -4 David Toms
16. (23) -4 Hunter Mahan
17. (29) -3 Jerry Kelly
18. (14) -1 Phil Mickelson
19. (17) +1 Brian Gay
20. (9) +4 Kenny Perry
21. (21) +12 Y.E. Yang

Players who missed a cut and would not have advanced to Tour Championship:
Heath Slocum (5)
Sean O'Hair (7)
Jason Dufner (10)
Geoff Ogilvy (13)
Marc Leishman (16)
Lucas Glover (20)
Ernie Els (22)
Angel Cabrera (24)
Stewart Cink (26)

Thanks again for Van Sickle's help with this one.

Torrey Pines hosts LPGA
The LPGA starts one of its elite tournaments today when the Samsung World Championship tees off at venerable Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.

It's only the second time the tour has visited Torrey Pines. It'll be interesting to see how the ladies handle the tough track, and how well the tournament's received by the locals.

Paula Creamer defends her title in the limited-field event that will see only 20 players vying for the $1-million purse.

Please fix the FedEx already!

Because we believe in straight talk and candor in the Grill Room, the management feels compelled to warn you that this column is mostly about golf's FedEx Cup.
Who says we don't look after you around here, eh?

To those of you brave enough to stick this one out, let's move on...

Yes, golf's version of the 'playoffs' has improved. The gods of Ponte Vedra Beach actually managed to make the confounding format a little more compelling and comprehensible this year.

And, yes again, the result of any championship system (sorry, Commissioner Finchem, this is a points race, not a playoff), no matter how wacky, should be to determine the best player or team when it is all over.

Well, right now Tiger Woods is leading the FedEx race, and even if he took an 0-for-4 in this year's majors, is still undeniable the game's best player by about the length of a solidly struck 3-wood.

Further, if you've been watching any of the FedEx tournaments the last three weeks, you'll notice all the big names are still playing -- Ernie, Phil, Sergio, Padraig, etc.
This might be the system's biggest caveat, because before the FedEx came along, chasing these guys away from their mansions and onto the golf course in September was like coaxing a smile from Tiger.

So the FedEx has accomplished some of the things it set out to do.

But how many of you out there brave enough to still be reading this column understand the FedEx Cup? Come on, let's see a show of hands. Put your hand down, commissioner.
Really? Nobody?

Me either -- and neither do many of the players.

Trust me, if a certified golf geek like myself can't walk you through this, it's broken, and not worth my time, or yours, to explain. If you really, really want to try to understand the rules, read this, but please return -- all three of you.

The fix

Assuming you're back, we have a suggestion to make this thing a snap to understand and most likely even more compelling to watch: Get rid of the points, and base the thing strictly on golf results. You know, like under par and over par, and all that?

The player with the lowest cumulative score after the final four events and 16 rounds of golf wins. Period.

Oh, I suppose you could keep the points system throughout the season. That is pretty easy to understand. The better you finish in a tournament the more points you get. The better you play over the course of the year, the more points you earn.

But once you get to golf's version of the Final Four, start anew and dump the points.

Let's say the top 80 point-earners of the year earn a spot into the first of the Fedex Cup's final four events.
After the first week of action, you drop the bottom 20, and 60 players move onto the second stop. There would be no cuts.
Most important, their scores carry over from the previous tournament.

After the second event you drop another 20, and the remaining 40 players and their cumulative scores from the previous two tournaments play on.
After the third event you drop another 20, until you are left with the top-20 players based on scoring from the previous three stops, not points.

Could there be flaws in this system? Absolutely. The biggest might be if, golf gods forbid, Tiger shot his way out of it with a horrible first or second tournament.
Certainly, some top players would fall victim to this new format each year. But if you can't crack the top 60 out of 80, or 40 out of 60, you don't deserve a shot at a championship anyway, right?

And if these stars managed to scrape by into the next tournament, they'd have a chance to move up the leaderboard over the next four rounds.

Of course, there would also be the possibility of a run-away. Some dude named Tiger could play out of his mind and go into the final weekend with a 16-shot lead or something. Even if that happened, you couldn't deny the fact that the tour had identified the best player. And 16-shot lead or not, TV loves Tiger.

No, we see nothing but upside to this suggestion, and, most important: everybody would understand the dang thing.

Lip-outs...

There's been a lot made this past week in the golf world about Greg Norman using one of his two captain's picks on countryman Adam Scott for the looming Presidents Cup competition, Oct. 8-11, at San Francisco's Harding Park.

The choice, and the fact Norman never allegedly even gave him a courtesy call, irked one Rory Sabbatini.

While the haughty Shark has always battled a chip on his shoulder disguised as a fin, I'm not sure what other choice he had here.

Yes, Scott had a horrendous season, tumbling 50 places to No. 53 in the world rankings, and even allegedly conceded he should have been left off the team.

But when Sabbatini's your next best option you have no other option. Sabbatini hasn't exactly been tearing it up, either, and sits at No. 41 in the world rankings. He has not finished in the top 30 of any event since his victory in the Byron Nelson Championship in May.

And if it came down to a tie-breaker between the two in Norman's mind, then he no doubt gave the nod to Scott, who is very well-liked by his fellow players. Sabbatini...er, not so much.
In a team event camaraderie is crucial.

Norman should get kudos for nabbing Japan's 17-year-old golfing sensation, Ryo Ishikawa, with his other pick. If one of the major aims of this event is to generate interest around the world, capturing the golf-crazy Japanese market is key. Most important, this kid can flat play.

On the U.S. side, captain Fred Couples nabbed this year's U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover, and last year's Ryder Cup stalwart Hunter Mahan, surprising no one.
A case could have been made for either Brian Gay or Dustin Johnson. Both have won twice over the last calendar year.

Still, Couples called the choice of Mahan "a no-brainer."

Maybe, but one thing's for sure, with the emergence of its younger guns, the U.S. suddenly has a very deep roster of players to choose from.

A look at the teams:
International:
Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, Mike Weir, Robert Allenby, Yang, Tim Clark, Adam Scott, and Ryo Ishikawa.

U.S.:
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Sean O'Hair, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Lucas Glover, and Hunter Mahan.

Arnie's 80! Long Live the King...

As Tiger Woods becomes the player all golfers will measure themselves against, Arnold Palmer remains the man who brought the game, and Tiger, to the people.

The King is 80 today.

The story about the son of the demanding greenskeeper out of Latrobe, Pa., has been told countless times. Arnie wasn't born poor, but his father also made sure his boy understood that working your hands raw cutting the grass down on a fairway, and digging a ball out of that emerald turf with a 9-iron were two very different things.

Young Arnold grew to love the game, but he never, ever took it for granted.

When Arnie hitched up his pants and burst on the scene in the mid-'50s, he'd change what everybody thought of golf forever.

Palmer's rugged good looks and colorful, go-for-broke approach to the game played beautifully in black and white. And make no mistake about it, Palmer's ascent to his throne coincided with the rise of sports on TV. They were made for each other.

Palmer's grit and swagger talked to even the most casual golf fan.

He even seemed to battle an awkward, powerful swing you'd never teach to anybody. But it was all his own.
Each time he shoved the club back and returned it to the ball with a resounding thump, he seemed to tell us that anything worth having could be overcome with grit and determination.

Sometimes life could be a tough foe, but it only beat you if you quit swinging.

The King recruits an army

By his own admission, Palmer never won as many majors as he should have. In fact, the 1964 Masters where he won his fourth green jacket, would be his seventh and final major. He was only 34.

He contended for plenty more, finishing in the Top-5 a whopping 26 times in the majors, but too often self-inflicted damage was the cause of his heart-wrenching near-misses.
But win or lose, he kept swinging hard and going after it, and we liked him all the more for that, too.

In 1973, Palmer won his 62nd and final PGA tournament. Fittingly, he held off Jack Nicklaus by two shots to get it done.

Even if his winning days were over on tour, The King had recruited an army of lifer fans.

And the army continued to swell -- a fact that wasn't lost on me back when I was actually paid to cover the game, and had an encounter with the man that sticks to me like glue so many years later.

By now Palmer had won his final Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) event. Still, a full division of his army was in tow when he reached the practice tee of the tour stop in Naples, Fla.
It was only Wednesday, a practice day.

I marveled as Palmer gracefully dealt with the mob that besieged him the minute he arrived at the course.

Arnie signed autograph after autograph, flashed his trademark wink, and always seemed to have something special to say to the tots in the crowd.

When he was finally able to shake free, and bang a ball down the middle of the first fairway to begin his round, I had my chance for a brief assault.

I caught up with Palmer, swallowed hard, and asked if he ever tired of the constant attention from his fans. I wondered if, however briefly, he just wanted some time alone when he showed up at a tournament.

That's when Palmer came to a halt and looked at me hard. That's when everything went quiet in my world for what seemed like an hour.

"Do I ever get tired of it?!" he finally shot back incredulously.

"Er, yes sir," I somehow mumbled.

"Son, if it wasn't for (the fans), neither of us would be standing here right now."

With that, he hitched up his pants, and marched off to take another swing.
I walked off with a great quote, and some royal perspective.

Long live the King.

Gulp, tennis anyone?

We're raking the cobwebs out of our eyes this morning and restocking the liquor shelves at the Grill Room on a Tuesday that feels so much more like a Monday...
And I'll dispense with any cheap Tequila cracks. Yer welcome.

Today we've set the menu aimed at giving our woe-is-me chefs a chance to display their diverse cooking skills. They call it their wildcat platter.
The cooks, er, chefs, claim they are so much more than just football and golf, though once again I walked in here to find those dishes were the two most popular offerings on today's menu.

I'm still new to this restaurant business, but these miserable chefs are beginning to remind me a lot of newspaper photographers.

Tomorrow, our bartenders will offer our patrons a free shot when they debut their NFL 100-proof rankings. This concoction will be be showcased each Wednesday during the season. Man, I like dealing with this group so much better.

Today's Menu:

High Stakes and Mushrooms
You might want to check with the BCS guru , Bob Birge or a few other college football experts at WSB , but Saturday's Notre Dame-Michigan matchup suddenly has some major intrigue to it, no?

Here at the Grill Room, we're touting this the Breath Right Nasal Strip Breath Easier Bowl. Yer welcome Breath Right.

Entering the year, were there two other coaches with more pressure on them than the Irish's Charlie Weis and Michigan's Rich Rodriguez?

After mis-leading the Irish to a 9-15 record the past two seasons, Weis was also saddled with meeting some bizarre preseason expectations by Lou Holtz and a fairly lofty national ranking. Given that, anything short of an 8-4 -- maybe even 9-3 -- season, would almost assuredly seal the coach's future at the school.

Meantime, Rodriguez was unsuccessfully ducking the jet-black cloud that hung over him after digging the venerable Wolverine program into the depths of a 3-9, 2008 campaign.
On top of that, there were also loud reports out of Ann Arbor that Rodriguez's players had exceeded NCAA limits on players' football-related activities -- reports that the coach strongly denied.

Finally, it broke early last week, that Rodriguez defaulted on a million-dollar loan, according to a federal lawsuit.
And you think Dick Cheney's had a tough year from a PR standpoint?

Well, to their credit, both coaches were able to escape the bad air, however temporarily, when their teams roared to impressive victories in last Saturday's openers. Granted, both squads were heavy favorites, but anything short of solid beat-downs would have only fueled the fires of discontent at the their respective campuses.

It would seem the coach of the winning team this Saturday can breath the soothing air of relief. The other would be advised to take many deep breaths and stay away from sharp objects.

Clausen's NY pickle
And while we're speaking Irish, lasses and lads...
We have a new viable Heisman candidate: Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen (even if he doesn't spell his last name correctly).

Clausen (pictured with Weis, above) has been out of this world his last two games (37-of-44, 716 yds., 9 TDs), and looked thoroughly in command of the offense on Saturday.

What really benefits Clausen, is that Weis will allow him to wing it all over the park if he eyes a weak spot or two in the secondary. As Tom Brady will tell you, the big dude's not wedded to the running game, and likes his meals and yardage in big chunks.

Clausen will be one of the Heisman finalists when all is said and done this year, or I'll eat one of my chef's hats.

Russian Undressing
Tennis? In the Grill Room?!
I told you, our chefs are on a mission today aimed at proving their diverse credentials.
So, in what passes for French cooking...

If for some reason you have been paying any attention at all to the U.S. Open, then you know that 17-year-old Melanie Oudin rolled into the U.S. Open quarterfinals over the holiday weekend by continuing to kill more Russians than cheap vodka.

Yes, Oudin's father is of French descent, but she is an American girl, which is really the storyline here.

Oudin (pictured, bottom photo) seems on the verge of providing hope to the dwindling number of American tennis fans left out there that a gal without the last name Williams might actually be capable of staying with the foreign contingent, who have taken over the game in the past decade or so.

Next up for Oudin, Denmark's 19-year-old sensation, Caroline Wozniacki.

Held og Lykke, Melanie!

Skinned Tongue of Andre
Love the NFL. Love it!
Where else do you get stories like this one? Seems after the Giants released backup QB Andre Woodson, the Redskins scoffed him up in a NY minute.

Why would the Redskins offer the skill-challenged Woodson a job, do you suppose? Because the Giants play the Redskins Sunday, that's why.

In the leave-no-stone-unturned world of professional football preparation, teams will look for any edge they can get on the opposition. The Redskins figure Woodson, drafted in 2008 by the Giants, might be good for a morsel or two given his familiarity with the Giants' attack.

As we speak, Woodson is being debriefed by the Redskin hierarchy in an effort to ferret out any secrets in the Blue camp.

And trust us in the Grill Room, if the Redskins signed him for any other reason than intel, they are in worse shape at the QB position than previously thought. Be interesting to see how long they keep him around.

Wisconsin Cheese and Onions
Finally, one for the duffers still paying attention to golf out there.

Steve Stricker's victory Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship...
...was his third win of the year.
...solidified his credentials as a viable candidate for player-of-the-year honors.
...gave him the lead over one Tiger Woods in the FedEx Cup standings.
...moved him past Phil Mickelson into the No. 2 spot in the world rankings.
...locked in his place as the tour's all-time leading weeper.

Stricker, one of the genuine nice guys on tour, has now won seven times during his career, and cried after each event.

It helps to understand it wasn't so long ago that the guy flat lost his game. Unless you've been through something like that, it's hard to fathom his amazing turnaround.
In 2005, Stricker was ranked 173rd in the world. But here he is back as one of the game's premier players.

And the No. 1 softy is chasing one of the game's all-time tough guys, Tiger Woods.

"We're taking up space in his world," the Wisconsin native said of Woods after fighting back his customary tears Monday, "But I'm thrilled to death to be playing how I'm playing."

Anymore tears from Stricker this year could mean curtains for Woods.

(Associated Press photos)

Get a grip, Tiger

Today's main course: Heart of Tiger, served with just a hint of denial and plenty of bitterness.

If you are starting to get as fed up with Tiger Woods' on- and off-course nonsense as I am, this dish is for you. If you prefer to take your Tiger sunny side up, like habitual apologists such as David Feherty, maybe the below offering featuring Lou Holtz will be easier on your stomach.

According to Star-Ledger and NJ.com columnist, Steve Politi, Woods saw the greens at Jersey City's Liberty National golf course, not his stroke, as the culprit for his latest near-miss, this time at The Barclays last Sunday.

This is starting to become a bothersome trend with Woods, who might be best served scowling into a mirror rather than the evil which is suddenly all about, conspiring to thwart his march toward golf immortality and Jack Nicklaus' record 18 professional majors, and Sam Snead's 82 victories on tour.

Oh, it would still be an upset if Woods didn't bash his way past Nicklaus and Snead to become the game's greatest winner, but it is becoming clearer and clearer he'll never get within a 3-wood of Nicklaus the man.

For all of Jack's winning, nobody was more gracious in defeat. Nicklaus wanted the trophies every bit as much as Woods, but was cognizant there were actually others on the course that wanted them just as bad. So when Nicklaus came up a bit short (he finished second a record 19 times in the majors) he gave the victor and the great game their due.

Lately, Woods seems to see himself as a victim. His club-slamming exhibition at this year's Open Championship was way over the top. Now the greens -- the very greens everybody was forced to putt on -- were at fault at The Barclays.

Woods would be wise to use the looming offseason for some reflection. He no longer has anything to prove with his wonderful game. It's Tiger the man that needs a little work.

If all Tiger Woods does is walk away golf's greatest winner, some of us will view it as his greatest disappointment.

Dessert: Lou's Irish Stew, best served with copious amounts of Irish Whiskey

I realize this is hardly news, but if ESPN can tease it 88 times a day, I can toss it on the grill one more time...

Former Notre Dame coach and current ESPN talking head, Lou Holtz, has picked his beloved Irish to play Florida in the Bowl Championship Series title game in 2010.

Holtz is right when he points to Notre Dame's cream puff schedule, but it's also worth considering that these days the opposition can be excused if they view a date with Notre Dame as a bit of a breather.

As fellow World Sports Blogger Bob Birge so wonderfully pointed out, this might just be a bit over the top for a guy who resembles your 'eccentric uncle.'
As Birge says, "You love him, and you put up with him, but you don't listen to much of what he says."

Right on.

I'll say 9-3, and 8-4 if they don't take Nevada and its excellent quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, seriously this Saturday in South Bend.

(Associated Press photo)