Golf

During Saturday’s broadcast of the Redskins v. Bills game announcer Joe Theisman made what I thought was a pretty stunning statement. What he said was something along the lines of how much stronger Clinton Portis looked and that it was no doubt due to the fact that Portis is starting to lift weights. At first I just shrugged it off as another asinine comment by Joe Theisman. After watching last weeks broadcast it has become apparent to me why ESPN replaced him with Jaws. I actually thought he used to be a decent broadcaster but some of the things that came out of his mouth last Saturday were incomprehensible. But then I wondered if what Theisman said was true? How could this be?
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The AT&T National at Congressional Country Club this weekend was missing two of golf’s greatest stars in Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh. The absence of star power may have left a lot to be desired for local sports fans. Enter Anthony Kim, a young, cocky kid from So Cal who traded a rebellious lifestyle for tournament wins and big purses. Kim, who has admitted to playing golf with a belly full of margaritas and breakfast burritos in the past, decided to ditch the night life for early morning practice. This more mature and focused approach appears to be paying off. In the fourth round of last weekends AT&T National at Congressional Country Club Kim breezed through 18 holes, shooting a 65 with no bogeys, to grab his second Tour win this year. With his victory Kim becomes the first U.S player under 25 to win twice on tour since Tiger.

Which brings us to the question, has golf finally found a worthy opponent for Tiger Woods? Can this kid really dethrone arguably the best golfer of all time? With 2 wins under his jewel encrusted AK belt and 2 majors yet to play this year, up and comer Anthony Kim is hoping that he can.

Here is a head to head look at the key stats for Anthony Kim and Tiger Woods courtesy of PGATour.com:

Anthony Kim

Scoring Average: 70.95%

Driving Distance: 301.0

Driving Accuracy Percentage: 58.70%

Greens in Regulation Percentage: 67.20%

Scrambling: 55.65%

Putts Per Round: 29.14

Tiger Woods

Scoring Average: 68.44%

Driving Distance: 287.7

Driving Accuracy Percentage: 58.93%

Greens in Regulation Percentage: 73.26%

Scrambling: 74.03%

Putts Per Round: 28.63

Check out Stats for other PGA Tour Golfers

Sudden Death began at the 7th hole of Torrey Pines today and pitted the #1 golfer in the world Tiger Woods against the 158th best Rocco Mediate. It was trouble for Rocco from the start. His tee shot found the left bunker and Rocco was unable to recover. His second shot from the bunker went way left and snuggled up against the grandstand. Fortunately Rocco was able to drop the ball away from the stands and chip a decent shot up on the green but in the meantime Tiger was busy reaching the green in two. It appeared Rocco was done on Tiger’s next putt which came up just short of the hole. The miss gave Rocco one last chance to tie but his long 20ft. attempt just missed. Even the Rocco chant started by the fans was not enough to lift him over what will probably end up as one of the great Open performances of all time. In heroic fashion Tiger Woods overcame a late rally by Rocco and a bum knee to eventually overtake Rocco in Sudden Death overtime. “They wanted a show and they got one” Rocco said referring to the electric crowd at Torrey Pines. With the win Tiger Woods becomes the first player to ever win on the same course 7 times and just the sixth player to win more than 2 U.S Opens. While Rocco was not able to claim his first Major win, his performance will move him up 111 spots in the World Rankings to the 47th overall spot.

“He is just soooo hard to beat” says Rocco of Tiger.

18th Hole- Rocco’s tee shot finds the bunker while Tiger finds the middle of the fairway. You can start to feel the magic about to happen. Could we be looking at a second overtime? Okay, so right before the biggest putt of the U.S. Open playoff, Tiger’s putt for birdie, my Comcast goes out because of thunderstorms. I have been told however that Tiger made his putt and Rocco made his par putt so on we go to extra innings, or holes, or overtime, or whatever you call it. This is the most exciting golf I have ever seen in my young life. Stay Tuned…

15th Hole(Par 4 478yds)- Tiger’s tee shot is way right over the ropes, into the crowd, and into the bunker. Tigers ball has had a nice little vacation this Open with all the beaches it has visited. Rocco hits a solid tee shot in the fairway. Rocco’s second shot finds the green but is a good distance from the hole. Tiger with an unbelievable recovery shot puts it right next to the pin. That is why he is the best in the business folks. Rocco sinks his birdie putt to take a one shot lead as Tiger is unable to put his birdie away. This is shaping up to be a great finish. With three holes to go Rocco is up 1 and has put a tremendous amount of pressure on Tiger. It is situations like this were Tiger has thrived in the past. Can he make it one more major Championship?
Rocco- E
Tiger- +1

16th Hole(Par 3 225yds)- Rocco’s tee shot comes up short but is in good position. Tiger’s tee shot just bounces up to the green. Rocco chooses to take out his putter and it pays off as he rolls it up inches away from paydirt. Tiger’s putt looks good all the way and then stops right at the lip of the cup. Both will knock in their pars and we head to the 17th.
Rocco- E
Tiger- +1

17th Hole(Par 441 yds)- Rocco’s tee shot heads slightly right and winds up in the first cut while Tiger’s shot is right down the middle. Both are in great position to put their next shot right up near the flag. If Rocco can hold on and win this I wonder how much will be made of Tiger’s knee. I hope not too much as Rocco should be praised for beating the most dominant golfer in the game today. After getting some good advice from his caddy Tiger goes with the 8 iron instead of the 7 and it appears to have been the right choice as the shot lands midway between the back of the green and the flag. I would have hated to be that caddy had the shot come up short. Rocco hits a decent shot putting his ball toward the front of the green with some distance to go to the pin. Both Rocco and Tiger 2 putt as Rocco takes a one shot lead into the final whole. Stay tuned for the final results and short recap…
Rocco- E
Tiger- +1

O.K so here is a more in depth look at 11,12,13, and 14. More to come…

11th Hole(192 yds)- Tiger misses par putt. Rocco cuts into the lead.
Woods- +1
Rocco- +3

12th Hole(505 yds)- Tiger’s face tells the story here as his tee shot sails right of the fairway and into the bunker. Tiger’s inconsistency with his driver continues. He has only hit 4 of 12 greens so far and has missed both left and right throughout this Open. I can only assume his knee has something to do with this. Rocco should get his caddy to go Tonya Harding on woods and take him out of the tournament. Just a thought. Great second shot by Rocco. “I murdered it” you could hear him say after making contact. Another bad shot by Tiger as he throws his club down in disgust. Rocco continues bad putting as he misses his chance for a birdie. Rocco salvages his par and pulls within one of Tiger.
Woods- +2
Rocco- +3

13th Hole(Par 5 539 yards)- Again Tiger misses the Fairway this time to the left. Tiger recovers and reaches the green in 2. A long eagle putt hear for tiger from the back of the green but we have seen him make longer. Rocco is just short of the green on his second shot. Unfortunately for him just short means in the bunker. Great line on Tiger’s putt but just not enough mustard on it. Set up nicely for a birdie. Both Woods and Rocco make their birdie putts. Tiger is still up 1.
Woods- +1
Rocco- +2

14th Hole(Par 4 269yds)- Rocco with a great tee shot right down the middle just short of the green. Tiger’s tee shot the same distance as Rocco’s but off to the right a few feet in the rough. Advantage Rooco. Tiger chinks his chip while Rocco puts his inches form the hole. Tiger is finally starting to feel some pressure. It was bound to happen, Tiger’s putt hit the lip and for once did not swing back into the hole much like it had yesterday on 18. Meanwhile Rocco makes his birdie putt to knot things back up.
Woods- +1
Rocco- +1

While you were working…

Tiger shot a 35 and Rocco a 37 after 9. Here are some highlights to get you caught up.

1st Hole- Rocco misses a short par putt eerily similar to several of his misses earlier in this tournament. In fact If Rocco had made a couple of easy putts yesterday there would be nothing to talk about today. Maybe the pressure of playing against the #1 golfer in the world is finally getting to him.
Rocco +1
Tiger E

3rd Hole- Rocco nearly misses a hole in one after an incredible tee shot that hit a few feet to the right and kicked left with some spin to end up inches away for an easy birdie. Tiger not nearly as fortunate as his Tee Shot catches the left bunker.

5th Hole- Rocco starts to look like the 158th best player as he finds himself in a fairway bunker off of a bad Tee Shot. His bunker shot looks even worse as it bounces off the cart path into the rough, but his lie is better then expected and he makes a good recovery shot to eventually pull even with Woods after 5.
Tiger +1
Rocco +1

7th Hole- Tiger blasts a great looking Tee shot and winds up eith a birdie putt to go 2 up on Rocco.

8th Hole- Tiger overshoots the green on his Tee Shit and gets buried in the bunker. His bunker shot then rolls over the green again and lands beside Rocco’s Tee Shot which came up just short of the green. Rocco takes advantage of Tiger’s bogey as he pulls within one.
Tiger- E
Rocco- +1

9th Hole - Tiger shows his first sign of pain today after his Tee Shot. Tiger’s bum knee is the only thing keeping Rocco in this match right now.
Tiger- E
Rocco- +2

Check DC Sports Pulse for an update later in the day.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4JI1_iUJRQ&hl=en]