- He may be the lone top-50 player in the field but following a third-round 69, Ernie Els has left himself a long row to hoe at the Indian Masters in Delhi.  Sitting on two under par for the tournament, he is currently six behind Damien McGrane, perhaps a manageable number (particularly as he’s only four off second) but hardly a dependable one as the leaders are all still early in their third rounds and may well go substantially lower.  Barring flukish weather, Els likely needs to break 65 to have any chance tomorrow.

The PowerHouse Watch

Kudos to the inimitable PowerHouse McIntyre who, after making double-bogey at the par-4 14th during Friday’s second round, appeared a near certainty to miss the cut at the African Open.  But drawing on great reserves of persistence and perspicacity, our man responded with clutch birdies at both the 16th and 18th to survive – dead on the number – into the weekend.  Now if he can just avoid the quads and triples on Saturday and Sunday…

- Despite the absence of Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, next week’s Northern Trust Open looks to have the first truly world-class field of 2008, as 17 of the world top 20 are scheduled to tee it up at Riviera.  How deep is this group?  Deep enough that Frank Lickliter, the Tour’s 2007 Q School medalist, is currently listed as second alternate, meaning that unless there are multiple withdrawals, not a single Q school grad will see action in Los Angeles.  That such players are still held to the same top-125 standard for keeping their cards as Tiger, Ernie, etc. is a discussion for another day…

- Since I’ve taken a shot or two at them over the last few days, I must now admit that what I saw of Friday’s Pebble Beach coverage wasn’t too bad.  There was a decent amount of actual golf being shown, the Golf Channel didn’t focus their entire array of production assets on any one celebrity, and, as an added bonus, mawkish, Vin Scully-like homages to the “finest meeting of land and sea” seemed to be at a minimum.  Of course, I’m basing these judgments only on the small segments that I saw, plus this was the Golf Channel’s coverage; the mondo CBS synergy-fest doesn’t come until tomorrow.  And here’s a constructive suggestion for Las Vegas comic (?) Danny Gans: Instead of flogging around trying to do John Travolta or Jack Nicholson, how about an impersonation of ESPN’s old interview host Roy Firestone?  Hint: No soundtrack required...

Friday’s Round of the Day

This one on the disappointing side.  Having gone out in 38 strokes (over Poppy Hills’ back nine), then birdied his 10th, David Duval pretty well imploded coming home, bogeying five of his final seven holes – two of which were par 5s – en route to a disappointing 78.  Tied for 162nd going into Saturday’s third round, Duval seems unlikely to make his first cut of the year (after also missing in Palm Springs and San Diego) and while his talent level demands that we not judge prematurely, talk of a return to form in 2008 is beginning to look a tad misplaced.

Overnight UPDATE: Ernie Els has just discovered the advantages of being the only top-50 player in the field...  With winds picking up and greens getting crusty, the leaders actually came back to him in the afternoon stages of the Indian Masters, leaving Els only four behind France's Raphael Jacquelin, and three back of Damien McGrane, Graeme McDowell and Jose Manuel Lara.  Hmmmm...