The U.S. Open – La Jolla, CA

It almost seems anticlimactic to attempt to write about what was, without question, one of the great U.S. Opens of the modern era.  Over a Torrey Pines golf course which largely made up with a first-class set up what it lacks in architectural merit, Tiger Woods wrote yet another chapter in his ever-growing book of miracles, while perhaps the longest of longshots, 45-year-old Rocco Mediate, narrowly missed achieving immortality.  Playing on a surgically repaired knee that was clearly not ready for prime time, Woods hobbled his way around Torrey Pines for five complete days, authoring an almost surreal mix of colossal misses and stunning greatness, a mix which rather amazingly saw him double-bogey the par-4 opener three times in the first four rounds, yet gain all of those strokes back with three par-5 eagles.  Mediate, on the other hand, amazed simply with his presence; one of the most engaging players on Tour, he has long battled lingering back problems, perhaps the primary reason that he hasn’t won since 2002 and entered the week ranked 158th in the world.  In the end, had he been able to birdie the par-5 18th on either Sunday or Monday, Mediate would have been our national champion.  But Sunday’s par left the door open just wide enough for Woods to tie him on one-under-par 283 with a 72nd-hole birdie, and, after Rocco charged spectacularly back (behind three straight back-nine birdies) to steal a one-shot lead during an exciting 18-hole playoff, his Monday par allowed Tiger once again to draw even with a four.  Thus it was on to sudden death, where Mediate pulled his tee shot at the 19th into a bunker and made bogey, allowing Woods to manage, with a routine par, what must rate among the least likely of his 14 Major titles.  Though world-class players like Lee Westwood, Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Karlsson and Miguel Angel Jimenez were all heard from on the weekend, in the end it boiled down to Woods and Mediate, and a thrilling, wonderfully played U.S. Open for the ages. 

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Elsewhere…

France’s Anne-Lise Caudal carded a 16-under-par 203 total to win the Portuguese Ladies Open, her first LET title.  She edged countrywoman Gwladys Nocera and England’s Georgina Simpson by one………LPGA Tour regular Momoko Ueda returned home to Japan to shoot  281 to edge three players by a single stroke to win the Suntory Ladies, her sixth career JLPGA victory………Vicky Hurst claimed her second 2008 victory on the Futures Tour, posting an  eight-under-par 272 aggregate to win the Futures Players Championship in Decatur, IL………England’s David Dixon won the St. Omer Open in France, shooting 279 to edge Sweden’s Christian Nilsson by one.  The event is co-sponsored by both the European and European Challenge Tours………Another Englishman, Peter Mitchell, won for the first time on the European Senior Tour, shooting 213 to defeat Ian Woosnam by two at the Ryder Cup Wales Senior Open………American Daniel Im defeated Canada’s James Lepp in sudden death to win the Canadian Tour’s Times Colonist Open after the pair tied at 268.