U.S. Open Preview

Hopefully Faldo will show up here to give his much more in depth and intelligent U.S. Open preview but in case he doesn't, and since I like to hear myself type, I figured I'd give you a little preview myself.

Here are your top ten contenders to take this one down (after Tiger, of course):

1. Jim Furyk - My pick to win this week (my super sleeper pick I referenced before was Davis Love, but it turns out he didn't qualify to play so there goes that idea). It makes me a bit nervous that he missed the cut the last time the Open was at Bethpage in 2002, but he was in the midst of one of his worst years, missing the cut in three of the four majors so I'm going to throw that out. Furyk has one U.S. Open win (2003) and four other top fives in his career, so you know he likes this kind of courses. He's also having a quietly awesome year - quiet because he has yet to win this season. Instead, he has six top tens in his twelve events, as well as finishing no worse than 11th in his past four. With a third place finish in a WGC event, a fifth at the Players, and a 2nd last week at the Memorial, he's in great shape to take home the trophy.

2. Paul Casey - Did you know Casey is the 3rd ranked player in the world? Me neither, but it's the truth. I suppose that will happen when you finish in the top 20 in six of your eights starts on the PGA Tour. He also picked up not only his first ever PGA victory this year at the Shell Houston Open, but has two wins across the pond on the Commie tour as well. Since coming into his own he's made the cut at the US Open the last three years, including a 10th and a 15th place finish.

3. Geoff Ogilvy - He's cooled off a bit since his hot start to the season and didn't play in the Open here in 2002, but Ogilvy might be peaking at the right time once again. The 2006 US Open Champion is coming in off a 10th place finish at the Memorial, and would have been better except for a single nightmare of a blow-up hole on Sunday - take that out and he played very well. And you can never count Ogilvy out of a high profile tournament; of his six career PGA Tour wins, four are high-profile events (US Open and three WGC events).

4. Steve Stricker - He's having one of his best years (a win and five other top tens) and he's a very good US Open player (6th, 13th, 29th last three years). In fact, he's actually a pretty phenomenal player overall, with five top tens in his last 11 majers, due to steady iron play and being one of the best putters on the tour year after year. His major issue is that he is kind of a headcase when it gets to the final round, having coughed up several leads on Sunday over the past few years. He did pick up a win at Colonial just three weeks ago, so maybe that part of his game is behind him.

5. Camilo Villegas - Everyone is still waiting for him to make that huge leap (his win in the Tour Championship in 2008 almost counts), and the timing might be right. Camilo plays well in the US Open, including a 9th place finish last year, and has improved his finish each year (CUT-59th-26th-9th). He's been steady this year, not spectacular, but seems to be zoning in and has made his last 8 cuts after a rough start, including three top 15s. He is thisclose to breaking all the way through.

6. David Toms - Since I can't have my Davis Love pick, I'll take David Toms instead. Similar to Love, Toms was one of the better players on tour a while back, and then faded away only to roar out to a very, very good year this season. He has six top tens already this season (compared to just one all of last year), and finished in second place last week at TPC Southwind. He's not a big hitter, but he's very accurate and plays well in US Open conditions (3 top tens in 8 starts). Like Love, things just seem to be lining up perfectly.

7. Tim Clark - Interesting stat. Guess who leads the PGA Tour in Proximity to the hole? Yep, Tim Clark. He's also top 20 in putting. Those two things seem pretty important when it comes to the Majors, and especially the US Open. He also has two top tens in his last four starts and, although he hasn't been great in the majors, has made a couple of runs at it. Could be his year.

8. Phil Mickelson - The only guy who can take the spotlight off of Tiger, Mickelson will be the media darling this weekend if he's in contention thanks to his dealing with his wife's cancer. He's a stud when it comes to the US Open, with seven top tens in his career and a second place finish last time it was at Bethpage in 2002. Normally he'd be a no brainer pick for #2 contender, but for a guy who sometimes gets caught up in his own head the family issues, combined with the pressure he always seems to feel in the US Open, might be too much for his sensitive self. He's only played once since May 10th, but I can't count him out. Toughest guy to rank this week.

9. Lee Westwood - Westwood hasn't been heard from much over here, but that's because he's been spending most of his time playing across the pond, including putting up a couple of top tens. Westwood is one of those sneaky communist bastards who only shows up over here when he wants something, like a big tournament victory, and usually manages to get himself in the running. He has three top tens in the U.S. Open in his career, topped off by a third place finish last year when he just missed being included in the playoff with your boyfriend Tiger and Rocco.

10. Brian Gay - Normally I wouldn't pick someone who just qualified for the Open the weekend before and who hasn't played in a US Open since 2004 and has never made a cut in the US Open, but Gay is just so impressive sometimes (insert your own joke here). When he's playing well, he's not messing around and kicks some serious ass, as he did last week at the St. Jude. He got out to the first round lead, and unlike most slackers, never relinquished it, winning going away by five strokes. That wasn't even his biggest win, as earlier this year he won at the Verizon Heritage by 10 shots. Tough to bet against a guy who can be that dominant, especially when he's coming in hot.


A few notable names missing, but that's because they have no shot. Garcia and Harrington suck right now. Els and Goosen are too old. Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan have regressed. Kenny Perry looks like a cartoon character. O'Hair is dealing with an injury and is kind of a baby. Bubba Watson is a side show. Nick Watney and Rory McIlroy are too green. Stewart Cink is too gay. Ian Poulter is too Euro, and Vijay is awful at the US Open.

Two guys who didn't make my top ten do get honorable mentions, Zack Johnson and Henrik Stenson. If one of the twelve mentioned (thirteen with Tiger) I'll be shocked.

Weekend Review

WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Tubby Smith. As reported below, Tubby signed Rodney Williams over the weekend, adding to an already impressive class that includes Royce White and Justin Cobbs. A top 20 player, a top 100 player, and an unknown in Cobbs. He's only ranked two stars by scout and three by rivals, and doesn't even make the positional rankings. ESPN ranks him as the #49 point guard in the country. To be honest, if this sounds like a Monson kind of recruit - but I'm not worried. I have no problem giving Tubby the benefit of the doubt here, and trust that he sees something that maybe nobody else does.

2. CC Sabathia. Pitching his third straight start for the Breweres on three days rest, he tossed a four-hit shutout against the Cubs to get the Brewers into the playoffs for the first time since 1982. Sabathia finished at 11-2 with the Brewers with an ERA of 1.65 and WHIP of 1.00, validating the Brewers front office and their one year rental of him.

3. Scott Baker. Overshadowed by Sabathia is Scott Baker's performance, which has no convinced me that yes, he is an excellent big game pitcher. Hopefully we get to see him pitch again this year.

4. Camilo Villegas. Not bad, taking the last two tournaments of the FedEx Cup playoffs, finishing in second place to Vijay Singh and cashing $3 million to go along with another $1.26 for winning the tour championship. If it weren't for a missed cut at the Barclay's, Villegas would be taking home the 10 mil after finishing 3rd, 1st, 1st to close out the year.

5. Me. Well, more accurately me, Theory, Dr. Acula, LunnDale, and Pee Wee. Since Mrs. and Baby W are out of town, we all headed up to Aitkin to spend a weekend at my parents cabin. At the Meat Raffle Saturday we were all-stars, winning nine times and bringing home a haul of six NY strips, six Ribeyes, 3 lbs. of bacon, a huge package of hot dogs, two big packages of chicken. That's some good eatin'.

WHO SUCKED

1. The AL Central. I mean, come on guys, somebody wants to go the playoffs, no? I'm scared if they get to the playoff, so I'm really hoping Detroit somehow manages to knock of the Sox today (in a game I might be live blogging since I'm working from home today). I just don't like Blackburn going out and pitching at Comiskey (whatever). Go Tigers!

2. Gopher Football. Losing 34-21 at Columbus is nothing to be ashamed of if the game was competitive. But it wasn't. Two garbage touchdowns in the fourth quarter make the score look better than it was. They covered the spread, so it's not a complete disaster, but any fans who managed to talk themselves into thinking this team was special in any way had a rude awakening. Or are delusional.

3. USC Football. Speaking of disasters, the Trojans managed to throw up all over themselves, losing at Oregon State for the second straight time. With the number 1 ranking and a craptacular Pac 10 even worse than the Big 10, USC had the red carpet rolled out all the way to the championship game. Oops.

4. Survivor League Football. Massive carnage in survivor leagues this week, as both Denver and Dallas went down - the two most popular picks of the week.

5. NY Mets. Another year, another collapse, another no playoff result.

Golf at the Blue Monster.

More of the good ole Grandslam babble for our golf fans this week:

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Let's start this week of with a little word of wisdom from our own N. Faldo last week with this statement......"WWWW great jab, GS do you know how to use the shift+letter to capitalize? Thanks for the dazzling recap and stretch pick of Eldrick, which if you are a degenerate gambler, like the rest of the group on the site seem to be, you would know that to pick against the field; unless its the Master's, US Open at Pebble, British at St. Andrew's, PGA at Merion, any event linked to Buick or any event played at Firstone CC, is a bad pick even when it's Tiger. March Madness is all around us yet the twins guy and hockey dude have poured their hearts out with no thoughts of just mailing it in. Come on and get the oars in the water kid."

Seriously "Faldo", week after week you just continue to stick your foot in your mouth. Just remember this, I.......Grandslam am a great golfing mind!

Tiger Woods seems to amaze me week after week. The guy has a 7 shot deficit after 36 holes to the #10 player in the world Vijay Singh, and come Sunday he would make Vijay into a non-factor.

Of course Tiger Woods being one for the dramatic did it again on Sunday. On the 72nd hole tied for the lead, he hit it to about 30 feet on his approach. And what a surprise the only person dumber than our own "Nick Faldo" is Johnny Miller. Am i the only one that can't stand this guy?? So Tiger hits it to 30 feet and Johnny Miller says "there is a 90% chance that this tournament is going to a playoff."

So i hear this and run off to do something for about 5 minutes tops and when i come back the damn news is on, and i was pissed. Sure as shit, Tiger would knock it in, in dramatic fashion like the #1 player in the world would. ATTENTION PGA Tour record books, clear alot of space for Mr. Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. As if we didn't know this already, but this guy is going to shatter every single big time record there is on the PGA Tour.

The guy is 31 or something and just tied Ben Hogan with his 63rd career victory, with only Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead left in his way to being the all-time winningest golfer. Tiger has separated himself so far from the rest of the field right now, that it is ridiculous. That being said I have asked the question once, but could Tiger win every tournament he starts in this year?? Could he win the career grandslam again, but all in the same year?? These are some questions that only time will tell, but it will be fun to watch.

The best players in the world will travel south to Miami for the CA-World Golf Championships at Doral and the famed Blue Monster. This tournament year after year always seems to come down to the 18th hole which is always one of the if not the toughest hole on the PGA Tour. When describing the 18th, i heard someone describe it as "safe haven on the 18th hole is about as easy to find as a calm mortgage lender. With no bailouts anywhere on the hole and a green that's shaven tightly and sloping straight into the water, With the 18th hole again prove to show its ugly fangs and end someones dream about winning a World Golf Championship. With this type of format we are guaranteed again this week to see one of the strongest fields in Golf, which will make for an exciting 4 days.

Quite frankly i would have to be a complete idiot not to, so my pick to win this week is Tiger Woods. I will keep picking this guy week after week until he proves me wrong. However i have a sneaky pick this week and that's the "spiderman" Camillo Villegas. Oh and this week there is also an inaugural event being played aside from the CA with the Puerto Rico Open, you don't care and i don't care but i'm still gonna try and pick a winner. That is, and going way out on a limb will pick Pablo Martin!

Enjoy the big dance this week and watch a little golf, it will be good!!!

-Grandslam