Phil Mickelson put forth a valiant effort in trying to win his first U.S. Open, but it wasn't quite enough. Mickelson boggied the seventeenth, but that ultimately didn't matter as Lucas Glover closed out his eighteen....Birdie, Par, Par....to finish at four under for the tournament. Here are your highlights....

The rain was such a downer over the four/five days, and I would have loved another Monday Playoff, but I can't complain with that ending. Phil just didn't have it in the end once again at the U.S. Open, but he obviously had a lot on his mind. Best wishes to the Mickelson family, and especially Amy as she heads to surgery soon.

Lucas Glover Steals US Open Title (Fanhouse)

Saw this Saturday afternoon during the U.S. Open coverage on NBC, and couldn't help but laugh. Not only did Bob Costas look like he was a dummy sitting on Al Roker's lap, but he even decided to throw in a "BGTD" for comedic relief....

Such a goofy looking setup there. Not sure why Costas decided to throw in the "Dynamite" comment, but I don't think that will ever get old.

The U.S. Open kicks off today (if it can stop raining), and with ESPN and NBC pairing up for the telecast, the schedule can get a bit confusing. That's why I'm here to help try and break it down for you. Here are your announcers, and when you should change the channel back and forth.

ESPN Coverage:

Hosts- Chris Berman, Mike Tirico, Curtis Strange, Andy North, Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch;
Hole Announcers- Terry Gannon, Gary Koch, Bob Murphy, Karl Ravech, Mark Rolfing and Scott Van Pelt
On-Course Reporters- Bill Kratzert, Dottie Pepper, Judy Rankin
Sports Center Reporters- Scott Van Pelt, Andy North, Tom Rinaldi, Jimmy Roberts, Rick Reilly

NBC Coverage:

Hosts: Bob Costas, Dan Hicks, Johnny Miller, Gary Koch, Peter Jacobsen and Bob Murphy
On-course Reporters: Roger Maltbie, Mark Rolfing, Dottie Pepper
Interviewers: Jimmy Roberts, Tim Rosaforte.
________________________________

Thursday, June 18th

10am-3pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship – First Round (ESPN)
3pm-5pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship - First Round (NBC)
5pm-7pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship – First Round (ESPN)
8pm-11pm: The Best of the U.S. Open Presented by Titleist, First Round (ESPN)
11pm-12am: SportsCenter Presented by IBM at the U.S. Open (ESPN2)

Friday, June 19th

2:30am-5:30am: The Best of the U.S. Open Presented by Titleist, First Round (ESPN2)
10am-3pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship – Second Round (ESPN)
3pm-5pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship - Second Round (NBC)
5pm-7pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship – Second Round (ESPN)
8pm-11pm: The Best of the U.S. Open Presented by Titleist, Second Round (ESPN)

Saturday, June 20th

12am-1am: SportsCenter Presented by IBM at the U.S. Open (ESPN2)
3am-6am: The Best of the U.S. Open Presented by Titleist- Second Round (ESPN)
1pm-2pm: SportsCenter Presented by IBM at the U.S. Open (ESPN)
2pm-8pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship - Third Round (NBC)

Sunday, June 21st

12am- 1am: SportsCenter Presented by IBM at the U.S. Open (ESPN)
3am-6am: The Best of the U.S. Open, Third Round (ESPN)
12:30pm-1:30pm: SportsCenter Presented by IBM at the U.S. Open (ESPN)
1:30pm-7:30pm (Live): U.S. Open Championship - Final Round (NBC)

Monday, June 22nd

12am-1am: SportsCenter Presented by IBM at the U.S. Open (ESPN)
1am-5am: The Best of the U.S. Open, Final Round (ESPN2)

Noooooooo! Stupid Tiger. Why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly good weekend of Golf by losing yesterday? Not only are we as fans out a weekend of viewing Tiger taking out, random PGA Pro after random PGA pro, but the NBC "brass" has probably been cursing the name of Tim Clark for the last 18 hours or so.

There is good news for you Golf fans though. Just because Tiger isn't playing in the Tourney anymore, doesn't mean NBC won't be shoving clip after clip of him down your throat! Via the LA Times....

Tiger Woods is out in the second round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, beaten Thursday by South Africa's Tim Clark. That means Woods won't be playing Saturday and Sunday during live network television coverage of the event, but he'll still be prominent on NBC.

"We'll have to deal with showing what happened to Tiger because this has gone from being a golf tournament to a news event," NBC golf producer Tommy Roy said. "Our weekend telecast will have to deal with showing what happened to Tiger. It will be our duty."

Wednesday's first-round coverage of the match-play event resulted in the highest first-round ratings ever for the Golf Channel. Golf Channel President Page Thompson said the 1.8 rating was up 50% from the same round a year ago. "It was exceptional," Thompson said.

Well that's just great. What NBC doesn't understand, is that all of those people interested in that angle won't even be around to bombard them with all of Tiger news. Instead you'll have hardcore Golf fans, wanting to watch some of the other players they enjoy, and NBC will be pissing them off to no end by continually talking about Woods. It should be a fun weekend on the "Peacock"!

NBC won't forget about Tiger Woods (LA Times)

The news that Tiger was returning came last week, and it took probably all of about five minutes before NBC started churning out the spots for the Accenture Match Play Championship this weekend. Here's on of the ads that were airing all day on the network yesterday....

The best news for NBC, is that this is their first Tournament of the year. While other network's have been struggling in the ratings to start the PGA season, NBC will get a serious windfall come this weekend.

The Ryder Cup gets underway early on Friday and for the first time ESPN will have live coverage beginning on Thursday with the Opening ceremony. The network will carry 10 hours of various events and practices during the four day period and each Sports Center will carry live reports.

The team that the "Leader" is sending will be anchored by Mike Tirico who will call action with Andy North, Judy Rankin, Bill Kratzert and Scott Van Pelt will be out on the course and Tom Rinaldi and Rick Reilly will be there for updates. Here's the schedule if you want to block off any of the days on your calendar....

Thursday, September, 18th

2pm-3pm: SportsCenter at the Ryder Cup (ESPN)
4pm-6pm: Opening Ceremonies (ESPN News)

Friday, September 19th

7am-8am: SportsCenter at the Ryder Cup (ESPN)
8am-6pm: Ryder Cup First Round (ESPN)
6pm-1am: Ryder Cup First Round (ESPN Classic, Tape)

Saturday, September 20th

12pm-1am: SportsCenter at the Ryder Cup (ESPN2)
7pm-Midnight: Ryder Cup Second Round (ESPN Classic, Tape-NBC)

Sunday, September 21st

Midnight-1am: SportsCenter at the Ryder Cup (ESPN2)
6pm-7pm: Closing Ceremonies (ESPN News)

Monday, September 22nd

Midnight-1am: ESPN2SportsCenter Presented by American Express at the Ryder Cup
5pm-10pm: Ryder Cup Final Round (ESPN Classic, Tape-NBC)

Should have caught this yesterday, but I was a little bogged down with the Sports Center stuff. Olympic Swimming announcer Dan Hicks was pulled aside by NBC for a conference call the day after the amazing 4x100 Freestyle Relay and I wanted to share some highlights....

"Without a doubt it's the great Olympic moment I've ever experienced or called, head and shoulder above anything, and we have done some pretty good things. It's just one of those rare moments that you get in this business to be a part of something like that, and the fact that it now has a chance to continue, one of the greatest Olympic stories ever in Michael Phelps, just makes it an even bigger moment.

It was something out of a Hollywood script. It had everything. It had the guys that did the trash talking in the French, it had the 32-year-old swimmer in Jason Lezak who has not had successful Olympic swims in the past trying to catch the world record holder in the 100m, and doing it when it looked like he had no chance at all. It was a crazy, crazy moment. I know Rowdy, in his eyes, agrees with me that it was simply the greatest Olympic relay race he has ever seen.

That race is why we get into the business of sports broadcasting. It was just absolute excitement, shock, and the utmost of wattage. It was just so unexpected. It was so clear that Bernard was going to win this race and in those last meters, it was like a switch was flipped and all of a sudden Lezak pulled it out. I think it has been clear throughout the Games that we are certainly not rooting for the Americans. The excitement that we had was just simply about an unbelievable piece of drama in the pool."

I don't know about the whole "not rooting for the Amercians" thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed the "utmost of wattage" line. While Rowdy Gaines is busy turning into Swimming's version of Doug Collins ("When I played/swam, I was ____."), Hicks is really making a name for himself. I personally didn't think he was impressive during Tiger's U.S. Open overtime win, but I'm definitely enjoying him during these Olympics.

It's tough to make a name for yourself in a Sports that people only care about every four years, but if he can pull it off.....more power to him. Hey, and just because I like to challenge the man....let's watch it again!



(P.S.- Listening to Doug Collins call Olympic Basketball games is a personal hell for me. If I have to hear the, "I made two free throws, and if they hadn't put more time back on the clock," story one more time I'm going to lose it. We get it...the U.S. was screwed and you were awesome, but we've been hearing it for the last 36 years.)

When I posted the video of Johnny Miller calling Rocco Mediate "Tiger's Pool Guy" I thought it was just a knock on Rocco and his non-athletic look. Apparently Italians took it as a personal insult towards their heritage and Miller has apologized....

Johnny Miller apologized Friday for comments that appeared to reflect negatively on the Italian heritage of Rocco Mediate, the popular runner-up to Tiger Woods in the United States Open.

During Sunday’s fourth round, Miller said that Mediate “looks like the guy who cleans Tiger’s swimming pool.” Later, while discussing the unlikely prospect that Mediate might win, he said that “guys with the name of Rocco don’t get on the trophy, do they?”

“I chose my words poorly and in the future will be more careful,” Miller said in a statement. He added that his intention was to “convey my affection and admiration for Rocco’s everyman qualities and had absolutely nothing to do with his heritage.”

The apology by Miller, NBC’s lead golf analyst, came after two Italian-American groups protested his remarks, with one of them demanding that NBC suspend him.

Are you kidding me? How could anyone take that as making fun of Italians??? I'm not one to tell people what they should be offended by, but there's no way Miller was directing that to an entire group of people. Miller is no saint but getting on him about this just seems wrong to me. Is there some racist joke involving Italians as pool boys that I'm not aware of? Actually I don't want to know the answer to that.

Oh well, he apologized and it's over now (hopefully).

Miller Is Sorry for Comments About Mediate (NY Times)
Italian Americans Everywhere, Johnny Miller Is Sorry for Making Fun of Your Heritage (Fanhouse)

Ninety one holes....91! I questioned the 18-hole Playoff before the start today to myself, and more often than not this format probably end in a blowout, but today and the whole five-day period completed arguably the best rounds of Golf I've ever seen. The ride of Tiger Woods' Round yesterday and the drama of the Playoff today was simply amazing and Golf has never captivated me in this way before.

I thought at the beginning of the day that Mediate had a chance, but when he went down three at the turn I (and everyone else) counted him out. In the section of the course that Tiger owns, Mediate went birdie, birdie, birdie, and tied it up. He then sank an astonishing putt on 16 and took the lead. Tiger saved his best for last and on the Par-5 18th he made the green in two and put the pressure on Mediate. Tiger got his birdie with a two putt and then Mediate was left with the longest four footer of his life. He stepped up to the challenge and forced the sudden death portion of our program and I think all of us were left shaking our heads.

The 19th hole obviously went to Tiger and you can see that below, but the best part about this Tournament was Mediate. It's easy to root for or against Tiger at times, but I don't know how anyone could root against Rocco. The guy just loves Golf and after the putts on the 19th in the video below, you can see why he became America's Sweetheart over the weekend....

The best part of this whole duel wasn't the 19 holes (even though each one was special in its own right), but that it was one of those rare occasions where it didn't even matter who won. Mediate didn't come out on top, but no one is going to soon forget his run at Tiger Woods. Just a great, great Tournament and both deserve praise for a great run.

The sportsmanship, play, and tension made this a Father's Day weekend for the ages. I think we were all lucky for witnessing it (and if you didn't today, then I hope this site helped a bit) and thanks for playing along with me during the live-blogs. Tiger Woods continues to amaze me and there's nothing left to do but marvel at his greatness. Unbelievable (there's that word again).

Well that was an unexpected miss by Rocco on nine. He could have pulled all square but he three putted. Woods leads by two heading to the tenth.

Hole #10:

Par 4, 414 yards: Tiger's drive is right and he's in the deep stuff. Tiger let's out a g'damn and Miller follows with this....

"That's not the way we want to open our show with that little reaction like that. Sorry about that."- Johnny Miller

You couldn't hear the damn part, so you're good NBC. Mediate's drive is straight down the heart of the fairway. NBC goes into their intro, and I'm going to make a sandwich.

Tiger chucks it out of the rough and his shot rolls down the fairway. Not much else he could do. Rocco's got another shot at getting back in it. Very high shot...and it's short of the green. There's a front hole placement though and he's got a shot at birdie.

"There were guys in the stands at 6am and they don't get to see a shot at 1:30."-
Johnny Miller

Eff that. Tiger's got a weird lite with half of it in the fairway and half on the fairway edge. Wow...that was some spin. He went two yards past the hole and came right back off. Rocco's third is just a terrible shot. He barely skips it onto the green and he's got eight feet left. It just might not be in the cards today if he's missing all of these opportunities.

Tiger is putting from the fringe and he's got eighteen to go uphill. SINKS IT! And that's a dagger if Rocco misses this one. He does and that might be all Tiger needs.

Tiger: "Hey Rocco, check out this guy behind us. He's holding a giant rod to his crotch."
Rocco: "I love that gag." (Via Pete)

Good caption.

Scores: Woods- E, Mediate- +3

Hole #11:

Par 3, 193 yards: Tiger is in yet another bunker and Mediate has yet another opening.....great shot! Just past the hole at about 10 feet. He's not out of it yet. Woods out of the bunker......Wellllll past the hole. Mediate is away though and he's off....just right. Par for Mediate. Tiger for his Par....MISS! Rocco gets one back.

"ROCCO! ROCCO!"- San Diegoans

"That's my good friend Steve (someone), my duck hunting friend."- Johnny Miller

Johnny Miller, channeling Joe Morgan (do I really have to call him Dr. Morgan?)... dropping the name of his Duck Hunting buddy sitting in the grandstands at 14. (Via Anon)

No, you don't have to call him Doc.

Scores: Woods- +1, Mediate- +3

Hole #12:

Par 4, 505 yards: Rocco is right down the center on his drive and Tiger follows with a shot into the fairway bunker. Here we go! Commercial break.

Mediate's second is a beauty....just rolls past the hole and he'll have a birdie attempt. Tiger is short and right into the rough and he lets out yet another G'DAMMIT!

Tiger's third shot, a chip uphill, is short and he'll have another 12 feet to go. He didn't seem to hit that one well either. Mediate's birdie attempt.....no good. Woods is taking forever to lineup his long Par attempt....Nope! And that should be another stroke for Rocco!

Woods sinks the Bogey five and Rocco has a five footer to move to one down....sinks it!

Scores: Woods- +2, Mediate- +3

Hole #13:

Par 5, 539 Yards: This is the Tiger Eagle hole so we'll see if he goes for it again. Rocco's drive is left and just barely in the fairway. Tiger's goes a bit past Mediate's but well into the left rough. Commercial break....

"And that should be another stroke for Rocco!"...That's what she said. Zinger.- Jeremy D

Side note for the masses... would you consider this a "Come from behind victory" for Tiger if he pulls it out? Just wondering. (Via Anon)

It should be, but probably won't be referred to as such. Rocco is going for it! Just short and into the bunker. Woods is on though with a heck of a shot!!! He'll have an eagle attempt.

Rocco's bunker shot looks like an easy one for him....not bad. Left but a makeable putt from about 7 or so. Tiger's Eagle attempt....just short. He had the right line, but was just a bit to weak with it. Mediate.....gets it! We're going to fourteen with Woods up one still.

Scores: Woods- +1 Mediate- +2

Hole #14:

Par 4, 269 Yards: Mediate almost drives the green on the short Par 4 and he's in the fairway. Here comes a double eagle attempt from Tiger....

"This little tiny hole is eating his lunch."- Johnny Miller

Same distance as Rocco's but in the rough to the right. Commercial break. Tiger comes out of the rough left and leaves it about eight feet away. The door is open for Mediate here.....just misses it left! He's a foot away. Birdie three for Rocco.

Tiger's eight footer or so......OOOH! Just lips it out. Now we're tied! Good lord this is fun!!!

Scores: Woods- +1 Mediate- +1

Hole #15:

Par 4, 478 Yards: Mediate is away and his drive bounces into fairway along the right. Some luck there for Mediate. And Tiger sends it into the gallery to the right. An awkward swing there with the knee bothering him now.

Rocco's got 191 to the hole.....great shot! A bit right and a bit long and it's within 20 or so. Oooh Tiger's actually in a bunker that's on the previous hole I think. 170 to go......

OH MAN! WHAT A SHOT!!! He sticks it inside of Rocco's ball! Unbelievable. He has to be the best scrambler in the history of Golf. Rocco just shakes his head.

WOW! Rocco drills his putt!!! This is just too much fun! Mediate has three birdies in a row and the pressure is on Tiger's putt. It should be almost the same as Rocco's though....Tiger misses!

Rocco Mediate leads with three to go! Insane.

Scores: Woods- +1 Mediate- E

Hole #16:

Par 3, 225 Yards: Mediate is away and Tiger is gnawing on an apple as he waits. 4 Iron.....Very short. Now Tiger has an opening he clubs up after seeing Mediate's shot. The wind slows down and Tiger switches back to a four....it hits short as well and releases just onto the front of the green. Commercial break.

Mediate is going to putt this one....interesting choice. JUST BY THE HOLE! Great attempt there. He'll Par the 16th. Woods once again though gets the benefit of having almost the exact same putt. I didn't move much so he should have a good chance to sink this.....

OH MY GOODNESS! Just one half roll short. As close as he can get. Rocco taps in and he's still up one.

Scores: Woods- +1 Mediate- E

Hole #17:

Par 4, 441 Yards: Mediate's drive is just in the first cut and Tiger follows with a slight hook right into the heart of the fairway.

Tiger's got just over 160 and great job by NBC's crew to pick up the conversation between Woods and his caddie about the wind. He's taking his time with this one and rightfully so. He steps back again as Williams calls him off the ball. Good lord this is intense. Woods switches again based on the wind...eight iron....

Great shot. Just hops it past the hole and it stops about 15-20 past. Rocco's got 154 from the rough....Short! Oooh...he gets a kick onto the green. Both have pretty tough birdie attempts.

"Jack Nickalaus is playing my tournament in Salt Lake City as we speak, I'm not there."- Johnny Miller

Rocco is away...uphill from about 40 or so....ooooh good putt. Slides it by and leaves himself about a five footer. Tiger has a long one in the opposite direction but not nearly as far...probably 25 feet....

NOT ENOUGH! Leaves it short and Rocco has a short putt for Par that will seem like 80 feet.....GOOD! Onto eighteen and Mediate is up one still!!! So intense.

Scores: Woods- +1 Mediate- E

Hole #18:

Par 5, 525 Yards: Mediate pulls it into the left fairway bunker! Woods over the ball....playing a fade....and he's right in the middle. Here we go!!!

Rocco is away and his second shot will be from the bunker.....and he's back into the middle of the fairway. Tiger though has a shot at the green and a potential eagle. Wind is coming from left to right. Tiger spits and then steps back over the ball.

HE'S ON! Barely over the pond in front!!!

Mediate is up for his chip.....great shot! Dead center of the green and he'll have a nice birdie attempt. Man this is so great.

Tiger is up first with a thirty footer plus.....

He misses right and leaves himself with a heck of a birdie putt. Rocco can win it here. The commentators say it might go a little right and it's uphill.....

MISS! Tiger is up again with a six footer or so....and a bird just flies right over his line. Too funny....

GOOD!!!!! Now Mediate has the toughest short putt of his life to move to sudden death....

HE MAKES IT!!! 90 holes isn't enough! We're going to even more free Golf!!!

Scores: Woods- E Mediate- E

Hole #19 (#7 on the course):

Tiger has the honor and he birded this hole earlier in the day. I just can't believe this is going to go the whole day. Let's play another eighteen, let's play two!

"They wanted a show, they got a show."- Rocco Mediate to Roger Maltbie

After a long walk and some food Tiger sets up in the middle of the tee and he's ready to go....he's drive is right inside the fairway on the right hand side.

Rocco's drive is going left.....into the bunker!!! That's not good. Okay Rocco has a ball below his feet here and....he pulls it! It hits left of the cart path and hits off the grandstand. Not the worst of spots but Tiger's got a good look here.

156 to go....the wind picks up a bit and he switches clubs yet again. Here we go...beautiful. About 15 feet short and right on the green. Almost the same spot he made the birdie from on seven.

"Let's Go Rocco! Clap, Clap, Clap Clap Clap!"- Gallery

Rocco gets relief from the stands and he gets a drop in the rough. Beautiful lie after the drop and he'll have a shot here. Tough to get it by the hole though....

It heads well past the hole to about twenty feet and that'll be the one he has to make to stay in this Playoff. Tiger needs to hurry up because the thunder storms are coming through AA Central. If I disappear you know why.

Tiger to win it......

OHHHHH! Another one he leaves just short and Tiger falls to his knees. He taps in though and Rocco needs this one to go to another hole. This is it....

NO GOOD! And Tiger Woods wins it!!!

Unbelievable day of Golf and I'm just left shaking my head at Tiger. You have to feel for Mediate though but in the end it just wasn't enough to best the number one player in the World.

"He's so hard to beat obviously."- Rocco Mediate

"It just showed me that I can still compete, and I want to still compete."- RM

How can you not like this guy? Interviews, thoughts and more videos to come if the power hangs on for me here. Thanks for playing along folks....it was a hell of a good time.

I hope you get a chance to watch this rare treat yourself but in case you're at work I'm going to try to give you as much video and play-by-play as I can. ESPN has the first nine holes from about 12pm until 2pm and then NBC will take it the rest of the way. Should be fun!

Hole #1:

Mediate is on the tee and he slams one right down the left side of the fairway. Tiger is up now and is looking to keep this one anywhere near the fairway.....oh he gets a nice kick out of the rough into the fairway. Both laugh and head off for their 18.

Hicks and Miller are on the call for ESPN and it they'll be on the case the whole day. Greaaaaat. Gary Kock, Bob Murphy, Roger Maltbie, Mark Rolfing, and Jimmy Roberts are your leftovers from the weekend. The other thing to note is both players are wearing almost the exact same outfit. Black pants and red shirt. Might be some head games (HEAD GAMES!) from Mediate there.

Rocco's second is from 177 and lands in the bunker and Tiger's goes within twenty below the pin. Mediate gets out of the sand and puts it past by about four feet. Tiger's putt from 20....not really close. And ouch. Rocoo misses his par. Tiger taps in and we're off to #2.

Scores: Woods- E, Mediate- +1

Hole #2:

Both players drive into the rough on either side of the fairway and ESPN goes to an interview with Mediate and Jimmy Roberts that has no sound. Just birds chirping.

"Wanna apologize to the ESPN listeners out there apparently you were not able to hear the interview. WE were able to hear Jimmy's interview with Rocco, but uh, it was good. They're all good, trust us."- Dan Hicks

Let's start the blame game! Tiger's second comes up short of the green in the rough and Rocco's is way right in the rough. Bad shots by both. Mediate chips it close and he'll have an easy putt for Par. Tiger puts it short and he'll have a little longer go at it. Woods drills his putt and so does Mediate.

I like to pretend in this interview that Rocco really is chirping like birds. (Via Stevie D)

I need the video of Mediate talking and no actual audio from the interview, just the ESPN overlay of generic bird sounds. I just about pissed myself. How could they never fix the audio? The announcer's didn't even here it... must've been perfect over at Torrey Pines. (Via Zak)

Coming shortly.

You think Rocco is working on a sponsorship from Starbucks? On the interview sans sounds, he was holding a Starbucks cup and taking sips inbetween questions. (Via Anon)

Scores: Woods- E, Mediate- +1

Hole #3:

Our first Par 3 and Tiger is hitting a seven iron. He sinks it straight into the front bunker. That ball is buried in the sand. Mediate's six iron....OHHHHHH! Just missed a hole in one by 2 inches!

"It's plugged in there pretty deep."- Roger Maltbie

Tiger chips out of an impossible san lie and leaves himself about a 10 footer. No good and Woods will bogey #3 and that'll be a two stroke swing.

Does anybody else want to decapitate the people who feel the need to yell "Get in the hole!!!111" after every single shot? (Via CJ)

So annoying.

Scores: Woods- +1, Mediate- E

Hole #4:

Par 4, 488 yards: Rocco hits it into the left rough on the drive and might be in a little trouble, Tiger follows with one of his own to the left and they're right next to each other. Tiger's second from 288 ....short in front of the bunker on the left.

"He's choking way down on something here John."- Roger Maltbie

Ooooh and Rocco breaks out a hybrid! He nails it on to the green. Great shot. Tiger's third is chipped right up next to the hole...beautiful. Mediate misses left but is right outside Tiger's Par putt. Both drain their gimmies, but Rocco makes an adventure of his. Rocco leads by one heading into hole five.

Scores: Woods- +1, Mediate- E

Hole #5:

Mediate hits his drive well right and he's in the deep stuff. Both players aren't driving well at all today. Until now....Woods hits it right down the middle.

"Looks like Tiger is waiting for the blimp to get out of the way."- Dan Hicks

Stupid Snoopy....get out of Tiger's way. Tiger's second from 169 yards and is a little below his feet. He hits it well left on the green and it draws back some. About 30 feet away. Mediate is actually in the bunker and is just going to blast it out. Uh oh! He hits the cart path twice!!! He's over by the third tee way past the hole!!!!

Mediate is all the way into the hay on the left of the green. He's got an okay lie and scoots it past the green onto the fringe. Wait, it inexplicably rolls back on the green. Great shot. His Par will be from about 10 feet, while Tiger's Birdie will be from 25 or so. Oooh...close but he slides it just by on the right.

Rocco just misses and he'll Bogey five, Tiger taps in and we're tied.

Scores: Woods- +1, Mediate- +1

Did Johnny Miller attend the Madden school for telestrating? (Via Anon)

Yeah he's way off with those arrows. FYI, the interview vid is up....god those fake bird noises are annoying.

Hole #6:

Par 4, 501 Yards: Tiger is away and his drive goes over the tree to the right of the dog leg right and after he sticks his tongue out....it sits right in the middle. Look out Rocco. Mediate's shot is spanked as well and his ball will come up about 25 yards behind Woods' drive in the middle of the Fairway. Now we're playing!

Ooh I was close with the yardage. 23 yards further and Rocco is up.....his ball is going right and he's on the fringe well past the hole. Tiger's got 185 to the hole and he's hitting an eight iron (that's just sick). STICKS IT! Within five feet.

Rocco follows with a heck of a shot of his own. He chip the ball way left and then heads down a ridge towards the hole. He's within Tiger's putt. Woods from five below the hole.....good! And that's he's first birdie. Not an easy tap either. Rocco makes his left to righter and Tiger leads by one.

Scores: Woods- E, Mediate- +1

Hole #7:

Par 4, 463 Yards: Tiger's up first again.....DRILLED! Straight down the middle. He's on point today. Mediate's drive kicks right and is in the short rough. Commercial break.

I don't know what's worse... that I took the half day to come home and watch, or that I could have stayed at work and followed along with AA... oh the hell with it, i've got the grill going too. Is it sad that I miss Dottie Pepper? Has anyone ever said that? (Via Anon)

Great call with the grill. Today's a day that you have to take off work. I'm thoroughly enjoying this live-blog. And I'm with you in regards to Pepper. She's a little nuts, but solid on the course. Okay we're playing again....

Mediate's second is pin high but well right. He's got about 35-40 to go. Tiger's got 145 to the hole....AND AGAIN! He's within about 10 feet right below the hole.

FYI....Mediate's almost hole in one back on three is up. Sorry for the delay and I promise the vids will be coming quicker from here on out. Mediate's putt on seven is juuuuust short and he'll finish with Par. Tiger's got a good look at birdie and he's looking it over from every angle.

He sinks it! Two shot lead for Tiger.

Scores: Woods- -1, Mediate- +1

Not to go all 'ESPN Featured Comment of the Day' on you, but if Tiger keeps driving it like this, Rocco will have to play out of his mind to win. (Via CJ)

Huh Murph? Huh Murph? Huh Murph? (Via Hollywood Wags

Miller just completely ignores Hicks doesn't he? He goes to everyone else on the course before the lead.

Hole #8:

Par 3, 171 Yards: Tiger changes up clubs on the tee and is well past the hole into the back bunker.

"When you're playing you have to focus on your strengths, not the other guy's advantages."- Johnny Miller

Oh really? Mediate has an opening now and his tee shot is well short of the green in the little slice of fairway in front. Commercial break.

If Tiger wins, I hope you rips the shirt off of Rocco and yells "Red is my color, punk!" (Via Nick)

That's Tiger Woods' Music!

What's the over/under for awkward high-fives/hand-slaps between Tiger and his caddy? 4? 5? (Via Pete)

I think we're at three already. Tiger is out of the bunker and he shoots it all the way back over the green next to Rocco's ball. Mediate puts it a little ways past the hole, and he's got a tough downhiller for his par. Mediate also shot very quickly so Tiger couldn't really get a look....good move. Tiger is just following Rocco now and they're in the exact same spot again. Tiger is away and he's.....got it. Bogey for Woods. Mediate with the same putt.....good. One stroke lead for Woods.

Scores: Woods- -1, Mediate- E

RE: Rocco's red shirt... I remember when one of the Euro players (or maybe Baddley) wore red playing the final round with Tiger to "psyche himself up"... then got DEMOLISHED...I see Rocco wearing it more along the lines of... "I was too tired to do laundry, it it was my last clean shirt" (Via Anon)

Hey...did you guys know there's a US Open playoff today and Tiger Woods is playing in it? I haven't heard about it all day, and I thought I'd let everyone know.(Via Adiadb)

I hadn't heard.

Hole #9:

Par 5, 612 yards: Rocco is right down the middle and he needed that one. Woods is in the fairway on the left with a huge shot, but he has his first grimace of the day after the drive. Ouch. He felt that one. Commercial break.

Mediate is trying to layup, but he ends up in the rough to the right about 50 yards away. Tiger's breaking out the five wood to get to the green. He's walking after it and he's in the bunker to the left...short but with a good lie. Mediate is up and he hits one....OOOH right over the hole. Miller points out that because of the rough there is no spin and it's about 12-15 feet past the whole. Tiger from the bunker....

WOW! Tiger duffs one and it's buried in the rough short of the green!!! Tiger's fourth is a short chip and he's within six feet or so.....ESPN is switching over and I'm going to start a new thread as well after this hole, which isn't over yet. Very annoying because NBC is still showing All My Children or something like that.

Hi Bob Costas!!! Tiger saves Par after Mediate missed his Birdie. HE MISSES! Ouch!!!! Rocco will be down by two now. That was painful. See you in the new thread.

What a finish, but it's not over yet! It was a battle of attrition just about the entire day, and even though he struggled early and was grimacing after every drive, Tiger Woods forced an 18-hole playoff tomorrow morning. It wasn't easy though as Woods had to hit this shot out of the rough and one putt to finally come even with Rocco Mediate on eighteen....

The guy just continues to amaze me every single time I watch him, but this was other-worldly. He was lifting up through most of his swings and even with the bad start, he still came out on top. As far as athletes go, he's in a class of his own. I also would be remiss if I didn't mention the play of Mediate who was steady and jovial throughout the round. It should be a great playoff starting at noon tomorrow. I'll be sure to keep you informed.

Well NBC seems ready for Tiger's round as they break out the Rage Against The Machine...

WOOOOOO! I'm ready for some f'ing Golf!!! I like Rage as much as the next person, but I don't know if a Golf Major is the place for it. Tiger is on the course though and I'm sure the rage is kicking in after this tee shot and subsequent double bogey on the first...

He has since followed with a bogey on two and he's not looking good at all early on. I guess all of the NBC comparisons that NBC made between Tiger and Big Brown before his round might be coming to fruition. No matter how annoying they were.

And Tiger is back in a three way tie for the lead after the 10th. It's he, Westwood and Mediate all at one under. Now it's getting interesting. And he has the lead after the 11th and the crowd comes alive.

Running Quotes:

“More Sheppards Pie, Mr. Westwood?”- Bob Costas on Lee Westwood’s insistence of bringing an English chef to America for the Open

“How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods and after you’ve poured through this I suggest you pick up How I Compose A Symphony by Ludwig Von Beethoven and you’ll have exactly the same chance as achieving the standard of the author.”- Bob Costas on Tiger Woods book

"Look at him hack at that. I've never seen him play a hole like this in his whole career."- Johnny Miller during Tiger Woods' double bogey adventure on hole one.

"Tiger sounding more like an NFL Lineman in the trenches than he is a Golfer today."- Dan Hicks

"Els can't seem to mount anything today."- Roger Maltbie (Via Mal)

"This week Karlsson is 8-under on the back and 4-over on the front."- Dan Hicks

This just after he announces that he just birdied to go to +2. Math class is hard, huh, Dan? (Via Mal)

"And there we have it. Tiger Woods on the prowl."- Dan Hicks (I wonder how many times that quip has been used?)

"Tiger's putting the heat on him and he's melting."- Johnny Miller

"I think it's very important that he [Woods] does make birdie......You know as they say about the lesser team, you let them hand around and they'll make a three on you at the buzzer."- Curtis Strange

"This is like watching the last laps of a NASCAR event and the car has a flat tire".- Johnny Miller (Via Mal)

This post is really just a preamble to the Final Round of the U.S. Open, but if you missed Tiger Woods eagle putt on the 13th hole, here it is....

The guy is just a machine. He putted that at least six feet to the right before it swung back to the left. Amazing. Bob Costas and company are on hand and I'll be pulling quotes and videos from the Final Round as it creeps along. If anything exciting happens you know where to find it.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads and let's enjoy some Golf!

It's always interesting when ESPN and NBC switch coverage after the first two days of the U.S. Open because the styles are so different. For the Masters, ESPN uses many of CBS' production elements, but for the first two days of the Open the "Leader" is on its own.

NBC is looking to analysts Peter Jacobson and Curtis Strange to team with Bob Costas this weekend and even wanted to use the windsurfers off the coast for camera shots.....

Since there's normally a "hang-gliding port" near the 12th green at Torrey Pines, the San Diego course hosting the U.S. Open, NBC producer Tommy Roy says he looked into recruiting gliders to carry cameras. That's before tournament officials decided to shut down that form of air traffic during the Open. Says Roy: "I was going to sail on breaks to reduce tension."

It sounds pretty dumb on the surface but going in and out of breaks it would be pretty neat to see that different point of view. Oh well. There will be forty eight NBC cameras to provide different angles for the viewing audience, and we get to admire the attempt at transition from Chris Berman to Bob Costas. Good luck with that NBC.

McKay never lamented leaving airwaves (USA Today)

I think this is about the 4th time I've used that title, but I just can't think of anything else to say about him. The guy is just unbelievable. Via TSB....

Yep. That was a twenty-foot downhill putt to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational and keep his winning streak alive. Just amazing.

Weekend Tube Review: CBS, ESPN Play Nice (Sporting News)