The United States takes a Big Lead Going into the Sunday Matches

The United States started the day with a 2 point lead over the International squad, but ended the day with a 7 point lead thanks to winning all of the morning alternate shot rounds. The suprise pairing of the week has to be Phil Mickelson and Woody Austin, though, who have played well together. They started out by winning a half a point on Thursday, but today was the day that they showed what they really could do. In the Morning alternate shot round they won 5 & 4 capped off by a birdie on 14 by Phil. Then in the afternoon best ball round they found themselves in a battle with Retief Goosen and Adam Scott. The match was close throughout with the Internationals finding themselves with a one up lead on the 16th when Goosen holed out from a bunker to give them a two up lead with two to play. This is when Austin and Mickelson stepped up to the plate. On the par three 17th they both hit it close and Woody Austin holed his birdie putt to win the hole. Then they moved to the 18th needing to win again to halve the match. Retief Goosen hit a terrible drive and was out of the hole from the begining, and Woody Austin hit his approach over the green. This left Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson to battle it out. Adam Scott was on the fringe and lagged his birdie putt close to force Phil to make his 20 foot putt to win the hole and halve the match. After reading the putt with the help of Woody and his caddy Jim "Bones" Mckay Phil stepped up and knocked the putt in to secure half a point. I think that this pairing really works because of their camraderie. Before the President's Cup I wasn't much of a Woody Austin fan, but after watching him have so much fun with Phil I think that I will root for him a little more. It has been great to see Phil have so much fun playing in the President's Cup. Overall the United States has a 14.5 point to 7.5 point lead over the International squad, and I expect them to win easily on Sunday.

NOT THAT GOOD!

To most people the tone for the Purdue-Minnesota football game was set when Purdue returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Deep down though the tone was set about an hour before the game outside the stadium. It all started when the Minnesota faithful were walking towards the Metrodome, and one fan spoke up and said that Purdue wasn't that good. This bold statement was followed by a progression of yells of "NOT THAT GOOD"! I was so inspired by this that I myself had to let out a yell of "NOT THAT GOOD"! Although Purdue won the game murmurs of "not that good" were present inside the Metrodome throughout the game. I think that even Joe Tiller had to wonder after the game if they are really "not that good".

One More Major Title for Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson has had an exceptional career on the PGA Tour. He has 32 wins including 3 major titles. His first major win at the 2004 Masters was huge; his second and third major wins just validated this win and proved that he is one of the all time greats. I feel that he needs to add one more major before the end of his career to seperate him from the pack. With one more major win he could pass some of his peers like Theodore Earnest Els and Vijay Singh, who both have 3 major wins as well. It would also be good if he could accomplish this task before the age of 40. Then I feel that everything else including more majors would just add to his hall of fame resume, and he can truly enjoy golf in his forties with his critics having fully forgotten the debacle at Wingedfoot. Of course I would like to see him win many more majors, but I think that one more would really solidify his career. In closing I would like to say that I think Phil will accomplish this task, most likely next year. He could have won his fourth major this year, but unfortunatly he injured his wrist. Phil is in good as position as ever to add another major, since he finally beat Tiger Woods in a sort of head to head dual. I will admit that Tiger is the best golfer of this era and probably of all time, but you have to applaud Phil for coming back from failure time and again. Next up for Phil: The Presidents Cup. Hopefully Phil and team United States of America will play well and secure a win at Royal Montreal.