Golf

While all eyes will be on Torrey Pines tamers Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at this week’s U.S. Open, Sergio Garcia lurks as a serious threat to win his first major.  After all, Garcia overcame his well-documented putting demons to win The Players Championship, the fifth major, a little over a month ago, which ended his three-year winless streak.  He says he's happier with his short game than he has been in the past, and felt good with wedge in hand last week at the St. Jude Championship, where he shot a closing-round 66 to finish tied for fourth. El Nino is the third favorite on WagerWeb.com this week at +1400.  "It's been a while since I've been able to ...

If Phil Mickelson doesn’t win the U.S. Open this year, will he ever win one?  This year’s Open is at Torrey Pines, a public course where Lefty walked the fairways as a hometown kid. Can you say tailor-made?  “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to compete in the U.S. Open on the course I grew up on in the prime of my career," Mickelson said. "I can't believe this is the U.S. Open Championship here at Torrey Pines. It's something we've dreamed about."  While Mickelson owns two Masters titles and a PGA Championship, the U.S. Open has so far eluded him.  Mickelson was runner-up to Payne Stewart at Pinehurst in 1999, runner-up to Tiger Woods at Bethpage in 2002, ...

Tiger Woods made his first public appearance on a golf course since his knee surgery as he played nine holes at Torrey Pines in preparation for this week's U.S. Open.  With about 200 people in the gallery on the first tee, Woods went for his usual early morning practice round just before 7 with fellow Tour pro Bubba Watson and Stanford sophomore Jordan Cox.   Woods, the WagerWeb.com favorite to win the Open at -110, ripped his first drive into the fairway and showed no signs of discomfort or stiffness in the aftermath of surgery in mid-April that has kept him off the PGA Tour for two months  "He didn't say 'Ow' to me, so it must be good," Watson ...

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have owned Torrey Pines when the Buick event stops there on the California Swing, but the Torrey they will see at this week’s U.S. Open is a completely different animal.  For the first time since 2000, the site of a regular PGA Tour venue - in this case, the Buick Invitational - is also the home to a major championship in the same year  This time around, the South Course officially will measure 7,643 yards this week, making it the longest in tournament history.  "I don't know how much harder and faster the greens will be, but when we were there in January, you could hit it out of the rough,'' PGA Tour veteran Mark ...

According to a Golf Channel report, Adam Scott, the No. 3 ranked player in the world, has a broken finger but still plans to play in this week’s U.S. Open.   Scott reportedly broke the finger three weeks ago in an incident that involved his hand and the slamming of a car door. He did practice at Torrey Pines on Saturday, although he just recently picked up a club again after the accident, according to the report.   Asked about the Scott injury, Butch Harmon, his coach said, “No comment.”   Scott hasn’t played since finishing 54th at The Players Championship last month. In the six U.S. Opens he has played in, Scott has missed the cut four times including last year at ...

The two WagerWeb.com betting favorites for next week’s U.S. Open will see plenty of each other the first two days at Torrey Pines: World No. 1 Tiger Woods and No. 2 Phil Mickelson will be paired together in Rounds 1 and 2– along with World No. 3 Adam Scott.  Woods and Mickelson played together once before at the U.S. Open, in the 1999's third round at Pinehurst. Tiger and Phil were famously teamed up unsuccessfully at the 2004 Ryder Cup.  Woods, who had surgery on his left knee two days after finishing second at The Masters, had not played a round since Augusta before Wednesday at Torrey, when he got in 17 holes, picking up his ball about 100 yards ...

The PGA Tour stops at Jack Nicklaus’ tournament this week, the Memorial at the Muirfield Village Course in Dublin, Ohio.  As usual, Tiger Woods has overshadowed the rest of the PGA Tour this week. Tiger, who had surgery April 15 to fix cartilage problems in his knee, originally hoped to return this week, but he’s still rehabbing – and limping.  Still, he plans on being ready for the U.S. Open in a few weeks.  "The knee's doing better," Woods said. "The rehab is boring. It gets really old riding that bike, man. But everything's on schedule. Just been training and trying to get this thing organized for the Open, and it's right on schedule for that.”  As for who is ...

What’s mainly notable about this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, is that it might be the last PGA tournament before Tiger Woods returns. Woods, recovering from knee surgery, targeted next week’s Memorial as his return from the April 15 procedure so he could get his game in shape before the U.S. Open. The deadline to enter the Memorial is Friday, so we’ll know soon enough. As far as the week, world No. 2 Phil Mickelson leads the field at Colonial, the first time he has played this event since 2005. Mickelson (the +325 betting favorite on WagerWeb.com) won here in 2000 and finished runner-up the following year. ...

The top story in golf this week obviously is Annika Sorenstam’s retirement announcement, so we would be remiss if we didn’t put the ladies first in our weekly golf betting preview. Can Annika, who will quit competitive golf at the end of the year, win this week at the Sybase Classic in Clifton, N.J.? Absolutely. A winner of 72 women's pro tour events, including three U.S Women's Opens, and the only female  player to shoot 59 in a competitive round, Sorenstam said she intended to have one last shot at overtaking Lorena Ochoa and reclaiming the world No. 1 spot. "There's still plenty of golf to be played," she said. "I have another seven months left, ...

In order to spend more time with her golf academy as well as start a family with her fiance, Annika Sorenstam will no longer compete on the LPGA after this year. The 37-year-old Sorenstam has hinted at retirement the past several seasons, saying she wanted to devote more time to her growing business and to start a family. She is engaged to Mike McGee, son of former PGA Tour player Jerry McGee. She announced her decision at a news conference Tuesday at the Sybase Classic in Clifton, N.J., where she will play this week. "I think I've achieved more than I ever thought I could," she said. "I have given it all, and it's been fun." ...