Never a Dull Moment with Phil

After making birdie on the 4th hole of the final round of the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson held a 3 shot lead. The rest of the field had started to head in reverse, and it appeared Phil had the tournament under control. But always one for the dramatic, Lefty started losing ground as well, bringing everyone back into the tournament. Suddenly, Baltusrol turned into Pinehurst, and the PGA Championship turned into the US Open. For about an hour, all you saw were par putts, no birdies, and guys hacking it around the course like us amateurs. But you could feel the electricity in the gallery coming through the television, it was pure drama. Mother Nature had other ideas and forced suspension of play, which has forced the tournament to end tomorrow morning.

So, as it stands, Phil leads at -4, Steve Elkington, who shared the lead until missing a par putt at 15, is at -3 with Thomas Bjorn. At -2 are Vijay Singh, who can't make a putt outside 5 feet to save his life, Davis Love III, and one Tiger Woods, who is leader in the clubhouse. Tiger looked to be out of it after 2 early bogeys, but he got back on track after a miraculous chip-in for par at 7. Tiger then followed with birdies at 8, 14, 17, and 18 to give himself a chance. Even if you're not a Tiger fan, again you have to admire the never give up attitude of this man. He could've phoned in his round, having already won 2 majors and millions of dollars. But he is a competitor and wants to do nothing but win, you've gotta love that.

Play resumes at 10am tomorrow, and hopefully many of the fans are able to make it back out to Baltusrol. I get chills when I hear the crowd go nuts for Mickelson, it's unbelievable how they have gotten behind him. Today, the crowd sounded a lot like a college football crowd, they were insane.

Also on this Sunday:

• In the finals of the Rogers Cup, Rafael Nadal was too much for Andre Agassi, winning in 3 sets. The match lived up to the hype, turning into one long slugfest. In the end, Nadal's depth and spin on his shots was even too much for the grinding Agassi, who probably thought he was playing a younger version of himself. This was the best Agassi has played all year, forcing Nadal to a 3rd set, but he still needs to find another level if he's going to win the US Open.
• I believe I have gone on record saying everyone needs to be patient with Danica Patrick since this is her rookie season. However, one has to wonder about the progress, or lack thereof she's made as the season has progressed. Her last 3 finishes (including today) have been: 19th, 20th and 16th today after starting on the pole. She didn't even lead the first lap after starting in the lead position. It's still too early to judge her, but she has turned into the Anna Kournikova of racing in one facet. With all of the attention she's getting, it's motivating the other drivers even more to beat her and to show her it all comes back to how you drive. Right now, her driving doesn't match the attention, but again, that could change.

The best moment of today was provided by my Grandpa. We're driving to pick up dinner and Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" comes on the radio. I look over and there he is doing his best Night at the Roxbury imitation, bobbing his head and tapping his foot. I busted out laughing inside, I wish I had a picture of it.

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