Hitting Balls Far

Congratulations to Barry Bonds on his historic achievement last night. Unfortunately, I went to sleep but saw him hit for half the cycle before I cashed in. Most remarkably was his double in the second. That ball would have gone out in just about any other park in the country besides Central...pending the starting location.

However, you know what? I can easily hit a ball out into McCovey cove given the right equipment. Even off a tee? Think Barry Bonds can? Maybe. I'm talking about a nice smooth 8 iron though.

In case you failed to notice, the PGA Championship begins tomorrow. Yes, the last word of the previous sentence does say "tomorrow." With all of the Bonds stuff, you may have missed it. Or maybe you saw A-Rod telling Josh Towers how much money he makes yesterday. Then Clemens telling the same thing to Alex Rios. Oh, Brady Quinn is also no longer living in debt. I still hate him.

Anyway, this year we have an interesting PGA scenario. Tiger hasn't won a Major this year and lest we forget, "I just want to win Majors." What Tiger did do last week was blow away the competition at some tournament that I don't remember the name of. Have you noticed how that happens? He wins a lot of majors, and goes up against the best. But he also seemingly runs away with tournaments where the unflappable Rory Sabbatini is a few miles behind in his rear view mirror, hanging out with a bunch of other guys you've never heard of. Charles Howell III is a big deal at these gigs.

He's now "hitting the ball well." I've always failed to understand when he isn't "hitting the ball well." Is he going to win this week? Probably. Did you see my boy's press conference yesterday?

Mickelson was talking about how "great Tiger is for golf" and how so many people "in this room have made a lot of money thanks to him." He also talked about how Tiger drives endorsements. Last I looked, Tiger has cost Phil a lot of money. Remember those tournaments that Phil didn't win because Tiger beat him? Those $5, $6, $7, $8 Million dollar purses? That's a few hundred K per tournament that he didn't invest into mutual funds, or a new life.

I'm not picking anyone to win. I haven't been too successful on that one this year. At least I wasn't talking like Andy North and saying how much of a chance Steve Elkington had to win the Open Championship. It's going to be in the 100's this week in Tulsa. This is actually where golf can get a little dangerous. Watch out for passed out caddies on the 15th fairway.