Tiger Woods tourney: AT&T National this week

Wow. The stats don't lie. It turns out that 7 of the Top 8, and 13 of the Top 15 finishers at the U.S. Open got the favorable afternoon draw on Day 1, which was rain postponed. Only Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson played in the unfavorable weather.
Final round turned into the 1st real day of U.S. Open conditions at Bethpage Black. The young guns Rickey Barnes and Lucas Glover made a complete mess of the front nine shooting 40 and 38. Phil Mickelson tied for the lead at one point at -4, but bogeys on 15 and 17 derailed him. David Duval had a triple bogey on the second hole after his ball plugged in the lip in the bunker. But Duval rebounded on the back nine to share the lead at -3, only to bogey 17 with a lip out.
Follow us on Twitter to see why Flukey leaderboard brings out Rickey Barnes, David Duval, and Todd Hamilton. Rain caused dramatically different conditions for rain soaked players on Thursday and dry players on Friday. The luck of the draw. But it has turned Bethpage Black into only an above average course. Bethpage 2002 was a classic. Bethpage 2009 is a farce, so far.
Tickets to the U.S. Open cost over $100. It's a trek to get to Bethpage Black. Yesterday's rain out left fans with very little golf to watch, not even half the play was finished.
Wow. This is a shocker. Tiger Woods is using a driver with 10.5 degree loft. That probably explains some of the distance loss, but better control.
Only the top 10 leaders on the LPGA money list apparently get an automatic exemption to the U.S. Women's Open. The others have to qualify, which is why Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis won't be playing this year. They didn't shoot well enough in the qualifiers. Wie missed by 1 stroke, Natalie by 2. Ouch.
Wow. This is a shocker. Ben Roethlisberger shot 81, Michael Jordan shot 86 (after going triple, double to open the round), and Justin Timberlake shot 88. The lucky fan who won the chance to play with the celebrities, Larry Giebelhausen, shot 101.