Montgomerie Looks for Redemption...

Golf's second major, the U.S. Open, is under way at the Oakmont Golf Course in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Australia's Geoff Oglivy tries to defend his championship, while Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomery seek some redemption from last year. You may recall that Mickelson, also known as "Lefty," hit an errant tee shot on 18 last year and ended up with a double bogey to finish one behind Oglivy... what many people seem to forget though is that the U.K.'s Colin Montgomerie managed to double bogey that same 18th hole from the fairway! For whatever reason, the press harped on Mickelson's "meltdown" when in reality it was just one bad tee shot which led to his demise... On the other hand, Montgomerie did something truly forgettable - a double bogey on the 18th hole from a perfect lie in the middle of the fairway!!! It was looking like Montgomerie might finally get that "major monkey" off his back with a good approach and a par or birdie. Instead, "Monty" chunked his approach to the green into the right rough and hacked his way to a 6... Heck, a hacker like myself could probably make a bogey from that position a good 75% of the time at the very least... you would expect much better from a pro. Montgomerie has been one of the world's greatest players for the past two decades, but he's missing the one thing from his resume' that most relish: A major. I'm obviously in the minority here, but to me, the big "choke" last year wasn't from Mickelson, but Montgomerie! Mickelson has won three majors in his career already... obviously last year's "meltdown" hasn't affected his game too much as Lefty has won two times this year already including the prestigious Players Championship. Mickelson is fighting a wrist injury this week, so it's unclear if he will be able to play like his normal self. Expect Tiger Woods and Masters champion Zach Johnson to be in the mix for the championship. Live coverage of the tournament will be on ESPN today and tomorrow from 10am ET/7am PT until 3pm ET/12pm PT. NBC has live coverage from 5pm ET/2pm PT until 7pm ET/4pm PT . For a look at the live leaderboard, you can click on this link: U.S. Open Leaderboard

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In NASCAR, the big news is that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally decided to end his free agency and join a team... and what a team it is!!! Earnhardt became a member of the prestigious Hendrick Motorsports team yesterday, joining the likes of the great Jeff Gordon and defending series champion, Jimmie Johnson. Team Hendrick was already widely regarded as the most powerful in NASCAR prior to Earnhardt's arrival, so it will now only be even stronger and more dominant. It will be interesting to see how the NASCAR fans react to this, as it's well known that the old school fans are more in the Dale, Jr. camp while a lot of the newer fans are into Gordon and Johnson - if you attend races, you'll hear a lot of booing when the Hendrick members names are called. Perhaps now, that will change now that Junior is one of them. One can only hope!

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OK, baseball is on the plate... I finally had a chance to watch some games last night. I caught parts of the Cubs/Mariners, Yankees/Diamondbacks, Angels/Reds and all of the Dodgers/Mets game. In Chicago, the Cubs got another strong outing from Sean Marshall as the Cubs beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2. Marshall now has a 2.12 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in five starts this year... a word of warning for you fantasy-leaguers - Marshall got off to a very similarly fast start last year before fading fast... he may be good for another few starts, but don't look for him to continue this dominance... In New York, the Yankees won their eighth straight game as Mike Mussina pitched a strong seven innings in a 7-2 defeat of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Alex Rodriguez powered his major league leading 25th homer for the Yanks. In Cincinnati, John Lackey became the first 10 game winner in the majors as he limited the Reds to one run over six innings. Scot Shields picked up his 16th hold of the season, pitching two scoreless innings while K-Rod garnered his 20th save for the Halos. Vladimir Guerrero led the Angels attack with three hits and four runs batted in. In Los Angeles, the Dodgers continued to make life miserable for the suddenly reeling New York Mets. Brad Penny limited the Mets to one run over seven innings, while Wilson Betemit homered for the second straight game and Matt Kemp was 3-for-4 with three runs scored for the Blue Crew. In Baltimore, the Washington Nationals and Orioles played the second game of their series and for the second straight day, the Nats came out on top. The Nats took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the 9th, but closer Chad Cordero could not hold it as Jay Payton singled in a run to tie the game with two outs for the Orioles. Each team was held scoreless in the 10th inning... Christian Guzman added a bases loaded triple for the Nats in the top of the 11th off of Orioles closer Chris Ray for the final runs of the game. The Nats have suddenly become road warriors, winning nine of their past 12 games away from RFK Stadium.

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