Golf Golf 2

Until a few years ago, Greg Norman, despite his two British Open wins, was probably best known for his 1996 Masters collapse. Hardly fair, but people tend to remember the dramatic train wrecks over the less compelling marches to major victory.

The British Open will be at Turnberry next month, but it's Muirfield, which last hosted the tournament in 2002, that has drawn sharp criticism from Gary Player, who won there in 1959. At 23, he became the youngest Open Champion in history, but it's the club's antiquated men-only policy that has him speaking out now, a half-century later.

I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more often. Or maybe it does and only the exceptional stories are deemed newsworthy. In any event, some enterprising chap, after a leisurely round of golf that included "at least 10 beers" -- and his ride leaving him at the course -- decided to drive home ... in his golf cart ... 40 miles away.

He didn't even make it a mile before he was stopped by police. Luckily, he had a good explanation:

Bill Murray is probably one of my five most favoritestest actors of all time. Sure, at his age, he's become a touch annoying, but he's starred in so many roles that I loved as a kid and then still into "adulthood" (it doesn't technically count if you're not mature, right?) that I'm willing to give him a pass. Besides, he routinely does stuff like this: busting out his Carl Spackler at Bethpage Black during a rain delay at the US Open. <3 u, Bill.

Phil Mickelson has an unfortunate history of seeing bogeys on the closing holes of US Open final rounds, and the same sort of short putting troubles and misfires happened again today: after an eagle at 13 put Lefty in a tie for the lead, he followed with a par and then closed out bogey-par-bogey-par to finish two strokes behind Lucas Glover as he headed into the clubhouse.

In other words, it was psuedo-tragic scene, simply because Mickelson was easily the crowd favorite at Bethpage Black this weekend, especially considering his wife Amy's struggles with breast cancer leading up to the Open.

Tiger Woods didn't fire off his best round Monday at the 2009 US Open, but he didn't shoot poorly either, wrapping up with a 69 that left him at even par for the tournament. Unfortunately for Tiger, a three-bogey/four-birdie round probably won't be enough to land him in any potential playoff for consecutive Open titles.

That's not to say that the leaders aren't falling back -- Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Ross Fisher and Lucas Glover aren't up a substantial margin on Tiger, but at this point, it seems pretty unlikely that Woods will have a shot at any playoff that takes place.

Now, before you freak out, shake your head and wonder what John Daly is doing alive, I should probably point out that this story is slightly less wince-worthy than the title indicates. Daly did crash a bus into a tunnel, but it was because he wasn't paying attention to the clearance sign leading into the tunnel. (As opposed to, you know, getting really sloppy at Hooters and then doing it.)

Apparently, there was another distracting sign next to the clearance and Daly -- driving his daughter to Florida so she too could have lap-band surgery -- and when his bus hit the tunnel, a number of parts went flying into an oncoming Cadillac, driven by the good Reverend Jimmy Roberson. Who may or may not have neck injuries.

Tiger Woods is, nearly world-wide in fact, revered by all golf fans. He receives cheers and the gallery surrounding his pairing is always mobbed. But this weekend at Bethpage Black -- where Tiger won the US Open in 2002 -- he's been the subject of some surprising heckling.

Newsday's crew reports that late on Saturday, folks around the 10th hole were yelling some very non-"get in the hole!" type of things at Woods.

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) -- PGA Tour rookie Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wilson have survived a roller-coaster afternoon at the Memorial to share the 54-hole lead, with Tiger Woods and a pack of major champions behind them.

Bettencourt made eight birdies to offset his mistakes in a round of 4-under 68. Wilson bogeyed his first three holes, but recovered for a 69 to join the rookie at 9-under 207.

So, yeah, Hank Haney's had a tough 2009. Tiger's struggling (not really, but that's the perception, which is sometimes worse), and Haney's other high-profile student, Charles Barkley, has made little progress in conquering the demons that possess his golf swing. And that was after more than nine months of work.

On Thursday, the Birmingham News Jon Solomon saw Barkley's "new" swing in action at the Regions Charity Classic and it looked a lot like the "old" swing that landed Chuck his own reality show. On the No. 6 tee, Barkley, presumably aiming for the fairway, missed. That may be understating it a tad. On the upside, spectator Tommy Parrish, standing obscenely close to the tee box ("a couple of hundred of feet away"), now has a story for the Kiwanis Club meetings. (Moving pictures after the jump.)