The Men's Singles Finals of the U.S. Open gets underway in just under 15 minutes (4 p.m. ET), and though you've probably never heard of Juan Martin Del Potro, don't expect this to be an absolute cakewalk for RF. The 21-year-old Argentinean made it to the semifinals at Roland Garros this year, where he took Fed to a fifth set, ultimately losing 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. He entered the Open as the #6 seed and beat Rafael Nadal yesterday to reach his first Grand Slam Finals. CBS will be broadcasting the finals, or if you're at work, you can stream it live on the U.S. Open site here. By the way, Serena and Venus Williams took the women's doubles championship earlier this afternoon, and Serena managed not to threaten any line judges this time around.

Andy Murray lost his quarterfinals match today to Marin Cilic in straight sets. Here's how The Times described his performance: Playing an oddly listless match while exhibiting the body language of a man undergoing a tax audit, second-seeded Andy Murray was battered by 16th-seeded Marin Cilic in a stunning 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 fourth-round loss on Tuesday that produced a rare men's upset in the United States Open." Ouch. Is Andy Murray becoming the next Tim Henman? Can the United Kingdom survive another Tim Henman?

By the way, if you haven't seen last night's Novak Djokovic impression of John McEnroe it's definitely worth it, especially considering the fact that McEnroe grabs a racket, throws on some tennis shoes, and plays a few points against him -- as he himself imitates Djokovic.

Today is the great tennis player Jimmy Connors' birthday and also the 18th anniversary of his epic five-set tiebreaker win over Aaron Krickstein in the 1991 U.S. Open. This was the match that the 39-year-old absolutely electrified Flushing Meadows, battling his way back to a fifth set, screaming at the umpire and calling him a "bum" and an "abortion" (see the video above), and fist-pumping and finger-pointing his way to U.S. Open glory. A couple days later, Connors won again in the quarterfinals against Paul Haarhuis in a match that included the amazing point in the video after the jump.  Keep Reading »

Okay, here's your leaderboard after back-to-back bogies by Phil and back-to-back-to-back birdies by Duval:

Glover, -4, 16
Duval, -3, 16
Mickelson, -2, 17
Barnes, -2, 16
Fisher, -2, 16

Phil had a great tee shot at 18. Hunter Mahan, playing with Phil, has fallen apart and is at even. Everyone else is in the clubhouse at Even or worse. This tournament is now Glover's to lose. We'd love to see Phil birdie 18 to get it to -3, and put the pressure on Duval and Glover. And if this thing goes to a playoff, doesn't Barnes deserve a spot in there, too?

UPDATE 12:59: Duval and Fisher just dropped a shot. Glover leads by 2. Mickelson has a long putt for birdie on 18.

UPDATE 1:02: Phil misses by two inches. Pars 18 to finish at -2. Barring a collapse by Glover, Phil, Amy, and fam are off to Hawaii.

UPDATE 1:12: Duval misses his own putt on 18 by a couple inches, to join Phil in the clubhouse at 18. Glover is up by two strokes and hit a 6-iron off the 18th tee, playing it very safe. Barnes pulls out his driver and hits a bullet down the center of the fairway. Barnes needs to knock it close and convert for a birdie and hope that Glover puts up a bogie to force a playoff.

UPDATE 1:18: Glover is away on the 18th green. About 10 feet beyond Barnes on the same line.

UPDATE 1:21: Glover wins!

Here's your 11:30 U.S. Open update, as coverage heads over to NBC. Mickelson just birdied #12 to draw within 2 strokes. By the way, if there is an 18-hole playoff, it would happen today. There could be a lot more golf out there today.
Glover, -4, 11
Barnes, -2, 11
Mickelson, -2, 12
Mahan, -2, 12
Fisher, -2, 11
Weir, -1, 12
Woods, Even, 17
Duval, Even, 11

11:44 UPDATE: Phil just hit an incredible approach shot on 13, and has about 8 feet for an eagle. If he sinks it, he'll be tied with Lucas Glover at -4 for the lead. Tiger, meanwhile, just finished up; a long birdie putt on #18 just missed to the right, just like pretty much every other putt this weekend. He ends the tournament at even par.

11:48 UPDATE: Nailed it. Mickelson atop the leaderboard with Glover at -4.

By his own admission, Ricky Barnes just shanked a shot from the seventh-hole green-side bunker, is 4 over on the day, and now one shot behind Lucas Glover, who sits at -5. Barnes is collapsing at this point, which is a shame -- we'd rather see Glover out-duel him, than Ricky just blow it. But as the headline states, the way things are going right now, we're not going to be surprised if by the end of the day, this tournament is knotted in a tie and we head into a playoff. Could Phil, Tiger (who's about to birdie the 14th to go to -1), or Duvall be a part of a fifth round? It's actually not out of the realm of possibility. Here's the updated leaderboard:



Glover, -5, 7
Barnes, -4, 7
Mahan, -2, 9
Hanson, -1, 11
Weir, -1, 9
Mickelson, -1, 9
Fisher, -1, 8
Woods, Even, 13
Watson, Even, 9
Duval, Even, 8

If you're like us, you've watched so much of the rain-soaked U.S. Open this weekend that when you went home for Father's Day dinner yesterday, your shoes were soaked, you took along an extra red shirt, and you called the whole thing off due to darkness around 8 p.m. So where do things stand this morning?

- Everyone's back out there on the course, with Ricky Barnes, who led by as many as six strokes yesterday, still the leader at -7. He's on the fourth hole with Lucas Glover, who's at -6.
- Hunter Mahan and Ross Fisher are at -3 on the fifth, and Phil Mickelson stands alone in fifth place at -2.
- Peter Hanson, Bubba Watson, Retief Goosen, and Mike Weir are the only four other players under par for the tournament. They're six strokes off the pace at -1.
- And where's Tiger?  Keep Reading »

Round 2 of the U.S. Open is finally underway at Bethpage Black (Mike Weir is your leader at -6), and since there's at least 20 hours of golf watching on tap for the next three days (this thing's going until Monday), we thought we'd give you a drinking game. Additional suggestions are more than welcome.

Take a drink every time a player...
Makes a birdie or double bogey.
Makes a 20-foot or more putt or misses a 4-foot or less putt
Gets a sandy (up and down from a bunker)
Hits a shot out of rough more than a foot tall.

Take two drinks every time NBC...
Shows a clip from the 2002 Open at Bethpage Black.
Shows a clip from last year's Tiger vs. Rocco showdown.
Shows an amateur's shot and follows it immediately with the amateur leaderboard.

Take three drinks every time one of the NBC commentators...  Keep Reading »

As first round coverage of the U.S. Open switches over from ESPN to NBC at 3 p.m., we thought it would be a good time to give an update on the leaderboard. As we told you earlier, Tiger is decidedly nowhere near it. He's at 4 over, tied for 88th place, and currently 9 strokes behind the leader, Mike Weir, who's at -5 (wait till you see the Canadian's shot from the rough on 15 on SportsCenter tonight). [UPDATE: Weir's at -6 with five holes to play. If he can shoot -2 in this final stretch, he'll set a major championship record with a 62.] There's still a long round to be played tomorrow morning, but Tiger's going to have to have a stellar Saturday to make the cut (when's the last time you read those words in the same sentence?).

With or without him and yesterday's rain out aside, this is shaping up to be one hell of an Open with plenty of storylines to follow. After Weir, Peter Hanson stands at -3 through 13 along with Lefty. Phil Mickelson has the New York fans behind him and is playing great golf. His wife Amy told him to bring home a silver cup for her hospital room. A solid performance this weekend might be just as sweet. Who's at -2? Remember David Duval? Yes, that David Duval, who still sports the f-u shades and now a bit of a beer belly. Apparently, he's "not playing much these days." Doesn't look that way on his scorecard. Tied with him at -2 is Rocco Mediate, last year's runner-up to Tiger in that epic playoff. Rocco's on his fourth shirt of the day and also has the crowd behind him.  Keep Reading »

Yes, the rain has played havoc with the first round of the U.S. Open. But for all the pre-tournament talk about how Tiger was going to dominate the field -- particularly because his driving accuracy had been so strong going into Thursday -- it's not quite playing out that way so far. Tiger's hit just 7 of 14 fairways, doubled 15, and bogeyed 16 and 17. He sits at 4 over, six shots behind leader Ben Martin, a 21-year-old who's at -2 just a few holes into his round. Drew Weaver and Graeme McDowell are both in the clubhouse at -1. The course seems to be in great shape, by the way. The Bethpage grounds crew must have pulled all-nighters to get it back in such good playing condition. Much of yesterday's afternoon groupings are just now teeing off, including Phil Mickelson. We'll keep you updated all day, but here's the rest of the leaderboard, as of 11 a.m.  Keep Reading »

Update 1:53 p.m.: Round 1 is officially suspended for the day.

Sorry to disappoint all you golf fans, but as we mentioned earlier, there's absolutely no chance Tiger and friends are getting back out on the course today. It's still pouring and the course is literally under water right now. Even if the rain stopped, the course wouldn't be in good enough shape for players to get out there. Now, we're not the PGA, we've got no insider info coming out of Bethpage, so our assessment is absolutely unofficial. And indeed, the Times reports that the PGA says forecasts call for the rain to stop by 1:30 (9 minutes and counting... not going to happen), and the players back out there by 3 p.m. -- that's how fast the course drains. We don't believe it. So if Day 1 is officially over, what happens next?

ESPN's Jason Sobel has been live-blogging all day from Long Island, and put together an excellent rundown of a possible strategy to getting this tournament played. We still think this thing is going until Monday or Tuesday, but here's Sobel's breakdown, which makes the assumption that today's action is over:

Those currently on the course would return to their positions at 7 a.m. Friday (or a little bit earlier, if possible). The afternoon wave would be moved up from its current tee times; instead of beginning at 12:30, they would likely be able to start three hours and 16 minutes earlier, because that's how much golf was played today. So let's call it 9:15 a.m.

After that?  Keep Reading »

It's raining at Bethpage. Get used to that statement, because it's going to be a constant refrain all weekend. And we'll just say it: if they want to get all four rounds in for this 2009 U.S. Open, this thing might need to go until Tuesday. Let's hope there isn't a playoff after that.

So what's the update? Well, here are your leaders as of 10:16 a.m., when the heavens completely opened up and constant rain turned into an absolute downpour: Jeff Brehaut, Johan Edfors, Andrew Parr, and Ryan Spears. Who? Yeah, us neither. That foursome is at -1. Ian Poulter, Justin Leonard, Angel Cabrera, Bubba Watson, and three others are all one stroke behind at Even.

So where's Tiger?  Keep Reading »

Ahead of this week's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, the New York Times' wall-to-wall coverage of the tournament included a great piece today about an underlying economic theory that comes into play on the putting green. It's called "loss aversion" and according to two Wharton professors it may cost pros as much as a stroke per round -- and for all you hookers and slicers out there, potentially even more.

What did the professors' research find?  Keep Reading »