FanHouse AlexCejka

In an effort to keep our golf visitors well informed on what is going on around the Internet, Range Balls is our weekly link dump. Every Tuesday during golf season, we will toss out some of the most interesting things we came across. If you have a tip, e-mail us at fanhousegolf@gmail.com. Enjoy the links.

-- After recent comments by David Feherty that have certain people a little ticked off, Devil Ball Golf put together a list of announcing slip-ups and how those situations played out. Oh, and a quick note to Feherty -- if you're going to be the funny guy, try to avoid assassination jokes. Just a thought. [Devil Ball Golf]

As is the case in virtually every tournament he plays, the story line heading into Sunday's round of the Players Championship was Tiger Woods. He had worked his way into the final group, but started the day five shots back of playing partner Alex Cejka, the unlikeliest 54-hole leader. Cejka entered the week ranked 267th in the world, and, at 38, was still in search of his first PGA victory.

But as Woods and Cejka were hacking their way around the front nine -- Tiger needed 38 strokes going out; Alex needed 42 -- Henrik Stenson was putting on a golfing clinic.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- It would be nice to think it was just a coincidence, that roughly nine seconds after Tiger Woods' name went up on the leaderboard, the other golfers suddenly couldn't put the ball in the hole. It got a little windy. It was so hot that the greens were fried into concrete. Some of these guys were no-names playing over their heads.

Could those be the reasons? Well, partly.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Your leader after the second round of the Players Championship is Alex Cejka, and people are getting a little too gooey telling his story. Yes, his Dad took him when he was 9 years old, and they escaped Communist Czechoslavakia.

"I was too young to understand what was going on,'' said Cejka, who is 11-under par, with a two-stroke lead. "For me, it was a vacation.''

Tiger Woods has never been 4-under after 36 holes of the Players Championship, a spot he finds himself in after Friday. It is his lowest opening two days at TPC Sawgrass ever. That is the good news for Tiger fans. The bad news is Woods is looking way up the leaderboard at a guy named Alex Cejka, who followed his Thursday 66 with a Friday 67.

Cejka has never won a PGA Tour event, but the 38-year-old from Germany has only two bogeys on his scorecard and the lead at TPC, two shots over Ian Poulter and four shots over a host of players at 7-under that includes Masters champion Angel Cabrera, who smoldered Sawgrass with a scintillating 65 on Friday.

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Working as a golf writer online, there are basically two rules you should know. First, anything Tiger Woods does is worth posting. Second, if isn't about Tiger, you damn well better mention the guy, because page views feed the kids, and Tiger equals page views.

The interesting part about that is, people get upset about it. "Why are you talking about Tiger?!" "Why not mention the leaders?"

As a golf fan first and writer second, I find myself reacting that same way to the television coverage. As I'm viewing the Players Championship right now, Tiger is seven shots back of the leader, Alex Cejka, yet we have seen every single swing Tiger has made. At that same time, I haven't seen but a handful of Ian Poulter shots, and he sits in second place alone.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Typical Phil Mickelson. Does that mean anything? He can do anything, and sometimes does. Until you're counting on him, and need him. And then he doesn't.

So his second round at the Players Championship Friday was typical in that a lot was riding on him -- including a shot at the No. 1 ranking.

And he flopped. Again.

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TPC Sawgrass is supposed to be brutal. It's supposed to be nasty. For heaven's sake, it's supposed to be the fifth major! Well, unless the fairways and greens are soft and the wind doesn't blow.

Ben Crane, who started on the back nine in the first round of the Players Championship, turned at 3-under 33, but went on a tear from there, making five birdies in six holes on his way to a 7-under 65 and the first-round lead. Crane, who hasn't won on tour since 2005, noted after his round that the greens were perfect, "like putting on the hood of your car," and the low scores the first day indicated that.

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Brian Gay is a grinder. It's been that way his entire career. Gay turned pro in 1994 but didn't qualify for the PGA Tour until 1999. And although he's kept his card for a decade, Gay didn't win his first tournament until last year -- the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico -- and even that didn't automatically qualify him for the Masters.

(It was opposite the World Golf Championships' Match Play and not full-field event. Another reason you may not remember it: Tiger won the Match Play, and, oddly, that got more play in the media. Weird.)

But after dominating the Verizon Heritage this weekend, Gay will not only enjoy his requisite two-year exemption on tour, his invite to Augusta National next April is now guaranteed.

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It's never too early to get major championship talk a-stirring, with the practice rounds beginning in less than two weeks at Royal Birkdale.

Two players, Shaun Micheel and some other guy I can't think of, have already withdrawn from the British Open, but the field is nearly complete with the international qualifying wrapping up, and some familiar names will be present on the links.

Davis Love III, Paul Goydos and Rich Beem were three of seven golfers to qualify yesterday at the Dearborn, Michigan site with Matt Kuchar and Alex Cejka headlining the seven qualifiers at TPC Michigan.

Goydos, runner-up to Sergio Garcia in the Players Championship after a gust of wind killed his chances in the playoff, will be making his first appearance in the British and is fairly stoked about the opportunity.

"This was my No. 1 goal for the year," he said. "If nothing else happened this year, I wanted to play in the British Open. A lot of other good things have happened on top of that, but this really has been my No. 1 goal."

Some of the less fortunate souls that missed out were Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, Bubba Watson, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke.