FanHouse HenrikStenson

Each Wednesday during the golf season, FanHouse will list the top five names in golf and why they're important. Did Barack play 18 with Tiger? Did a certain player do something controversial off the course? Or was just playing golf enough to get the pot stirring? Join us for a new weekly ranking feature we call Making the Cut.

5. Tony Romo -- He might have failed to qualify for the Byron Nelson Championship, but Romo reminded us yet again that he is the best golfing quarterback in the world. Also, he reminded us that even the top tier athletes can utterly choke it on the golf course. Two-over par with three holes to play, Romo could have thrown in a couple of birdies and hoped even par would get into the next stage of qualifying. A triple-bogey followed by closing bogeys was visual evidence that our affection towards golf can change from love to hate quicker than a hook will snap.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- It took two shots for Tiger Woods to throw his club. Two. The final pairing, the red shirt, the killer instinct. You know, the usual. Except it was going to be a mind thing for Woods to win the Players Championship Sunday because his swing is all wrong.

Turned out, though, his mind was crumbling from the start. And when the real tiger stood up Sunday, he was a Swede named Henrik Stenson. A cool, calm, killer. By far, he was the toughest guy out there.

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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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Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Mickelson Toughs It Out -- You don't usually see "tough" and "Phil Mickelson" in the same sentence. His lone shining moment under pressure was at the 2004 Masters, when he rolled in a birdie putt on the last hole for his first major championship. Otherwise, he has never been that dominant in the high stress environment of the Ryder Cup, and his additional attempts at "clutch" have ended with "fore left" at Winged Foot and final-hole major losses to David Toms (2001 PGA Championship) and Payne Stewart (1999 U.S. Open).

Well, on Sunday, at a tournament he had never won, on a golf course he had never conquered, Mickelson had to be tough. And tough he was.

Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson put himself in quite a predicament Thursday when his tee shot on the third hole of the CA Championship went into the mud.

In case you missed it, the HSBC Champions tournament is underway in Shanghai, China and Henrik Stenson currently holds a one-shot lead. Exciting, right?

Okay, not really, and, frankly, I'm not all that invested in the event, who makes the cut and, ultimately, who wins an awesome HSBC-crested number for the lowest four-day total (my best guess at what it looks like).

I'm just mentioning it because Anthony Kim is in the field, even though he recently fell off a freaking horse.

Kim limped around the course after badly spraining his right ankle and bruising his jaw while horseback riding in the last few weeks. He said the horse raised up and as it came down, his mouth slammed shut as his mount hit the ground.

"I don't know what's going on with it," Kim said of his jaw. "I just can't open my mouth very wide."

"My diet is pretty much limited to noodles," he added.

Hmm. Maybe Colin Montgomerie might want to take up horseback riding (or just have somebody punch him in the face if he doesn't want to leave it to chance). A few weeks of a noodles-only diet and several cup sizes later, and I'm guessing Jack Vettriano will be begging to paint his likeness.

We're two-thirds through the 37th Ryder Cup and the Americans are holding onto a 9-7 lead heading into the Sunday singles matches. The Europeans trailed 5 1/2 - 2 1/2 after Day 1, and 7-5 after the Saturday morning foursomes, and despite cutting into the lead, nobody had the U.S. a) being competitive, and b) two full points up on a European team that won the last two events without much effort.

But this is different -- so far, at least -- and maybe it's because the Americans have rallied around not having Tiger, or perhaps a revitalized Justin Leonard, outta-nowhere performances from Steve Stricker or Hunter Mahan, or clutch ball-striking from Boo Weekley have all been the catalyst. Whatever, captain Paul Azinger has to be ecstatic about the team's predicament, and, if nothing else, the U.S. will be spared a Saturday night Ben Crenshaw "I have a good feeling about this" pep talk.

Now, though, the Americans have to play with the lead, which puts the pressure squarely on their shoulders, a position they are not familiar with in the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup starts Friday, which is another way of saying the Europeans are just three days from Operation Beatdown '08. It's hardly surprising that our friends across the pond are favored -- they've won the last three events, and the only reason it's not six straight is because Justin Leonard holed a "no way that goes in" 40-footer in 1999.

But, hey, there's a reason they play these things: anything can happen. As a companion piece to Shane Bacon's look at the American side, here's my ill-informed take on the European team, their past record, and who I think they will be best paired with this week.

Sergio Garcia (14-4-2) and Oliver Wilson (rookie) -- America hates Ryder Cup Garcia for a reason: because he never loses (or at least it seems that way). He's played with Jesper Parnevik, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lee Westwood during the last four events and he's won 70% of the time. Not too shabby. I'll be honest: I have no idea who Oliver Wilson is. For all I know, we're related. Whatever, he'll just have to stay out of Garcia's way on Friday and Saturday and hope the Euros are far enough ahead on Sunday that it won't matter if he goes down 9 and 8.

Where all ten golfers on this page will be emailing me to take them off the unlucky number page, the FanHouse Media Guide.

• Justin Rose -- t-5 -- I'm fully convinced Justin Rose (pictured) goes to every golf tournament with one thing in mind -- wearing tighter clothes than any female spectator in attendance. He has never won a PGA Tour event but he has won a tournament in 2002 called "The Crowns" which I'm sure is made-up.

• Rory Sabbatini -- t-51 -- Sabbatini hates Tiger Woods, normal belt etiquette and headwear that covers the top-portion of your head. He isn't having the year he's used to (33rd in FedEx points) and has missed the cut in four of his last six tournaments. Oh, and he hates this thing I just wrote.

• Adam Scott -- t-21 -- In case him being the third best golfer in the world and that your girlfriend wants to watch golf now because she might catch a glimpse of him isn't enough to hate him, check his sponsors. Titleist, Burberry, Rolex, Gulfstream, EA Sports, Footjoy, Aspen Group, Scott Golf Designs and Australian Golf Digest to name a few. Also, the U.S. Open is the only major he's never cracked the top-10.
  

• Patrick Sheehan -- DNP -- A journeyman that has bounced around between the Nationwide and PGA, Sheehan only has one top-10 this season. He graduated from the University of Hartford where he played golf with both Tim Petrovic and Jerry Kelly.

• Kevin Silva -- DNP -- Silva, a Tar Heel, has played on the Tarheel Tour, the New England Pro Golf Tour and the Minor League Golf Tour. Needless to say, this week will be the biggest stage he's ever been on.

• Vijay Singh -- t-3 -- The big Fijian has made the cut in 13 straight U.S. Opens, with seven top-10s during that stretch. He might struggle at times to find the fairway (147th in driving accuracy) but he always seems to make it work. Also, he was appointed a goodwill ambassador for Fiji in 2005.

• Heath Slocum -- CUT -- Slocum has been extremely consistent in 2008, making every cut since February 3. Slocum played on the same golf team as Boo Weekley (Bubba Watson joined the same team two years later) in Milton, Florida.

• Brandt Snedeker -- t-23 -- Everyone seemed excited about Snedeker at the Masters this year, where he closed with a 77 to tie for third. Since Augusta, he hasn't fared better than a tie for 35th with two missed cuts.

• Kyle Stanley (a) -- DNP -- He played in the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational, missing the cut with rounds of 75-74. A member of the Clemson golf team, Stanley is currently ranked 34 by Golfweek.

• Henrik Stenson -- t-26 -- It's amazing that Stenson has never finished in the top-10 at a major. The 15th ranked player in the world hasn't won this season on the European Tour but he does have six top-10s in just nine events.