FanHouse Jason Day

Here is something you don't read everyday. Tiger Woods, the top golfer in the world with mucho power and a tremendous start to the week already, was standing on the 18th tee on Thursday at the Memorial with a chance to hit every single stinkin' fairway. All 14 of 'em. That is something he has only done five times in his career. Something he hasn't done since 2003. Something that, when effective, basically is the ingredients to a Tiger victory (he was seventh in fairways hit at Bethpage Black in '02).

Tiger, sadly, couldn't do it. He pushed his tee shot right into a fairway bunker, chunked his second shot short and left of the green, missed the par putt and ended his day with a disappointing three-under 69. The man he is staring up at in the leaderboard is Luke Donald, who posted an eight-under 64.

On Thursday afternoon, I made the short drive down the street to the local Subway sandwich shop to pick up my healthy fix before heading back to the computer. Parked outside Subway was an obnoxiously expensive car with the license plate "Stricker" personalized across the back of the shiny vehicle. On the phone with my Las Vegas buddy, who was busy losing the rest of his money, I joked "I wonder if Steve Stricker is grabbing a quick foot-long?"

He was not. Stricker was 1,000 miles away, beating up Colonial Country Club like the golf course owed him something. Colonial, the longest-running PGA Tour event at its original site, has never had someone do what Stricker did through 36 holes. Consecutive 63s have put the 42-year-old Stricker ahead of the pack at a windless Colonial, where he has made a birdie on 44 percent of the holes he's played this week.

Golf season starts tomorrow, which means it is time to actually start thinking of the best game with dimples. While the giants take a nap, others will play at the Mercedes Championship, and golf will be around the rest of the year. FanHouse spent a couple of minutes thinking what is to come in 2009. Here is what transpired.

It all starts tomorrow, people. The 2009 PGA season gets underway at the Mercedes Championship. Except that four of last year's champs -- who also happen to be the four best players in the world -- won't be there. Tiger, Sergio, Phil and Paddy are skipping out on the free trip to Hawaii, although I suspect the other 33 players in the field aren't complaining.

Last season, Anthony Kim and, to a lesser extent (because we've known about him for a while ... and because Brinson has some worries), Camilo Villegas emerged as "the latest young golfer who will supposedly challenge Tiger Woods." And to be fair, both had a lot success. While they continue the seemingly impossible task of supplanting Woods atop the rankings, there are other young players hoping to do the same. The difference: we haven't heard much about them. Until now, anyway. Here's a look at five guys to watch as '09 unfolds.

Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes lost a fight that may have signaled the beginning of the end of a great career today, as Thiago Alves dominated and won with a brutal second-round technical knockout at UFC 85 in London.

The 24-year-old Alves showed up overweight, weighing in at 174 pounds for the 170-pound fight, and he apologized for that in the Octagon afterward. The 34-year-old Hughes, a workout freak, showed up appearing in good shape as usual. Whether the weight advantage helped Alves or not we don't know, but Alves dominated the fight.

Georges St.-Pierre is the undisputed best welterweight in the world, and when he's at his best he looks unbeatable. But if Alves can prove he can make 170, he may get a crack at GSP -- Alves looked great tonight, with the biggest win of his career.

In the event's other fights, Fabricio Werdum defeated Brandon Vera by first-round TKO, Mike Swick defeated Marcus Davis by unanimous decision, Thales Leites defeated Nate Marquardt by split decision and Michael Bisping defeated Jason Day by first-round TKO.

Saturday's UFC 85 has been a star-crossed event, with one injury after another (most notably to Chuck Liddell) derailing UFC's plans. But it's a testament to the depth of UFC's roster that they've still managed to cobble together a good show -- one that won't match UFC 84 for star power but will make for a great few hours of fights on Saturday afternoon.

Here are the details for Saturday's action:

What: UFC 85: Bedlam

Who: The main event features Matt Hughes taking on Thiago Alves in a battle of the ages. Appearing on the televised undercard are Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day, Mike Swick vs. Marcus Davis, Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera and Nathan Marquardt vs. Thales Leites.

When: Saturday, 3 p.m. ET

Where: O2 Arena, London

How: Pay-per-view, $44.95 ($54.95 in HD), or just follow along with my FanHouse live blog. Also be sure to catch my UFC 85 preview chat on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

Predictions after the jump.

This sounds about right: John Daly, who no doubt is still recovering from the "rib injury" that caused him to withdraw from last week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, is finding it more difficult to land sponsor's exemptions:

John Daly was waiting to see if he would get a sponsor's exemption to the FBR Open next week outside Phoenix, and he got his answer Wednesday. The tournament gave its last spot to 20-year-old Jason Day.

Daly had his pick of exemptions last year, the first time he was not fully exempt since his 1991 victory in the PGA Championship, and he withdrew six times while dealing with a rib and shoulder injury.

During the off-season, Daly claimed that he wanted to salvage his career and was going to work with Butch Harmon toward that end. Well, he worked with Harmon in the days leading up to the Hope, but unfortunately, Harmon doesn't also run a babysitting service.

Although Daly's still wildly popular with golf fans, his fondness for withdrawing from tournaments makes giving him a coveted spot in the field problematic. Which means that if he continues down this path, he'll have two choices: quit golf altogether (and I don't even want to think about what kind of shape he'd be in six months after that announcement), or head to Q-school like every other golfer on the planet trying to earn their tour card.

Oh, and by the way, Jason Day is deserving of the exemption.

It's the start of the PGA Tour season which means a couple of things: first, Tiger Woods is at home (he's passed on the Hawaii leg of the early-season schedule for a couple of years, and now that he's a father, it was even less likely he'd leave the continental United States). And second, fans get their first look at the new faces on Tour, a couple of whom are ostensibly the next generation of golfers who are going to challenge Woods.

Twenty-year-old Aussie Jason Day is this year's rookie phenom. He's not even one completed tournament into his PGA Tour career and he's already catching heat for his comments on Woods. Don't misunderstand, he didn't pull a "Tilghman", but he could've conceivably pulled a "Rory."

Late last year, [Day told] ... the Herald Sun, that his goal is to be the No. 1 player in the world. "I'm sure I can take him down," he said of Woods. "I want to measure myself against Tiger Woods ... There's a lot of pressure and you try to handle it. All I want to do is work hard, win tournaments and catch up with Tiger. ..."

Oddly, Day has been criticized for just one quote, taken out of context: "I'm sure I can take him down." I saw Day make these comments and never did I think he was calling out Woods. In fact, Day said that Tiger changed his life, and made him recommit himself to his golf game.

At this week's Sony Open, Day admitted that he "didn't understand" all the attention, saying that "there are so many guys who want to be number one, but I chose to be honest about it and they crucified me." I don't get it either. Somehow I'm sure Rory Sabbatini had something to do with it.