FanHouse PhilMickelson

Phil Mickelson finished second in the U.S. Open two weeks ago, but with wife Amy beginning her breast cancer treatments soon, his playing schedule is up in the air. In the meantime, you can see Phil on his new "Secrets of the Short Game" DVD (in stores now!). And if the rest of the vid is anything like this -- demonstrating how to hit the backwards flop shot four feet from the pin -- it will remain a secret to most of us.

Last week, after five rain-soaked golf-crazed days at Bethpage Black, Lucas Glover emerged as the 109th U.S. Open champion. This is noteworthy for a number of reasons: Glover had missed his three previous Open cuts, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson -- for different reasons, the two most popular guys on tour -- didn't add to their major totals, and, finally, the fans.

It wasn't your typical outside-the-ropes golf experience, even by U.S. Open standards. But that's what made it different, special (for the most part, anyway). And after the tournament, it prompted Mickelson to suggest that Bethpage would be a perfect venue for a future Ryder Cup.

"The people here are incredible ... the course is terrific, because 16, 17 and 18 are so close together. And the way the fans are, I think we would have a big advantage."

Lucas Glover was born in Greenville, SC, played golf at Clemson, just won his first major -- the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, NY -- and more surprising than that, perhaps, he's a Yankees fan.

So even though Glover grew up 750 miles south of the Big Apple, he loves the city and its Bronx-based baseball team. Alex Rodriguez appreciates the support.

On Tuesday, after outlasting the field -- and the weather -- over five days, Lucas was in New York City, making the rounds, and that included a stop at the Ed Sullivan Theatre to rattle off the Top Ten List. Hilarity ensued.

Moving pictures after the jump.

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.

For 54 holes, Ricky Barnes was the best golfer on the planet. And then, in the few hours between his third and final round at the 109th U.S. Open, something happened. Maybe he finally realized that this was Bethpage Black and not some podunk Nationwide stop.

Or maybe his luck just ran out. It happens, especially to guys who have spent the previous six years trying to live up to expectations. After getting to 11-under early Sunday, and leading by as many as six strokes, Barnes came back to the field and begin his final 18 at 8-under, just one shot clear of Lucas Glover.

On No. 1, Barnes pull-hooked his tee shot into the junk, and bumbled his way to an ugly bogey. On the second tee, he hit his tee shot left again, this time a shank. And before he could make matters worse, the horn sounded, suspending play for the evening.

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Ricky Barnes won the U.S. Amateur in 2002, and was the low amateur at the 2003 Masters, T-21, playing with Tiger Woods in the first two rounds. In the six years since, he's bounced between the Nationwide and PGA Tours, but through 36 holes at the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, he's the best golfer on the property. (Hitting 90 percent -- 90 PERCENT! -- of the greens, and going 6-under on the par-4 holes doesn't hurt.)

In fact, his three-day, 132 total (8-under) sets the tournament record for a low score through two rounds. Lucas Glover, who had missed his three previous U.S. Open cuts is one shot behind Barnes. Mike Weir is at 6-under and the second-best story this week behind Phil Mickelson (who is currently 1-under and tied for 11th ), David Duval, is tied for fourth at 3-under.

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On Wednesday, Phil Mickelson told the media that "I'm hitting the ball better than I have in a long time, possibly ever." It was hard to fathom given that he had played just one tournament in a month, and that was after learning that his wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

But sports, even with all the corporate sponsorships and multi-million-dollar television deals, serve as a distraction from real life, and maybe that's how Phil is approaching U.S. Open week.

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The best word to describe Brian Gay's week: methodical. Fairways, greens, and a lot of birdie looks. Not particularly exciting -- and CBS would confirm as much -- but a win is a win, and for Gay, he made it look effortless.

And while he'll never be mistaken for Tiger Woods, he played the role of Boring Robot Golfer perfectly. (And let's be honest, if Tiger wins like this, we're slobbering all over ourselves to extol his greatness. And, yeah, I'd be leading the charge.) And the way Gay played the 72nd hole was a microcosm of his week. Middle of the fairway, second shot to four feet -- CBS' David Feherty described it, mid-flight, as "unnecessarily good." That turned out to be an understatement -- and, predictably, a birdie to top off a splendid 72 holes of golf.

Any other year and we'd be talking about guys using the this week's tournament to prepare for next week's U.S. Open. Instead, the story line is Phil Mickelson's return to the course three weeks after learning that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. He gutted out a 68 on Thursday in possibly his best round of the year.

The next biggest story -- a distant second to the Mickelson family news -- was the return of John Daly to the PGA Tour after a six-month suspension for various Hooters-related issues. Daly used the time away to reinvent himself; he's 40 pounds lighter, nattily dressed, and, for the first time in a long time, admits that he's taking golf seriously.