FanHouse SamSnead

Golf is a game of superstitions. People mark their balls the same way every time (tails up for me), prepare the same, and, if things are going well, even eat the same meal all week. If golf had a Taj Mahal of superstitions, it would be winning the Par-3 Tournament at the Masters, a nine-hole event played every year since 1960 on the Wednesday before tournament day.

No player has won the Par-3 Tournament and gone on to win the Masters. Nobody. Ever.

Harry Varden, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus all have something in common at the U.S. Open -- they've all lost a U.S. Open playoff.

18 holes of grueling, stroke-match play on a golf course that's been beaten to pieces by the USGA, the field and the weather all week long and you're having to grind your way around it for one more day.

Tiger Woods wants to be in the same breath as those players in just about every category but this one, and he's playing a competitor in Rocco Mediate that is just about his worst possible foe, a guy with zero to lose.

Tiger's disappointments have never come from Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia or Vijay Singh in major championship stages, they've been Rich Beem, Zach Johnson and Michael Campbell, men that are just having that week.

Today's U.S. Open playoff is probably the most popular one since Lee Trevino threw a rubber snake at Nicklaus on the first tee at Merion Country Club in 1971, a U.S. Open that belonged to Trevino 18-holes later.

No, it isn't Buster Douglas versus Mike Tyson and it definitely isn't salmon eats bear, but Tiger has been pushed to the brink by a guy named Rocco, who keep smiling and joking and hitting fairways. Mediate probably won't win, because he's facing You Know Who, but it sure will be fun to see the two battle.

Just to stir the fire, only one has ever lost a playoff on the PGA Tour, and it isn't the man with a Peace sign belt buckle.

Even avid golf fans probably don't know much about Bart Bryant, the 45-year-old journeyman who spent much of the back nine of the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied atop the leaderboard with Tiger Woods.

Bryant, playing a group ahead of Woods, parred the difficult par-4 18th and made his way to the scorer's tent, presumably under the impression that the worst-case scenario would have he and Eldrick in a playoff.

Nah, that would seem to logical. Instead, Woods, who had been short with his putter all day -- and hadn't made a putt of more than 20 feet all week -- struck his second shot to 18 to the middle of the green, some 21 feet from the hole. After spending a good 90 seconds surveying his situation, Woods stroked the putt exactly 21 feet, the last revolution just sneaking over the lip. Birdie, 10-under, victory.

Woods is 3-0 in 2008, after finishing last season on a 2-0 run. He becomes the first player in PGA Tour history to win five consecutive tournaments on three different occasions, and runs his record to 43-3 when leading a tournament after 54 holes. His 64 career victories surpasses Arnold Palmer and ties Ben Hogan for third on the all-time list behind Jack Nicklaus (73) and Sam Snead (82).

And best of all, we're due another week of "Will Woods Go Undefeated in 2008!?!" talk. Awesome.

In an effort to liven up the otherwise boring Accenture Match Play Championship final between Tiger Woods against Stewart Cink, I joked earlier that one of the few bright spots for Cink was that the match wasn't dormie after the morning 18.

Well, Woods picked up right where he left off in the afternoon round. He had a four up lead to start the final 18 and he was eight up nine holes later. Woods finished Cink off two holes later -- with what seemed like his 50th kick-in birdie of the five-day tournament. He now has 63 wins, which moves him past Arnold Palmer on the career victories list. Next up: Ben Hogan (64), Jack Nicklaus (73) and Sam Snead (82). And because Eldrick is probably going to win every tournament he enters in 2008, he should pass Snead sometime in August.

So Cink doesn't pull off the most impressive comeback in PGA Tour history. Shocking. For Woods, he wins his second event of the 2008 season on American soil, and this follows on the heels of four victories in the final five PGA events last season, including the PGA Championship.

Some other mind-blowing stats, courtesy of NBC Sports. Woods' singles record in match play: