FanHouse Stuart Appleby

Before Phil Mickelson broke through at the 2004 Masters, Lefty held the ultimate "kissing your sister" title. Phil was the "best player to never have won a major championship." Sure, Phil had made waves in majors, nearly taking the title at the 1999 U.S. Open and the 2001 PGA Championship, but he couldn't break through. Once the infamous birdie leap occurred at Augusta National in '04, Mickelson passed that title off to someone. The thing is, nobody has really grabbed it as feverishly as Phil did. He was the major-less face. Now, according to Forbes, it isn't Sergio Garcia.

Good news is fleeting when you're John Daly. His life -- to borrow a phrase from Stuart Appleby -- has been a train wreck, which makes his two major championship victories all the more impressive. Those days are in the rearview, and Daly, who hasn't had his PGA Tour card in more than two years, is just trying to find his game.

A strong showing in Hong Kong last month was a good start, but, well, that didn't last.

Daly's competing in the Australian Open this week, and his 6-over, 78 in Round 1 wasn't just your run-of-the-mill bogey-filled performance. Nope, in addition to the on-course atrocities, JD also found time to take out his frustrations on a spectator.

After pushing his tee shot wide on the ninth hole - his last - Daly walked into a clump of trees, where spectator Brad Clegg tried to take a picture at close range.

Daly snatched the camera and smashed it against the nearest tree, telling the man, ``You want it back, I'll buy you a new one.''

But before you just assume the worst (lookin' at you, Stu), Daly can explain:

Yesterday, Bacon pointed out that Stuart Appleby, dispensing with the niceties, had this to say about John Daly: "I guess he's a walking train wreck and unfortunately, people turn their heads to watch the train wreck."

Appleby's right, of course. After finally stringing together a few good rounds, Daly is still a mess, still without his PGA Tour card, and, amazingly, still wildly popular despite his this-is-not-a-misprint 603rd world ranking.

But as Bacon points out, "As for the train wreck thing, that is Daly's niche. He is the 'people's golfer' because he, like most of us, is a little crazy and wears his heart right over that Hooters patch on his sleeve." Sorta like the "people's champ" but less embarrassing.

But Daly claims that he's trying to clean up his life, even if his actions suggest otherwise. In response to Appleby's "train wreck" observations, Big John offered this:

I really can't remember the last time I've found the U.S. Open more enjoyable. A tournament that usually has people looking like the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, the course has been fair and the players have appreciated the set-up.

Also, it never hurts when Tiger Woods, after eight weeks off from competitive golf, is one shot back, making fist-pumping eagles and shooting a completely alien five-under 30 on the back nine yesterday.

You've had Phil Mickelson do things that, well, don't surprise you from Phil, Ernie Els bring form to the U.S. Open that we haven't seen since Brett Favre was winning a Super Bowl and even a caddy--spectator fight!

Before you tune in to coverage this afternoon, check the list of players in the top-10, their current position, some facts about them and the FanHouse odds on them winning.

We're halfway through this U.S. Open thing and Tiger Woods, as has been the case for every tournament he's entered in 2008, is on the front page of the leaderboard. This time, though, the difference is that he's fresh off left knee surgery, and last teed it up at the Masters.

Most of the last five weeks has involved media speculation about the state of Woods' game upon his return. And Thursday's opening round, despite two double bogeys (prior to this week, Eldrick hadn't carded a double bogey all year, and had only five in ten years at Torrey Pines), wasn't all that surprising given the circumstances.

But we're talking about Tiger Woods, and 2-over, even at the U.S. Open, even with one good knee, is somehow a disappointment. Things actually got worse before they got better, though; on Friday, Tiger went out in 38, made the turn at 3-over for the tournament, and looked to tweak his knee while hitting a shot off the cart path.

But something happened between Woods' 9th and 10th holes on Friday because he fired a 30 on the back nine, had birdies on four of his first five holes after the turn, and birdied his 18th to get to 2-under for the tournament.

The U.S. Open starts today, and because it's a major championship and none of the scribes here at FanHouse made the field, we are presenting a full report on every player in the field. From Michael Allen to Tiger Woods, and every potential Angel Cabrera that will have his name called Thursday morning, here is what we offer. This list gives you the player, their best finish in a U.S. Open and something interesting about them, anything from the way they play major championship golf to them throwing the deuces in their Facebook page. You know, hard hitting journalism. We will present them alphabetically, 10 excited golfers at a time.

For the complete list of players, check out the other pages:
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Here it is, your FanHouse Media Guide.

• Michael Allen -- t-12 -- The definitive golf journeyman, Allen has had success a total of once at the U.S. Open, coming in 2001. He's never won on the PGA Tour, so I'm heading out on a limb and not taking him as my early favorite. Also, he'd be only the second "Michael" to ever win this tournament (Campbell) and the first with the last name Allen.
  

• Robert Allenby -- T-7 -- The 36-year-old has never finished in the top-five of a major and hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2001, so maybe not the safest bet, but if the U.S. Open is ever hosted in, say Australia, look out (12 pro victories in his home country).

• Stuart Appleby (above) -- t-10 -- You couldn't name this major as one of his favorites. Since his t-10 in 1998, the Australian has only made two cuts.

• Stephen Ames -- t-9 -- Maybe not somebody that would come up in early "potential winner" conversation, but two top-10s in the last four years show he can play in the toughest conditions. Also, he's from Trinidad and Tobago, which, for some reason, makes me like him more.

• Phillip Archer -- t-48 -- Archer is from England. He almost shot a 59 in the Celtic Manor Wales Open but missed the birdie putt on 18. That's about all Al Gore has provided us about Archer on the world wide web.

• Woody Austin -- t-23 -- They say majors expose your weaknesses, and with a spotty short game, it's done just that. Interesting fact -- Austin was Rookie of the Year on tour the year before Tiger, even though he's 12 years older.

• Eric Axley -- CUT -- This is the fifth straight U.S. Open Axley has qualified for, but he hasn't made the cut in a single one. USGA – 4, Axley – 0.

• Aaron Baddeley -- t-13 -- The good news? Badds has been in contention at an Open, leading at Oakmont in 2007 after the first three rounds. The bad news? He shot 80 in the last round to finish in a tie for 13^th

• Craig Barlow -- t-26 -- I'll allow the articulate genius of Wikipedia to take over this one for me. "In 2006, he was partnered with golfing legend Jeff Sluman for the final round of the U.S. Open. On the par-4 18th hole, as Barlow was about to tee off, a cart rode by on a path running parallel to the hole. Sluman motioned to the cart driver to halt driving as a courtesy to Barlow, who might have been distracted had the cart continued." Wow, now that is deep stuff. Sucks for the author of that paragraph because I now have the premise for my Oscar winning sports screenplay.
  
• Rich Beem -- CUT -- Yikes, Beemer is 0-6 in making the cut at the U.S. Open. That will never stop him from getting really excited around his birthday.

There's two basic ways to prep for the Masters: 1. Show up early and get prepared for its unique challenges; or 2. Play a tournament the week before because the best preparation to play tournament golf is to play under pressure.

This year for the first time, the tournament the week before the Masters was the Shell Houston Open. Though the SHO had a large overseas contigent of players, the field had only 23 players who were also going to be playing at Augusta. Even so, the SHO tried to sell the tournament to the players as a Masters prep, and tried to replicate those conditions the best they could even though Houston is mostly flat and the greens at the SHO are bermuda.

It turns out that if you look at the top 16 including ties at the 2007 Masters, 5 of those players also played at the SHO: Padraig Harrington, Stuart Appleby, David Toms, Vaughn Taylor, and Tim Clark. By my count, 15 other SHO players also made the Masters cut. Seems to me that 20 out of 23 making the weekend at Augusta ain't bad.

Another benefit to the Shell Houston Open is Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne's announcement that they were reinstating the long-standing policy that allows tour winners to receive automatic invitations to the Masters. This will encourage good players not already in the Masters field to give it one last shot to qualify for it at the SHO.

Correction: Please see the comment from the SHO tournament director here. He says in part: "We cannot stress enough that the green surfaces at this time of year are NOT bermuda grass. At this time of year in our area bernuda grass is dormant. We have heavily overseeded greens with a bent and poa trivialis mix which allows us to maintain more consistency and faster green speeds (weather permitting)." Well, apparently, their hard work paid off for the players who played both the SHO and the Masters.

We all know that Augusta National is a bit sensitive about what is said during Masters broadcasts, and I imagine there was some cringing going on just moments ago. After an errant shot on the eighth hole, Stuart Appleby said the f-word, and the folks in the CBS truck didn't get their fingers on the button in time, putting the dirtiest of dirty words into the living rooms of millions on Easter Sunday.

CBS commentator Nick Faldo has already bemoaned the demeanor of some of the fans who are shouting "Get in the hole!" on all of Tiger Woods' shots. But now a golfer himself has gone far beyond that.

Think this is no big deal? Trust me, it's a huge deal to the people at Augusta. It's also a huge deal to the people who get upset about things like Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction and the New Orleans Saints fan who was on TV wearing a "F--- Da Eagles" T-shirt during this year's NFL playoffs. Everyone on CBS pretended not to hear it, but lots of viewers heard it.

UPDATE: Larry Brown Sports has the audio.

UPDATE 2: Vijay Singh Was More Profane Than Stuart Appleby

I like Stuart Appleby, and I would love to see him win his first major today. But I -- like just about every other golf fan on the planet -- love Tiger Woods. And I wouldn't be too upset if he got one step closer to Jack Nicklaus's 18-major record.

The Golf Channel just slapped up this graphic, which is pretty sobering if you're Woods' playing partner in the final group:

2006 PGA - Tiger, 68; Luke Donald, 74
2006 British Open - Tiger, 67; Sergio Garcia, 73
2005 British Open - Tiger, 70; Jose Maria Olazabal, 74
2002 U.S. Open - Tiger, 72; Chris DiMarco, 68
2002 Masters - Tiger, 71; Retief Goosen, 74
2001 Masters - Tiger, 68; Phil Mickelson, 70
2000 PGA - Tiger, 67; Bob May, 66
2000 British Open - Tiger, 69; David Duval, 75
1999 PGA - Tiger, 72; Mike Weir, 80
1997 Masters - Tiger, 69; Costantino Rocca, 75

Well, the good news, I guess, is that Tiger isn't infallible. But interestingly, it wasn't the big-named players who made a run at Eldrick -- it was Bob May and Chris DiMarco. Don't get me wrong, DiMarco's no scrub, but he has yet to win a major (though I thought he had in '05), and not many people would argue that he's better than Goosen, Mickelson, Duval (in his prime) or Mike Weir.

Whatever, for today Stuart Appleby should channel Bob May.

When Tiger Woods finished his bogey-bogey round Saturday, he found himself at 3-over for the tournament, four back of the leaders. As he retired to the practice range, a strange thing happened, though:

Stuart Appleby butchered the 17th hole, making a triple-bogey. Justin Rose bogeyed two of the last three holes. Vaughn Taylor bogeyed the last three. And Woods looked up and found himself in the final pairing today with Appleby. Wow.

Wow is right. Now, barring a surge from a player not in the final group, it's basically match play for Appleby and Woods. As ESPN.com's Bob Harig writes, Woods sneaking into the last pairing is huge because "he winner has come from the final pairing at the Masters in each of the past 16 years." But it's not like Phil Mickelson should just go ahead slap the green jacket on Woods -- Appleby does lead by a shot, and he also has history on his side:

Woods has never won a major coming from behind.

Let's just hope this turns out to be more like the 2005 Masters -- when Chris DiMarco took Woods to overtime -- and nothing like the play of the leaders at the start of yesterday's round.