FanHouse TigerWoods

Golf keeps wanting to see a final-round tough-guy battle between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for a tournament title. It gets one and it's halfway around the world.

At the World Golf Championship - HSBC in Shanghai, China, Mickelson holds a two shot lead over Woods and fellow American Nick Watney going into Sunday's final round.

Mickelson shot 67 Saturday to go 14-under while both Woods and Watney posted 70s to stand 12 under.

Tiger Woods is a decent golfer (duh). He can hit the ball farther than most normal humans off the tee (again, duh). And if he ever went head-to-head in a driving contest against some random person from New Jersey on a golf course in North Carolina, and said random person was a 12-year-old, he would win the driving contest pretty easily, right?

In the words of the Lee Corso, "Not so fast my friend." Turns out, Tiger actually got beatdown by New Jersey native Mark Beneveto, Jr., while showing off his new course in Asheville.

Charles Barkley is a former Dream Teamer, an NBA Hall of Famer, a studio analyst for TNT, and the owner of the worst golf swing you'll ever see. He also has thoughts on everything under the sun, which somehow makes him more likable.

Barkley appeared on ESPN Radio Dallas this week to talk about, well, a lot of stuff. Among the topics: the NFL's rules on protecting the quarterback.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tiger Woods debuted this week as the first billion-dollar athlete. If that thought left you bemused, perplexed or angry, Woods showed Saturday why people throw money at him.

He's worth it.

Example No. 3,539 -- With the International team losing its grip on the Presidents Cup, he made a 24-foot putt to tie his match on the 17th hole. His next swing was a 229-yard laser that ended up 15 feet from the hole.

The International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark literally surrendered.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Anything with the name Presidents Cup sounds like it is ripe for a Golf Czar appointment.

Are you qualified to rule over this week's PGA Tour team matches between the United States and an International squad of non-Europeans that tees off Thursday at Harding Park Golf Club?

Take this test and decide for yourself.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer is a huge sports fan who tells us that he use to be a boxer and these days he enjoys golf. In this FanHouse exclusive we talk to Cedric at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California (not to be confused with the Sherwood Forest -- home of Robin Hood). Cedric who hangs out with lots of top athletes tells us about the time he was doing Vegas with Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Charles Barkley.

Check out the video after the jump.

I've often wondered if Tiger Woods ever wears anything other than Nike-issued apparel. The answer, apparently, is no. Tiger was on the Colts sideline during the Monday Night Indy-Miami game and save a Stanford hat (Nike, no doubt), he looked like he just finished a tournament round. It certainly simplifies the "What am I going to wear today?" conversation.

Now that the Deutsche Bank Championship is in the books, we're at the halfway point of the FedEx Cup. The BMW Championship is up next, followed by the Tour Championship. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves: unlike the Barclays, which played more like a pro-am than a playoff, the Deutsche Bank made for compelling viewing.

First things first: Tiger Woods, who tied for second last week, started Monday's round nine strokes behind the leaders, fired a 63 to move into third, before eventually finishing tied for 10th. Not bad for a guy who began the day in 30th place.

Heath Slocum was, by all accounts, the unlikeliest of golfers to win the Barclays. Sure, he had the lead late, but Tiger Woods was charging, Ernie Els was just a stroke back, Steve Stricker was matching him shot-for-shot and, most importantly, he had a lengthy par putt on 18 to secure, at worst, a playoff with Stricker.

But he buried the putt, Stricker missed and Slocum only had to avoid an eagle hole-out from Frederik Jacobson to win the Barclays -- his third tournament win ever -- in surprising fashion given his 72 and 70 in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Webb Simpson, who led the majority of the tournament, must have heard the proverbial footsteps that we talk about any time Tiger is just a few strokes behind the leaders heading into Sunday of a tournament. Either that or we can just chalk up Simpson's Sunday meltdown to inexperience.

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