Phil Out, O'Hair and Els Possibly In

Phil Mickelson injured his left wrist today while playing the first round at the Memorial and unfortunately had to pull out of the tournament. To be precise, today's injury was a reaggravation; he first injured the wrist while hitting out of rough at Oakmont last weekend during a practice session for the upcoming US Open. Asked for a comment, Fred Couples said, "That's precisely why I never practice." And, with Phil recently emerging as a serious challenger to Tiger's supremacy, Tiger added, "That's precisely why Phil should never practice."

Despite Phil's difficulties, the other golfers in the field carried on without him, some playing extremely well. The two most interesting stories involving golfers still in the tournament are no doubt Sean O'Hair and Ernie Els. O'Hair was the guy paired with Phil in the last round of the Players a few weeks ago, you know the guy who had a chance to win, albeit remotely, until he dumped two balls in the drink at 17. And Els is just the guy who everyone always assumed would be Tiger's greatest challenger, the guy who has repeatedly shown up in big events only to be consistently outplayed by someone who catches fire, and the guy who last year injured his knee and hasn't seemed right since. Well, the good news for both of these players is they're both playing well again in a high-profile event. I'd root for either guy to win, except...

Except for the fact that I told you yesterday that Sergio Garcia is winning this tournament, and regardless of how heart-warming it might be to see either of these guys win this thing, I would personally view it as much more heart-warming if I was to get this prediction right. Sergio's only four back, so he's definitely still in it. So unless Ernie Els or Sean O'Hair pledge their winnings to help solve the crisis in the Sudan, eliminate world hunger, or to slow down global warming, I'm gonna have to stick with Sergio. (I should mention that, If backed into a corner, I might consider switching allegiances if either of them would contribute just half of their winnings to filling in the potholes in my neighborhood.)

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Phil Out, O'Hair and Els Possibly In

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