FARMINGDALE, N.Y. ....Atop most stories of woe on Tuesday was the par-4 seventh hole. At 489 yards it played into a slight breeze during practice rounds and the results were the stuff of legend. Up-and-coming Australian stud, Michael Sim, hardly among the fields shorter hitters, hit driver-driver and was short of the green. David Toms hit driver-3-wood and still had 30 yards to the putting surface, and J.B. Holmes, the poster child of the bomb-and-gouge set, made it to 15 feet hitting driver-5-wood.
I hit a good drive, right in the middle of the fairway, and had 241 (yards) in . . . 241, Stewart Cink sighed, repeating the distance as if to convince himself it really happened.
---------
Briny Baird is discovering the way to a New Yorkers heart is through his stomach.
At several turns Tuesday in his practice round, Baird heard the refrain: Thanks for the wrap, Briny!
Bairds excellent shot making won free chicken lettuce wraps at P.F. Changs for adults across the nation with the purchase of an entrée at the restaurant.
People yelling out thanks is pretty common out there, its funny, Baird said.
If you missed it, Baird won the wraps for customers of P.F. Chang's by climbing to the roof of the Omni San Diego Hotel last month and hitting a bulls-eye painted 375 feet below in right field of Petco Park. All he had to do was hit it once with 10 golf shots as part of the promotion, but he hit it eight times. He also won $25,000 for the San Diego Navy/Marine Corp Relief Society. Baird counts P.F. Changs among his sponsors and wears the company logo on his hat.
-------------
While greater New York was taking Phil Mickelson onto its burly shoulders early Wednesday, a member of Lefty's foursome was quietly making a statement.
Say what you will about a wet Bethpage taking the trophy out of the hands of the likes of mid-weight Jim Furyk, but the major winner looked Grand Slam good on hump day.
Furyk rolled in birdie putts from Montauk to Manhattan on his opening nine, the Black's back nine, and wasn't missing many greens or fairways.
---------
Ernie Els was walking off the driving range Tuesday afternoon when a woman asked the Big Easy for an autograph. He politely declined and continued walking.
Then she belted out in a thick New York accent, "Hey, but you promised me earlier that you'd sign."
Els chuckled and obliged for the lone request.
Then the man standing next to the woman retorted with, "Hey Ernie, don't worry about it. She promises me stuff all the time and doesn't deliver."
-tidbits from golfchannel.com
