Here’s the leader board…

Leaderboard

AUGUSTA, Ga. — They played deep into the shadows of a warm spring evening, a middle-aged man with a hiccup in his swing and an Argentine with a going draw. Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera comprised the final act of a wild Masters Sunday, a day of high drama and loud roars that recalled the old-time magic of this beloved tournament.

When the 39-year-old Cabrera saved par from the trees to the right of the first playoff hole — where the third man in the sudden death shootout, Chad Campbell, succumbed with a bogey — he earned a reprieve to keep battling Perry, and an already special Masters became just a little more intense. From the middle of the 10th fairway, the second playoff hole, Perry pulled his approach shot wide left of the green and missed his 20-footer for par. Cabrera hit his approach just below the hole and safely two-putted.

At dusk, the former caddie became a Masters champion.

For much of the last half hour of regulation, Perry seemed destined to become the oldest major champion in the sport’s history. Instead, the 48-year-old bogeyed the final two holes, spending a two-shot lead while fighting his swing. “I was determined to win,” Perry said afterwards, “and I lost the tournament.”

On the same day that Perry saw his major championship dreams die, the Masters made a triumphant return as the most glamorous, important and thrilling tournament in golf.

It became apparent as early as Thursday’s first round that this year’s Masters would be different, thanks to warm weather, soft greens and favorable pin positions. For the past two years Augusta National officials have received a barrage of criticism from players, fans and the media about the difficult course set-ups, which were further exacerbated by cold and windy conditions. The 2009 edition was reminiscent of the tournament’s glorious past, when birdies and eagles altered the leader board in a flash. On Thursday Campbell made a record five birdies in a row to start his round. The following day, Anthony Kim carded a record 11 birdies in his round.

Still, disaster was always just a single shot away, with Rae’s Creek claiming plenty of victims (including Mickelson’s tee shot on the par-3 12th on Sunday, leading to a double bogey) and slippery greens that tested even the most confident of putters.

“You know,” club chairman Billy Payne said on the eve of the tournament, “I think we have it about right.”

But it was the titanic pairing of Woods and Mickelson on Sunday that propelled this Masters on a day-long thrill ride. The long-time antagonists almost turned the first major of the year into made-for-TV match play, pulling thousands to their gallery on a gorgeous spring day. Mickelson’s wife, Amy, was part of the crowd. A dozen Nike employees, led by company founder Phil Knight, followed along wearing red shirts.

Trailing by seven shots as the day began, Mickelson shot a record-tying 30 on the front nine, carding six birdies in a seven-hole stretch in some of the best golf ever played at Augusta National. Woods, also seven shots down at the start, made his own ruckus, rolling in an eagle on the par-5 8th and threatening the leaders before a pair of closing bogeys sent him tumbling down the board. Woods finished with a round of 68, his best of the week but still four shots shy of the playoff.

Mickelson, too, was right in the mix, surging toward his third green jacket and fourth major title. He missed a four-footer for eagle on the 15th hole and then stalled with two straight pars and a closing bogey that left him with a round of 67 and solo fifth place, three shots back.

With Mickelson and Woods out of it, the Masters stage was left to Perry, Campbell and Cabrera. It was Cabrera who held off Woods and Jim Furyk to win the US Open at Oakmont Country Club two years ago, while puffing on a cigarette between shots. The burly Cabrera has since quit smoking, but he still hammers his golf ball like few in the business. After making birdies at 15 and 16, he made a four-footer to save par on the 72nd hole and earn a spot in a three-man playoff.

On the first playoff hole (No. 18), he looked finished after he pushed his tee shot into the woods on the right and then smacked his attempted escape off a tree. His ball ricocheted into the fairway, from where he made a superb up-and-down for par, rolling in a downhill, six-foot putt. One hole later he claimed the title.

“I had confidence,” Cabrera said. “I was just trying to enjoy the moment.”

He wasn’t alone. Golf shirts, sun dresses and birdie roars ruled the day, as expert shot making, heart-breaking bogeys, and various plotlines defined the tournament: Woods bidding to begin a run at the Grand Slam; Mickelson trying to break a major-less streak now three years long; Padraig Harrington searching for his third major in a row; Perry wanting to win a major for his elderly and ailing parents.

Everyone in the field had a story and, once again, Augusta National offered a great stage for them to be told.

“This is the Masters,” Cabrera said, the green jacket snug on his large frame. “It’s a course that you can do a lot of birdies, a lot of bogeys. A lot of magical things happen. It’s simply the Masters.”

Once more, it was simply the best.

To those, like my colleague Farrell Evans, who still are skeptical of the drawing power of 19-year-old LPGA rookie Michelle Wie: You’re wrong.

At last week’s SBS Open at Turtle Bay, Wie lost a three-shot lead on the back nine in last Saturday’s final round and finished three strokes behind victor Angela Stanford.

But the Valentine’s Day effort clearly won viewers’ hearts. As reported today by SportsBusiness Journal’s Jon Show, “Wie’s second-place finish in her first event as a member of the LPGA tour resulted in near-record interest from TV viewers and Web surfers.”

The three-day telecast by Golf Channel averaged 323,000 households, up 34% from the 2008 number. Final-round coverage drew 428,000 households, the fourth-largest audience for a single LPGA round on the channel. Show also reports that during the week of the SBS Open, LPGA.com registered 5.2 million page views, up 55% from last year’s event and the second-highest traffic since the site registered 6.1 million page views for the ‘06 Evian Masters, an event in which Wie finished tied for second.

No doubt it helped that the telecast each night was live and edged into prime time in the viewer-heavy Eastern time zone.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Phil Mickelson was in contention for the first time all year and wanted to make sure he stayed there.

Moments after signing his scorecard following the second round – nine shots worse than his opening round – he called Butch Harmon in Las Vegas and asked if he could meet him on the range Saturday morning at Riviera.

The work paid off in a big way at the Northern Trust Open.

Mickelson made four straight birdies in the final hour of the third round to pull away from a strong leaderboard with a 9-under 62, topping his personal best at Riviera he had set two days earlier and building a four-shot lead going into the final round.

“He’s pretty good at what he does,” Mickelson said. “Having him be able to be right there and identify it was nice.”

Lefty had a chance to tie the course record until his 10-foot birdie on the 18th hole was struck too hard and missed above the hole, but that was no reason to complain. He was at 16-under 197, four shots clear of Andres Romero.

A parabola could be used to diagram his first three days – 63-72-62. All that matters to Mickelson is that after a sluggish start to his West Coast Swing, he believes he’s headed down the right path.

“I feel like – I don’t want to say back on track – but I have a direction of where I want to go, and my iron play was much, much better because of it,” he said.

Five players had at least a share of the lead at one point in the third round, but what had been shaping up as a shootout at Riviera soon turned into a showcase for Mickelson.

It began with a tee shot into 4 feet on the par-3 14th for the outright lead. Mickelson followed that with an 8-foot birdie on the 15th, a 35-foot birdie on the 16th, and an up-and-down from the bunker on the par-5 17th for his fourth straight birdie.

“To see a few putts go in, it’s obviously a great feeling because it rewards the iron play,” Mickelson said.

Just his luck, Harmon had returned Friday from a vacation in the Bahamas.

“We mostly worked on his lower body, keep it quiet,” Harmon said. The idea was to keep Mickelson’s legs more still to allow him more freedom to swing. It must have worked, for Mickelson only missed four fairways and two greens and put together his lowest score since he opened with a 62 at Spyglass Hill four years ago in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Romero did his part to keep close with birdies on his last three holes that he called “close to perfect,” giving him a 65. He will need a big round, but the Argentine has shown he is capable. He made 10 birdies in 16 holes two years ago in the final round at Carnoustie, the toughest links in the British Open rotation.

“I have a lot of confidence in the putter, just like when I made those 10 birdies at Carnoustie,” he said. “I am four shots behind Mickelson, the defending champion. It’s a tough job, but I will try to do my best. It’s not against him, it’s against the course. And if I play good against the course, maybe I have a chance.”

They will be joined in the last group by Fred Couples, who was poised to give himself a good chance to win with a 65, only to see a familiar face spoil the occasion.

The last time Couples was in the last group was the 2006 Masters – with Mickelson, who went on to win.

Couples, at 49 and in his last full year on the PGA Tour, shot 30 on the front nine and briefly held the lead on his favorite golf course east of Augusta. He shot a 65 and walked off the 18th green only one shot out of the lead.

By the time he reached the media center, Mickelson had run off three straight birdies. When Couples finished his interview, Lefty already had made his fourth in a row and posted his 62.

“This is my big day tomorrow to have a shot at winning,” Couples said. “I don’t want these guys being 19 under. When I was coming down in the cart, I was telling the guy I thought maybe another 6 under might do it. Might need a 9 under.”

The way Mickelson is going, even that might not be enough. This is his largest 54-hole lead since he was ahead by eight shots at the BellSouth Classic in 2006, winning by 13.

The Associated Press

Early last October, NBC unveiled the 16-member cast of “Celebrity Apprentice” to reporters. Everyone on hand at the locked-down news conference swore to keep the participants’ identities a secret until NBC said “go.”

With NBC now issuing its cue Thursday to go public, the major media can take pride at having kept the lid on names like country music’s Clint Black, TV personality Khloe Kardashian and former “Baywatch” babe Brande Roderick.

Also vying for the title of “Celebrity Apprentice,” when the reality series returns for its eighth season March 1, is former Olympic figure skating gold medalist Scott Hamilton, singer Brian McKnight, comedian Tom Green and former football great Herschel Walker, poker champ Annie Duke, LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis (above), “Deal or No Deal” model Claudia Jordan, singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and former “Monster Garage” host Jesse James, a custom bike and car builder.

NBC’s own Conan O’Brien spilled a few beans during a “Late Night” monologue. After blurting out a couple of the show’s players, he cracked, “Apparently the new season of the show is called ‘Celebrity Apprentice: 1988.’”

“I have a competitive nature,” said Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy as a junior at the University of Georgia, “but this (show) is really different, where some people are conniving and cheating. I say, I’m gonna stay true to my morals … I tell ‘em, I’m just a little country boy from Georgia.”

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Fifteen of his 34 victories have come during the West Coast swing, but the fact Phil Mickelson has failed to break 70 this year does not mean it’s time for him to panic just yet.

Even so, Mickelson only has two tournaments left – the Northern Trust Open and the Accenture Match Play Championship – to avoid leaving the West Coast without a single top 10 for the first time in his 17 years on the PGA Tour.

“It’s been more challenging this year, for whatever reason,” Mickelson said after he made a daring birdie on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach to make the cut on the number. He wound up tied for 55th when the final round was rained out.

Mickelson struggled with his driver at the FBR Open and missed the cut. He didn’t hole enough putts at Torrey Pines and tied for 42nd in the Buick Invitational. And whatever progress he was making at Pebble Beach was halted with one bad swing.

Lefty birdied his first three holes and was 3 under for the tournament until he hooked a 5-iron with a left-to-right wind. The ball hit a cart path and went out of bounds, leading to triple bogey. It was his second OB in as many days – on the other one, he salvaged a bogey on a par 5 at Poppy Hills.

“I’m making dumb mistakes, a couple of squirrelly shots, I haven’t putted the best,” Mickelson said.

Lefty has won on the West Coast seven of the last nine years, and he has had at least two top 10s on the West Coast during that stretch. The two years he won the Masters (2004, 2006), he had at least four top 10s in California and Arizona.

Mickelson is coming up on the two-year anniversary of when he began working with Butch Harmon, and while he lost the summer of ‘07 due to a wrist injury, there remains speculation that his two-coach system isn’t best for his game.

Dave Pelz works with his short game and supplies more statistics than most golfers can digest. The long game belongs to Harmon, who is built more toward feel.

Mickelson has been around too long to worry over a ragged start, although he is starting to grind. In the hour before Sunday’s round at Pebble Beach was suspended because of rain, Mickelson was a lone figure on the range as he went through five buckets of balls.

Sorry folks for the lazy updates. This is basically the situation for the past weeks.

Michelle earns a card, and respect
Posted at 7:10 PM by Top 100 Teacher Carol Preisinger | Categories: Michelle Wie
I have to admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of the Michelle Wie camp. I’ve seen firsthand the high expectations a father can have for his child’s playing potential. As the daughter of a retired life member of the PGA, I’m occasionally reminded of my father’s hope, way back in the 1970s, that I would be the next Laura Baugh. But my father’s dream never turned into a nightmare. I’ve always disagreed with the way B.J. Wie chose to orchestrate his daughter’s public persona, and as that arrangement started to melt down, I began to feel sorry for Michelle. Now, I have completely made a 180-degree turn and owe a little respect to Michelle Wie, although my verdict is still out on the people around her.

Still a student at Stanford this fall, Michelle decided to go for her LPGA Tour card and she succeeded, making good decisions and producing great results. So far, the only controversy she has created is by keeping quiet, choosing to stay focused on her game and maybe to avoid saying something controversial. She has finally accepted that there are no short cuts to success.

Of course, she needed her LPGA card more than ever this year, as her sponsors’ exemption act was wearing thin at age 19. But whatever her reasons, at least she is out there earning her way among everyone else who has earned their way. And with that, my hope is that Michelle will mature and earn back the respect that we have held from her. She will wake up next week with her Tour card, and perhaps look back on the last several years as just a bad dream.

Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Carol Preisinger has been LPGA teaching professional for more than 20 years. She teaches at the Kiawah Island Club in

South Carolina

(AP) — Fresh off a disqualification on the LPGA Tour, Michelle Wie has decided to tee it up against the men, again.

Wie will play next week in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, the first time she’ll play on the PGA Tour this year, tournament organizers said.

It will be her eighth time playing on the PGA Tour, and she has yet to make a cut. The only time Wie has made money playing against the men was on the Korean Tour, in 2006, at the SK Telcom Open.

“It’s not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world,” Wie said in a statement. “This is a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from these great players and take those lessons into the future to becoming the best player I can be on any tour. This is another step in the process of making me a better player.”

Wie, who is 18 and attends Stanford part time, has no status on any tour. She has only one sponsor’s exemption left this year. She will be playing her seventh and final LPGA Tour event of this year at the CN Canadian Women’s Open in August.

The Reno-Tahoe Open starts July 31 at Montreux Golf & Country Club. The Nevada tournament is one of the weakest fields on the PGA Tour, held opposite the World Golf Championship in Ohio. Steve Flesch won the Reno-Tahoe Open last year.

“This will be a great experience for the community to see a player like Michelle in this setting,” tournament director Michael Stearns said in a statement. “Michelle is getting her game together, she’s getting back in the swing of things and we have no problem extending her this opportunity.”

Wie showed signs of improvement this past weekend at the State Farm Classic in Illinois. She was a shot off the lead going into the final round when Tour officials discovered that she had left the scoring area without signing her scorecard after Friday’s second round. Wie finished her round Saturday, and after officials spoke with her about the scorecard problem, she was disqualified.

A win or high finish would have all but guaranteed her enough money to finish in the top 80 LPGA players this year, the cutoff for automatic inclusion in next year’s tour.

There’s been speculation Wie would concentrate solely on women’s competition, especially after last year when she injured both wrists and made only two cuts.

Wie’s chances of securing a 2009 LPGA Tour card now rest with her winning roughly $80,000 in her final tournament, which probably would take a top-three finish. Otherwise, she could be headed to the first of two stages of qualifying.

“I think the qualifying conflicts with school, so I probably won’t go to that,” Wie said last month at the U.S. Women’s Open in Minnesota. But that was when she had greater hopes of winning enough money to become exempt for next year.

Her father made it sound as though Q-school was a distinct possibility at the time.

“What other options do we have?” he said.

SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) — Just like the last two weeks, Paula Creamer didn’t play well in the final round of a tournament.

This time, she didn’t have to.

Creamer shot a 2-over 73 Sunday and did just enough to make a big lead stand, going wire-to-wire to win the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic by two strokes.

“I learned you have to stay in your own world,” Creamer said after capturing her seventh career win and third this year. “It doesn’t matter what other people do until you’re walking down the 18th fairway.”

Two weeks ago, while near the top of the leaderboard at the U.S. Women’s Open, she sagged to a 78 to finish in a tie for sixth. Last week at the tour stop in Arkansas, she had a 74 to fall out of contention.

Given another chance, she always seemed to come up with a clutch shot when most needed.

Asked what she was thinking as she approached the final green to a huge ovation, she said, “It’s over!” Then she added, “You try to soak it up because you never know when the next one is going to be.”

Creamer, who won $195,000, had worse scores every day after breaking the tournament record with an 11-under 60 in the first round. She followed that with a 65 and a 70 to finish at 16-under 268, two shots better than Nicole Castrale who closed fast with a 64.

The 21-year-old Californian said it wasn’t easy.

“After you shoot 60, I swear, it’s the hardest thing. Anything over that and you feel like you’re shooting 85,” she said, laughing. “Everybody’s saying, congratulations, congratulations. But you’ve still got three days left.”

Creamer represents the tournament’s title sponsor, which features a pink panther in its advertising. Creamer, who felt she let Owens Corning down when she missed the cut at the Farr in 2007, is known for her pink clothing ensembles, not to mention using pink golf balls, pink grips on her clubs, a pink golf bag and a pink panther club-head cover.

While laying claim to that color, she didn’t put many red numbers on the leaderboard in the final round.

Ahead by four shots at the start, Creamer was fortunate to get away with a bogey on the first hole after chipping out of a bad lie with her tee shot. She had seven pars in a row until reaching the par-4 ninth, where her approach flew over the green. After getting a free drop so she wouldn’t hit the grandstand on her backswing, she hit a flop shot that stopped about 10 feet away. She pumped her right fist – just as she had on the long bogey putt at No. 1 – after rolling in the par-saving putt.

“That was huge,” she said. “That was a great up-and-down. That was probably the biggest moment of the day.”

She saw her lead drop to a shot when rookie Shanshan Feng – the first exempt player from China to play on the LPGA Tour – pushed her with five birdies through her first 11 holes.

Feng said she wasn’t paying any attention to Creamer.

“Just before the tournament, my dad, he’s in China now, he called me and he told me to keep calm and just play my ball,” she said. “(He said) ‘What the others do, it doesn’t matter.’ So I didn’t let it bother me at all.”

Feng, however, quickly fell back with three straight bogeys down the stretch, although she had her best finish of the year. She said she might even buy her father a new car with a portion of the $66,000 she won for finishing fourth.

South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji, second to Creamer after each of the first three rounds, shot a 72 and was a shot back of Castrale at 271. Feng had a 69 for 272, followed by Karrie Webb who shot a 70 and was at 273.

Castrale was 1 under on the windy day through 10 holes but had a 6-under 31 on the back nine.

“When I got to 13 and I had two par-5s left, my goal was to try to birdie both and post a number and let her (Creamer) see it and basically see what happens,” said Castrale, who has had three top 10s in her last six tournaments.

She almost holed her third shot for eagle on the 17th before settling for birdie. But she never got closer than two shots.

Creamer played the last six holes in even-par, good enough to hold off all the threats. She had 21 birdies and three bogeys the first 54 holes – and one birdie and the same number of bogeys in the final round.

When the heat was on, she remembered to forget about missing that Farr cut a year ago, or her recent final-round failures.

“It was a struggle,” she said. “I learned a lot about perseverance and staying in the moment and forgetting what happened in the past.”

Then she packed up her stuff and headed for a week of vacation, putting a pink bow on any lingering doubts.