Each year, millions of individual implement the use of air travel to get from one location to another. However, most of the airfares that are purchased are priced relatively high. This can often place a burden on the finances of the individual who must endure the expense.
When searching for the best cheap air flights, the first thing that you should keep in mind that the results of your search will not render themselves easily. With the recent rise in gas prices, the recent loss on the stock market, and many other economical issues, you will certainly find that searching for cheap airline rates will be a challenge.
It is critical to understand that the search for low prices is not as simple as entering in a price on a major search engine. The proper key to finding the best cheap air flights lies in the components of your search. The number one component is that of adequate planning and preparation.
If you know that you will be required to travel six months down the road, it is imperative to begin your planning for the trip. The sooner that you make your preparations with an airline, the better prices you will get. Those individuals that wait until the last minute must often purchase the flights and seats that are available. It is almost always inevitable that the remaining flights and seats are among the most expensive items.
Travel peak times are another important consideration to be examined when attempting to find the best cheap air flights. It is a known fact that, each year, there are certain months that many individuals select to travel at the same time. This is most common around major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Spring Break and the summer months are also quite popular among travelers. During these times, you are not likely to find discounted air flights. As a matter of fact, you may actually pay higher rates than are normally charged. Choosing to travel in the months that are considered to be "off season" will allow you a better opportunity to find the best cheap air flights.
Just as traveling at peak times throughout the year will result in your paying more for air flights, there are also peak times during the different days of the week, and various times throughout the day. It is essential that you do a little research on these particular trends and choose your flight accordingly. We all know that the weekends are usually quite busy at most airlines, so, this means these tickets will generally be priced a bit higher. However, Mondays and Fridays are often quite busy as well. Many people who travel with their companies fly out on Mondays and return home on Fridays. This means that airfare on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays will normally cost less.
When selecting to travel, if you are trying to find the best cheap air flights, it is important that you understand that business hours are normally quite busy. If you wish to pay less for your airline tickets, it is best to select a late afternoon air flight, or an air flight that is scheduled late at night. Many people do not select to travel at these hours for one reason or another. However, airlines still need to make money at these times. In order to do so, they will lower the air flight rates.
In addition to the above-listed methods, many individuals are able to obtain the best cheap air flights by searching through the internet. There are many online websites that have been established that promote discounted air flights. Furthermore, many have been able to successfully uncover the best cheap air flights by implementing the use of a travel agent. Many times, these agents can issue you a travel package that includes discounted air flights, as well as discounted hotel accommodations.
As you have learned by the content in this article, there are many ways to uncover the best cheap air flights. It usually takes a little patience and some dedication to the task, but it is highly possible to find the best match for your travel budget.
9/22/2013
Can Dustin Johnson play smart?
GULLANE, Scotland -- And now it's time to play: What Cement-Brained Thing Will Dustin Johnson Do This Time?
Will he mistake a bunker rake for the flagstick?
Will he skip the 16th hole?
Will he forget this Open Championship at Muirfield is a four-day thing and fly home Saturday night?
Johnson, whose 68 Thursday puts him right in the soup of this Open Championship, is capable of anything. Do you realize he hit a 225-yard 7-iron Thursday? And a 290-yard 3-iron? But he's also so dense, light bends around him.
Johnson has more talent in his thumbs than most guys have in their whole bag, but he's not exactly Stephen Hawking. The heaviest reading he does is sprinkler heads. He's blown three Sunday afternoon leads in majors in the past three years, all by doing things so dumb it drops your IQ 10 points just to recall them.
[+] EnlargeDustin Johnson
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Dustin Johnson always seems in a hurry. Can he slow down and stay out of his own way?
Remember the U.S. Open at Pebble when he started swatting at his ball left-handed? How about the PGA at Whistling Straits, when he grounded his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole? The Open Championship at St. George's, when he hit an iron on 14 out of bounds?
"I'm telling you, he's changed," protests Johnson's caddie, Bobby Brown. "We've changed, as a team. We have one watchword now: 'Slow down.' "
OK, that's two words or maybe three, but you get his point.
"Besides, maybe those things had to happen for us to learn," Brown says. "Sometimes we just move too quick. We're taking our time now."
Johnson's career is off to a very fast start -- his seven PGA Tour wins are the most by any current player under 30 -- and his life is anything but slow.
He dates Instagram pinup girl Paulina Gretzky, daughter of the hockey legend, the Sunset Boulevard of women -- gorgeous, curvy and dangerous. Which means he spends a lot of time dodging paparazzi.
Johnson doesn't think, he just does. Last year, he attended Wayne Gretzky's fantasy hockey camp and watched. This year, he's going to play in it.
"Probably a left winger," he says. "A scorer."
Wait. You're going to play hockey? On ice? Against other humans?
"Yeah!"
Uh-oh.
Johnson does everything fast. Down the fairway, he tends to walk 40 yards ahead of everybody else, but now, at 29, he's at least training himself not to get the club out until it's his turn. Sometimes he'll have it halfway out and then drop it like it's a snake.
"Yeah, I mean he'll still Usain Bolt you right out of the tee box," Brown says, "but then he'll catch himself and slow down."
Nobody could slow Johnson down at the Pebble Beach U.S. Open in 2010, when he had a 3-shot lead going into the second hole Sunday and then had a left-handed swat before anybody could say, "Triple-bogey."
Nobody could slow him down at Whistling Straits that same year in the PGA Championship when he set the club down in a decidedly un-bunker-looking bunker on 18, despite warning signs posted in the players' locker room identifying them as such. The 2-shot penalty blew him out of both the win and the playoff.
[+] EnlargeDustin Johnson
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Dustin Johnson has won seven times on the PGA Tour. Does he have all the answers? No. Can he win a major? Yes.
The nice thing about Johnson, though, is his game is long and his memory is very short. He seems to have all the cares and worries of a 6-year-old with a Fudgsicle.
"I wish I had his ability to get over bad shots," Jason Day says. "He hits a bad one and he's over it right away. You can tell just the way he walks. He's just happy to be playing golf. Me, I hang on to them."
Brown likes to describe how little Johnson hangs on to anything: "He gets over it thisfast," then Brown claps his hands, loud. "He's just so cool. He doesn't throw a club. He doesn't swear. Nothin'. The most you'll get is four words, 'C'mon, DJ!' "
OK, that's three words, but you get the idea.
Johnson even got over Brown himself. They were together for years before Johnson fired him over a non-golf dispute and hired Joe LaCava. When Woods stole LaCava in fall 2011, Johnson took a mulligan with Brown. The whole separation lasted eight months. They've won twice since and are threatening to win the big man's first major, which you just know is coming. After all, when your man can leave his driver in the bag and hit 290-yard 3-irons at the bowling alley known as Muirfield, you've got to like your chances.
"The guy is just so talented," Brown says. "He's like a horse you can handicap. There's a certain time of the year when he just starts getting really good. ... Right now is that time."
And those are six words to remember.
Will he mistake a bunker rake for the flagstick?
Will he skip the 16th hole?
Will he forget this Open Championship at Muirfield is a four-day thing and fly home Saturday night?
Johnson, whose 68 Thursday puts him right in the soup of this Open Championship, is capable of anything. Do you realize he hit a 225-yard 7-iron Thursday? And a 290-yard 3-iron? But he's also so dense, light bends around him.
Johnson has more talent in his thumbs than most guys have in their whole bag, but he's not exactly Stephen Hawking. The heaviest reading he does is sprinkler heads. He's blown three Sunday afternoon leads in majors in the past three years, all by doing things so dumb it drops your IQ 10 points just to recall them.
[+] EnlargeDustin Johnson
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Dustin Johnson always seems in a hurry. Can he slow down and stay out of his own way?
Remember the U.S. Open at Pebble when he started swatting at his ball left-handed? How about the PGA at Whistling Straits, when he grounded his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole? The Open Championship at St. George's, when he hit an iron on 14 out of bounds?
"I'm telling you, he's changed," protests Johnson's caddie, Bobby Brown. "We've changed, as a team. We have one watchword now: 'Slow down.' "
OK, that's two words or maybe three, but you get his point.
"Besides, maybe those things had to happen for us to learn," Brown says. "Sometimes we just move too quick. We're taking our time now."
Johnson's career is off to a very fast start -- his seven PGA Tour wins are the most by any current player under 30 -- and his life is anything but slow.
He dates Instagram pinup girl Paulina Gretzky, daughter of the hockey legend, the Sunset Boulevard of women -- gorgeous, curvy and dangerous. Which means he spends a lot of time dodging paparazzi.
Johnson doesn't think, he just does. Last year, he attended Wayne Gretzky's fantasy hockey camp and watched. This year, he's going to play in it.
"Probably a left winger," he says. "A scorer."
Wait. You're going to play hockey? On ice? Against other humans?
"Yeah!"
Uh-oh.
Johnson does everything fast. Down the fairway, he tends to walk 40 yards ahead of everybody else, but now, at 29, he's at least training himself not to get the club out until it's his turn. Sometimes he'll have it halfway out and then drop it like it's a snake.
"Yeah, I mean he'll still Usain Bolt you right out of the tee box," Brown says, "but then he'll catch himself and slow down."
Nobody could slow Johnson down at the Pebble Beach U.S. Open in 2010, when he had a 3-shot lead going into the second hole Sunday and then had a left-handed swat before anybody could say, "Triple-bogey."
Nobody could slow him down at Whistling Straits that same year in the PGA Championship when he set the club down in a decidedly un-bunker-looking bunker on 18, despite warning signs posted in the players' locker room identifying them as such. The 2-shot penalty blew him out of both the win and the playoff.
[+] EnlargeDustin Johnson
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Dustin Johnson has won seven times on the PGA Tour. Does he have all the answers? No. Can he win a major? Yes.
The nice thing about Johnson, though, is his game is long and his memory is very short. He seems to have all the cares and worries of a 6-year-old with a Fudgsicle.
"I wish I had his ability to get over bad shots," Jason Day says. "He hits a bad one and he's over it right away. You can tell just the way he walks. He's just happy to be playing golf. Me, I hang on to them."
Brown likes to describe how little Johnson hangs on to anything: "He gets over it thisfast," then Brown claps his hands, loud. "He's just so cool. He doesn't throw a club. He doesn't swear. Nothin'. The most you'll get is four words, 'C'mon, DJ!' "
OK, that's three words, but you get the idea.
Johnson even got over Brown himself. They were together for years before Johnson fired him over a non-golf dispute and hired Joe LaCava. When Woods stole LaCava in fall 2011, Johnson took a mulligan with Brown. The whole separation lasted eight months. They've won twice since and are threatening to win the big man's first major, which you just know is coming. After all, when your man can leave his driver in the bag and hit 290-yard 3-irons at the bowling alley known as Muirfield, you've got to like your chances.
"The guy is just so talented," Brown says. "He's like a horse you can handicap. There's a certain time of the year when he just starts getting really good. ... Right now is that time."
And those are six words to remember.
Carefree Jimenez enjoying the ride
GULLANE, Scotland -- Get ready. One of the best things in life approaches. Golf's Pleasure King -- Miguel Angel Jimenez -- has the Friday lead in the Open Championship, which means he's coming into the interview room.
"Hello!" he yells as he comes through the door. "I am here!"
He is a vision. He's 49, looks 59, and swings like 19. He is a plus-4 handicap, a size 42 belt, and a quadruple-A rated interview. He is ultra-comfortable in his own skin, which he seems to have borrowed from an alligator. He drives a Ferrari Maranello, favors Cuban Siglo VI cigars, and wears his tossed-salad orange hairdo in an awe-inspiring ponytail.
A fetching young Scottish woman, maybe 22 years old, turns his head. She works for the R&A. Jimenez offers her an unseen chair next to him on the stage.
"Please," he says, gesturing for her to sit down. He doesn't seem to care that his girlfriend, a very smoky Austrian named Susanne Styblo, is in the room. The woman smiles awkwardly. He grins. Susanne laughs.
The World's Most Interesting Man fears no challenge. He skis black diamonds. When he broke his leg doing it last year, a foolish reporter asked: "Will you give up skiing now?"
"Will you give up the things you enjoy in your life?" Jimenez asked.
First question:
How do you like your position, Miguel?
"To be atop the leaderboard, it's much nice, no?"
How are you leading the Open at 49 years old, Miguel?
"Why? I have not the right to do it? Only the young people can do it?"
Jimenez goes through life the way Kobayashi goes through hot dogs. He inhales it. He's been a high school dropout, a caddie, a soldier and a car mechanic. Now he's a millionaire. His swing is smooth, his life smoother.
"When you rush," he likes to say, "you cannot enjoy the food, the wine, the cigars, no?"
One night this week in Muirfield, he was seen heading back to the practice range after his round wearing aviator sunglasses, smoking a cigar and carrying a bottle of wine.
"Maybe he IS the coolest man alive," Keegan Bradley tweeted.
If Jimenez were to win this Open, he'd be the oldest to claim a major. He might also be the first person to win the Claret Jug who collects ... claret.
Jimenez collects a lot of things, like fine, handmade Italian leather golf shoes by Italian shoemaker Gigi Nebuloni. He has 50 pairs. He has many cars, a few thousand bottles of wine, and a nice string of European Tour wins -- 19 in all.
What time will you go to bed tonight, Miguel?
"When I feel like it. And only after I smoke my cigar. Why, because I have the lead, now I must go to bed at 10? No, this is bulls---."
You look at him and your mind reels.
Is he wearing a gold Speedo underneath? Does he braid his chest hair? Each morning before his round, does he have a milk bath, followed by a snifter of brandy and 12 Aleve?
Jimenez has so much charisma it has to take its own car. He is constantly hugging fans and family. For the past couple of years at his hometown Andalucía Open, he's paid for many of the tournament expenses out of his own pocket.
He sweats neither the small stuff nor the big. In fact, he barely sweats at all. His bizarre and beautiful warm-up routine, which resembles a kind of teamster polka, has more than 200,000 hits on YouTube.
"There is maybe olive oil in my joints," he once said, "and drinking the nice Rioja wine and those things keeps me fit and flexible."
Maybe Rory McIlroy should try it?
One time, after Jimenez opened the 2009 Open Championship in Turnberry with a 64, someone asked him what he was thinking. "That it would be nice to have a little whiskey," he answered.
He really should do one of those Dos Equis ads.
Velvet-throated Announcer over Jimenez hitting shots with a Cuban in his mouth:
Par is whatever he shoots. When he wins, the town paints HIM. He once shot 63 -- with just his beard. He is ... The Most Interesting Golfer in the World.
Fabulous, isn't it? Into the world of 6 percent body fat, joyless robo-golfers who work out 90 minutes a day, consult with their psychologists and eat no unsaturated fat comes a Spanish Buddha who not only isn't stressing about winning his first major, he may not even know he's in one.
"Hello!" he yells as he comes through the door. "I am here!"
He is a vision. He's 49, looks 59, and swings like 19. He is a plus-4 handicap, a size 42 belt, and a quadruple-A rated interview. He is ultra-comfortable in his own skin, which he seems to have borrowed from an alligator. He drives a Ferrari Maranello, favors Cuban Siglo VI cigars, and wears his tossed-salad orange hairdo in an awe-inspiring ponytail.
A fetching young Scottish woman, maybe 22 years old, turns his head. She works for the R&A. Jimenez offers her an unseen chair next to him on the stage.
"Please," he says, gesturing for her to sit down. He doesn't seem to care that his girlfriend, a very smoky Austrian named Susanne Styblo, is in the room. The woman smiles awkwardly. He grins. Susanne laughs.
The World's Most Interesting Man fears no challenge. He skis black diamonds. When he broke his leg doing it last year, a foolish reporter asked: "Will you give up skiing now?"
"Will you give up the things you enjoy in your life?" Jimenez asked.
First question:
How do you like your position, Miguel?
"To be atop the leaderboard, it's much nice, no?"
How are you leading the Open at 49 years old, Miguel?
"Why? I have not the right to do it? Only the young people can do it?"
Jimenez goes through life the way Kobayashi goes through hot dogs. He inhales it. He's been a high school dropout, a caddie, a soldier and a car mechanic. Now he's a millionaire. His swing is smooth, his life smoother.
"When you rush," he likes to say, "you cannot enjoy the food, the wine, the cigars, no?"
One night this week in Muirfield, he was seen heading back to the practice range after his round wearing aviator sunglasses, smoking a cigar and carrying a bottle of wine.
"Maybe he IS the coolest man alive," Keegan Bradley tweeted.
If Jimenez were to win this Open, he'd be the oldest to claim a major. He might also be the first person to win the Claret Jug who collects ... claret.
Jimenez collects a lot of things, like fine, handmade Italian leather golf shoes by Italian shoemaker Gigi Nebuloni. He has 50 pairs. He has many cars, a few thousand bottles of wine, and a nice string of European Tour wins -- 19 in all.
What time will you go to bed tonight, Miguel?
"When I feel like it. And only after I smoke my cigar. Why, because I have the lead, now I must go to bed at 10? No, this is bulls---."
You look at him and your mind reels.
Is he wearing a gold Speedo underneath? Does he braid his chest hair? Each morning before his round, does he have a milk bath, followed by a snifter of brandy and 12 Aleve?
Jimenez has so much charisma it has to take its own car. He is constantly hugging fans and family. For the past couple of years at his hometown Andalucía Open, he's paid for many of the tournament expenses out of his own pocket.
He sweats neither the small stuff nor the big. In fact, he barely sweats at all. His bizarre and beautiful warm-up routine, which resembles a kind of teamster polka, has more than 200,000 hits on YouTube.
"There is maybe olive oil in my joints," he once said, "and drinking the nice Rioja wine and those things keeps me fit and flexible."
Maybe Rory McIlroy should try it?
One time, after Jimenez opened the 2009 Open Championship in Turnberry with a 64, someone asked him what he was thinking. "That it would be nice to have a little whiskey," he answered.
He really should do one of those Dos Equis ads.
Velvet-throated Announcer over Jimenez hitting shots with a Cuban in his mouth:
Par is whatever he shoots. When he wins, the town paints HIM. He once shot 63 -- with just his beard. He is ... The Most Interesting Golfer in the World.
Fabulous, isn't it? Into the world of 6 percent body fat, joyless robo-golfers who work out 90 minutes a day, consult with their psychologists and eat no unsaturated fat comes a Spanish Buddha who not only isn't stressing about winning his first major, he may not even know he's in one.
Why Tiger can't win but will
GULLANE, Scotland -- Go ahead. Recite all your reasons you're sure Tiger Woods won't win this Open Championship at Muirfield, even though he's only two shots and one player back.
I'm all ears.
He's a shadow of his old self.
I guess so, if you think ranking second in fairways this week, ninth in greens and 15th in putting is weak sauce.
He's 0-for-47 in majors when he didn't have a share of the 54-hole lead. Going to be 0-for-48 Sunday night.
Oh, please. That stat is just dumber than a stripper book club.
No, he's never won a major without a share of the 54-hole lead, but he's won 14 other tournaments from two or more shots back -- puny little clam bakes like The Players Championship and The Other Muirfield thing that Jack Nicklaus runs. A guy comes from seven shots behind with seven to play at a place like Pebble Beach to win the PGA Tour stop and that counts for nothing?
THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP ON ESPN
Who will hoist the Claret Jug? Catch final-round action live on ESPN, WatchESPN and ESPN Radio beginning at 6 a.m. ET.
WatchESPN | Radio | Champ. Central
Besides, he may not have come from behind with 18 holes to go to win a major, but he's come from behind with ONE hole to go to win a few. Remember? He had to sink 72nd-hole putts against Bob May (2000 PGA) and Rocco Mediate (2008 U.S. Open) just to make the playoffs, which he then won. That's chopped liver?
He's getting too old.
He's 37. Thirty-three majors have been won by players 40 and over. Tiger Woods can't win one at 37?
He can't trust his driver anymore.
Doesn't have to. He's touched it less than haggis this week.
The whole pass-Nicklaus thing is too big of a psychological mountain to climb. He'll never do it.
Well, if he won Sunday, that would be 15 majors, three less than Nicklaus. If you allow that he can be competitive in majors until he's 49 years old -- and if Miguel Angel Jimenez, a guy who looks like a roadie for Blue Oyster Cult, can be in the mix at 49, why couldn't Tiger Woods? -- that would be 49 more shots at majors. You don't think he can win four out of 49? That's only 8 percent of his starts. You do realize that, so far in his career, he's won 14 majors in 62 pro majors starts, right? That's 22 percent.
He always folds on the weekend.
He hasn't so far this weekend. He shot 1-over 72 Saturday.
He'll fold down the stretch, like he did at the 2009 PGA, when Y.E. Yang caught him and passed him on the last five holes.
Possibly, but he's 2 under on Muirfield's back nine this week, and that ranks No. 1 in the field. The back nine is still considered "down the stretch," right?
Deep down, he's shamed by his sex scandal. In golf, it's just you out there and you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe you deserve it.
Interesting analysis, Dr. Freud, but Woods has seemed a little different this week. He seems to be running a little light on shame. This week, for the first time in the 18 years I've been covering him, he let his love interest inside the ropes to walk with him during a practice round. Skier Lindsey Vonn walked nine holes with him. Unheard of. Plus, he's been telling jokes to reporters coming off tee boxes. He's even taken time to stooge them. When Bob Harig, ESPN.com golf writer, asked him Friday afternoon how many drivers he'd hit in the first two days, Woods answered immediately. "Eight or 10," then paused for effect, "... on the range." Odd and happy behavior for a guy supposedly wallowing in self-loathing.
He'll never win another major without Stevie Williams, the caddy who steered him to his last 13 majors.
Maybe, but if Woods wins Sunday, Stevie Williams will have to watch him do it up close. He's looping for Adam Scott now and they're paired together in the second-to-last group.
[+] EnlargeLee Westwood
AP Photo/Peter Morrison
By winning his first major, Lee Westwood could prevent Woods from winning his 15th.
Not going to happen. It's Britain's year. Andy Murray won Wimbledon. Justin Rose won the U.S. Open. And Lee Westwood is English. Plus, he'll have 30,000 people on his side.
Westwood might also have Boeing-sized butterflies. Imagine the demons in his head. This is a 40-year-old guy who should've won a handful of majors by now and hasn't won any. He's had seven top 3s in majors: zero wins. 10 top 5s: zero wins. 15 top 10s: zero wins. What makes you so sure he won't come apart like a crepe-paper trampoline?
If he ever gets 15, it will be at Augusta. That place is room service for him. He's not really a links player.
Actually, he's a wicked links player. All three of his Open Championships were on links exactly like this -- dry and fast and harder than Mandarin 501. Fast and hard lets him keep his petulant driver in the bag and hit 3-wood stingers all day. It lets him show the world how he's probably the best fast-greens putter in the game. And keeping it out of the rough makes things easy on his tender elbow. This is his best post-hydrant shot at a major and it sets up perfectly for him. Muirfield might as well have a sign up: Tiger Woods Welcome Here.
I'm all ears.
He's a shadow of his old self.
I guess so, if you think ranking second in fairways this week, ninth in greens and 15th in putting is weak sauce.
He's 0-for-47 in majors when he didn't have a share of the 54-hole lead. Going to be 0-for-48 Sunday night.
Oh, please. That stat is just dumber than a stripper book club.
No, he's never won a major without a share of the 54-hole lead, but he's won 14 other tournaments from two or more shots back -- puny little clam bakes like The Players Championship and The Other Muirfield thing that Jack Nicklaus runs. A guy comes from seven shots behind with seven to play at a place like Pebble Beach to win the PGA Tour stop and that counts for nothing?
THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP ON ESPN
Who will hoist the Claret Jug? Catch final-round action live on ESPN, WatchESPN and ESPN Radio beginning at 6 a.m. ET.
WatchESPN | Radio | Champ. Central
Besides, he may not have come from behind with 18 holes to go to win a major, but he's come from behind with ONE hole to go to win a few. Remember? He had to sink 72nd-hole putts against Bob May (2000 PGA) and Rocco Mediate (2008 U.S. Open) just to make the playoffs, which he then won. That's chopped liver?
He's getting too old.
He's 37. Thirty-three majors have been won by players 40 and over. Tiger Woods can't win one at 37?
He can't trust his driver anymore.
Doesn't have to. He's touched it less than haggis this week.
The whole pass-Nicklaus thing is too big of a psychological mountain to climb. He'll never do it.
Well, if he won Sunday, that would be 15 majors, three less than Nicklaus. If you allow that he can be competitive in majors until he's 49 years old -- and if Miguel Angel Jimenez, a guy who looks like a roadie for Blue Oyster Cult, can be in the mix at 49, why couldn't Tiger Woods? -- that would be 49 more shots at majors. You don't think he can win four out of 49? That's only 8 percent of his starts. You do realize that, so far in his career, he's won 14 majors in 62 pro majors starts, right? That's 22 percent.
He always folds on the weekend.
He hasn't so far this weekend. He shot 1-over 72 Saturday.
He'll fold down the stretch, like he did at the 2009 PGA, when Y.E. Yang caught him and passed him on the last five holes.
Possibly, but he's 2 under on Muirfield's back nine this week, and that ranks No. 1 in the field. The back nine is still considered "down the stretch," right?
Deep down, he's shamed by his sex scandal. In golf, it's just you out there and you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe you deserve it.
Interesting analysis, Dr. Freud, but Woods has seemed a little different this week. He seems to be running a little light on shame. This week, for the first time in the 18 years I've been covering him, he let his love interest inside the ropes to walk with him during a practice round. Skier Lindsey Vonn walked nine holes with him. Unheard of. Plus, he's been telling jokes to reporters coming off tee boxes. He's even taken time to stooge them. When Bob Harig, ESPN.com golf writer, asked him Friday afternoon how many drivers he'd hit in the first two days, Woods answered immediately. "Eight or 10," then paused for effect, "... on the range." Odd and happy behavior for a guy supposedly wallowing in self-loathing.
He'll never win another major without Stevie Williams, the caddy who steered him to his last 13 majors.
Maybe, but if Woods wins Sunday, Stevie Williams will have to watch him do it up close. He's looping for Adam Scott now and they're paired together in the second-to-last group.
[+] EnlargeLee Westwood
AP Photo/Peter Morrison
By winning his first major, Lee Westwood could prevent Woods from winning his 15th.
Not going to happen. It's Britain's year. Andy Murray won Wimbledon. Justin Rose won the U.S. Open. And Lee Westwood is English. Plus, he'll have 30,000 people on his side.
Westwood might also have Boeing-sized butterflies. Imagine the demons in his head. This is a 40-year-old guy who should've won a handful of majors by now and hasn't won any. He's had seven top 3s in majors: zero wins. 10 top 5s: zero wins. 15 top 10s: zero wins. What makes you so sure he won't come apart like a crepe-paper trampoline?
If he ever gets 15, it will be at Augusta. That place is room service for him. He's not really a links player.
Actually, he's a wicked links player. All three of his Open Championships were on links exactly like this -- dry and fast and harder than Mandarin 501. Fast and hard lets him keep his petulant driver in the bag and hit 3-wood stingers all day. It lets him show the world how he's probably the best fast-greens putter in the game. And keeping it out of the rough makes things easy on his tender elbow. This is his best post-hydrant shot at a major and it sets up perfectly for him. Muirfield might as well have a sign up: Tiger Woods Welcome Here.
Mickelson's big breakthrough
It was the Tuesday after he'd blown the U.S. Open at Merion, and it had his wife a little worried. "Usually, he's good for a little mope and then he'll come out of it," Amy Mickelson remembers. "But this time, he hardly got out of bed for two days. He was a shell. It was the worst disappointment for him of any tournament, by far."
A sixth second-place finish at the Open will do that to a man.
Finally, on Wednesday, she dragged him out of bed for a preplanned family trip to Montana: fly fishing, rafting, zip lining. Whatever happened in Montana put some zip back in Mickelson.
Next thing you knew, Mickelson was raging through Scotland like the Romans. His driver's license said 43 but his game said 33. He won the Scottish Open last week, then woke up Sunday at the Open Championship in Muirfield 5 shots back and feeling oddly joyous.
"I told him before the round, I thought even par or 1-over would win it," his coach, Butch Harmon, said. "But he said, 'I'm going lower than that."
In arguably his finest moment in striped pants, Mickelson passed nine guys, including Tiger Woods, with an unforgettable 66 to win. Suddenly he was hugging the Claret Jug in a giant family scrum on the 18th green. "That's your name," the kids kept saying, staring at the fresh engraving. "That's YOUR name!"
Phil was as Mickelstunned as anybody. Of all the majors he shouldn't win, this was No. 1. A guy who wants to hit flop shots off a sidewalk? Winning a links tournament? Preposterous.
It was so out of the blue that Mickelson and his caddy, Jim "Bones" Mackay, had to stand there by the scoring trailer for 47 minutes -- from their last putt dropping to the momentLee Westwood pulled yet another disappointment out of the hole -- to get their goodies: Mickelson his trophy and Bones his 18th hole flag. And in between, you couldn't help but notice the look on Woods' face as he trudged by them into the trailer to sign yet another losing major scorecard. Talk about a buzz kill day. You think you're going to kick-start your sagging career, and instead, your chief rival kick-starts his.
Majors since 2008? Phil 2, Tiger 0.
"The guy is playing the best golf of his life," said a tearful Bones, who's looped Phil for 21 years. "I don't care how old you say he is, this is the best he's ever played."
But how can he be? At 43?
"Why shouldn't I?" Mickelson says. "I'm in better shape than I've ever been. I'm more flexible. My diet is better. … Why can't I?"
He can, I guess, especially when you consider that he now has a huge, world-class practice facility in his San Diego backyard that he designed and built himself. It features six greens made of every type of grass in the world he putts on, bunkers of every stripe, and a grounds crew of six that jumps at his slightest whim. Before Merion, for instance, he asked them to take the greens up to Merion speed, which was just slightly faster than the hood of a 1989 Chrysler.
"That practice facility has made a world of difference," says Harmon. Says Amy, "Now he can practice at home a lot more. Even if he only has a spare 15 or 20 minutes, he can go out there in his flip flops and hit shots."
There's more:
1. "I'm putting better than I ever have in my life," he says.
And 2. He's found a 3-wood, made by Callaway, that's flying longer and straighter than many commercial flights. "Not since I found the Ping L-wedge, when I was 14, has one club altered my career like this [Callaway] 3-wood. I just hit bullets with it."
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Ian Walton/Getty ImagesMickelson and his caddy Mackay savor their win at Muirfield.
But mostly, it's his Silly Putty resiliency. Nothing seems to quench his thirst. Not the $44 million a year he makes in endorsements, not his arthritis, and not Merion.
"Being so down after the U.S. Open," Mickelson said afterward, his hand never leaving the trophy, "to come back and use that as motivation, to use it as a springboard … that feels amazing."
That's not just talk. "He's as motivated right now as he was when I met him in college," says Amy.
Says Bones, "I kid him. I say, 'You'll be the 60-year-old guy on the putting green at Augusta, telling people he thinks he's got a chance.'"
So how long can Phil 2.0 last? And how great can he get?
Well, for Lefty, there's only one wrong to right: the U.S. Open. If he could finally knock one down, it would make him the sixth player to win all four majors, along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods. It's his measure of the all-time greats. But his table has only three legs. "That last leg has been a hard one for me," Mickelson said in the understatement of the year. He won't quit on it until three days after they bury him. If that.
"He used to tell me he'd retire at 40," Amy said, bathed in the last of the Scottish light. "Now, I don't think he has any idea. He just lives for today. He waits to see where life takes him. I'm just looking forward to the ride."
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