So who’s been watching this season’s Big Break? Big Break IV, or Survivor: Carnoustie, as I like to call it, aired its third episode Tuesday. It features a team of Americans going head to head Ryder-Cup style against a group of Europeans. And I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to watch. Not because it’s bad. On the contrary, it’s arresting and well produced, with highly addictive properties. It’s hard to watch because it’s so darn sad. Last week’s episode featured the ousting of Bart. You may remember Bart from Big Break II, the “people’s choice” winner who was invited back ... full post »

Had Morgan Pressel shot any worse than a 72 today, she would’ve gone home an amateur for at least another year. But she didn’t let the pressure faze her. Instead, she went out and shot nine birdies and no bogies, for a stunning 63, leapfrogging all the way up to sixth place. And Duke’s own Brittany Lang, who started the day in fourth place, shot five under and ended up on top of the board, winning medalist honors. But there’s lots of golf left to play. Lang and Pressel, as well as thirty others, including Japan’s Ai Miyazato, still need to ... full post »

Can somebody please get Tiger Woods a beer or something? When asked yesterday about the “Tiger Who?” hat worn by Vijay’s caddie five years ago, Tiger could’ve laughed it off. Instead, he got bitter. “I certainly didn’t appreciate it,” Woods said. “I thought it wasn’t real respectful. I know he tried to do it in fun, but I didn’t take it that way.” Oh, get over yourself, Tiger. It’s a joke, roll with it. And it was five years ago. Please don’t put us in the uncomfortable position of thinking Vijay Singh is the funny one in the group. Australian Peter Lonard ... full post »

School is in session. Q school, that is. The first round of LPGA Q school sectional qualifiers, all 72 holes of it, has begun. Perhaps the biggest standout, 17-year-old U.S. Women’s Amateur winner Morgan Pressel, teed it up at 7:37 this morning at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. Joining her in the field are Japan’s next great hope, Ai Miyazato, and Duke’s own NCAA champion Brittany Lang. Those three ladies, along with 190 other hopefuls, will grind it out in their sectionals, aiming for one of those top 30 spots that will move along to the final qualifying tourney, ... full post »

Annika’s battling to keep the title of the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Tulsa, OK. She’s currently the leader at seven under. Breathing down her neck is birdie girl and recent Solheim Cup teammate Maria Hjorth; Paula Creamer’s still in the game at T3, four strokes off the lead. It’s Sunday afternoon, time to watch some LPGA final-round action. Right? Wrong. ESPN’s busy with billiards, ESPN2, to its credit, is actually showing a sporting event, soccer. And The Golf Channel, the LPGA’s last hope, the network contracted to air this thing, is tied up with the ... full post »

I just sold my soul for a chance at a new driver. Well, maybe not my soul, exactly, but my address, phone number, and email. If they’d asked for my social security number and mother’s maiden name I probably would’ve handed them over too. It began when I got an email from a reputable golf agency querying whether I’d like to participate in a golf survey, and enter a DRAWING for some new EQUIPMENT. Like Pavlov’s dog, I began salivating before I even started filling out the first question: How do TaylorMade products perform against other golf equipment? I could just picture ... full post »

To paraphrase a certain film that came out last summer, Team America, heck yeah. When play began this morning, the US and Europe were tied at eight points each. By the end of the day, the Solheim Cup was reclaimed thanks to gutsy play from Americans Paula Creamer and Meg Mallon. The biggest surprise: rookie Creamer’s dominance over veteran Laura Davies, 7 & 5. I expected a good match here, but a total rout? Paula mopped the floor with Davies, closing her out in just 13 holes. Seven birdies will do that. Poor Davies looked like she didn’t know what hit ... full post »

So we’re all square going into Sunday’s round, 8-8. The final day will feature 12 individual matches, mano e mano, or womano e womano, as the case may be. So what does the American team have that the Europeans don’t? 1. Home court advantage. Americans haven’t lost on U.S. soil yet, and it’s because of the lift they get from the crowds. We saw it play out on Friday morning—the crowd got quiet, momentum died, and leads slipped away. But Sunday’s crowd will be extra enthusiastic, and the biggest ever, since an extra 3,000 tickets are being sold to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. Don’t ... full post »

Things were looking pretty good for the Americans this morning. Through nine, Creamer/Daniel were up 2, Kim/Hurst were up 2, and even Diaz and Redman, playing the formidable Sorenstam/Pettersen duo, were up 2. The only shaky group of the bunch was Gulbis/Kerr, down 2. But then, depression set in. Up four with only five to play, Diaz and Redman then put up three bogies, Sorenstam and Pettersen put up two birdies, and that was that. One point, Europe. Hurst and Kim, up three with only four to play, experienced the same kind of meltdown: three bogies to Gustafson/Johnson’s two birdies, and a ... full post »

Want to hear the pairings for tomorrow morning’s rounds? The Cup begins with four alternate-shot matches. Starting off at 9 AM (Eastern), Paula Creamer and Beth Daniel will face Carin Koch and Catriona Matthew. This was originally supposed to be Creamer and Inkster, but apparently Inkster has an infected fingernail, which apparently she caught from Vijay Singh. No, I made that up. But seriously, her fingernail may actually prevent her from playing at all this weekend. You heard it here first. Regardless, Creamer’s on a roll, and Daniel will keep her steady. Koch’s good, but head to head in the four majors this ... full post »

There’s plenty of goings-on already at the Solheim Cup, set to begin on Friday at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana. According to my source on the ground, players were given some high-quality goodie-bags filled with Canon digital cameras, custom-made diamond bracelets, spa days, and more. What is this, Oprah’s Favorite Things? All we need is a few pairs of Manolo Blahniks and the bags would be complete. The thirteenth man—the U.S. gallery, that is—is bigger and more enthusiastic than ever, even for today’s practice rounds. Looks like our home team advantage might just pay off. And the course is in ... full post »

This was a big weekend at the Mario household: it was the weekend of the Fantasy Football draft. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Fantasy Football, the latest, greatest trend hitting America. Everyone has a team, maybe even two or three. A few years ago I was avidly anti-football. Sports in general, and especially Fantasy Football, seemed to suck the lifeblood out of my husband for months on end. Finally, I figured, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So I got a few of my girlfriends together, we fielded our own team, and CBS Sportsline became my new best friend. ... full post »