So I watched all six hours of the 108th U.S. Open golf tournament today. I know I’m not breaking any news with this…. but Tiger Woods is flat out amazing at what he does.

Tiger struggled most of the day, and rightfully so since he’s coming off of knee surgery. You could see him wince in pain frequently throughout the course and it was beginning to look like he’d fall just short. The round concluded in dramatic fashion with Tiger Woods alone on the final hole. He could either make the shot and continue, or miss the shot and go home…. in true Tiger fashion he drained the damned thing.

My regular readers already know that I don’t particularly care for Mr. Woods, but as a sports fan… you can’t help but admire what he does in competition. I started out the day rooting against him, but by the final hole I couldn’t help but pull for the guy.

We haven’t seen a professional athlete bring opponents to their knees like this since Jordan. Here’s a video of the dramatic final hole to force a playoff, my homie Starter would appreciate the double fist pump.

[thanks to Awful Announcing for the video]

(banner courtesy of ESPN)

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and some other guy are paired together for the US Open. The “some other guy” is #3 ranked Adam Scott. Who? Yeah, Stank-0 doesn’t know who this guy is either. For the golf fans it gets better.

World’s No. 1 Tiger Woods will be paired with No. 2 Phil Mickelson and third-ranked Adam Scott. Woods and Mickelson played together once before at the U.S. Open, in the 1999′s third round at Pinehurst. The late Payne Stewart won that year, with Mickelson second and Woods third.

Ernie Els, Justin Rose and Geoff Ogilvy make up another trio. Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh will be together. And K.J. Choi, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker make up the other big-name grouping.

All told, the top 12 players in the world will be accounted for in the four groups.

This year the Open is held at Torrey Pines, which is in the San Diego area. This will be quite interesting. Both Woods and Mickelson have fan base in the area.

The U.S. Open traditionally groups the defending champion, the British Open champion and the U.S. Amateur champion. That would not be affected with Angel Cabrera at No. 22 in the ranking, Padraig Harrington at No. 14 and U.S. Amateur champion Colt Knost not in the field because he turned pro.

Stank-0 isn’t a golf enthusiast, but he will be watchin the opening round of the US Open, advantage Jigga [1].

author’s note: finish line and name the original speaker.