Golf's most important major begins on Thursday. Tiger Woods will try to become the first player in 30 years to win the first two legs of the Slam in a calendar year.

They are playing the Open at Bethpage Black, a public course on Long Island. I actually played this course several years ago. My friends and I had to arrive in the wee hours of the morning to get in line for a tee time. We payed something like $30, which is dirt cheap for a round of golf. I actually did alright. I shot a 102 and considering this is an extremely tough course, I was pretty happy. So if David Duval, Scott McCarron, Billy Andrade or Ty Tryon need some pointers, I hope they give me a call!

I hope someone like Mickelson or Duval can pull it off this year.

Surprise, Surprise!!! Tiger Woods leads aftre the first round after shooting a -3 (67). A great score considering only 12 golfers finished par or better.

Leaderboard

Tiger Woods -3

Sergio Garcia -2

Jeff Maggert -1
KJ Choi
Billy Mayfair
Franklin Langham
Dudley Hart

Padraig Harrington E
Nick Faldo
Phil Mickelson
Steve Lowery
Stewart Cink

Other notables:

Jose Maria Olazabel +1
Davis Love III

Justin Leonard +3
Ernie Els

Chris DiMarco +4
John Daly

Greg Norman +5
Vijay Singh
Colin "Please Be Nice To Me" Montgomerie

David Duval +8

Retief Goosen (defending champ) +9

Nice to see Garcia, Faldo and Mickelson in the hunt. Duval has got to be very disappointed. Hopefully, this will finally be the major where we see a Woods-Garcia pairing on the final day.

Tiger has already birdied the first three holes this morning! He is now at -6. Garcia, who has yet to tee off today, is still in second, now 4 shots back.

Tiger has three putted the first two holes, allowing Garcia and Mickelson to get to within 2 strokes. This could finally be the exciting finish golf fans have been waiting for. Currently Tiger is -3, Garcia and Mickelson are -1.

Man, Tiger has certainly left the door open. He has played unspectacular golf, but Garcia and Mickelson cintinue to prove that when the heat is on, they melt. Granted conditions are tough, very windy. But with Tiger shooting only par, nobody has been able to gain a stroke. He leads by 4 with 9 holes to play.

Okay. I'm tired of Tiger Woods. Well, more specifically, I'm tired of the personality Tiger, NBC, CBS, the USGA, the PGA, and Nike have created. That idiot announcer (who's name I can't remember right now) was gushing over how good Tiger is/was/will be, and Johnny Miller (to his credit) kept trying to bring him back to earth. There is golf left to be played, Johnny said. Tiger could bury it in the bunker, he said. Anything can happen. Well, never mind. Grand Slam, Grand Slam, Grand Slam. The people's Champion at the people's Open. Right. Did anyone notice that the crowds were obviously pulling for Mickelson? There was reverence and awe for Tiger, but Phil seemed to be the real golfer everyone was pulling for.
Those Nike ads are too far over the top, too. I mean, come on people, it's just golf. Really. Golf. Not life and death, not history. I love golf as much as the next guy, but please. I'm done with Nike, done with golf on TV, seriously thinking about NBC and CBS. Plus, I'm done with Tiger Woods. Done.

Was I hearing things or was there heckling going on from the gallery?