Sunday’s final round of the Masters will possibly go down as one of the most thrilling final rounds in the history of golf. 

Rory McIlroy headed into the final round with a four-shot lead over Jason Day, Angel Cabrera, K.J. Choi, and Charl Schwartzel.  Tiger Woods started the day seven shots off the lead, and needed a hot start in order to have an outside chance of winning his 5^th green jacket. 

Many thought the only challengers McIlroy needed to avoid would be from the logjam of players at 8-under (Day, Cabrera, Choi, and Schwartzel).  By the time McIlroy teed off at 2:40pm EST, there were challengers coming from everywhere.  Schwartzel chipped in for birdie at #1 and holed out for eagle at #3 to move to 11-under and a tie for 1^st place, as McIlroy bogeyed the opening hole.  Tiger birdied five of the 1^st eight holes to move to 10-under.  And when McIlroy bogeyed the fifth hole to move to 10-under, the green jacket was up for grabs.  Cabrera, Choi, and Schwartzel all shot a 2-under on the front nine to get to 10-under.  As the final group, McIlroy and Cabrera, made the turn, there was a growing pack that all were within striking distance..

Then came the downward spiral for McIlroy.  His tee shot on the 495-yard par-4 tenth hole hit a tree and came to rest next to the cabins, which was about 100 yards left of the fairway.  He had to pitch it back to the fairway, and still had about a 225-yard 3-wood shot to the green.  He missed the green to the left and after hitting another tree with a lob shot, he finished the hole with a triple-bogey seven.  Rory never recovered as he three-putted from 7-feet on the 11^th hole, and four-putted from 12-feet on the 13^th hole.  After he hit his drive into the creek on the 13^th hole, the TV cameras showed McIlroy as he buried his head into his forearm and you could only feel for the young 21-year old and the anguish he was experiencing.

Tiger, who was on fire to start his round on the front nine, couldn’t keep it going on the back nine and finished the tournament at 10-under.  Geoff Ogilvy, who started the day at 5-under, birdied five straight holes on the back nine to get to 10-under.  They were both in the clubhouse waiting for the final groups to finish, and see if their posted scores would be enough to force a playoff.   Luke Donald started the day at 7-under, and came to the par-3 12^th hole at 9-under par and right in the middle of the race.  He ended up hitting his ball into the water and taking a double-bogey to fall to 7-under.  Everyone thought his run was over, but what he did over the last six holes was memorable.  He birdied holes 13, 15, and 16 to get to 10-under.  He bogeyed the 17^th hole and needed a birdie on the closing hole to join the posted scores of Woods and Ogilvy at 10-under par.  Donald’s second shot from the fairway hit the flagstick, bounced backwards, and rolled off the green.  He chipped in for birdie to join Woods and Ogilvy at 10-under.  But by the time Donald had chipped in, Scott and Day had already left the 17^th green with Scott at 11-under, after making birdie on the 16^th hole and making a 9-foot par putt on the 17^th green. 

Jason Day also made a late push to join the other challengers, as he birdied holes 12, 13, and 17 to get to 11-under.  On the final hole, Day needed to make a birdie putt of about 6-feet to post a score of 12-under.  And he most certainly did.  After Scott missed his birdie putt and ran it by the hole about 3-feet, he made his par putt, and both of the Aussies posted a score of 12-under for the tournament.  Woods, Ogilvy, and Donald, who were in the clubhouse at 10-under, no longer needed to wait around. 

Now there was only one more player on the course that could either join Day and Scott at 12-under, or post a lower score and win the green jacket.  Charl Schwartzel, who started the day at 8-under par, made the turn at 10-under and then reeled off five straight pars.  What transpired next is what champions are made of. 

Schwartzel made three consecutive birdies on holes 15-17 to get to 13-under.  All he needed to do was par the 18^th hole, and the Masters title was his.  He ended up making his birdie putt to finish the tournament at 14-under.  And Charl Schwartzel had the elusive green jacket.

Sometimes we look at the majors and talk about how a certain player lost the tournament because of a poor shot here or a poor putt there.  Other than what happened to Rory McIlroy, that was not the case for this tournament.  There were sensational shots by every player in the last seven groups.  No matter where you were on the course, you could hear cheers and roars that were loud and often.  At one point, there were no less than eight players that held a share of the lead on the back nine.  The atmosphere was electric.  The leaderboard was changing hole by hole, and the excitement was something that has not been seen for a long time in the sport of golf.  I was getting texts from people who have never had any interest in watching golf, and they were saying how crazy and insane this tournament was on Sunday. 

So what do we take away from the Masters this year?  We see that Tiger Woods is a lot closer than we think to being the Tiger that we are so used to seeing on the leaderboard in major championships.  He will surely look back at this Masters and know that it was his putting that hurt his chances of winning his 15^th major.  He hit numerous great shots in all four rounds, but in the end, it was his putter that failed him.  Rory McIlroy is a very talented golfer and will surely be in contention for numerous majors in the next few years.  I don’t believe he choked.  He did collapse, but we need to remember that he is a 21-year old and a four-shot lead on the final day at the Masters is not a lot.  Just ask Greg Norman, who blew a six-shot lead in 1996 to Nick Faldo, who ended up beating Norman by five strokes.  McIlroy should be applauded for his reaction after the tournament.  He stood by and gave interview after interview.  Most athletes today would be out the door to hide from the media after such a horrible day.  He said it was a “character-building day”, and he showed lots of it.   I see him learning from this experience and using that the next time he is in contention for a major, which I hope is very soon.

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Cal Bears played host to Washington State Thursday night as they returned home from their Arizona swing.  This was Cal’s first conference home game of the season, and they rewarded the home crowd with a thrilling overtime win.

Freshman Allen Crabbe is continuing his sensational play, as he recorded a career high 30 points on 10 for 15 shooting.  The departure of Gary Franklin, who left the team and is transferring to Baylor, has actually proved to be a blessing for the Bears.  He has been on fire of late, recording two consecutive 17-point games against Arizona and Arizona State, before breaking out against Washington State Thursday night.

Harper Kamp added 18 points and Markhuri Sanders-Frison finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, to record his fifth double-double on the year.  The Bears also received good play from Brandon Smith who had 9 points and 9 assists.  Smith had the not-so-easy job of guarding the conference’s leading scorer, Klay Thompson.  Thompson ended with 36 points on 12 for 22 shooting, and 5-10 from 3-point range. 

Cal went into halftime with a 42-32 lead over Washington State, but after 5 minutes into the second half, Washington State pulled to within one point.  The Bears were able to push the lead back up to ten points a few minutes later, with the help of some good defense and forcing turnovers.  But the Cougars would not go away as they were able to hang around for the remainder of the game, and with 15 seconds left, Klay Thompson buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 74-74.  Cal was able to jump out to a six-point lead in overtime and never looked back.

Cal improved their overall record to 9-7 and 2-2 in Pac-10 play, while Washington State dropped to 12-5 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-10.  Washington State has now dropped three straight in conference play.

Up next for Cal is the 17^th ranked Washington Huskies, who lost to Stanford Thursday night.  Washington sits atop the conference standings with a record of 4-1 so this is sure to be their toughest opponent so far this year.

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

2010 was a year to remember.  Phil Mickelson won the Masters with a historic shot on the 13^th hole.  The world was introduced to the talents of Graeme McDowell at Pebble Beach.  We watched as 11 players in their twenties won 14 times.  The forty-somethings also held serve as Furyk, Els, and Stricker combined for 7 wins, 23 top-10 finishes, and winning the FedEx Cup championship.  The biggest story was watching as Tiger Woods went winless for the calendar year. 

I feel one of the biggest stories for 2011 is Tiger Woods comeback.  I think Woods will rebound big this year.  Yes, he had too much going on outside-the-ropes last year and a media circus surrounded him all year, but I feel he will win about 3 or 4 times this year, with 1 of those being a major.  My guess is that it will be at Congressional in June for the U.S. Open. 

Phil Mickelson only had 1 worldwide win in 2010, but it was at the Masters.  He has had to deal with a lot of medical issues over the past year, and I believe he is ready to get back on track.  I will mark him down for 3 wins, with 1 of those also being a major.  Can he defend his title at Augusta National in April, or will he finally get the U.S. Open crown he has yet to win?

I think the young kids (those in their twenties) of the PGA Tour will have a great year.  Last year they won 14 tournaments and I think they will be at or slightly above that number this year. 

Will Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, or Lee Westwood win their first major?  Will any of the Nationwide Tour graduates be successful this year?  Will Lee Westwood hold onto the #1 world ranking, or will Tiger take it back this year?  Or will a new name emerge as the best golfer in the world?

Just a few predictions to start the year:

2011 Masters winner – Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson

2011 U.S. Open winner – Ernie Els or Tiger Woods

(I will make some predictions on the British Open and PGA Championship at a later time.)

FedEx Cup Champion – Steve Stricker or Tiger Woods

#1 in World Golf Rankings at end of year – Tiger Woods

And Jonathan Byrd will win the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua in Maui on the second playoff hole.  Oh wait…hahaha

Let the year begin!

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Cal knew that in order to get a much-needed win on Saturday, they had to get off to a good start against Arizona State.  They jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first 11 minutes, with good defense and solid rebounding.  Arizona State ended the first half on a 9-4 run to reduce the deficit to 8 points as they trailed 31-23.

The Bears looked good defensively in the first half as they had numerous second-chance points (14 points compared to ASU who had 2 points), which was a big deciding factor in the outcome of the game.  They also outrebounded the Sun Devils 28-13 in the first half.

One bright spot for the Cal Bears is freshman guard, Allen Crabbe.  Since the departure of Gary Franklin, Crabbe has stepped up significantly.  He played all 20 minutes in the first half, and posted 8 points and 7 rebounds. 

Arizona State was able to put together a couple runs in the second half, and eventually tied the game with about 12 minutes left, but that was the closest they would come.  Cal would eventually stretch their lead to 47-40, but the Sun Devils would not give up.  They were able to trim the lead to 3 points, with about 1 minute left in the game, and the ball in their hands.  But then the next 50 seconds turned into a 3-point shootout for Arizona State, which could be a little questionable as to what their strategy was.

The Sun Devils took four 3-point attempts over 50 seconds to try to tie the game.  After the first 3 attempts, they gained the rebound.  The entire team ran around the 3-point line trying to find a shot.  Cal was more than happy to give them a 2-point shot or layup, but ASU was not even looking at those opportunities.  With plenty of time on the clock, they didn’t necessarily need a 3-pointer.  They could’ve driven in for a layup, cut the lead to 1-point, and then fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass.  Instead, they opted for a 3-pointer and missed on all four attempts.  Cal grabbed the rebound and held on for the much-needed victory.

Cal improved their overall record to 8-7 and Pac-10 record to 1-2.  Arizona State is also at 8-7 overall but have a 1-3 Pac-10 record.  The Sun Devils obviously miss senior guard, Jamelle McMillan, who leads the Pac-10 in assists.  He has not played in their last 2 games as he tries to recover from a groin injury.

Jorge Gutierrez had a career-high in points with 21, and Allen Crabbe had 17 points and 8 rebounds.  Markhuri Sanders-Frison notched his 4^th career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Ty Abbott led Arizona State with 18 points.

Cal now returns home for 2 games against Washington State (Thursday, Jan. 13) and Washington (Sunday, Jan. 16).  Washington, currently ranked 23^rd in the AP Poll, leads the Pac-10 with a conference record of 4-0, while Washington State is at 2-2.

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

California coach, Mike Montgomery, said it best, “we shot 50% but we couldn’t get stops.”  The Cal Bears lost to the Stanford Cardinals 82-68 in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.  Stanford improved their overall record to 8-4 while Cal dropped to 7-6.

Cal trailed at halftime 38-34, but Stanford shot 72% in the second half to pull away for the win.  They had a tough time trying to stop freshman forward, Dwight Powell, who scored 20 points on 7-11 shooting in 28 minutes of action.  Stanford’s Jeremy Green also added 21 points on 4-5 shooting from 3-pt range.

Junior forward, Harper Kamp, led Cal with 16 points, and center, Markhuri Sanders-Frison, almost recorded a double-double by posting 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Cal did shoot 51% for the game, but it doesn’t help when your opponent shoots 57%.

The Bears will look to rebound this week with games at Arizona (Jan. 6) and Arizona State (Jan. before returning home to Haas Pavilion for games against Washington State (Jan. 13) and Washington (Jan. 16).

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The California Golden Bears are looking for a bright spot.  They have lost 6 of their last 10 games, and to make matters worse, freshman guard, Gary Franklin, who was a top-100 national recruit last year, informed the coaches he was transferring and leaving the team this past week.

The Bears came into Tucson Thursday night looking to right the ship and bring their conference record to 1-1.  Cal was down by as much as ten points in the first half, but rallied back to take a one-point lead at the half.  Even though they held the lead, Cal missed numerous point-blank layups and shots that should’ve been made. 

Cal increased their lead to nine points within the first few minutes of the 2^nd half, but they could not stop Arizona’s Derrick Williams, who pitched in 31 points and 12 rebounds.  Cal just could not defend the sophomore forward and sent him to the free throw line 22 times.  Williams kept the Wildcats in the game and helped them regain the lead late in the 2^nd half. 

A key play in the game came with about 33 seconds left.  Cal was down three points, and freshman Allen Crabbe was going to the line for 3 free throws.  Crabbe was the leading scorer for the Bears with 17 points and 7 rebounds.  Crabbe made 2 of 3 free throws to cut the lead to 1.  On the ensuing inbounds pass, Cal fouled Solomon Hill, who only made 1 of 2 free throws to extend Arizona’s lead to 73-71.  Cal inbounded the ball to Jorge Gutierrez who dribbled up the court, and watched as his last second shot from just inside the half-court line bank off the backboard, but did not fall.

Arizona improved their overall record to 13-2 and Pac-10 record to 2-1.  Cal is now standing at .500 at 7-7 overall, with a 0-2 start in Pac-10 play. 

Cal is going to need to rebound quickly, as they will be facing Arizona State in Tempe on Saturday.  Arizona State currently stands at 8-6 overall and 1-2 in Pac-10 play, after they lost to Stanford tonight 55-41.  Cal can’t afford to dig any deeper of a hole with a loss on Saturday so they will need to come out and be ready to play.   They have had troubles with low post defense the last 2 games.  Stanford’s Dwight Powell scored 20 points and Arizona’s Derrick Williams had 31 points tonight.  If they can find a way to contain the low post scorers for the Sun Devils, they should be able to come away with a much-needed win.

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Raiders did it.  They walked into Arrowhead Stadium and did what no other team could do this year.  They beat the Kansas City Chiefs, and went undefeated in the division this year.  They won every single game against their AFC West foes, but were 2-8 in the other ten games this year.  They went 2-2 against teams in the NFC West, but went 0-6 against the rest of the AFC conference.  Usually when a team dominates their division like the Raiders did this season, they win the division and move onto the playoffs – but not this year’s Raiders.  They ended up finishing in 3^rd place in the 4-team division.  Kansas City finished atop the division at 10-6.  San Diego finished 2^nd at 9-7 and Denver finished at 4-12.

A few highlights from the game were Michael Bush’s 137 yards rushing, as Darren McFadden sat out with a lingering turf toe injury.  Oakland’s defense also stepped up as they held the Chiefs to only 115 yards rushing and 87 yards passing. 

Oakland didn’t really have anything to play for, except for draft position and pride.  The Raiders obviously chose the latter.  They went out and beat the Chiefs 31-10, in what is most likely Tom Cable’s last game as head coach of the Raiders.  Under Cable, they are 17-27, but this is the first year they didn’t have a losing record since their Super Bowl season of 2002.  I believe that unless the Raiders sign a big name coach, they should stick with Tom Cable for one more year.  After going 5-11 each of the two previous seasons, they were able to finish at .500 (8-8) this season.  This is a big step forward as fans and players will expect another step forward next year. 

It will be interesting to see what Al Davis decides regarding the head coaching position and whether or not he wants to keep Tom Cable as the coach.  It is widely anticipated in the media that Cable will not be brought back, but unless the Raiders bring in a top notch coach, they may want to think long and hard about bringing back Cable next year.  Davis has about 2 weeks to decide on Cable’s future, and if he doesn’t return, will Hue Jackson be promoted to the top spot?

Even though the Raiders made a big step by winning 8 games this year, they need to be careful not to fall back into their old ways of consecutive losing seasons.  So this offseason will be very important for the organization.  They need to make some tough decisions, and hopefully it’s not Al Davis sitting in a room by himself making these decisions.

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Oakland Raiders roll into Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to end their season.  They will be looking to go undefeated in the division.  However, no matter what happens they will not be making the playoffs this season.  No team in NFL history has won every divisional game and not made the playoffs.  But I think the most important outcome is for the Raiders to try and end their season at 8-8.  Even though a win or loss won’t due much for the team this year, it would be helpful for all Raider fans and players to say they had a .500 year, versus saying we had another losing season. 

 If the Chiefs have anything to say about it, they will also be working for another win so that they can say they went undefeated at home this year.   Kansas City is 7-0 at home this year and would like for nothing more than to get a win as they look towards the playoff season.

 It remains to be seen what injured players will be playing and sitting.  The Chiefs will probably rest any players that are nursing injuries, and give them another week of rest as they look to be healthy for the playoffs.

 The Raiders will probably do the same.  Darren McFadden is listed as questionable as he is dealing with a lingering turf toe injury.  Richard Seymour is also listed as questionable with a hamstring injury.  I think it would be safe to say that neither of these players would be playing come Sunday. 

 Anytime the Raiders and Chiefs get together, it seems to always be a battle and I don’t think today will be any different.  Both teams will play hard and one will either go undefeated at home, or go undefeated in the division.  But which will it be?

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Oakland Raiders came into Sunday’s game needing a win against the Indianapolis Colts, and a loss by the Kansas City Chiefs to stay alive in the AFC West race.  Neither of these happened.

Before the Raiders even took the field, the Kansas City Chiefs were dominating the Tennessee Titans 34-14 early in the fourth quarter.  As Oakland started the game, time was winding down in the Kansas City game as the Chiefs were finishing off the Titans, and officially ending the Raiders playoff hopes. 

On the field, the Raiders got off to a quick start as Jacoby Ford ran the opening kickoff back for a 99-yard touchdown return.  The Colts responded late in the first quarter with a Joseph Addai 6-yard rushing touchdown.    

In the second quarter, the Raiders took the lead on Janikowski’s 38-yard field goal, but the Colts responded just before halftime with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Tamme to head into the locker room with a 17-13 lead.

Oakland pulled to within five points (24-19) as Janikowski made his 4^th field goal of the game with a 45-yarder early in the fourth quarter.  Peyton Manning, who threw for 3 touchdowns on the day, then connected with Pierre Garcon on a 7-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead 31-19.  The Raiders scored on a 6-yard pass from Jason Campbell to Zach Miller late in the game to make the score 31-26.  The Colts were then able to recover the onside kick, and were able to run out the clock to end the game.

While the Raiders have played great this year against their division foes, compiling a 5-0 record, they are 0-6 against the rest of the AFC conference.  There’s a difference in beating teams you should beat, and beating playoff-caliber type teams.  And this is what the Raiders will need to address in the offseason.  They obviously have the talent to be competitive, but they need to win games against the upper-echelon teams.  They also can’t afford to lose games against teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.  This is the reason why the Raiders will miss another postseason.  If they would’ve beat these two teams, their record would stand at 9-6, and more importantly, they would be playing for the AFC West division next week in Kansas City. 

So much for what-ifs, huh?

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

How many of us can remember the great homerun chase of 1998? I’m sure everyone, baseball fan or not, remembers that year. So maybe a better question is, who misses the action and excitement that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa created?

I certainly do.

In 1961, Roger Maris hit 61 home runs for the New York Yankees. For the next 36 years, only 6 players (Willie Mays, George Foster, Cecil Fielder, Albert Belle, Brady Anderson, Mark McGwire) hit 50+ home runs. Then came the year of the home run.

Baseball, if you remember, was still trying to win back fans from the strike-shortened 1994 season. When the strike ended in 1995, fans were upset and attendance at stadiums plunged. Major League Baseball needed something to win fans back, and it came in the form of a home run.

Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs and Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals forever changed the way we will look at the game of baseball. These two men set off on a pace that generated a wave of excitement and much-needed drama that the sport of baseball desperately needed.

At the end of June (approximately half the season), McGwire had 37 home runs, and Sosa had 33 home runs. By this time, the talk of every baseball fan was whether or not these 2 sluggers could reach Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs that had stood for 37 years.

Summer was here and every household, baseball fan or not, was catching nightly highlights of the home run chase. Fans were filling up stadiums hoping to catch a glimpse of a home run. They were arriving at the ballparks hours before the games to watch batting practice, with the hopes of catching one of their home runs.

By the end of August, both sluggers were tied with 55 home runs. It seemed that the home run record was within sights, and fans had completely forgotten about how angry they were about the strike-shortened season of 1994. Then on September 7th and 8th, the Cubs and Cardinals came together for a classic showdown between the two sluggers. Sosa had 58 home runs and McGwire had 60 home runs. America was glued to their TV sets ready to watch history. On September 7th, McGwire tied Maris’s record of 61 home runs. The following day, McGwire took a Steve Trachsel pitch over the left field fence to break the home run record. Even though McGwire had broken the record, the race was still not over. McGwire hit a drought, and Sosa ended up catching him with 66 home runs on September 25th. This set the stage for the final 2 days of the regular season. In the end, McGwire hit 4 more home runs in the final 2 games of the season to end with 70, while Sosa ended with 66 home runs.

Obviously, the steroid controversy that came out years later damaged a lot of people’s opinions of these two players, and numerous others. And if you want to say that the 1998 home run chase never happened because these two guys were using steroids, you are free to do so. But you can’t argue with the fact that this was the excitement that baseball needed.

Major League Baseball had regained the public’s attention and fans were going back to the ballparks everyday. Ticket sales were up and television ratings had increased dramatically. Kids went to their local baseball fields and played home run derby with their friends, seeing who can hit it the furthest and how many home runs they can hit. Phrases such as, “Chicks Dig The Long Ball” became widely popular. Fathers were taking their kids to ball games with the hopes of sharing some memories, much like their fathers did with them when Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams were playing. America was hanging on the outcome of this home run chase.

It wasn’t until 7 years later that steroid allegations put a huge cloud over baseball, and to the way fans looked at these baseball players hitting the long ball. But for that one season in 1998, we were all addicted to the game of baseball. And no matter who you were rooting for, we could all relate to one of these two players. McGwire was the all-American Southern California boy that grew up excelling at every level playing baseball. Sosa came to the ballpark with a smile on his face, and you could see how much he loved the fans as he raced out to right field everyday.

What would’ve happened to the game of baseball had the great home run chase of 1998 never happened? We will never know, but what did occur that summer saved baseball and brought everyone back to the ballparks.

It saved baseball at a time when baseball needed to be saved.

Authentic Sports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.