Tiger still the favorite and other U.S. Open thoughts

OAKMONT, Pa. - A few U.S. Open thoughts before bedtime.

Of all the players ahead of Tiger Woods on the leaderboard heading into the weekend, only David Toms has won a major…

Can whoever led the charge to cut the trees down at Oakmont run for public office in Pittsburgh? I can’t see any road signs because they’re all blocked by branches…

Do you think the British players even think winning the U.S. Open is a big deal with such a crummy exchange rate? What’s $1.2 million in pounds these days…

I don’t know how I feel about Mickelson’s attitude this week. On one hand, he never used the wrist as an excuse. On the other, he keeps reiterating how the course is “dangerous"…

Speaking of, all this “danger” talk has me trying to think of the worst golf injury I ever had. The only one I can think of, besides foot and hand blisters, is when I was about twelve or so and slipped looking for my ball in a ditch and cut my shin on a rusty iron rod. I still have the scar and I had to get a Tetanus shot for it…

I just ordered a small order of fries at some diner near my hotel and it filled an entire paper bag. Portions of greasy food this big, especially in a low-income, inner city area, should be illegal…

Walking Oakmont and watching how it plays, I have mixed feelings about how one would rate the golf course. Not as far as “difficulty", that’s already been established - but rating it as a golf course. It’s top ten on a lot of U.S. lists, but at its core, isn’t it kind of gimmicky? H.C. Fownes isn’t a golf course architect. If you put these greens on any other course they’d be called “stupid” and these ditches don’t have any water in them and don’t have much reason to their placement…

“A ten-handicapper wouldn’t break 100 out here,” said Woods today. I’ll take that bet. Where’s the invite out there…

How happy is the remaining field about Cabrera’s final-hole birdie? Now $7 million will be split 19 less ways…

Check back into WorldGolf.com tomorrow for reports on second round action. I’ll be at Oakmont Saturday bright and early. If some drunk, shoe-less idiot knocks on my door thinking its his room at 5 a.m. again I’m stabbing him in the face with a coat hanger…