NCAA Championship Week, US Davis Cup matches, and Tiger versus Phil made today a great day for sports.
NCAA
Illinois finally lost. Their perfect bid came to an end when Ohio State’s Matt Sylvester hit a 3 with 5 seconds left.
The NCAA tourney is less than two weeks away. Central Florida, Chattanooga, Eastern Kentucky and Winthrop are all in. Let the bubblewatch begin.
Davis Cup
Andy Roddick was the US Davis Cup team’s last chance. His effort fell short as he lost a four hour, 5-set match to Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. Roddick won a fourth set tie breaker to force the fifth and deciding set. After breaking Roddick and holding his first serve, Ljubicic pulled up lame with a knee injury. Even with limited mobility, Ljubicic performed magnificently, putting the match away with his brilliant ball placement.
PGA
The final pairing of the Doral Open pitted Phil Mickelson against Tiger Woods. Phil started the day with a two shot lead. Tiger, always dangerous on the final day, not only had the tournament title in his view but a win would put him back as the top ranked player in the world.
The two players were tied coming up to the 17th green. Mickelson safely parred the hole but Woods knocked down a 28 foot birdie to take the lead. At the eighteenth, both players missed the green. Tiger’s chip left him with a five footer putting the pressure on Phil to make his chip.
Phil’s chip from the fringe barely lipped out giving the crowd one last gasp. The shot would have forced a playoff but instead Tiger drained his last shot to take the title and the number one ranking.
Eric Anderson at 8:50 pm
