A Major shank

The U.S. Open golf tournament begins this Thursday at the venerable Winged Foot golf club in Mamaroneck, New York. Tiger Woods is the favorite to win. He is not white. The Washington Post has taken note, and reminds us:

Ten years after Woods turned professional in the summer of 1996, Woods is the only African-American player on the PGA Tour.

To be precise Woods is only part black. He's also part east Asian, and his father had white, black and American Indian bloodlines. So to be fair, he's only part African-American.







These gentlemen, Vijah Singh, Michael Campbell and Shigeki Mariyama, all play with Woods on the PGA Tour.

Singh, who just won the most recent PGA tour tournament, would be considered black by most casual observers but is from the Island of Fiji, which disqualifies him from being called an African-American. In a weird paradox, if white South African golfer Ernie Els (now a US resident) becomes a citizen he might better fit the definition of African American than Woods.

So relax, WaPo. Compare golf to pro tennis and hockey, which are also mainly white and tell us if that means anything. Baseball is becoming more Latin, while football and basketball are dominated by blacks in numbers disproportionate with their percent of total population. And the ladies golf tour has seen a large influx of east-Asians. But feel free to create a crisis if you must. Surely there's a republican to blame somewhere.

LEADERBOARD 6/16/06

So much for favorites. This was the first time in years I was pulling for Tiger. I know the pain of losing a dad. It must have been tough to focus.

EPILOGUE 6/18/06

"I still am in shock that I did that. I just can't believe that I did that," Mickelson said. "I am such an idiot."

Give him some credit. That might be the most honest response to a sports choke ever uttered by the offender.