Golf Central

On this day in 1996, Tim Herron won the Honda Classic in south Florida, knocking off Mark McCumber and Nick Price, which is not particularly notable except we love big Lumpy and not much else happened on this day in golf history.

Herron fired a blistering 62 in the first round and led wire-to-wire over the TPC at Eagle Trace, finishing on a 17-under-par tally of 271 in a downpour to capture the $234,000 first prize. It was the first of four PGA Tour wins for the oversized lad from Minnesota. Nice job, Lumpy! ...

Well, two wins by the age of 25 isn't bad, is it?: Nope. But people have been expecting big things of Sean O'Hair since the John Deere in 2005, when he won as a rookie.
So how did O'Hair do it then?: Steady, unspectacular style. He shot a 2-under 69, which was good for a 4-under winning total of 280. Which shows just how tough the Copperhead course was here.
Here's a trivia question for you ... Sean O'Hair is now one of only seven players in their 20s with more than one PGA Tour win. Who are the others?: Sergio Garcia has six, Adam Scott has five, and Charles Howell III, Aaron Baddeley, DJ Trahan and JB Holmes have two apiece.
How did you know that?: It's on the PGA Tour media information sheet, you dunderhead.
Oh. But that doesn't tell me how Stewart Cink feels ...: Pretty bad, likely. he was 5-under at one point and leading by three before settling for a six-way tie for second. He just fell apart after a three-jack on 13 and getting a bad bounce that left him against a tree on 14 for another bogey. A double on 16 and that was all she wrote for Cink.
What's this going to do to him in the long run?: Probably not much. It's got to hurt, but the Bald Eagle has one of the most settled, steady pair of shoulders on the Tour. He'll win again sometime.
But not the PODS ...: Nobody will win the PODS again, my friend. The sponsor, which makes Portable On Demand Storage units, is pulling out after this year, and the tournament will have a new name in 2009.
At least PODS hooked you up with plenty of free grub ...: Yep, and I got a "pod" too.
Is it like one of those pods that Derek Smalls hatched out of in Spinal Tap during the Break Like The Wind tour in Milwaukee?: It's better than that. This one actually works. And I'll see you, and Tiger, when I get out of my pod at Bay Hill.

Bernard Langer still knows how to win at age 50. The German may have designs on becoming the oldest man to win the Masters in a few weeks' time, but for now Langer might need a bit of a lie-down after his gruelling victory at the Toshiba Classic on the US Champions Tour in Newport Beach Country Club in Southern California. Langer birdied the 54th hole of regulation to force a playoff with Jay Haas, then the pair went seven extra holes before Langer made a birdie and Haas lipped out a three-foot birdie attempt ...

If you're going to blame anyone, blame J.B Holmes. To be fair to the lad from Kentucky, Holmes had as good a chance as anyone to bring Tiger's "perfect season" train to a grinding halt when they met in the first round of the WGC Accenture Match Play recently. But that was before Woods' astonishing comeback.

But if there's anywhere on the 2008 PGA calendar that Tiger could show us he's human after all, look no further than Bay Hill, host to this week's Arnold Parmer Invitational. Granted, he might be hitting the ball better than ever, and let's not forget the four consecutive titles he won there from 2000-2003, but it's all been a bit pear-shaped since then.

Since 2004, Tiger's finished tied 46th, 23rd, 20th and 22nd at Bay Hill; even your average Joe would turn his nose up at results like that, and the $165,634.53 that he pocketed in the process. What we trying to tell you is that even though he's 3-0 in 2008, Bay Hill could do to Tiger's perfect season what the New York Giants did to the New England Patriots'. But, knowing Tiger, he'll probably just let his golf do the talking, and take pity on us for ever doubting him.

Here's what our pals at the New York Times have to say ...

On this day in 1950, Andy North, a two-time US Open champion, was born in Thorp, Wisconsin and became one of the oddest statistical anomalies in modern golf history.

Why was North such an improbable champion? Because the 6-foot-4 journeyman only won three times on the PGA Tour in total. The only other golfer since World War II who has won two US Opens - arguably the toughest of golf's four majors - and not reach double figures in PGA Tour wins is Lee Janzen, who has won eight times on tour ...