Whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, it’s hard to deny the Tiger Effect on a golf tournament. The faithful and the cynics flocked together in throngs to CBS’s broadcast to watch Woods play the final round at Congressional Sunday. That drove the ratings through the roof, according to John Ourand at Sports Business Journal:

The Tiger Effect: CBS delivered a 4.6 overnight for the AT&T National, up +188% from last year's tournament, which was won by Nick Watney.

— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) July 2, 2012

With numbers like that, the networks are probably fine letting the internet argue over just how “back” Tiger is. As long as he’s there on the weekend.

Greenbrier cleans up after storm damage
The Greenbrier will be somewhat less green, but this week's PGA Tour stop should continue on schedule despite storm damage over the weekend, according to PGATOUR.com. The storm smashed "70 to 80 trees" across the Old White Course, said Jim Justice, the chairman and owner of the resort.

"The Greenbrier Classic 2012 will start on schedule this Monday and go off without a hitch," continued Justice. "It's really special to see how everyone has come together over the past 48 hours. While we have a golf tournament to put on, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the widespread damage and power outages the storms have caused throughout the Virginia's and our beautiful region. We hope that The Greenbrier Classic can help serve as a positive diversion during these difficult times."

Justice is right, though: Golf tournaments -- particularly ones held at exceedingly rural, five-star resorts -- rarely bump up against real world problems. But a good walk in a green field can be a nice distraction when they do.

And if the golf isn't diversion enough, hopefully Virginia can drum up enough power to juice the Bon Jovi concert scheduled to go off on Saturday. Or for Rod Stewart on Friday, or for Tobey Keith and Lionel Ritchie Wednesday… Wait, is this a golf tournament, anyway?

Portrush makes case for Open Championship as Irish Open host
The Royal and Ancients haven't brought an Open championship to Northern Ireland since 1951, but after last week's Irish Open at Royal Portrush, many are clamoring to end the surprising streak. Most reports said the event went off without a hitch, and called the audition a resounding success. As Golfweek's Alistair Tait writes:

This Irish Open proved Royal Portrush deserves to have the Open Championship. The tournament was a sell-out before play teed off, and fans came out in their thousands despite incessant rain and cold temperatures. Attendance for the week was 130,785, beating last year's 85,179 by the proverbial country mile…

… This felt like an Open Championship. The event ran without a hitch, and was a fantastic test run for a future Open. The first available slot for the game's oldest tournament is 2017. The R&A should seriously consider Royal Portrush again. The course deserves it, the fans will support it and it would be a fantastic Open venue.

If that didn't convince you, maybe the perspective from a comfortably seated spectator 3,000ish miles away will: It looked good on TV.

X-Wedge
Rickie Fowler is determined to be the coolest golfer in the world. Or, Red Bull is determined to make Rickie Fowler the coolest golfer in the world. He's no stranger to Urban Hole-in-Ones, or playing horse with drivers in Downtown Atlanta. The latest example took place at the X-Games in L.A. and, well, just watch the video:

Still, we're not sure that was the most extreme shot of the weekend. Because on Sunday, Tiger did this:

Tweet of the Day

Reading through Tiger's transcript from last night. Interpreting here, but believe he WANTED to say to media, "Nyah, nyah, nyah, ynah."

— Steve Elling (@@EllingYelling) July 2, 2012

Tiger Woods won the 2012 AT&T National at Congressional Country Club on Sunday and passed Jack Nicklaus on the career wins list.

It was Woods's third PGA Tour victory of the season and the 74th of his career, which put him one ahead of Nicklaus's total. Woods got his 73rd earlier this month at the Memorial in Columbus, Ohio, the annual Tour stop that is hosted by Nicklaus. Sam Snead, with 82, is the only player with more wins.

Woods has 14 career major championship victories, four shy of Nicklaus's record of 18, and will next have a chance to add to that total at the British Open, which starts July 19 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in England.

On a blistering hot day in Bethesda, Md., Woods played a nearly flawless round. He shot 69 for a total score of eight under, two shots clear of Bo Van Pelt.

His victory included a remarkable 9-iron around a tree from the rough on the par-4 12th hole. After hooking his drive, he was forced to play a shot in which his club was certain to slam into a tree on his follow-through. He pulled it off, putting his ball on the green, in a moment that was reminiscent of a similar swing he made at the 2007 Masters. This time, however, the club didn't break.

Woods will go for win No. 75 this week at the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.

Related: Cameron Morfit: Just like old times as Tiger passes Jack
Related: Tiger's Career in Pictures | Tiger's Sports Illustrated Covers

Photo: Carlos M. Saavedra/SI

Golf.com is live blogging the final round of the 2012 AT&T National, where Tiger Woods is seeking to surpass Jack Nicklaus on the all-time wins list with his third victory of the season.

Mobile users, copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://bit.ly/LY8leo

LEADERBOARD | PHOTOS: 2012 AT&T National | PHOTOS: Classic pics of Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is still five majors away from beating Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major championships, but Woods could pass the Golden Bear for career PGA Tour wins with a victory Sunday at the AT&T National, a tournament Woods hosts.

Woods fired a four-under 67 Saturday in sweltering temperatures at Congressional to finish one shot behind Brendon de Jonge, a Virginia Tech graduate from Zimbabwe who is still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour.

Related Photos: Tiger's life in pictures

Starting the day five shots off the lead, Woods climbed into contention with four birdies in the first 10 holes, including a holed pitch shot from the back of the green at the par-5 sixth hole. The shot was similar to the one Woods holed last month at Nicklaus's tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Woods went on to win the Memorial for his second victory of the season, and it tied him with Nicklaus for second on the all-time PGA Tour wins list with 73. Sam Snead holds the record for the most wins at 82.

On the last eight holes, Woods made eight pars to get to six under for the tournament.

It was a miracle any golf was played at Congressional on Saturday. The start of play was delayed six hours after a wind storm called a derecho (duh-RAY'-choh) produced 80 mile-per-hour winds on Friday night in the Washington area, uprooting dozens of trees, knocking out power and damaging hospitality tents.

"It was amazing that we even got it in," Woods said. "The staff, maintenance crew, all the volunteers, picking up twigs and getting everything cleared out so we could actually give it a go today was an amazing effort."

Related Photos: Storm damage pictures from Congressional

Workers spent all morning cutting up large tree trunks and removing limbs scattered across the golf course, while PGA Tour officials made a rare decision to forbid volunteers and spectators from attending the third round due to safety concerns.

"It's too dangerous out here," said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition, on Saturday morning. "There's a lot of hanging limbs. There's a lot of debris. It's like a tornado came through here. It's just not safe."

Fans will be allowed back on Sunday, and those who had tickets on Saturday can attend the final round. They'll likely all be trying to get a glimpse of Woods as he tries to make history once again.

(Photo: Stan Badz/PGA Tour/Getty Images)

Golf Magazine's Mike Walker live blogged the second round of the AT&T National, where Tiger Woods shot a three-under 68. Read all about the round below.

SCORES: 2012 AT&T National leaderboard
RECAP: Woods fires 68, moves into contention
PHOTOS: Tiger on day one at Congressional
PHOTOS: Classic pictures of Tiger Woods
PHOTOS: Tiger Woods fans dressed as Tigers

Golf.com is live blogging the opening round of the AT&T National.

Mobile users, copy and paste this URL into a browser: http://bit.ly/M9t83m

LEADERBOARD | PHOTOS

Suzann Pettersen will become the latest golfer to strip down for ESPN Magazine's the Body Issue, according to CBSSports.com (and, well, much of the internet). For comment on this development, I defer to the source of the article, CBS's Shane Bacon:

"Back in my caddie days, I had a few experiences with Suzann in the gym and let me tell you, she's a beast. Her workouts are hard and long and intense and she works really hard on her body to get the best out of it. Having her in the Body Issue seems like a lay-up for ESPN and golf fans should be excited to see a speciman (speciwoman?) in the game."

And there it is.

The magazine hits newsstands July 13. The Norwegian pro, currently ranked fifth in the world, joins the expanding Mt. Rushmore of LPGA players to appear in the annual issue, alongside Belen Mozo, Christina Kim, Sandra Gal and Anna Grzebien.

Furyk Ready to Forget U.S. Open Meltdown
Jim Furyk would, very courteously and with all due respect, request that you stop reminding him of his early-evening misadventures Sunday at Olympic Club. Thank you.

That was the gist of his performance for the press Wednesday before the AT&T National, according to Emily Kay of SBNation. It's making it really hard for him to forget, and that's an important step toward recovery:

"I've always been really good at kinda putting it behind me," Furyk said, adding that those around him have made it harder for him to do that. "I get reminded of it at least two dozen times a day [by] hundreds of hundreds of people just seeing me in public at the grocery story, at a restaurant, and you know, 'I was rootin' for you, I was pullin' for you.'"

Even PGA Tour service personnel have hopped aboard the sympathy train.

"Our commissioner was telling me yesterday that our local dry cleaner was trying to figure out, 'well, why did he hit that shot?'" Furyk recounted. When Tim Finchem noted that Furyk was not trying to shoot himself out of contention, the launderer pressed him further. "'Yeah, but he shouldn't have done it in that situation.'

"Well, no s**t," Furyk said with a laugh, "but you shouldn't break the buttons on my shirt, but it happens once in a while."

Furyk starts his first round at 1:02, alongside Robert Garrigus and Jason Day. Please address your Hallmark "Get Well Soon" cards to the Congressional locker room, c/o Fluff Cowan.

Another Open Closed
Do you want to be Merion's "Jungle Bird" at the 2013 U.S. Open? Tough. All the general admission tickets for the championship rounds are already sold out. And while fences are probably no problem for the real Jungle Bird, well, we're not all quite so avian.

But, as Yahoo's Jay Busbee writes, there are other ways in:

Aside from the usual "secondary" market, you can also buy tickets for the Monday-Wednesday practice rounds. You can also pony up some big bucks for the premium "Trophy Club" and "1895 Club" tickets. Both offer access to food, drink and (most notably) air conditioning in tents located near the 18th hole. Prices range from $50 for single-day practice-round tickets to $385 for Sunday 1895 Club ducats. (You can also get in free if you happen to be a kid or active-duty military, which is nice.)

The 2012 U.S. Open marked the event's 26th straight sell out. In all, 230,000 people graced Olympic's grounds. Since Merion is a smaller site, the USGA paired back ticket allotments - down to 25,000 per day from 33,000. Never too early to start digging your tunnel to the action…

And now for something frightening:
Yahoo came across this add for SkySports, and found it in their dark hearts to share it:

Watching Tiger morph into Monty is like watching the bad guy age after picking the wrong grail in The Last Crusade. I wonder if this will turn me away from golf the way that did from water. Always choose the pewter cup, that's the lesson there. Applied here, it means always stick to a single spokesman's face, even that face belongs to Colin Montgomerie.

Tweet of the Day:

I guess the news has come out! Yes, Iam one of the athletes in ESPN's body issue! It was a different experience but an honor to be asked!

— Suzann Pettersen (@suzannpettersen) June 27, 2012

When Phil Mickelson started the final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he seemed like a long shot to win the event. By the time he finished the front nine, he seemed like a lock. 

Mickelson was nine under, six shots behind leader Charlie Wi, after 54 holes, but he charged out of the gate with birdies on three of the first five holes and an eagle on the par-5 sixth. As Mickelson climbed the leaderboard with a 31 on the front to get to 14 under, his competitors fell all around him.

Wi four-putted the first hole for a double bogey and was 12 under after going out in 39. Tiger Woods, paired with Mickelson in the second-to-last group, bogeyed the last three holes on the front nine to fall to nine under. Duke also fell back with a front-nine 37.

Mickelson never let up, shooting a bogey-free 64 to finish 17 under, two shots clear of Wi. It was Mickelson's 40th PGA Tour victory and his fourth win at this event.

Woods, whose game has showed improvement in recent months, was again unable to finish a tournament with a victory. His three-over 75 left him at eight under, tied for 15th.

When asked about playing with Woods, Mickelson said it helped.

"I am inpsired playing with him, and I think most people are," Mickelson said. "He seems to bring out the best in me."

When asked about Woods's game, he was complimentary.

"He was hitting it so solid, you could tell his game was really close," Mickelson said.

More on Mickelson's win | Round 4 photos

(Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. - Erik Compton thought he'd be more emotional. He thought memories of the two heart transplants and the recovery that followed would consume him the moment he earned his PGA Tour card.

But when Compton won last weekend's Mexico Open - which vaulted him to No. 2 on the Nationwide Tour's money list and all but assured him a PGA Tour membership next season - he didn't cry. Instead, excitement was the prevailing emotion as Compton jetted from Mexico to Philadelphia on Monday for this weekend's AT&T National, where he is playing with a sponsor's exemption.

When asked Wednesday about the emotions of his last couple of days, Compton said, "I don't even know where to begin."

Compton, a former All-American at Georgia, had an enlarging of the heart called cardiomyopathy that led to a transplant in 1992, when he was 12. He needed another transplant in 2008 when that heart failed.

Compton was admittedly fatigued heading into Thursday's first round;  the AT&T National marks his fifth tournament in as many weeks.

Wearing a violet shirt and showing off his wide, toothy smile, Compton didn't seem the least bit worried about fatigue affecting his play. This will be his fifth PGA Tour event of the season and his 17th since having his second heart transplant in 2008. His best finish came at the Northern Trust Open in February, where he tied for 25th.

"Once I get on the tee, I think I'll be ready to play and excited," Compton said. "I'm just trying to take it real slow."

As his PGA Tour career starts to take shape, Compton will remain realistic with his goals. His heart will continue to limit his energy level and playing schedule.

He only hits balls for 20-25 minutes before a round, and his off-weeks aren't spent practicing, either. Sometimes, he doesn't even take his clubs out of the suitcase at home. He relaxes, goes fishing, and spends time with his wife, Barbara, and baby, Petra.

After leaving Philadelphia, Compton will have his annual cardiac check-up and take some much-needed time off.

Compton is cognizant of the fact that he'll always be known as the guy who is on his third heart. As he says, "It's such a crazy, crazy story." But after last week's victory, he has a new title that's nearly as meaningful: card-carrying member of the PGA Tour.

"The doctors are shocked and people in the transplant world are shocked," Compton said. "I'm shocked because I always said I would be on Tour and play, but now it's a reality. My dream is finally coming true, and it couldn't have happened at a better time."

(Photo: Adam Davis/Icon SMI)

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- Patrick Cantlay's month of June has included placing second in the NCAA individual national championship, accepting the Jack Nicklaus award as national player of the year, being low amateur at the U.S. Open and leading the Travelers Championship after a second-round 60  -- the lowest score by an amateur in PGA Tour history.

And now, Cantlay, a UCLA sophomore-to-be, is finally starting to get noticed. On Monday at the AT&T National, a fan asked him to autograph a photo, a first for the baby-faced 19-year-old.

"That was a little shocking," Cantlay said in his press conference Tuesday morning.

But his new-found notoriety and his rising reputation in the sport won't make Cantlay change his tune about his future. The Los Alamitos, Calif., native has maintained that he plans to return to UCLA for the fall semester, even after missing out on nearly $150,000 in prize money because of his amateur status.

School doesn't start until Sept. 22, which leaves Cantlay plenty of time to continue his whirlwind summer vacation. He hasn't been home since the NCAA national championship began in late May. Next week he'll play in the Southern California Amateur. From there, Cantlay's schedule includes the Western Amateur outside Chicago, the U.S. Amateur outside Milwaukee  and "hopefully," Cantlay says, the Walker Cup -- amateur golf's version of the Ryder Cup -- in Scotland.

With the way Cantlay has been playing lately, it's hard to imagine any scenario where he'd be passed over for the U.S. Walker Cup team.

"I'm not surprised with the way I [have] played, but it just reaffirmed my belief that I think I can play out here eventually," he said.

(Photo: Barbara Johnston/AP)

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