Haas Wins in LA

Well, did you watch the LA Open today?

The Mickelson-Bradley back and forth written about this morning did take place, along with Bill Haas jumping in and out of the lead, and a lot of other guys, most notably Dustin Johnson, squandering shots and opportunities to get into the mix and take control of the tournament. After an afternoon of watching these guys ham-and-egg it all over Riviera, it appeared that Haas was the winner until both Mickelson and Bradley made two incredible birdies on 18 to force a playoff. Haas won on the second sudden death hole, a short - 314 yard - par 4 in an amazing display of golfing strategy. If you play golf, watching them play that 10th hole was completely fascinating. If you don't play golf, you probably have a quit reading before you got this far in the post anyway, so I won't go into it here. You can read about it in the paper tomorrow.

As I said, three and a half hours of ham and egging was all made worthwhile watching Mickelson and Bradley on 18 and watching them and Haas in the two sudden death holes. Great stuff.

And a couple of final comments on Keegan Bradley, who at age 25 certainly seems to have the chops to be a big factor on the PGA Tour for years to come.

• I wish he didn't use a belly putter (Haas does, too, by the way). Just doesn't seem right.



• He takes FOREVER to hit his shots. Recreational golf will take even longer to play if the weekend hackers start to imitate him.



• He spits a lot. A LOT. It has become fashionable to beat up on Tiger Woods for his habit of constant spitting on the course. I hope those same critics will come down on Bradley for this dubious habit. Unless, of course, there is a double standard among the golfing elite where someone who looks like Woods is concerned. Not that that could be possible in this day and age, of course. (It can be noted that Gary McCord did say that he would have to talk with young Keegan about the spitting.)