Interleague play in baseball has now wrapped up for the 2005 season (and the Red Sox took advantage sweeping the Phillies to now take a 2.5 game lead in the division). But I'm going to switch gears now and talk a bit about golf. Some random (well, maybe not so random in my head) observations:

After last week's somewhat stunning U.S. Open win by Michael Campbell, there was another stunner in today's U.S. Women's Open. The appropriately named Birdie Kim chipped in from the bunker for a birdie to snatch what was looking like a good bet to go to a playoff. But that was one of two improbable finishes in golf today, as Padraig Harrington made a bomb of a putt for eagle, to do the same thing. And speaking of majors, Harrington is my pick to win the British Open. He was my preseason prediction and with two wins on the PGA Tour already this year, I don't see any reason to change. (BTW, my other preseason picks for the four majors were: Tiger Woods for the Masters, Mike Weir for the U.S., and Phil Mickelson for the PGA - so I'm 1 for 2 so far.)

And on the subject of the British Open, Jean Van de Velde seems to make triple bogeys at the worst times. He of course did so on the 72nd hole in the 1999 Open, when a double bogey would have given him the trophy. In today's French Open, he blew a one-shot lead on the 72nd hole and lost on the first playoff hole by making triple bogey as Jean-François Remesy made double bogey. Does that make him a choker? I'm not sure. A lot of people thought that he choked at the British Open, but I don't think he did, otherwise he would not have made the tough putt that he did to get into the playoff. You need to blow it on a number of consecutive holes (like Greg Norman did at the 1996 Masters) for it to be a true "choke". One tough hole (which included some really bad breaks) doesn't qualify. But that's just me.