What To Watch For Sunday At Augusta

Yesterday's action at the Masters was incredible. It was maybe the best Saturday we've seen at a major in many years. The famous roars were reverberating around Augusta National. Phil Mickelson's back to back eagles at 13 and 14 have him one behind the lead of Lee Westwood (-12). Tiger Woods and KJ Choi are 4 back with some work to do and Freddy Couples is 5 back and hoping for perhaps the miraculous major win of all-time. Here is what to watch for Sunday at Augusta...

*Can Lee Westwood Close The Deal?

-With Sergio Garcia's disappearance from the leaderboards of majors, Lee Westwood has taken the mantle of best player to never win a major. Consistently one of Europe's best players, he only has 1 PGA Tour win to go along with 20 on the European Tour. But, he's been close to getting a breakthrough major win finishing 3rd at the 2008 US Open, 2009 British Open, and 2009 PGA Championship. Each time, he had a chance to win late but could not close the deal. Now, with the lead for the first time, can Lee Westwood close the deal? He hasn't yet proven that he can, and with the Augusta stars behind him, it'll be a tough ask of Westwood.

*More Mickelson Miracles

-Phil Mickelson's 9 strokes on holes 13-15 yesterday was perhaps the best stretch of 3 holes we've seen in a major championship. In spite of his poor record recently, Phil always plays well at Augusta. As was noted on the broadcast yesterday, Mickelson has had a lot to think about off the course in his personal life with his wife and mother battling breast cancer. Believe it or not, Phil is going for his 3rd Green Jacket, but it's been 4 years since he last won a major! He seemingly has never recovered from his disaster at Winged Foot in the '06 US Open. Phil's key today will have to be to keep the bogeys away (he had a good run last year before blowing up at Amen Corner). He's clearly the crowd favorite, and should be the odds-on favorite to win with Tiger 3 strokes back. Speaking of...

*Tiger Watch

-Interesting that yesterday during a run of bogeys was the first time we heard talk of Tiger not playing a competitive round in 5 months. Funny how the excuses weren't mentioned when he shot his best ever 1st round at Augusta. I think 4 strokes will be too much of a mountain to climb, even for Tiger. Unless he shoots a 64, it's not in the cards - I don't see Mickelson and Westwood coming back to the pack today. Keep track today of how many times you hear the words Elin, sex, scandal, affair, mistakes, regret, shame, embarrassment, etc... Richard Nixon would be proud of the cover-up that CBS and ESPN have done this week treating Tiger with kid gloves. If you've been under a rock since Thanksgiving, you would have zero idea what exactly he's "coming back from." On the course today, Tiger will play a solid round, but he'll fall just short.

*Augusta Magic

-If yesterday was any sort of preview to what we'll see today, we'll be in store for an incredible 4th round. It wouldn't surprise me to see Fred Couples make a charge up the leaderboard for a while... or several young guns just behind (Mahan, Kim, Barnes). There's perhaps nothing more enjoyable than hearing the roars on the Back 9, Sunday, at Augusta. Enjoy today because it only comes around once a year.

What I Love About Sunday

I'm baaack. Sorry for the extended absence, a move and summer classes will do that to anyone. Plus, I've been so shook up over the steroid allegations against David Ortiz that my will to blog has been crippled... ok maybe not. Besides, was there anything in the past week worth blogging about? (Besides the Yankees pulling away from the BoSox, but I've picked on them enough recently!)

But today, we begin anew in the sports world. Today marks a transitional day on the sports calendar.

Football.

Is.

Back.

Thank God.

I don't know about you, but I've reached the summer doldrums as far as baseball is concerned, the news out of the NBA has slowed to a trickle (unless you count the LeBron saga), and training camp doesn't excite me like it used to. However, that ends with the Hall of Fame Game tonight featuring TO's debut with the Bills against the Titans. Let's hope for TO's sake that his stint with the Bills goes better than his reality show (reportedly doing worse ratings than the British House of Commons on C-Span (which is actually interesting stuff) (and yes I just put two parentheses inside of a parentheses, I told you we are a groundbreaking blog)). Thankfully, the sporting Gods have blessed us with a fantastic Sunday of sports as we slowly transition into the Fall. Today, there have been, are, and will be three sporting events that will keep RSS's attention throughout the day.

-First, this morning saw another football league open their season as the curtain raiser to the English Premier League season saw Manchester United face off against Chelsea from Wembley Stadium to play for the ceremonial Community Shield. Usually these games are dull affairs, but this game was a great one to watch. Potential Ronaldo replacement Nani impressed by scoring a great goal in the first 10 minutes. Ricardo Carvahlo and Frank Lampard then scored for Chelsea before Wayne Rooney equalized in extra time, before Chelsea finally claimed victory in a penalty shootout.

The verdict from this game has to focus on how United will deal with the losses of Carlos Tevez and Ronaldo. Summer signings Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen came on in the 2nd half but failed to impress. Can Rooney and Berbatov shoulder the load up front on their own? Guys like Park, Nani, and Fletcher played good games, but will these players be able to step up there games to replace all those missing goals? Over the course of the season, it might not look likely. Chelsea on the other hand looked in mid-season form in the second half and could be the favorites to reclaim the Prem Crown.

-Next, Firestone CC hosts the annual Tiger Woods Wins Another WGC Title Tourney this afternoon as the prelude to next week's PGA Championsihp. Tiger is in the midst of a duel with Irish pitbull Paddy Harrington as they are currently tied after 13 holes. Good to see Harrington competing again after some swing changes had derailed his game for the bulk of this season. Winning two majors last year, and perhaps coming back to beat Tiger on one of his favorite courses would be great for golf heading into the PGA. Oh, and the reports of Tiger's demise may have been greatly exaggerated as he is looking for his second straight win. Could Paddy Harrington rise up as a legit rival to Tiger? Probably not, but it's nice to dream, and nice to enjoy a riveting tourney on a scorching Sunday.

-Finally, the Hall of Fame Game is tonight from Canton, Ohio. While the Bills/Titans matchup isn't terribly intriguing, it will be interesting to see if TO does any of the following:

1) Incessantly plugs his own reality show. Let's hope he can move beyond the popcorn and do something creative. Your show and the ratings are terrible, will you pull out all the stops?

2) Starts ripping Trent Edwards midway through the 1st Quarter for not throwing him the ball, before crying after the game saying, "That's my quarterback, sniff."

(By the way, that was the Best Damn Sports Show Period's #1 most emotional moment in sports... no wonder that show's off the air)

3) Somehow gets Dick Jauron to show some emotion.

Ok, so the Hall of Fame game on its own doesn't mean much. But at least it means that the NFL is back, and the college kids aren't that far behind. We've come through the darkness people, I can see the light ahead. Enjoy your sporting Sunday, I know I will.