Part of this column was finished and ready to post yesterday, but who wants to fight for viewer traffic with a news story consisting of U.S. Navy SEALs killing Osama bin Laden? Instead, I took the opportunity to hit the range and then dig for some stories in the world of golf to add to what was previously written.

It's no where near as exciting as the death of the September 11 mastermind, but it's hard to find anything that is for Americans right now. While the world has been devouring news stories as quickly as they can be published, I'm taking a personal break to do my job.

I suggest you do the same (as in, it is your job to read this article... bonuses will be awarded in the form of discounted, name-brand golf equipment. Just click the links to the left and thank me later. After you read of course).

With so much going on in the world and my head flooded with emotion and news reports, I decided it would be a good time to hit the driving range for the first time this year. Little did I know, this outing would be as frustrating as listening to any person who claimed bin Laden's death was a government conspiracy.

Nothing felt right. I hooked my driver, sliced my driver, topped my driver and drove golf balls a foot into the dirt. It was just one of those outings where everything felt tight and unrehearsed. Which makes sense since I haven't swung a golf club in six months. But, golf has a way of humbling you, and even though I thought I could simply grab the sticks and start sending straight drives out into the green pasture, it doesn't always work that way.

I ended up hitting eighty balls, most of which went to places I had previously desired to go elsewhere. I decided to work through my bag to see if I could find a comfortable club that I could get into rhythm with and found a little bit of reprieve in my 7-iron, pitching wedge and 4-iron.

With my first round of golf looming tomorrow morning, I felt like I had made some progress. I could go 4-iron off the tee, 7-iron, pitching wedge and then use my putter the rest of the way. Of course, that is in no way how I actually play, so come tomorrow morning, I expect to abandon that plan and just do what feels normal: driver, then whatever the hell else I need to hear the ball rattle in the hole to finish up.

We'll see how it goes. At the end of last year, I was consistently shooting in the low 40s, occasionally breaking into the high 30s for nine holes and routinely shooting under 90 for 18.

For a hack like me, I consider that pretty good. I even had a few rounds in the low to mid-80s. That's a great round in my world. But, I don't expect to have my game that refined by tomorrow morning.

But, stranger things have happened, I guess. I mean, we did finally take out Osama after nearly 10 years on Sunday.

Around the golf world

- Prior to watching the bin Laden mission in real-time from the White House, President Barack Obama was out on the course, as is custom for him on a nice day in Washington, D.C. Obama usually plays 18, but he cut the round short since he (obviously) had more important things to do.

I don't know about you, but I'd like to know what he shot for those nine holes with so much on his mind. I couldn't get out of bed knowing I had to make decisions like that. Let alone watch how they unfold.

- Justin Ray of ESPN.com did a nice job breaking down the new "Strokes Gained - Putting" metric that will now be used on the PGA Tour. Check it out here.

- Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will take another stab at qualifying for the U.S. Open this year. Cowboys fans (not this one) may be critical of Romo taking time away from football to pursue other interests, and have been in the past, but with the NFL Lockout still in effect, there's no room for judgement this time.

Romo might even come pretty close to getting in this year with nothing else to worry about. He made it to sectional qualifying last year before having to return back to the team.