THE PLAYERS Championship opened up the second round today and if the first round is any indication of what is to come, we're in for a solid weekend of golf. 

Roberto Castro, in his debut at TPC Sawgrass, tied the course record with an opening round 63 (-9) and closed the day with a three shot lead. If that's not confidence building, I don't know what is. 

But, one round a golf tournament does not make. Castro has many of the PGA Tour's best nipping at his heels with Zach Johnson and Rory McIlroy at -6 and Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods sitting at -5. Birdies were aplenty on Thursday, with course conditions being lauded by the players after their rounds. Though there is a chance of rain throughout the weekend, it's going to take quite a bit of precipitation to hurt the course conditions. 

Live video of the second round is available all day at this link. 

The famed 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass was not too menacing on Thursday. The average score was a 3.076, just a hair over par if you want to be a stickler about it. 

Castro was closest to the pin at 1'7" and was the only player all day to get within two feet of the pin off the tee. The field had 22 birdies, 103 pars and 10 bogeys on Thursday and 15 balls ended up lost forever in the water surrounding the island green. 

With great conditions for today in the forecast, expect a lot more low scores and the cut line to be right around par, maybe just over. 

Click here for a live leaderboard as second round play continues.

What a difference one year makes.

At this time last year, Tiger Woods was abandoning the WGC-Cadillac Championship after just 11 holes due to an ailing left Achilles Tendon. 

On Sunday, in the same tournament and on the same course, Woods completed all 72 holes in dominant fashion to win his 76th PGA Tour event of his career. 

The World Golf Championships have been extra sweet to Woods. Since their inception in 1999, he has won 17 (42%!!) and collected a total of $24 million in winnings for his efforts. 

Sometimes we forget just how dominant Woods was due to the faults he has experienced over the last few years bringing him down to the level of the rest of the field. Woods burned so hot, for so long, the flame was likely to decrease from a raging inferno to a contained blaze in a fireplace at some point. I just don’t think we expected it to happen so suddenly and so dramatically when it did. 

Needless to say, we’re again seeing signs of the “Old Tiger” that carved up the field for four rounds and never really gave anyone else a shot to win.

A win at Bay Hill in two weeks would provide an even better glimpse of the “Old Tiger” as it would propel him back atop the World Golf Rankings, a place he could have used as a permanent residence in the past. 

In his post round press conference, Woods talked about getting a putting lesson from Steve Stricker on Wednesday before the WGC-Cadillac Championship started. It worked, and also may have backfired on Stricker, who finished two-shots back in second place. 

It was almost a redemptive week for PGA Tour television ratings as well. After Woods and Rory McIlroy (and just about every other favorite) were bounced early from the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship, this past Sunday saw Woods win, with Stricker in second and Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott tying for third.

Star power at the top of the leaderboard is exactly what the PGA Tour wants, and they did at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. 

I won’t speculate whether I think this is the turning point for Woods “being back,” because I don’t think it’s fair to judge what he can do now to what he did in his most dominant years. He’s older with a potential to be injury prone and when that once-in-a-lifetime magic goes... it goes. That doesn’t mean Woods can’t be the most dominant force on the Tour, because he will always have that potential, but it’s always going to be wait and see with him now.

What’s good for the PGA Tour is we will wait to see if that magic comes back, every week, even if it never does. 

One day is in the books at Augusta National and though weather played a small factor in how the course played for the morning and afternoon groups, it wasn't going to make a difference for Lee Westwood.

Westwood finished atop the leaderboard - his first time in this position after the first round of any major - at -5, one stroke ahead of Peter Hanson. Unless you've been living under a rock as a golf fan, you know Westwood is probably the best player to have never won a major yet, so his first round lead is significant.

Notable Scores

T11 Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, -2... T14 Steve Stricker, Keegan Bradley, Rory McIlroy, Angel Cabrera, -1... T29 Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Charl Schwartzel, E... T54 Phil Mickelson, +2... T60 Luke Donald, +3

Clearly Donald has a lot of work to do and Mickelson isn't too far behind that same quest. Expect some big movers today, and probably a couple of disappointing cuts.

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In 2012, we’ve seen a moustached man named Johnson Wagner win a tournament. We’ve seen Tiger Woods finish third overseas and strong signs that he’s on the winning track once again. Stever Stricker, Mark Wilson, Brandt Snedeker and Kyle Stanley have all claimed trophies.

What we have yet to see is some celebrity pairings that will thrust the golf world into the national spotlight should one of the A-D lister’s win while piggy-backing a professional golfer. Luckily, the time has come for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Nothing was sweeter than seeing Bill Murray claim a trophy alongside D.A. Points. This year, look forward to seeing names such as: Justin Timberlake, George Lopez, Don Cheadle, Chris O’Donnell, Chris Berman, Bill Murray, and Tony Romo. Not a bad list, but depending on your tastes, there is potential to be turned off by some of these entrants.

I’m looking forward to seeing Timberlake, Romo and Murray out there, but could really care less for Chris Berman. Don’t we get enough of him on ESPN? It may sound crazy, but I saw Berman at the Pro Football Hall of Fame a few years ago and heard him talk in casual conversation and can report that, yes, he does always talk like that. Timberlake and Romo are welcome additions because we know they can golf.

The Romo/Woods pairing should be a fun one to watch even though neither has had much success lately. Perhaps their recent stints of poor play can combine and bring excellence. You know, that whole two wrongs make a right deal… or, is it two wrongs don’t make a right? I’ll just go with the first because that’s what I want to believe. Romo will certainly get some heat from Cowboy haters and I’d be extremely happy to hear some N*Sync trash talk directed at Timberlake, but my guess is none of that will air on TV.

I’ve got Romo/Woods to win this thing. Who you got?

Tee Times

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Ladies and gentleman of the golf world, the new year is upon us and that can mean only one thing... we just survived the shortest offseason in professional sports and the PGA Tour is back!

Each December I do a good job of complaining about how much I'm going to go through a golf depression once the season ends but since 2011 was a Presidents Cup year, we only truly had to endure 42 without golf on our weekend TV schedules. Not bad.

Needless to say 2011's golf nuclear winter did not require any medication for your favorite Hurricane Golf blogger and I'm ready to pop the champagne and crack another bottle across the bow of the ship to welcome in 2012.

Luke Donald dominated 2011 in terms of awards and making money. Keegan Bradley stole the show a few times - including at the PGA Championship - proving that age is a relative non-factor on the PGA Tour. Rory McIlroy was both tragic (The Masters) and magnificent (US Open). Charl became a household name. Tiger Woods flirted with Augusta, went on sabbatical, fired his caddie and had a war of words with him, continued to play poorly, and then was a huge factor in the USA victory at the Presidents Cup. Darren Clarke claimed a piece of every golf fans heart by winning The Open Championship. Oh, and Bill Haas won the FedEx Cup.

With or without Tiger Woods, the PGA Tour really shined in 2011. But what of 2012? The easy answer is time will tell, but I've got 12 bold predictions ready to be crushed into the middle of the fairway:

1. Tiger Woods will win a major and 3 other tournaments. Let's throw the FedEx Cup in for good measure as well.
2. Rory McIlroy will have a down year, struggling to play consistently on the PGA Tour, but will dominate the European Tour.
3. Phil Mickelson will win the US Open, but no other tournaments in 2012.
4. Steve Stricker will be in contention at all four majors (Top 5) and finish 2nd in the FedEx Cup.
5. Rory Sabbatini will have another meltdown.
6. Webb Simpson will have the most wins in 2012.
7. Rickie Fowler will be a media darling and marketing sensation, but not win a tournament.
8. A player you have never heard of will win THE PLAYERS.
9. John Daly will win a tournament... yes, that John Daly.
10. Steve Williams will be fired and rehired.
11. Adam Scott will win a tournament immediately after firing Williams.
12. I will win The Masters ticket lottery and take my dad to Augusta.

Tiger Woods didn't single-handedly win the Presidents Cup for the United States team, but the reaction from his teammates after he closed out Aaron Baddeley on the back-9 at Royal Melbourne would suggest otherwise.

It was a redemption of sorts for Woods, who clinched the Cup for the US for the second straight time. Following nearly two years of poor play on Tour, Woods needed a good four days of golf more than nearly anyone in world. US captain Fred Couples took a lot of Heat for even putting Woods on the roster, but it is he and Woods who are hoisting the Cup, not we naysayers who were outraged that Woods was selected over major champion Keegan Bradley.

I'll be the first to say Woods' play made my criticism of his selection seem comical. Thing is, the criticism was valid and fair, and it won't be the last time I make a proclamation on this blog that doesn't pan out. We had little - if any - reason to believe Woods wasn't going to be the weak link on this team. With young Bradley having a career-year and closing out the season as hot as any golfer in the world, claiming that he should have been on the team rather than a golfer who hasn't put together a consistent round of golf, on a consistent basis, wasn't a stretch.

What Woods did was prove us all wrong. He played great golf, hitting fairways off the tee, nailing greens-in-regulation, and showing that steady stroke on the putting green that used to win him major championships. What was once in shambles all came together for Woods in Australia... not just at the Presidents Cup, but at the Australian Open, which he finished in 3rd place.

Woods was by far the biggest headline coming out of the Presidents Cup, but what should not be lost in the US 19-15 victory is the stellar play of Jim Furyk, who has also struggled in 2011. Furyk was 5-0 for the tournament and looked like a man who was almost surprised at how well he had played in his post-tournament interview. Much like we used to see on the face of Woods, Furyk showed signs of exhaustion and relief at the same time. His struggles clearly wore him out this year, but at the same time it looked like a 1,000 pounds was lifted from his soldiers after reminding himself how great he can play the game.

It was great to see Phil Mickelson make his singles match with Adam Scott interesting in the last few holes, sinking clutch putts on the brink of elimination to stay alive. Steve Stricker played like a guy without neck issues, which we know isn't the case. Hearing my fiance talk about how golfers have weird names while we watched Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson walking up the fairway was comical. I'm still not sure how to feel about her new found love of golf after seeing Adam Scott give a post-match interview, but if that's what it takes to get golf on my TV, I'm okay with that.

The Presidents Cup score was a bit anti-climactic as the tournament drew to a close, but there were plenty of "sidebars" that kept it interesting. I don't mind that those sub-plots proved me wrong (that's nothing new), I just care that they entertain me and make me look forward the next tournament.

Mission accomplished.

Presidents Cup Challenge Winner

First off we would like to thank everyone who entered our Presidents Cup Challenge. We love giving back to our loyal customers and supporters on Facebook and Twitter.

So, without further ado.... the winner of a brand new Callaway RAZR Hawk driver is.... @jkim9238.

If that's your Twitter handle, send us a direct message on Twitter (as a bonus, we're following you now, so it will go through for sure).

One tournament is in the books and three remain before the 2011 FedEx Cup champion is crowned. This week, 198 golfers will tee it up in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston.

Our opening round was greeted with a visit from Hurricane Irene that shortened the tournament to 54 holes and made for a high level of "play fast and get the heck out here" rounds. Dustin Johnson won The Barclays, thus cementing him atop the FedEx Cup rankings... for now anyway.

FedExCup Standings Top 10
1. Dustin Johnson, 3,691
2. Matt Kuchar, -784
3. Nick Watney, -1,435
4. Webb Simpson, -1,480
5. Luke Donald, -1,583
6. Brandt Snedeker, -1,589
7. Steve Stricker, -1,608
8. Vijay Singh, -1,913
9. KJ Choi, -1,920
10. Gary Woodland, -1,943

Where My Top 5 Picks Rank
7. Stricker
11. Mickelson
5. Donald
3. Watney
9. Choi

So far, so good on my picks, but obviously there is quite a bit of golf left to be played. I really like Watney, Kuchar, or Donald this week at the Deutsche Bank. It just feels like one of those weeks where we're going to see a golfer of their stature atop the leaderboard. You know, somebody that we golf fans easily recognize, but casual fans have to Google their name and figure out who they are.

The Tale of Tiger Continues
Once again, Tiger Woods has found a way to get back into the headlines. This time, it was his announcing that he will play the Frys.com Open in October. This is obviously a tournament Woods never would have played while he was dominating the golf world, but it's not that surprising to hear he'll tee it up at CordeValle Golf Club. He needs the practice and repition heading in to November.

Which leads us to The Presidents Cup... Woods was made a captain's pick by Fred Couple's last week, which isn't a surprise to me, but I don't know that it's in the best interest of the US team. Ten golfer's automatically qualify for points accumulated throughout the season, and Woods is 28th on that list. Golfer's who are currently out of the Top 10 as of Thursday morning include: Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker, Rickie Fowler, Jonathan Byrd, Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley and many other's. Each of those golfer's is playing better golf than Wood's right now, and while one of them may receive the last captain's pick, I'm not sure I would have used one on Woods. We'll see how that decision plays out in November, though.

It's playoff time on the PGA Tour and that can mean only one thing… if you plan on watching any of the next four tournaments, get ready to be bombarded by FedEx commercials.

Actually, it means quite a few more things, but most importantly that I have to figure out who's going to win this thing. Something about these next four tournaments being playoffs makes picking an overall winner feel just as important as if it were a major. At the end of the day, the PGA Tour is hoping this becomes as popular as a major, so for the purposes of this article, we'll treat it like one.

The hardest part is deciding on an approach to picking a winner. Since the playoffs are four tournaments over four weeks, the room for error is massive. Instead of choosing a Top 10 for each week and making a final pick going into the TOUR Championship, I'm going all in and just making my final picks now and crossing my fingers. Living on the edge, right?

I picked five golfers from the Top 10 of the FedEx Cup regular season standings that I thought had the best chance based on past performance in the FedEx Cup and how the shape of their game is going into The Barclays on Thursday. So first, the golfers:

Nick Watney… Regular season rank: 1st… Two Top 10 finishes in previous FedEx Cup Playoffs (T6th, 2009 Barclays; T4th, 2010 TOUR Championship)… 0 playoff wins… 0 Top 10 overall finishes

Steve Stricker… Regular season rank: 2nd… Nine Top 10 finishes in previous FedEx Cup Playoffs (T9th, 2007 Deutsche Bank; 3rd, 2009 BMW; T10th, 2008 BMW; T2nd, 2009 Barclays; 1st, 2009 Deutsche Bank; 6th, 2009 TOUR Championship; T3rd, 2010 Barclays; 9th, 2010 Deutsche Bank; T8th BMW)… 1 playoff win… Three Top 10 overall finishes (2007 - 2nd, 2009 - 3rd, 2010 - 7th)

Luke Donald… Regular season rank: 4th… Three Top 10 finishes in previous FedEx Cup Playoffs (T10th, 2009 BMW; T2nd, 2010 Deutsche Bank; 2nd, 2010 TOUR Championship)… 0 playoff wins… 1 Top 10 overall finish (2010 - 3rd)

Phil Mickelson… Regular season rank: 6th… Five Top 10 finishes in previous FedEx Cup Playoffs (T7th, 2007 Barclays; 1st, 2007 Deutsche; T3rd, 2008 TOUR Championship; 1st, 2009 TOUR Championship; T8th, 2010 BMW)… 2 playoff wins… Three Top 10 overall finishes (2007 - 3rd, 2008 - 7th, 2009 - 2nd)

KJ Choi… Regular season rank: 7th… Five Top 10 finishes in previous FedEx Cup Playoffs (2nd, 2007 Barclays; T5th, 2008 BMW; 9th, 2008 TOUR Championship; T3rd, 2010 BMW; T7th, 2010 TOUR Championship… 0 playoff wins… Two Top 10 overall finishes (2007 - 5th, 2008 - 10th)

Pretty good playoff resumes for those five golfers. Since this system has only been in play for two years (the rules changed in 2009), it's hard to get any kind of perspective on what those numbers actually mean and if there is any way to use them to make sound picks. Clearly, I've done a little bit of research, and it looks to me like Stricker has the most accomplished resume of the bunch. He has consistently placed in the Top 10, has a win and is always in contention. Though Donald and Watney don't have the track record, they're probably playing the best golf (just ask the World Golf Rankings) right now. Throw in two wily veterans in Lefty and Choi and it makes for quite the conundrum. (Note: The fact that this is only 5 of 125 golfer's should make you realize how maddening this process is.)

So let's just do this, shall we?

1. Stricker
2. Mickelson
3. Donald
4. Watney
5. Choi

Here's hoping I'm a clutch picker that makes 'em best when it counts.

I am certain of one thing when it comes to the FedEx Cup Playoffs... that you either like it or hate. I know you don't love it, because I haven't heard one person on earth say they love it. It's a playoff system that has its flaws and could be better, but if you take it for what it is, it can be an enjoyable four weeks of golf. I'd personally like to see players get knocked out after each tournament, among other things, but I've come to realize it's better than it was and can survive as it stands. Hopefully there will be improvements, but you just never know with this stuff.

If you're unfamiliar with the playoffs, here is your tutorial:

FedEx Cup Playoff Tournaments
Aug. 25-28: The Barclays  |  Plainfield Country Club  |  Edison, NJ
Sep. 2-5: Deutsche Bank Championship  |  TPC Boston  |  Norton, MA
Sep. 15-18: BMW Championship  |  Cog Hill Golf & Country Club  |  Lemont, IL
Sep. 22-25: TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola  |  East Lake Golf Club  | Atlanta, GA

How it all works
The Top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the playoffs based on points earned during the regular season. During the first three tournaments, points are distributed to players based on this scale here. Points earned in the first three tournaments are added to a golfer's regular season point total. The Top 30 move on
to the TOUR Championship and points are reset based on this scale here in order to give all 30 golfer's a chance to win the title. However, if any of the Top 5 golfer wins the TOUR Championship, that player automatically win the FedEx Cup due to the points distribution.

Regular Season FedEx Cup Standings
http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/info/?02394

Top 10 Regular Season Point Differentials
1. Nick Watney, 1,906
2. Steve Stricker, -41
3. Webb Simpson, -45
4. Luke Donald, -50
5. Keegan Bradley, -285*
6. Phil Mickelson, -305
7. KJ Choi, -305
8. Bubba Watson, -329
9. David Toms, -368
10. Gary Woodland, -440
*That's a fairly huge drop in points from 4-5.

Notes
Top 11 all won in 2011... Five had two wins (Watney, Stricker, Bradley, Watson, Wilson)... Watney is your leader with 1,906 points and the Last Man In title goes to William McGirt with a scant 334 points... Tiger Woods is the biggest cut from this year's tournament, but he only missed by 16 points, earning 318 total in eight events... Two of the 261 golfers with their names in the standings had zero regular season points, JL Lewis and Brian Bateman.

In golf, we talk a lot about history. Each week there is a chance that some golfer, somewhere is going to have a historic performance. We never know when that will be or who will be doing it, but it's one of the biggest reasons we tune in for the tournaments - especially the Majors.

This year marks the 93rd PGA Championship and for all we know - at this moment - it could be the greatest, or worst, one of the 93. My guess is that it's going to be amongst the better ones we've ever seen. The drama heading into the tournament is just too good for a let down.

There's Tiger and Steve. The young up and comer's Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler (and what seems like nearly half the field). There are past major winners here, quite a few of them actually (Mickelson, Woods, Schwartzel, Harrington, Clarke, McIlroy, etc..) and also those who are looking to claim their first major (Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, etc.).

One of the biggest questions is can two of the greatest golfers we've ever seen (Woods and Mickelson) reclaim their place atop the world of golf with another Major win? Because that's all it will take to catapult them from having a down year to headlinging the main stage of the golf world.

They certainly will have a tough course to play at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, GA. You never really know how hard the course is going to play until you get out there. No practice rounds can give you a true test of what's to come, especially if the weather turns for the better (or worse). It's not like the U.S. Open, where you know it's going to be a struggle out on the course. We could very well see some really low scores if the conditions play out just right.

Last year, we saw Martin Kaymer win the PGA and heading into this year's tournament, we haven't really heard much about him. This is in part because Woods just returned and Steve Williams decided to run his mouth off, but count him out of it at your own risk. I don't think he'll win, but a Top 10 is certainly in the cards for him.

I also don't expect to see a leaderboard with young talent atop it. That's not to say McIlroy and Fowler won't make some noise this weekend, because I think McIlroy will for sure, but I just have a feeling that the old guard is going to have a big say in who takes home the Wanamaker trophy.

Picks
1. Tiger Woods - I don't know why I'm doing this... I just am. I'm as desperate for a win as he is.
2. Steve Stricker
3. Martin Kaymer
4. Lee Westwood
5. Ernie Els

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