Spectator areas (Photo cred: Twitter)

Mother Nature cut Merion a bit of a break. Considering predictions for doomsday storms on Thursday, the two weather delays — which wiped out most of the morning — were mild. No doubt it was wet, muddy and slushy, but the entire first round of the U.S. Open wasn’t a washout as the forecast called for the night before.

The morning wave finished easily, with father-of-the-year Phil Mickelson shooting a solid three-under 67 to take the early clubhouse lead.

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Australian golf commentator Luke Elvy and I talk about the upcoming U.S. Open at the historical venue, Merion Golf Club. We also discuss Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and our favorites for the season’s second major championship.

Oh, did ya know? This upcoming Sunday marks the five-year anniversary to the date of the last major Tiger won — the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Ominous? Maybe.

Check it out: Ilonen with Prince Daniel of Vastergotland, Sweden’s Crown Prince of Hipsterdom. (Getty Images)

Finland’s Mikko Ilonen held off challenges from home favourites Jonas Blixt and Alex Noren to capture his third European Tour title, and his first since 2007, at the Nordea Masters in Sweden earlier this afternoon. (continue reading…)

Day was runner-up at the 2011 U.S. Open

The USGA announced that 26 more players have earned their way into the U.S Open at Merion Golf Club, held June 13-16, in Ardmore, Pa. The following exemptions were awarded to 25 guys ranked in the top 60 in the Official World Golf Rankings as of May 27 that weren’t already in the field (obviously): (continue reading…)

Go Manny!

Matteo Manassero, who turned 20 only last month, birdied the fourth playoff hole, to capture the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event (the equivalent to The Players Championship on the PGA Tour). A trio of players finished regulation at 10-under and went into a sudden death playoff — Marc Warren was eliminated after the first extra hole and Simon Khan battled with Manassero for three more.

Manassero became the youngest player to win this tournament, which is a super big deal (imagine if say, Rickie Fowler, won The Players, a few years ago), and he has now won four European Tour events at merely 20 years, 37 days old, which is more than both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy at the same age.  (continue reading…)

Thomas Levet makes his return to Le Golf National, scene of his infamous pond-diving mishap.

Building on the unexpected momentum provided by the success of last week’s Irish Open, the European Tour has decamped to mainland Europe this week for the Alstrom Open de France. (continue reading…)

First I was afraid, I was petrified...

Match Play Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the golfing season. The only downside is there’s so much happening it’s hard to keep track of it all! Kudos to Conor for breaking down all thirty-freaking-two of the matches (sorry, dude!) — his picks fared alright, but as we all know, sometimes you have better luck using a coin to fill out your bracket.

Raise your hand if you had Luke Donald in your Round of 4? Yeah, well, if you picked Ernie Els to pull out a can of whoop ass, then you deserve major props. I think it’s safe to assume a lot of brackets busted when Els trumped Luke 5&4. Luckily, we’re still in the game because of the points system that Golfweek uses. Phew. (continue reading…)

Thørbjorn Olesen, obviously.

As expected, the 36-hole leader of the Abu Dhabi Championship is 22 years of age and the possessor of a world-beating long game. He doesn’t, however, go by the name of Rory McIlroy. (continue reading…)

Harrington and Els ponder the meaning of Life.

The European Tour’s 2012 schedule begins in earnest this week with the Volvo Golf Champions at Fancourt, something of a poor man’s Tournament of Champions (didn’t think that was possible, did you?).

With eligibility limited to recent European Tour winners and those who have amassed more than 10 victories in their career, the 35-man field is an unusual blend of established stars and young pretenders. (continue reading…)

What a strange turn of events in the second round at the PGA Championship. As Conor noted, there was a distinct lack of atmosphere at Atlanta Athletic Club, and even though he was watching from across the pond in Dublin, Ireland, I was quite impressed with how well he captured the mood.

Call the medley of names at the leaderboard what you’d like — the most popular (and blunt) descriptions I’ve heard range from “no names” to “anonymous pros mixed in with veterans” to “the worst ever at major since the ’03 US Open.” A more tactful approach would be “fresh faces” or “young talent and reserved 40-somethings.” (continue reading…)