NBey6's Blog

Tiger rallies to win at Firestone

AKRON, Ohio – First came another signature moment from Tiger Woods, an 8-iron over the water that stopped a foot from the hole. Even more stunning was the meltdown that followed by Padraig Harrington.

A swift and shocking turn of events on Firestone's famous 16th hole took Woods went from one shot behind to a four-shot victory Sunday as he closed with a 5-under 65 to win the Bridgestone Invitational.

Woods became the first player in PGA Tour history to win seven times on the same golf course.

It was his 16th victory in the World Golf Championship series, and the world's No. 1 player now goes to the PGA Championship next week at Hazeltine with two straight victories after missing the cut last month in the British Open.

After nearly four hours in the tough battle that Harrington expected, the Irishman let it slip away.

Woods left himself some 170 yards over the water, and his 8-iron landed near the pin and rolled back a foot away. Harrington hit from the collar of a bunker over the 16th green, but his delicate flop shot from behind the green came out hot and went into the water.

He wound up with a triple bogey and closed with a 3-over 73 to share second place with Robert Allenby, who had a 66.

The par-5 16th is the most famous hole at Firestone, given the nickname "The Monster" years ago by Arnold Palmer.

"I took 6 and 8 the last two days, so I certainly think it was a monster," Harrington said.

Woods, who has won the Bridgestone Invitational seven times in 10 starts and has never finished out of the top five, closed out his remarkable afternoon in style with a 6-foot birdie putt.

It was the 70th victory of his PGA Tour career, three behind Jack Nicklaus in second place. Sam Snead (82) holds the record.

"We locked horns pretty good," Woods said. "I made a couple of mistakes. Paddy was being consistent, grinding it out, doing all the right things. Unfortunately, 16 happened. But it was a great battle all day."

It was every bit of that.

Woods won for only the sixth time in his career when trailing by three shots or more, a deficit that didn't last long.

He hit his approach into the par-5 second hole just over the bunkers to 25 feet to make eagle, and two more birdies was enough for him to take the lead after only five holes. From the right rough on the ninth fairway — a rare miss on the front nine — Woods hit to 7 feet for a birdie that gave him a 30 and a two-shot lead.

Harrington, a three-time major champion with a tough mind, kept grinding away with pars and regained a share of the lead with his first birdie of the day on the 11th. And when Woods made consecutive bogeys, Harrington found himself with a one-shot lead heading for the homestretch.

They took 30 minutes to play the first two holes, were timed throughout the round and put on the clock at the 16th. It didn't help when both of them found trouble off the tee — Woods hooked his tee shot into the left rough and had to lay up well short of the pond; Harrington pushed his tee shot into the trees.

Harrington tried to punch a 5-iron around a fairway bunker, but wound up in the collar on the back slope of the bunker. From there, his third shot sailed over the green.

"I rushed my second shot chipping it out and didn't hit a good shot, and obviously left myself in trouble," Harrington said. "I had an awkward fourth shot. I had to go after it, and probably rushed that a bit, as well. That was the end of that."

Woods could not have imagined while standing in the left rough that he would be three shots ahead on the 17th tee. Harrington made such a mess of the hole that he hit five straight shots without losing his turn.

"Tiger did play particularly well," Harrington said. "I said to him afterward, 'We'll do battle many more times again.'"

Woods won this one, as he often does at Firestone.

Hunter Mahan, who shot 66 and tied for fourth, looked up at the leaderboard early in his round and saw that Woods already had erased a three-shot deficit after four holes.

"That's what he does," Mahan said. "He could play this course left-handed and do well."

A short time later, Camilo Villegas left the clubhouse and passed by the British-based Sky Sports broadcast crew watching on TV. Woods and Harrington were on the 12th hole.

"What are you watching for? You know what's going to happen," Villegas said with a smile.

No one could have imagined the way it turned out, only the guy holding the trophy when it was over.

Midday 8-10-09 Evening

** until 8-12-09 **

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'The View' star Hasselbeck has 3rd child, a boy

NEW YORK – Elisabeth Hasselbeck of "The View" is the mother of a third child. Hasselbeck gave birth Sunday afternoon in a New York hospital to a boy, named Isaiah Timothy. She's married to former NFL playerTim Hasselbeck.

It's the couple's second son. Grace Elisabeth is 4, and Taylor Thomas is 20 months old.

Isaiah weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

The new dad reports: "Elisabeth and Isaiah are doing great."

Midday 8-6-09 Evening

** until 8-8-09 **

015 016 019 024 025 028 029 034 037 038 046 047 056 069 078 079 123 124 127 128 136 137 145 146 159 168 169 178 235 236 245 249 258 259 267 268 289 348 349 358 379 389 469 478 479 568 569 578 789 001 002 006 007 011 114 115 118 119 223 226 227 033 133 339 244 448 055 155 559 668 177 277 088 388 488 889 199 299 699 799 222 888

Thursday 8-6-09

305, 605, 095, 537, 362, 184, 176, 186, 690, 011

899, 375, 354, 340, 450, 357, 370, 750, 353, 330

350, 593, 198, 376, 526, 596, 740, 196, 073, 071

000, 222, 555, 777, 999, 3667, 4667, 0050, 1507

1058, 1100, 5555

"There is always room at the top - after the investigation."

- Oliver Herford -

Wednesday 8-5-09

478, 714, 737, 073, 378, 587, 641, 148, 104

141, 451, 480, 187, 643, 376, 713, 792, 803

657, 813, 780, 071, 000, 222, 555, 777, 999

5408, 2769, 1885, 5215, 6326, 7437, 6616

Try it for a week and see what happens!!

Midday 8-5-09 Evening

** until 8-8-09 **

0125 0129 0134 0138 0147 0156 0179 0189 0237 0246 0269 0278 0279 0345 0359 0368 0369 0378 0458 0459 0467 0468 0567 0589 0679 1236 1245 1259 1268 1269 1278 1349 1358 1359 1367 1368 1457 1458 1467 1489 1579 1678 2348 2349 2357 2358 2367 2389 2456 2457 2479 2569 2578 3469 3478 3568 3789 4689 5679 0017 0026 0035 0039 0048 0057 0089 1106 1124 1128 1137 1146 1169 1178 1179 2204 2208 2213 2217 2235 2249 2258 2259 2267 2268 3302 3306 3315 3324 3329 3348 3379 4409 4413 4418 4419 4427 4428 4459 4468 5502 5507 5508 5516 5517 5526 5539 5548 5589 6605 6614 6615 6619 6623 6624 6628 6678 7703 7704 7708 7712 7713 7726 7749 7758 8801 8802 8806 8815 8824 8829 8847 8856 9904 9913 9918 9927 9936 9945

 Midday 8-5-09 Evening

** until 8-7-09 **

012  017  026  035  039  048  057  089  125  129  134  138  147  156  179  237  246  269  278  345  359  368  458  467  489  579  678  003  008  116  224  228  233  336  044  449  255  557  066  566  669  377  188  588  399  899  111  444  777

Midday 8-5-09 Evening

** until 8-7-09 **

014 015 016 019 034 037 046 047 078 079 146 149 159 169 347 348 349 379 456 469 479 789 001 007 011 119 334 344 446 055 155 455 556 559 466 077 779 088 388 488 788 889 199 799 555 888 

The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy."

- Milton Friedman -

American Idol judge Paula Abdul is quitting the TV singing contest after eight years.

Making the announcement on Twitter, the 47-year-old said: "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return."

She did not give any reasons for her decision which ends weeks of speculation about contract talks.

On Tuesday, it was announced songwriter Kara DioGuardi would be returning to the show to judge along with Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson.

Report: N. Korea to free U.S. journalists

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two jailed American journalists and ordered their release following an unannounced meeting with former President Bill Clinton, media reports said Tuesday.

Clinton met earlier Tuesday with Kim after arriving in Pyongyang on a surprise visit, holding "exhaustive" talks that covered a wide range of topics, state-run media said.

Clinton traveled to communist North Korea on a mission to try to secure the release of Americans Euna Lee, 36, and Laura Ling, 32, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts."

Clinton's landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by North Korea or the U.S., comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, foes during the Korean War of the 1950s, over the regime's nuclear program.

North Korea in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance.

It's only the second visit to Pyongyang by a former U.S. leader. Jimmy Carter traveled to North Korea for talks with Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 in a groundbreaking meeting during a time of similar tensions.

Clinton's meeting with Kim would be the notoriously reclusive North Korean leader's first with a prominent Western figure since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke a year ago, sparking questions about the future of the nation he controls with absolute authority.

Though Clinton was in North Korea on a private basis, his visit was treated by North Korea as a high-profile visit, with senior officials — including Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister who serves as the country's chief nuclear negotiator — meeting him on the tarmac.

Handshakes and flowers
Footage from the APTN television news agency showed the arriving Clinton exchanging warm handshakes with the officials and accepting a bouquet of flowers from a schoolgirl.

Kim later hosted a banquet for Clinton at the state guesthouse, Radio Pyongyang and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported.

"This is a very potentially rewarding trip. Not only is it likely to resolve the case of the two American journalists detained in North Korea for many months, but it could be a very significant opening and breaking this downward cycle of tension and recrimination between the U.S. and North Korea," Mike Chinoy, author of "Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis," said in Beijing.

Lee, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen, is married and has a 4-year-old daughter in Los Angeles; a native Californian, Ling is the married younger sister of TV journalist Lisa Ling.

Clinton's administration had rocky but relatively good relations with Pyongyang, and both he and Gore, his vice president, had been named as possible envoys to bring back Lee and Ling. Also mentioned was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who in the 1990s traveled twice to North Korea to secure the freedom of detained Americans.

However, the decision to send the former president was kept quiet. A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling Tuesday with Hillary Rodham Clinton that the White House would not comment on the trip to Pyongyang until the mission was complete.

"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said later in a statement from Washington. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission."

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was encouraged by reports about Clinton's trip.

"This is welcome news and we are pleased to see movement in this case," said Bob Dietz, the group's Asia program coordinator. "The fate of these two women should not be linked to broader issues on the Korean peninsula, and to see both sides make a move toward the release of these reporters will bring some relief to them, their families and friends."

Tuesday 8-4-09

273, 538, 135, 813, 467, 866, 664, 252, 948, 993

716, 596, 526, 179, 236, 052, 537, 803, 745, 209

421, 405, 415, 342, 643, 657, 769, 367, 555, 777

000, 6616, 4499, 5500, 5511, 2014, 4701, 3748