Phil Michelson made a spectacular charge on the front nine, but Darren Clarke held him off to win his first major championship at the 140th Open Championship at Royal St Georges Golf club.

In his latest column, Simmons gives his take on the 2010 Masters…

[Masters chairman Billy] Payne couldn’t have scripted it any better. Instead of a disgraced adulterer winning with his wife nowhere to be seen, the tournament ended with a married couple hugging. Perfect. Right out of the 1950s. Just like Augusta. The bubble remained secure.

Unfortunately for Woods, it’s time to leave that bubble and join 2010 again. It’s a world that may include drunken hecklers, catcalls, fans taking photos during his swing, more airplane banners, TMZ cameramen, unsubstantiated rumors and media troublemakers starting trouble just for sport. It’s a world where my wife watches two people hugging and hates Tiger Woods because of it. It’s a world where, if he slips and drops an F-bomb during a tournament, the moment will be replayed again and again. It’s a world where Phil Mickelson is now the most popular golfer in the world, hands down, nobody else coming close.

Simmons also noted that Augusta does such a good job of controlling its crowd that Tiger didn’t have to deal with much in the way of heckling this weekend. That could change in upcoming weeks, however.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Rick Reilly, ESPN: It’s not often women win the Masters, but they did Sunday. Actually, Phil Mickelson won, but for millions of women around the country, it must feel like a lipstick-sized victory. Mickelson, in case you forgot, is the guy who stayed true to his wife. He’s the guy who’s been missing tournaments the last 11 months while he flies her back and forth to a breast cancer specialist in Houston. He’s the guy who didn’t need reminding that women are not disposable. Mani-pedis for everybody! Also winning Sunday: karma, which proved to be alive and well. And guys who never had a temper in the first place. And endings that make you wipe your tears on the couch pillows. Mickelson is the guy whose heavy head on the bed pillow lately wasn’t self-inflicted. Both his wife, Amy, and his mother, Mary, have breast cancer. Usually, those two are at every tournament he’s in, but for the last year they’ve been fighting, resting, and fighting again at home. And Mickelson has gone back to his rented homes alone. So when Amy turned up on the 18th green Sunday at Augusta National for the first time in 11 months and Mickelson practically fell into her outstretched arms, you wanted to hug somebody yourself. Mickelson hugged and cried. And his wife hugged and cried.

Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com: Woods approached and decided not to take a drop. Woods’ caddy, Steve Williams, told fans to “watch the shadows on his ball” and then rolled his eyes when several people didn’t move quickly enough for his liking. After talking to himself for about 15 seconds, Woods took his shot, and a second after the swing there was a strong thud. The ball hit a tree and rolled out onto the fairway. Woods never said a word to Sullivan before or after ball met biceps. Interestingly, in the very next group, again on 11, Phil Mickelson’s shot hit a different fan, also in the arm, right near Sullivan. Mickelson approached the fan, asked if he was OK and handed him a glove. Besides illustrating the differences between how Woods and Mickelson treat people, the 11th basically ended any chance of Woods making his Masters return even more fascinating than it was. Woods bogeyed 11 just as Mickelson was starting to surge. And it was fascinating, curse-filled theatre watching Woods, to be sure. Woods shot 69 to finish 11 under and tied for fourth. His day typified what has been one of the more circus-like but brilliant returns to a sport after a layoff any great athlete has ever accomplished. It doesn’t quite rival Ali’s return to boxing, but it was on the same level as Michael Jordan’s return to basketball.

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com: Dear Diary, Geezus Christ! Get me the %#@& out of here! Oh, I’m sorry — New Tiger told everybody I’d tone down the swearing, but it isn’t easy. I’ve got a book — “Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing” — that I read every freaking night, but did you see what I went through this past week? On Monday I had to meet the press, which is like eating a pine cone sandwich. On Tuesday I got National Enquirer’d on a neighbor story. On Wednesday I got napalmed by Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National, for my sex scandal. Then I got seared for my new Nike commercial. On Thursday I got buzzed by a couple of planes tugging some banners — and they weren’t wishing me luck. On Friday one of my former “friends” had a strip club gig down the road in Atlanta. On Saturday I got mocked by Tina Fey on “Saturday Night Live.” On Sunday I could have won the Masters, but someone kidnapped my swing, my bunker game and on No. 14, my putting stroke. I hockey-sticked it around from 8 feet. Plus, my allergies are so bad I feel like I’ve been spray-painted with pollen. And guess what? I still shot 68-70-70-69, finished tied for fourth and had a Masters record-tying four eagles. If I hadn’t bogeyed three of the first five holes Sunday, I might have given Phil Mickelson a run for the green jacket. But it is what it is.

Tim Kawakami, San Jose Mercury News: But there was also a circular, semi-déjà vu feel to Sunday’s developments, a sense that Mickelson and Woods are tied together now more than ever. Mostly, what happened Sunday cemented that this era of golf will be defined by the Big Two — Woods vs. Mickelson — and by their opposite personalities and career paths. Also now by their very similar Masters accomplishments and iconic emotional scenes of celebration. It’s not just Woods vs. Everybody Else or Woods vs. His Own Reckless Behavior. After Sunday, it’s Tiger and Phil, with all the accompanying baggage and expectations.

Bob Harig, ESPN.com: Steve Loy, Phil Mickelson’s long-time agent, tried to remain calm. After all, a bit of decorum is required inside the Augusta National clubhouse. But how do you hold it in? The player he recruited as a teenager to play golf at Arizona State, then later went to work for, was involved in a riveting back nine Sunday, a major championship at stake. And then, like the rest of the world, Loy could not believe his eyes. There was Mickelson in the pine straw on Augusta’s par-5 13th hole, thinking about firing a shot through an opening in the trees. As caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay tried to talk Lefty out of it, Loy gulped. There was nothing left to do but watch and hope as Mickelson rifled his 6-iron, nearly catching one tree with his follow through, and the ball landed on the green and came to rest 3 feet from the cup. Fans surrounding the green went crazy, Mickelson pumped his fist and Loy could only sit back in his chair in disbelief. … It was the shot of the tournament, of the year, and maybe of Mickelson’s career.

Richard Sandomir, NY Times: CBS always has a challenge balancing its coverage of Mickelson and Woods when they are both in contention. Mickelson appeals to a network’s heart, Woods to its brains. … Before their tee times Sunday, Woods and Mickelson were shown side by side at the practice range; similar treatment was not given to Westwood, who entered the day with a one-stroke lead. This year, the temptation was to focus heavily on Woods. After he confessed to infidelities and became a national joke, his return from rehabilitation was the big story of the tournament.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

The word rivalry is defined as “competition for the same objective or superiority in the same field.” Rivalries exist in all facets of life, but they are no more apparent than in the world of sport. With the end of the decade looming, here are the six most intense rivalries of the last ten years.

6. Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson

Competition between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson may not produce the mystique that Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus once did, but their rivalry has been exciting nonetheless. Without Tiger Woods, professional golf’s popularity would be a mere morsel of what it is today. The man has won 14 majors, holds his own tournament (the AT&T National), designed two beautiful courses, is the only golfer with his own video game, and garners public intrigue on the same level as world leaders. Still, his status as figurehead of professional golf wouldn’t have any merit without some stiff competition. Enter Phil Mickelson, Tiger’s only adversary with any staying power. When Mickelson won the 2000 Buick Invitational, he also officially ended Tiger’s streak of consecutive tournament wins at six. Over the years, Mickelson would hire Butch Harmon, Tiger’s former coach, and joke about Tiger’s use of “inferior equipment.” Still, their rivalry always remained amicable, even as Phil won his first major in ’04 (The Masters), the PGA Championship in ’05 another Green Jacket in ’06. During this year’s Masters, Tiger and Mickelson were finally paired together in a major event. Trudging down the final back nine at Augusta, the two golfers put on a show that thankfully lived up to the hype. –- Christopher Glotfelty

5. Lakers vs. Spurs

These two Western Conference giants won seven of the 10 titles in the ‘00s. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant won three consecutive titles to start the decade, and then Kobe won one “on his own” in ’09 (though Pau Gasol might have something to say about that). Meanwhile, led by Tim Duncan (arguably the greatest power forward ever to play the game), the Spurs won the NBA championship in ’03, ’05 and ’07. One of these two franchises represented the West in every season save for ’06 (Dallas). The Spurs and Lakers faced each other five times in the playoffs, and the winner went on to the Finals every time. Not only did this rivalry feature a great matchup between Duncan and Shaq, but Manu Ginobili served as a great foil for Kobe Bryant while the speedy Tony Parker and the physical Derek Fisher were a study in contrasts. This rivalry reached its pinnacle during the 2004 Playoffs when Fisher hit an impossible buzzer-beater to win Game 5 on the road and swing the series. –- John Paulsen

4. Colts vs. Patriots

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the best NFL rivalry of the decade is that it’s brand new. While the Colts and Patriots have seemingly battled forever, the rivalry is still in its infancy compared to great battles between the Cowboys and Giants, Cowboys and 49ers, and Bears and Packers. It wasn’t until 2003 when Peyton Manning’s Colts went into Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game and lost to Tom Brady’s Patriots, 24-14, that football fans said, “Hey – this could be one hell of a rivalry.” The theme of this rivalry grew quickly: New England had Peyton’s number. Not only did they beat him ’03, but they also produced victories in Week 1 of ’04 and in the Divisional Round of ’04 before Peyton finally rose to the challenge and knocked off New England in Foxboro in Week 9 of the ’05 season. But of course, everyone remembers the 2006 AFC Championship Game when Manning had to rally the Colts to a 38-34 win (the game featured four lead changes in the final seven minutes) to catapult his team to a Super Bowl victory against the Bears two weeks later. And now that Peyton has proven that he can overcome Brady and the Pats, Bill Belichick breathed some life into the rivalry last week when he inexplicably went for it on a 4th and 2 from his own 28-yard line when his team was up 34-28 late in the fourth quarter. The rest is history: The Pats’ offense was stopped cold, Manning and the Colts punched it in and a new storyline in the rivalry was born. Pats/Colts features two of the best teams of the decade, run by two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. What else do you need? –- Anthony Stalter

3. Federer vs. Nadal

For the first time in nine years, tennis made the cover of Sports Illustrated. It was to commemorate the 4 hour and 48 minute Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Hailed as the greatest tennis match of all time, Nadal would emerge the victor, ending Federer’s streak of five consecutive Wimbledon championships. After Pete Sampras retired, Federer quickly took a stranglehold on the sport, winning multiple Grand Slams. In 2005, a young Spaniard with a speedy serve and a stupefying backhand became the French Open champion. From this point on, Nadal and Federer would enter the most interesting rivalry between two athletes in the past decade. Rivalries come to life on the center stage and these two constantly manage to meet, as if ordered by the fates. They have met a record seven times in a Grand Slam final. Until Fed’s loss to Martin Del Potro at the 2009 U.S. Open, all of their losses in Grand Slam finals had been to each other. Although tennis welcomed Federer with open arms, the sport needed Nadal for the sake of competition. From 2005 to 2008, Nadal defeated Federer in the finals at the French Open, depriving the Swiss of a Career Grand Slam (Fed would later capture the title in 2009). Nadal has run into Federer in each of his title runs – five times in the final. To put everything in perspective, the two have won 17 of the last 19 Grand Slams. Now that’s a rivalry. – Christopher Glotfelty

2. Duke vs. UNC

In college hoops, the best rivalry of the ‘00s is the best rivalry of all time – Duke vs. North Carolina. The two schools are located a mere eight miles apart and that proximity breeds pure contempt. The Blue Devils dominated for the first half of the decade, winning 12 of 14 head-to-head matchups from ’00 to ‘05, a national championship in ’01 and ACC regular season titles in ’00, ’01, ’04 and ’06. The Tar Heels’ resurgence coincided with the arrival of Roy Williams in ’03. Since ‘05, North Carolina has won seven of nine head-to-head matchups. They have also won two national championships (’05 and ’09) and five ACC titles (’01, ’03, ’07, ’08 and ’09). More recently, Roy Williams added fuel to the fire by signing the top prep recruit Harrison Barnes out from under Mike Krzyzewski’s prominent nose. With both coaches entrenched in great programs, this rivalry shows no signs of letting up. These two teams hate each other, and that’s just the way we like it. – John Paulsen

1. Red Sox vs. Yankees

The Red Sox and Yankees certainly made a strong argument this decade for keeping their status as one of the greatest rivalries in sports history. What has transpired over the past 10 years between these two clubs can’t be summarized in just one paragraph. But damn it, we’ll try: Yankees hand the Red Sox their worst home loss ever, 22-1; Carl Everett breaks up Mike Mussiana’s perfect game at Fenway; Larry Lucchino labels the Yankees the “Evil Empire”; Pedro Martinez…Karim Garcia…Don Zimmer tossed on his face; “Aaron BLEEPING Boone!”; A-Rod is heading to Boston…no wait, the Yankees; Dave Robert’s steal; Jason Varitek vs. Alex Rodrgiez; David Ortiz’s walk-off single; Curt Schilling’s bloody sock; Boston’s improbable comeback from down 3-1; Red Sox Nation is born; Gary Sheffield’s cap is knocked off by a Boston fan; Johnny Damon is a traitor; The Yankees five-game sweep; Roger Clemens chooses the Yankees over the Sox; The Mitchell Report…That’s a lot of great history and memorable moments between these two teams in just 10 years. All told, the Red Sox and Yankees have accounted for four of this decade’s 10 World Series winners and six of the 10 AL Pennant winners. These two storied franchises absolutely loathe each other, and it makes for some great storylines.– Anthony Stalter

Photos from fOTOGLIF

To the surprise of very few, Tiger Woods is favored to win this year’s PGA Championship, which starts today and runs through the weekend. The PGA Championship is the fourth and final major of the year.

Woods is currently a 3/2 favorite to win and although he’s coming off a victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger has yet to win a major in 2009. In fact, the best he’s done so far was a sixth place finish at the Masters and a sixth place finish at the U.S. Open. (He missed the cut entirely at the British Open.)

Tiger missed last year’s PGA Championship, but did win the event in 2006 and 2007. He also has some momentum heading into Hazeltine National, winning the two last consecutive tournaments (Bridgestone and the Buick Open) that he has played in, which give him a total of five wins on the year.

Tiger’s main competition this weekend, at least based on the odds, appears to be Padraig Harrington (20/1), Phil Mickelson (22/1), Lee Westwood (28/1) and Hunter Mahan (30/1).

Here’s a TV schedule for this year’s PGA Championship:

Thursday, August 13: 2PM – 8PM on TNT
Friday, August 14: 2PM – 8PM on TNT
Saturday, August 15: 11AM – 2PM on TNT
Sunday, August 16: 11AM – 2PM ET on TNT
Sunday, August 16: 2PM – 7PM on CBS

To check the 2009 PGA Championship leaderboard, click here.

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