Coach Mason secured his ninth commitment of the 2017 class with the addition of 87, three-star cornerback Adam Sparks out of Dutchtown High School in Baton Rouge, LA. 

Adam is 6’0, 170, and moves very well at corner, has superb cover skills, good ball skills, and is an excellent tackler. He also plays punt coverage on special teams and makes tackle after tackle there as well by the looks of his highlights. 

As a junior, Adam posted three interceptions, nine pass breakups, and three forced fumbles for a Dutchtown team that finished 8-4. I saw him make some hard hitting, sure tackles. He also had a couple of ints and many pass breakups on film. Adam looks pretty stellar.

 He was outstanding at the Friday Night Lights camp, and really caught the coaches’ eyes. 

Like this addition. Adam joins 85, three star safety Tae Daley as our two secondary commits so far. I have read that Coach Mason and secondary coach Mark Mattioli want to add another  player to our defensive backfield. 

Nice addition here with Adam. 

Coach Mason landed three more commits over the weekend during the Friday Night Lights camp on West End. 85, three star defensive ends Jalen Pinkney and Dayo Odeyingbo both committed Friday before the camp, and 85 three star safety Tae Daley committed after camp on Friday night.

Dayo, 6’4″, 235,  is the younger brother of VU sophomore defensive end Dare Odeyingbo, who is a highly promising player for us, and is expected to be a major impact player this season. Dayo, like his older brother, hails from Carrollton, Texas and plays at Ranchview High School, where he is not only a standout defensive end, but also is an outstanding wide receiver/tight end. He catches anything thrown his way. He looks a lot like VU redshirt junior standout tight end DeAndre Woods. Not sure where Coach Mason wants to play Dayo, but he’ll definitely have some options on offense of defense. Dayo’s film is superb.

Jalen is the younger brother of VU redshirt freshman tight end Jared Pinkney, who is 6’4″, 250, and could play a key role in our tight end rotation this season. Jalen is 6’4″, 225, and is from Norcross, Georgia, a really good football school, just outside of Atlanta. Watched Jalen’s film and he looks super.

Tae is a 5’11”, 175 pound safety from Northside High School in Warner Robbins, Georgia also close to Atlanta. Also a good football school. He is a terrific cover guy. Tae can play either corner or safety. He looks proficient at both. He has lightning quick feet and has terrific ball skills and covers wide receivers like a glove. 

Like all three of these commits, and there could be more coming this week. We now have eight in the fold in what’s shaping up to be a pretty stellar class if we can keep the momentum going.

David, Pedro, Sonny, Carson

David Price had a rough night on the hill at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas on Friday Night. Shin Soo Choo greeted David with a leadoff homer and it got worse from there. Price only went 2.1 and gave up 12 hits, six runs with one walk and one K. He threw 59 pitches with 42 for strikes, most of which were hit hard and out of reach of any Red Sox infielder or outfielder. Not his best, but the Sox bailed him out in a miraculous way. In the top of the ninth with two outs and Jackie Bradley Jr on second and the BoSox trailing 7-4, Rangers hard throwing right hander Jake Diekman had a two strike count on Sox pinch hitter Sandy Leon. Leon fouled off six pitches and had an 11 pitch at bat before lining a double to the left field corner to cut the lead to 7-5.  Texas manager Jeff Banister brought in sure handed right hander Matt Bush to close the deal. Bush had a 2.00 ERA coming in and a 1,00 WHIP, so it still looked pretty bleak for the Sox with leadoff hitter Mookie Betts at the plate. But Betts caught a Bush fastball and drove it over the left central field wall, for a two run homer which tied the game 7-7. It was impossible. Dustin Pedroia then walked and Xander Bogaerts singled to right to move runners to first and third before David Ortiz came to the plate. Bush threw a wild pitch past Papi and Dustin slid home to put the Sox up 8-7. The awesome Koji Uehara, 40 years young like BIg Papi, came in and struck out slugger Prince Fielder, .290 hitter Elvis Andrus, and .273 hitter  Rougned Odor to close out the miraculous come from behind victory. Leon is 12 for 24 as a pinch hitter, .545, so the BoSox might need to find a spot for him at catcher to platoon with Christian Vazquez or when Papi needs a day off at DH. His bat is superb. 

In 8 starts against the Rangers, David has a 7.68 ERA and has given up six homers. David needs to improve on that, and I’m sure he’ll work hard to not let that happen again vs the Rangers. But it was not an aberration for Red Sox pitchers. The Rangers crushed Steven Wright and Clay Bucholz Saturday night and Sunday respectively as they took two of three from the Sox. The Rangers are a hitting machine, and particularly at Globe Life Park. The Rangers are now 49-27, and trail the Chicago Cubs by percentage points for the best record in baseball. The Cubs are 4-6 in their last 10 and  are at 48-26, .649 ball. They are still outstanding. The Rangers are playing .645 ball and are 8-2 in their last 10. Knowing David, he wants another shot at the Rangers. David goes again Wednesday at Tampa Bay against his old team with a noon ET/11 AM CT first pitch. He’ll go against left hander Matt Moore, a young lefty he mentored at Tampa Bay. Matt is 3-5 with a 5.04 ERA, but he’s been really good in the past, so it’ll be a tough matchup for David and the Sox.

David is now 8-4 with a 4.68 ERA with 24 walks and 110 K’s, which is a 4.5:1 strikeout to walk ratio, still stellar in that department. His WHIP is at 1,22, so I know he wants to get that number down. His career ERA is 3.19 and his career WHIP is 1.14, but he can do better than both those numbers if he gets hot again, like he was before the Rangers start. 

Pedro Alvarez had a clutch two out, two run single to drive in the fourth and fifth runs in the bottom of the seventh off left hander Enny Romero of the Rays in the Baltimore Orioles 5-0 victory over Tampa Bay. It was awesome to see El Toro hit well off a lefty and maybe that will give Buck Showalter confidence that he can use Pedro against any pitcher, righty or lefty. Hopefully so. The O’s swept the Rays in four games and are now 45-30, and four games up on the Bosox, who are 41-34. The O’s head out west to play San Diego on Tuesday. No DH as they’re playing a National League team at a National League park, so Pedro may not see much action against the Padres unless it’s as a pinch hitter. Pedro is now hitting .236 with 9 homers and 26 Ribeyes, so the numbers are getting better and better. I wish Showalter would give him more of a shot sometimes. In the second game of the doubleheader Saturday against a right hander, Showalter didn’t start Pedro. Didn’t understand that after his clutch hit against a lefty in the first game. And he didn’t start him yesterday. Pedro is hitting .333 in his last seven days with two homers and seven Ribeyes, so you would think Showalter could see that and put him in the lineup. It’s frustrating.

Sonny Gray pitched great ball, but didn’t get the victory for the A’s yesterday. The A’s had taken the first two games of their series at the LA Angels and held a 6-2 lead when Sonny exited the game. The Halos came back and won 7-6 as the A’s bullpen let the team down. Sonny went 6, gave up six hits, two runs, both in the first inning, with one walk and three K’s. He threw 106 pitches, 59 for strikes with 47 balls, but only walked one. His fastball was running up at 94-95, and his curve and slider were pretty solid. Not vintage Sonny, but pretty good Sonny. It was too bad the A’s couldn’t finish off a sweep of the Angels. Sonny pitches again Friday night at home versus the Pirates. Sonny is now 3-6 with a 5.03 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP, walks plus hits per inning pitched, so he needs to improve on those numbers, but he looked a lot sharper yesterday. He’s still getting his legs back under him from the trapezius injury that sent him to the 15 day DL a month ago, so yesterday was very encouraging. 

 Carson Fulmer pitched a super game for the Birmingham Barons yesterday in their 10-0 win over the Mobile Bay Bears, the Arizona Diamondbacks double A affiliated team. Carson went 7, gave up only two hits, with two walks and 7 K’s. He threw 94 pitches with 62 for strikes to go along with 32 balls, a solid number. Carson, like Sonny and Tyler Beede, has such great movement on his pitches, that he misses the plate sometimes. But if he can keep his control in good shape, he’s always effective because he’s got electric stuff. Carson is now 4-8 with a 5.28 ERA with 44 walks and 75 ring ups. He has a 1.57 WHIP, so I know he wants to get the ERA and WHIP numbers down. Yesterday was a good game to get him back to being Carson Fulmer. 

Thirty four year old Billy Hurley III won his first PGA tournament in 104 starts at the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. and clinched a two year exemption on the PGA Tour, he will have his tour card for the next two years, he qualified for this year’s 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland, July 14th-17th, this year’s 98th PGA Championship at Baltusrol, just outside of NYC, July 28th-31st, and he qualified for next year’s 81st Masters, April 6th-9th, 2017, at Augusta National.

Hurley shot -17 to win by three shots over 53 year old Vijay Singh, firing a 69 in the final round yesterday with two hugely clutch shots, one a 35 yard chip in for birdie on No.15, and a 30 foot birdie putt on 16. He cruised in with solid pars on 17 and 18 to capture the $1.8 million first place check and all the benefits that went with winning the tournament.

Hurley’s story is amazing actually. He went to the Naval Academy, graduating in 2004,  and served for five years in the Navy upon graduation, including a tour of duty in the Persian Gulf. This tournament, sponsored by Tiger Woods, was all about the military, so it was pretty fitting that an ex-military man won this event. Hurley had told a friend when he was at the Naval Academy that he was going to play on the PGA Tour one day. His friend laughed. 

Hurley’s story gets even deeper as it’s almost a year after his father, William Hurley Jr.,  went missing from their home in Leesburg, Virginia, and then two weeks later shot and killed himself. A very emotional Hurley talked to Peter Kostis of CBS after the round and you could feel what this victory meant to him. All of his emotions came out in his post round interview. He was there with his wife, and three children, one an adopted child from an orphanage in Honduras.

Hurley was playing on a sponsor’s exemption after losing his PGA Tour card last year amid the grief that consumed him during his father’s disappearance and after his death.

Hurley is not sure he’s playing at the Open Championship because his sister is getting married in Virginia that weekend. But he’ll definitely be at the PGA Championship and at Augusta National in 2017. And he’s quite a player who looks to have some serious clutchness about him. With the tragic flooding in West Virginia that caused 25 or more people to lose their lives and washed out the Greenbriar Classic in two weeks, it was nice to see something positive happen. 

It’s a special story about Billy Hurley, and, to go along with his moving story, he played spectacular golf and closed the deal when he had to. Storybook stuff.

Kershaw could be the all time greatest at some point, but not last night

Clayton Kershaw came into last night’s game at PNC Park versus the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 20:1 strikeout to walks ratio. The previous all time record was set in 2014 by Phil Hughes of the Minnesota Twins at 11.5:1. The game on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, featured Kershaw and his 141 strikeouts against 7 walks for the season. He was facing 23 year old Chad Kuhl, pronounced Cool, whom the Pirates had just called up from triple A Indianapolis for this game due to a slate of injuries to their starting pitching. 

Kershaw pitched 6 innings, allowed 9 hits, four earned, with two walks and four K’s. He now has 145 strikeouts to 9 walks, a 16:1 ratio.  He has electric stuff no doubt. His fastball was running up at 95 and his curve is harder to hit than Kenyan Drake in the open field. But he got rocked a little bit in the bottom of the second as Adam Frazier hit an RBI single off of him, which also loaded the bases, then David Freese hit a base clearing double to put the Pirates up 4-0. The Pirates got great pitching and competitiveness from Kuhl, who went five against a good Dodgers lineup and gave up four hits, three runs, with four walks and five ring ups. When the Pirates were hitting Kershaw pretty hard, a Pirates fan held up a sign that read, “Kershaw ain’t Kuhl.” It was beautiful. Kershaw is still the best in baseball, and could be one of the top two or three of all time before his career is over, but the Pirates and Kuhl got the better of him last night at PNC Park. 

Jose’ Fernandez

23 year old Jose’ Fernandez is already a phenom, and he did nothing to hurt that reputation yesterday in a Miami Marlins 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Miami. Fernandez struck out 13 Cubs and now has 6 career games of 13 strikeouts. There are only seven other 13 strikeout games in Marlins’ history. That’s a total number amongst all of the pitchers in the Marlins’  27 year history. That’s spectacular. Fernandez’s ERA in his last 9 starts is 1.18 and he has allowed no more than 1 earned run in eight of them. He’s 24-1 at home and he’s won his last seven home decisions. He’s the first pitcher in the Modern Era of baseball, since 1900, to win 24 of his 25 decisions at home. He moved to 10-3 on the season with a 2.28 ERA with 30 walks and 138 K’s, a 4.6:1 strikeouts to walks ratio. Shows how good Kershaw’s numbers are when you’ve got a stud like Fernandez, who strikes out 13 and walks three and is still a a long way behind Kershaw in that category.

The Marlins moved to 41-35 on the season and are just three back of the first place Washington Nationals in the National League East and tied with the New York Mets for second place. The Mets are 40-34 and lead the NL Wild Card, while the Marlins are 41-35 ball. The Mets are at .541 winning percentage, while the Marlins are at .539. Quite a story developing in South Beach.

The Long ball is back

There were 52 home runs hit yesterday in major league baseball. One of the most dramatic was Colorado Rockies’ slugger Mark Reynolds’ 468 foot shot that beat the Arizona Dbacks, 9-7, in the bottom of the ninth inning. The 52 homers were the fourth most hit in a day/night in Modern Era major league baseball history. The most was 62 on July 2, 2002, the second most was 54 hit on July 11, 2006, and the third most was 53 on August 13th, 2004. Maybe the roids are back. It’s kind of nice to see some serious hitting this year though.  

The tour heads to Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, just north of D.C, for the Quicken Loans National . Rory won the 2011 U.S. Open at this famed venue. 

Network and TV times: Golf Channel, Thursday and Friday, 3;30-6:30 PM ET/2:30-5:30 PM CT.

Saturday and Sunday: Golf, 1-2:30 PM ET/12-1:30 PM CT; CBS: 3-6 PM ET/2-5 PM CT.

Weather: Tomorrow; T-storms, some could be intense, but Friday through Sunday looks superb with temperatures 79-82, Sunny, Winds 5-10 each day. 

Prediction:

Going with the with the 25 year old from San Antonio, Texas by the way of the University of Georgia and Augusta State. He’s finished second this year at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January, and at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio in April, two weeks after Augusta. This young gun is due. I like him to get it done this week.

Patrick Reed

From the state of Alabama. 85, 3-star linebacker Colin Anderson is the second commit for the class of 2017. Colin joins 87, 3-star quarterback Jacob Free from Brantley, Alabama (south-central Alabama)  in the beginning stages of a potentially electric looking class. 

Colin plays at Brooks High School in Killen, Alabama in Lauderdale County, which is the very top of the northwest part of the state. Colin is 6’2″, 210. He registered 78 tackles this season on a team that reached the Class 4A state quarterfinals and finished 11-2. There are 7 classes of football in Alabama. Brooks looks like they will be moving up to 5A ball in 2016. Not positive about that, but that looks to be the case from studying the Alabama High School Athletic Association website.

Watched Colin’s film and loved it. Somebody on the Vandy247 board called Colin, “Zach Cunningham 2.0,” and I agree with that and I’ll go even further and say he’s a Nigel Bowden-Zach 2.0. He’s got the best of both of those exceptional linebackers’ attributes. Colin is a super tackler who can really lay the lumber in the middle at middle linebacker. He’s fast, aggressive, tough and a major wood layer. Love his tackling. He’s all over the place. He’ll get bigger under strength coach James Dobson at VU, and he’ll be a heckuva player for us.

Colin chose us over offers from Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Michigan, Harbaugh might have satellited down to Killen knowing him, South Carolina, and Colin also had offers from 5 Ivy League schools. He scored a 29 on his ACT and has accumulated a 4.33 GPA. He played at Fairhope High School his sophomore year, which is in southwestern Alabama near Florida. 

Colin told Al.com, the local paper, that “it was a no brainer. Love the staff, love the university, love the city.”

The city, the degree, the SEC drops another anchor with the addition of Colin Anderson to this class. Love it. 

David Price was superb yesterday in the Red Sox 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners. DP went 8, threw 110 pitches, with 79 strikes and 31 balls, a super ratio, way over 2:1, Dave gave up eight hits, one earned with 0 walks and seven K’s. David has become much more of a pitcher now at 30 years old. He’s been a flame thrower throughout his career, bringing it 96-97, but now he’s more 92-93, but he mixes his pitches so well, his location on his fastball is superb, and his change up, at 85-86, is a weapon. I love where DP is at. David moved to 8-4 on the season with a 4.24 ERA. His last four starts have been outstanding. The Sox, who had really been hitting for David early in the season when in actuality David had been struggling, have struggled at the plate with Dave on the mound in his last four starts, but they did enough yesterday, and David was stellar. The awesome Craig Kimbrel came in for the ninth and struck out all three batters he faced with the last swing and a miss on a 99 MPH sizzler. Super effort by Dave, Craig and good enough hitting by the team. The Bosox moved to 39-29, and now host the White Sox for four games at Fenway before heading for another key series after the Chisox as they go to Arlington to visit the red hot Texas Rangers this weekend. The Rangers are 45-25, the best record in the American League, and have won six in a row. They have some serious lumber. But the Chisox are tough right now, so the Sox will have to be ready for a battle with a rival. David pitches again Friday night at Texas versus 25 year old righty Nick Martinez, who has only started one game, a 5-4 victory over St. Louis in which he went 6.2 innings gave up 3 earned, with three walks and three K’s. It’ll be a major challenge for DP with the lumber he’s going to face. The Bosox trail the O’s by one game in the American League East with Toronto three back. It’s going to be quite a showdown in the AL East going forward this season. It already is.

The O’s took two of three at home from the Jays over the weekend at home in Camden Yards. Ryan Flaherty had an excellent day at the plate yesterday going two for four with a double, a single and two Ribeyes in the O’s 11-6 victory. Pedro was one for four. I really think Buck Showalter is an excellent manager. But Pedro went two for three last Sunday in Toronto with a homer and a single and barely missed winning the game in the top of the ninth with a three run double that was caught by a leaping Toronto right fielder at the wall, and then he doesn’t get in the lineup again until this past Friday. Pedro is a hitter that needs to be in a rhythm. If he has a big game, he needs to play the next day because his bat is so good he can help carry a team. Just frustrated that Buck doesn’t see that sometimes. But the O’s have a lineup now. Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, Mark Trumbo, Jonathan Schoop, wow, can they ever crush it. The lead the majors in home runs by a pretty good margin. But Pedro needs reps.

There has to be some way to get him in the lineup as a DH most of the time. I’m biased, I admit, and I’ve called for this for the last three years, but I have watched Pedro closely, and know when he’s hot, he needs to be at the plate consistently. He did hit yesterday as DH and was one for four. Which was fine. Good day from Ryan though. He’s a valuable player to the O’s as is Pedro. I know Showalter likes both of them and I really like them being on the same team. It’s really good for Pedro. He wasn’t happy in PIttsburgh with the way Clint Hurdle treated him. He likes Showalter and the Orioles. Good team for him to be on and play with one of his best friends in college. The O’s themselves are at Texas tonight and face lefty Derek Holland, who is 5-5 with a 5.14 ERA, so Pedro and maybe Ryan could very well not  be in the lineup. But we’ll see. This must be a makeup game from an earlier rainout because the O’s are back home tomorrow night against the Padres. The Padres are throwing a right hander tomorrow, so Pedro should be in the lineup.

Sonny has been struggling lately. He’s done somewhat better since coming back from his trapezius injury, but got rocked by the Rangers last Wednesday Night. He’s on the hill tomorrow night for the A’s against Milwaukee at home. Would love to see the man have a stellar outing tomorrow night.

Dansby had a really good day at the plate yesterday going two for four against the Birmingham Barons in an 8-3 Mississippi Braves’ victory. He was two for four with two singles, three runs scored and a Ribeye. He has been in a little bit of a slump lately, but got his average back up to .242 with his two hits yesterday. Unfortunately, his hits came against his best friend and former roomate, Carson Fulmer. Carson had a rough outing giving up seven hits and six runs, but struck out nine, so that was good. I talked to both guys on Thursday at the ball park, and both are doing well and adjusting to the every day grind of playing professional baseball. They said it’s a little surreal facing each other, but they did it quite a bit in batting practice at VU. Corbs would line them up against each other often in practice to test them both. Carson said Dans got the better of him in practice most of the time, but both are stellar, and hopefully, both will be in the big leagues sooner rather than later. 

I watched Tyler Beede pitch Thursday night against the Binghamton Mets. Tyler did a good job pitching 7.2 and giving up six hits, three runs with three walks and three K’s. He threw 106 pitches with 66 for strikes. I thought it was a solid performance by Tyler. He took the loss, 3-1, and fell to 4-4, but has a 3.10 ERA. He’s pitching very well. Hopefully, he’s in the Giants plans for next season. I think he will be at some point, even at the end of this year if he keeps this up.

Great news in football and basketball. First in football, Coach Mason got a 2017 commit out of an 87 three star quarterback from Brantley, Alabama, Jacob Free. Jacob is 6’5″, 209, and has a cannon for an arm. In two years at Class 1A powerhouse Brantley, which has won four state titles in the last 20 years with their last one coming in 2012, Jacob has thrown for 4,640 yards and 63 TDs. He only threw three ints two years ago, but that increased to 12 his junior season, so he needs to clean that up a little bit. But I watched Jacob’s film, and it looks outstanding. He can make all the throws, short, kind of tight end-quick wide receiver slant routes, which are very effective, he can make the intermediate 15-20 yards passes, and he can hit the deep ball. He’s very mobile, too. He can turn what looks like a sack into a 10 yard gain, or make a big play with his legs. He’s good at throwing on the run, also.  Love what we’re getting in Jacob. A good start  to the class. Jacob could get some other guys coming our way. I’m expecting that. Good stuff from Coach Mason and the staff.

Coach Drew secured a 2017 point guard commit and he is 93 four star Saben Lee. Watched Saben’s film. He is a super athlete who can really get to the basket and score. He passes it well, and gets after it on defense. He needs to work on his outside shot some to really be the player that he and Coach Drew want him to be, but he looks like he has a stellar work ethic, so I know he’ll be working on his shot constantly this summer and next season. Good pickup for Coach Drew and the staff. We got another point guard, a transfer, who will play in 2017, so with him, Saben, Payton Willis, and Riley, if necessary, though Riley is much better at the two spot, we should be really good at point guard in 2017. As for next season, I’m pretty pumped. I just love the enthusiasm, character and intelligence that Coach Drew brings to the team. He’s going to be terrific.

South Carolina Sept. 1st is something I think about every day. Pumped about what Coach Mason and his coaches have in store for us on that Thursday Night @ 7 PM CT/8 PM ET on ESPN. Ready to rock. 

Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania, 15 miles from downtown Pittsburgh, 7,255 yards, Par 70

Designer: Henry Fownes, 1903

Defending champion: Jordan Spieth, a one shot victory over Dustin Johnson. Spieth was -5 at Chambers Bay in Washington state in 2015.

Masters Champion, 2016: Danny Willett. This year’s Masters was about as riveting as a four hour Billy Joel concert. There was just no drama like every other year at Augusta National. Certainly not a typical Masters. The Masters is always stellar, but this year that was not the case. Felt bad for Spieth and his implosion, but Jack said it’s OK that Jordan struggled some. Jack said he went through the same thing at some majors and ended up winning 18. Not too bad. Jordan will be back in the major hunt and be capturing more majors, maybe one this weekend.

2007 champion at Oakmont: Angel Cabrera, +5

Best round maybe in the history of golf: Johnny Miller’s 63 at Oakmont in 1973. Miller beat out Arnie with his round for the ages. Johnny finished -5. 

Oakmont has hosted 12 majors; 9 U.S. Opens, including this year, and two PGA championships, most majors of any venue in the country.

Weather: A little questionable tomorrow for round one with t-storms, some heavy. Friday is better with some possible rain, but not major, and Saturday and Sunday are perfect, sunny 83, with relatively no wind. Friday is the windiest day with 10-15 MPH in the afternoon. Saturday and Sunday should be spectacular.

TV: FOX and FOX Sports 1: Thursday-Friday: FOX Sports 1: 10 AM-5 PM ET/9 AM-4 PM CT.  Thursday and Friday afternoons-evenings:FOX 5-8 PM ET/4-7 PM CT.

Saturday: FOX 11 AM-7 PM ET/10 AM-6 PM CT.

Sunday: 11 AM-7:30 PM ET/ 10 AM-6:30 PM CT.

Key holes

No 1, 482 yards Par 4

Welcome to Oakmont. The course says, “you’ll get nothing and like it,” and the players say “thanks for nothing.” One of the toughest starts in major championship golf. The narrow fairway is lined by bunkers on both sides, so accuracy and distance are at a premium, particularly accuracy. This is where guys like Spieth and Phil, who can struggle off the tee, could find some trouble on Sunday with the pressure on right from the start, if they’re in contention. The downhill approach is to a green that is partially blind and slopes away from the fairway. The ideal shot is to land the ball in front of the green and let it roll up. Have fun on hole No.1.

No. 4, 609 yards, par 5

There are deep bunkers on the right off the tee. A big drive by a Day, a Dustin, a Rory, a Bubba, or a Fowler, allows them to go for it in two. If you’re not one of those type bombers, laying up on the right side is the best approach. There are 210 bunkers at Oakmont and 17 are on No.4. Good luck avoiding one of those.

No. 8, 288 yards, par 3

Are you kiddin me? This is a driver, short game hole for some and a three wood, rescue for the guys mentioned above. A bunker juts out 80 yards before the green. Carry that and the ball will likely roll up to the green. The green is not as sloping as most of the other Oakmont greens. But chipping and putting are at a premium. In 2007, only 27 percent of the field hit the green off the tee.

No.12, 667, par 5

For the long hitters hitting the green is possible in two, but in 2007, only 44 percent of the players hit the green in regulation, meaning only 44 percent were putting for birdie. So par here is a good score.

No.16, 231 yards, par 3. Large green, but a deep bunker on the right, which will be trouble for an overcooked cut. Anything left is a tough up and down because the green slopes away to the right, meaning a bump and run or lob wedge could very well roll off the green, and could be very costly. Sunday here will be compelling drama.

No. 18, 484 yards, par 4

The closing hole was the hardest on this tremendously hard course in 2007. The tee shot must be long and straight, always a good thing on any course, but with the massive pressure here Sunday, guys like Day, Spieth, Rory, Rickie, Dustin etc.. will be challenged to make a par here. A birdie would be a massive bonus. The second shot is to an uphill green that only 30 percent of the field hit in 2007. I remember Angel chain smoking down the stretch, and playing some seriously clutch golf to beat out Tiger and Furyk by a shot.  Should be classic theater on this hole on Sunday.

Winner:

The United States Golf Association  can be about as fun sometimes as a dinner date with Rosie O’Donnell at a Cracker Barrel on a Saturday Night. In the latter case, you better order fast. But with the USGA, they want to make their courses as hard as possible, with the greens stimping at 14 to 14 1/2 to make them as close to impossible as they can get for the players. But Oakmont is a classic and this should be an epic Open as they always are. It’ll be a battle of attrition this week at Oakmont, as it always is at the United States Open, and I like the player who knows how to dig deep better than anyone else to capture the 116th Open. This 28 year old’s driver is electric, his iron game is stellar, and his short game is superb. I’ve studied this from a lot of angles and cannot see any reason why I shouldn’t go with this horse. I like the young stud from Queensland, Australia to capture his second major, and fourth title already this year, which includes the Arnie, the WGC Match Play and the Players. That’s a wow.

Jason Day