Well, I still have a gut feeling that we are in for one of the great golf tournaments of all time at Pebble Beach this weekend. But, so far, after two rounds, my list of individual golfers to watch doesn’t look too good. Okay, yes, I was right to see Els, Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson up near the front, with each of them tied for second right now at -1. But almost anybody could have predicted that. Also, Tiger lurks, arguably at +4 close enough to be a factor, and Lee Westwood at +3, which is six shots back of the lead, is okay. But of the other seven I mentioned, well, they have their work cut out for them. Ricky Barnes went five over on his final nine, and he sits at +6, nine shots from the lead. Also at +6 is David Duval. Jim Furyk is, at +5, not in great shape. Then there were my trio of elder golfers. I should know better than to think older guys can play the U.S. Open. David Love barely made the cut at +7 after triple-bogeying 18 yesterday. Tom Watson also made the cut at +7 after a VERY impressive even-par 71 in the second round — really good stuff for a 60 year old, but it won’t make him a real threat to win. And I don’t know what happened to Tom Lehman’s straight and steady game; even birdieing his final hole, he was at +8 and missed the cut by a stroke. I guess I really jinxed him by boldly predicting he would finish in the top 3.

Looking forward, we still could have a fantastic finish involving Mickelson, Els, Johnson, Westwood, Woods, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, K.J. Choi, Tim CLark, leader McDowell, and, just perhaps, Justin Leaonard. Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Shaun Micheel and Lucas Glover. Stay tuned, hard by Carmel Bay…..