As part of the hoopla surrounding the US Open last week, Red Bull created a man made 106-yard golf hole in the middle of the Georgetown Waterfront.

They brought in Red Bull athlete Rickie Fowler to give it a go.  Fowler had to hit a blind shot from an elevated tee box, between buildings, over a fountain, and into an island green placed in another fountain.  It took him a few tries, but on his 3rd attempt, he dunked it.

Video after the break:

What do you get when you make a music video featuring Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, and an overall clad Bubba Watson?  Watch the video below the break to find out.

It’s looking like Reggie Bush is about to have quite a bit of free time to work on his swing.  That’s probably good though, because he’ll need it (and then some)

Not only did Ben Crane give Rory McIlroy a serious beatdown today, he also played the fastest round of his life.  Looks like his workout and pre-round rituals are legit.

OK, so I don’t actually know how long it took for Crane and McIlroy to play their match, but since Crane won 8 and 7, that means they only played 11 holes.  So it couldn’t have possibly taken more than… I don’t know… 4 hours?

For Ben Crane, that’s like playing speed golf.

The win hasn’t exactly done wonders for his confidence though:

I’m just as shocked as anybody else.  I figured 2 and 1 would be unbelievable. Or 1 up.

So I don’t think that anyone is going, ‘Wow, Ben Crane is really coming through this bracket (laughter) look out. Gosh, sorry you’ve got to play Ben Crane, (laughter) boy, tough draw there.’

That’s the attitude!  Go get ‘em!  Seriously though it’s good to see him playing well and not getting ahead of himself.

In other news, if Phil Mickelson had beaten Rickie Fowler today, he would have moved ahead of Tiger in the world rankings for the first time since 1997.  That should have been a clue that the smart money was on Fowler.

And after Nick Watney took out Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer is now the only #1 bracket seed remaining in the tournament.  If he reaches the finals, he will take over the world #1 spot from Westwood.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta0TeTOm7eA

I need a dirt bike.

The PGA Tour announced last night that Rickie Fowler had been named the 2010 Rookie of the Year. Lee Westwood then ripped the decision this morning on Twitter:

Sorry 140 letters is not going to be enough for this rant! Just seen Ricky Fowler has been given rookie of the year! Yes he’s had a good year but rory mcilroy 3rd in 2 majors and an absolute demolition of the field at quail hollow! Oh yes and on the winning Ryder cup team! Please! Is this yet another case of protectionism by the pga tour or are they so desperate to win something! Wouldn’t have something to do with Rory not joining the tour next year? Maybe the PGA tour just employs the same voting process as Fifa! Come on, fairs fair!

Fair point, except that this isn’t an arbitrary decision by the PGA Tour.  It’s actually an award that’s voted on by the players themselves.  Rickie Fowler was on tour week in and week out.  McIlroy?  Not so much.  There’s always an element of a popularity contest to a decision like this and McIlroy’s decision to give up his tour card in 2011 and go back to Europe probably didn’t garner many votes.

That said, Fowler told reporters earlier that he would be voting for McIlroy.  But obviously his fellow tour members disagreed.  And they weren’t unjustified.  Yes, McIlroy had a win and some very strong finishes at Majors.  But Fowler had a better scoring average (70.35 vs 70.94), had more top 10′s (7 vs 5), finished higher on the money list (#22 vs #26), and had a stronger FedEx cup finish (32nd vs 36th).  Oh, and he’s an honest-to-goodness first-year-as-a-professional rookie.

Regardless though, the bigger issue to me is Westwood jumping into the middle of this (he’s not even an PGA Tour member!) and making the story about him rather than this honor that Fowler’s fellow tour players have given him.

Kanye Westwood might as well have posted:

YO Rickie I’m really happy for you and ima let you finish, but Rory had one of the best rookie years of ALL TIME.  One of the best rookie years of ALL TIME!

[UPDATE: For people that didn't catch the Kanye reference, here's a video:  Skip to 40 seconds in.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z8gCZ7zpsQ ]

McIlroy’s response to reporters?

Look, I really didn’t want it. I’m not a rookie.

Very true and a very gracious response.  I’m guessing he really did want it, but this is how you respond that situation.  With graciousness.

And if McIlroy’s not going to make a stink about it, Kanye Westwood should probably mind his own business.  Maybe he’s making a run for Twitter Rookie of the Year?

With a 1-under par 71 at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic today, Troy Merritt made the cut and likely guaranteed himself a 2011 PGA Tour card.  I’m not a statistician, but Merritt is currently sitting at 121 on the money list so although it may be technically possible for him to drop below 125, there’s little to no chance of that actually happening… and little just left the building.

Merritt obviously wants to finish the 2010 season strong, and what better way to do that than with a $1 million cash prize?  No, he’s not exactly in contention for the win this week.  But he is currently tied for the lead in the Kodak Challenge.  If you’re not familiar with it, the Kodak Challenge is a season long competition where 30 holes are selected at the beginning of the year.  Competitors must play at least 18 of the 30 holes during the season to qualify.  At the end of the year, the golfer with the best score relative to par wins the Kodak Challenge and a cool $1 million.

Earlier today, Rickie Fowler made a great birdie on the 17th hole to pull into a 3-way tie in the Kodak Challenge with Troy Merritt and Aaron Baddeley.  One of these three will be taking home the prize on Sunday evening.  The way the math works, if Merritt is able to birdie the hole during either of the next 2 rounds, he takes the prize.  If he can’t get the birdie and Fowler or Baddeley don’t eagle it during the next 2 days, there will be a 3-way playoff for $1 million after the tournament on Sunday.

I don’t know about you guys, but I think if you give a PGA Tour pro 2 chances at birdie for $1 million, I like the odds.  However, the 17th hole is considered one of the most difficult on the course, playing 485 yards with a tee shot over water, so we may in fact end up watching a 3-way playoff on Sunday evening.  Either way, it’s going to make for some very exciting golf this weekend.

The US played a great match and has nothing to be ashamed of.  Playing in Europe is always difficult.  In fact the US has only won in Europe twice in the past 30 years (1993 and 1981).  When a match comes down to the final few holes of the final pairing, you really can’t ask for anything more as a golf fan.  Yes, it sucks that the US lost, but they gave it 100% and the Europeans won fair and square.

The Good:

Tiger - The #1 player in the world seems to be coming back into form.  This was his best Ryder Cup ever.  Who would have actually thought that the #1 player in the world would be the #1 points earner on the US team?   Working with Sean Foley is apparently paying off.  He wasn’t tack sharp over the weekend but he dropped the hammer on Monday shooting 9 under through 15 holes against Francesco Molinari.  If that’s any indication of what he is going to do the next time he tees it up on tour… well, look out because 19 majors will come very quickly.

Rickie Fowler – The Ryder Cup looked like it might be over with 4 holes left to play in his match with Eduardo Molinari, but 3 straight birdies allowed Fowler to halve the match and keep the American’s chances alive.  No, he didn’t play well overall, but the moxy that he showed on Monday will be a valuable asset to future US Ryder Cup teams.

Hunter Mahan – You could tell how much this all meant to Mahan during the press conference.  Hopefully he will be able to come to terms with the fact that he didn’t lose the Ryder Cup.  The US team lost the Ryder Cup on Sunday.  They almost won it on Monday, but that certainly wasn’t when they lost it.

Phil Mickelson – He showed his class stepping in to help out a heart-broken Hunter Mahan in the press conference.

Steve Stricker – They should call him Super Steve or something.  He played solidly all weekend, as usual.  He and Tiger should just be permanently paired together at the Ryder Cup.  Their 6-1-0 record is outstanding.  Maybe we should give them a celebrity couple name like Striger.

Lee Westwood – He played some great golf coming off of his leg injury.  He took over the #2 spot in the world (although the Ryder Cup didn’t really have anything to do with that) and now has a shot at becoming the next world #1 (that’s a subject for an entire new post).

Graham McDowell – Wow.  A US Open win at Pebble Beach and then being the guy that closes out the final match in one of the closes Ryder Cups in recent memory?  Life is good.

Luke Donald – He played exceptionally well, going 3-1-0 and continuing his unbeaten foursomes record.  He was clearly the best pick Monty made and I am eating some crow over his performance.

The Bad:

The Captainess - Raingate.  I realize this probably wasn’t actually Lisa Pavin’s fault, but if you want the title, you get either the credit or the blame that comes with it.  Did it not occur to anybody that they needed functional rain gear for an October Ryder Cup in Wales?

Phil Mickelson – Yes, he showed his class in the press conference.  He also played some pretty poor golf last week.  I wouldn’t expect the world #2 to have the worst record of any US player in Ryder Cup History.

Jim Furyk – I think the FedEx cup just took too much out of him.  I know that he denied any effect during the press conference, but the Jim Furyk we all saw this past week, was not the same Jim Furyk we saw at East Lake.

Molinari Brothers - They got beat like drums without a single point between the two of them.  Not much else to say.

Colin Montgomerie – Yes, his team won so he can’t be completely awful.  However, he’s paranoid and I still contend that the Europeans won despite his captain’s selections.  Does anybody think that it would have come down to the last pairing on Monday if Eduardo Molinari and Padraig Harrington had been replaced by Paul Casey and Justin Rose?

Corey Pavin – Honestly I think his captaincy was a mess.  I know they almost staged one of the greatest comebacks in Ryder Cup history, but honestly I don’t get the impression that he had much to do with it.  He never seemed to exude leadership.  Apparently he even expressed some confusion during one press conference about the total number of matches that were played.  Really????  He just seemed overwhelmed and unable to take the helm of the US team.  I wonder if he will ever lose the nickname “Borey Pavin”.

It’s not quite as outlandish as Monty soundproofing the Euro locker room at Celtic Manor, but apparently Corey Pavin has ordered a twitter blackout for the US Ryder Cup team.  Really?  What key info are players going to tweet out to the Euros via Twitter?  I don’t think pictures of their monogrammed hotel pillows are going to cost them the Ryder Cup.

If Monty follows suit (and I suspect he will if he hasn’t already), we might see Ian Poulter have a nervous breakdown.

Twitter reactions came fast and were overwhelmingly negative (surprise!)

[update]

Rob at Sandbox8.com has posted a great breakdown of some of the twitter stats for the affected players.  I posted this in the comments and I’ll repeat it here:

I don’t think the US players would post anything damaging or distracting – just mostly amusing or interesting things that help bring them closer to the fans. Sometimes I think some individuals (ahem Corey Pavin) need to step back and remember that this is just a game and it’s really all about the fans. Without them, you don’t get to fly on a private charter jet to Wales to play golf for week and cash million dollar paychecks.

Twitter is a great way for star players to connect with their fans on a more personal level than ever before.  It’s shortsighted and counterproductive to cut off that line of connection to fans during an event like the Ryder Cup.