What kind of juice is Brian Gay quaffing?  Okay, he got hot at Harbor Towne and won his second career tournament in a route after an eagle on the second hole of the fourth round.  For the second time in his last five events he hoisted the trophy and got himself into a major championship.  This time he only birdied three of the first six holes leaving Bryce Molder to flounder around the course in his dust.  He’s been a pro since 1994, almost quit the game four years ago, and has made a cool $2,076,000 in his last 5 events.  One of those, the Players Championship he withdrew after a first round 80 and another, the Nelson he missed the cut.  At Colonial two weeks ago he tied for 27th and made $42K.  Come on now, what’s up with this guy? 

Just like at the Heritage, he hit fairways and greens all day, knocked in a few putts, gave no glimmer of nerves, no sign of strain, just a simple butt whipping from the start of the fourth round thru the end.  In fact, after he hit his approach shot on the 18th hole, before the ball landed on the green a mere 7 feet from the hole, his caddie asked "why’d you hit it there?" since they’d agreed on middle of the green.  Oops, was that another dagger I just stuck in their hearts.  Sorry man, my bad. 

Bryce Molder and David Toms tied for second, a distant five shots behind.  “It was a pretty good golf tournament except for one guy stealing the show,” said Toms, the tournament winner in 2003 and 2004.  Another way of saying, no one else had a chance.  “I didn’t even get close to catching him,” said Molder, who had his best finish on tour.  Not a surprise because I don’t think this guy can do anything except run away from the pack and hide during the final round. 

Mr. Gay’s win at the Heritage got him a Tartan jacket and an invitation to the 2010 Masters.  This win got him a gray jacket and an invitation to this weeks US Open.  So he’s gone from having a week off to scrambling.  “Right now I don’t know if we’re going home first or what we’re going to do, whether we spend tomorrow traveling, going home and repacking,” Gay said. “Get to work on Tuesday I guess.”  Not a bad situation to be in at all.  Bethpage is a place Mr. Gay missed the cut the last time the US Open was played there, he’s not what you’d call any kind of long off the tee.  In fact he finished last at 265 yds for the week in Memphis.  He’s straight, which is always good at the US Open, and he can surely putt, another US Open plus.  But will his juice survice the travel to New York?  Time alone will tell. Congratulations on a second win.  I figured the first was a fluke, but this victory kicks sand in the face of that idea.  This is the real deal,  but someone please tell me where he found the light switch, eh.

Nice recovery by the folks at St. Judes’s who recovered nicely from the legal issues surrounding the past sponser of this event, Stanford Financial who’s namesake is under investigation for fraud by the federal government.  FexEx and Cellular South stepped in to save the event this year, but as for the future, that is like so many other things this last year, up in the air.  Way up in the air.  This is one of the great charity causes the PGA Tour raises money for during the year and it would be a shame to see it vanish in a haze of Grand Jury investigations, and SEC charges.  I shall hope for the best and maybe we’ll be back here next year.

Quick Aside:  did anyone else laugh themselves silly when David Faherty apologized for using the word squirrel as a verb?  I’m still chuckling over that.