670-yard Hole At Us Open

670-yard Hole At Us Open, Louis Oosthuizen’s drive drifted deep into the right rough. He laid up short of the green and stood in awe while measuring up his third shot.Only 240 yards remained.

“If anybody is on the green in two this week, that’s something special,” Oosthuizen said of the longest hole in U.S. Open history, the remodeled par-5, 670-yard 16th at The Olympic Club.If length weren’t enough, the sharp dogleg left feels like a constant U-turn and the fairway narrows right at 300 yards.

The flag is often blind until the third shot, and ones that miss long or left will bounce even farther away because of the grass mowed razor-thin beyond the tiny green.

“The reason we did that is we really felt that would make it a true three-shotter,” said USGA executive director Mike Davis, who oversees the course layout. “The wonderful thing about that hole is that from the back, if you miss any one of your shots, it’s awful hard to catch up.”

Players already are finding out firsthand in practice rounds.

Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, could never remember pulling out a 5 wood for his third shot before, hacking out of so much rough – “the thickest on the entire course,” he said – on the previous swing he had no choice.

Staring up at the elevated green, he couldn’t imagine even the field’s longest hitters – Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson among them – going for the flag in two, even under the best of circumstances.

“It’s too risky,” Oosthuizen said. “The neck there on that fairway or the green is what, 6-7 yards wide? You’re going to overrun it.”

Michael Thompson, the 2007 U.S. Amateur runner-up at Olympic Club, drove into the graded rough Monday. He laid up to 180 yards in front of the green and still had to hit a 5 iron.

“When do we ever hit a 5 iron on our third shot on a par 5, ever?” Thompson said, laughing. “I think what makes it difficult is it’s guarded in front with a bunker. For a long shot coming in, it’d be hard to hold the green.”

Lucas Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion at Bethpage Black, played the 16th in his first practice round about the best anyone could hope to this week. He drove into the fairway, hammered a 3 wood short, floated the ball onto the green with a sand wedge and two putted for par.

Dale Oen Died Of Heart Disease

Dale Oen Died Of Heart Disease, Norwegian swimmer Alexander Dale Oen, the world 100 meters breaststroke champion, died of hereditary heart disease, an Arizona medical examiner said on Tuesday.Dale Oen, who had been considered one of his country’s best hopes for a medal at this year’s Summer Olympic Games in London, collapsed at a training camp in Flagstaff in northern Arizona on April 30 and was later pronounced dead. He was 26.

A first autopsy in early May into the swimmer’s death proved inconclusive. The results of a second set of tests released Tuesday by the Coconino County Public Health Services District found he died of atheroscle**t*c coronary artery disease.

The condition is essentially a hardening of the arteries caused by plaque buildup that narrows and makes the arterial passages stiffer. The condition makes it harder for blood to flow through arteries and is a common cause of heart attack.

“Based on the autopsy findings and the investigative history that is available to me, it is my opinion that Alexander Dale-Oen died of atheroscle**t*c coronary artery disease,” Coconino County medical examiner Lawrence Czarnecki wrote in a report.

The second tests revealed “severe atheroscle**t*c disease of the coronary arteries” supplying blood to the heart, and found that the left descending artery was “occluded” by “atheroscle**t*c plaque.”

“The decedent’s only known risk factor for heart disease was familial,” Czarnecki found, noting that one of Dale Oen’s grandfathers died suddenly of heart disease at age 42.

“Given the decedent’s young age and significant atheroscle**t*c disease, a follow-up and evaluation of family members is recommended,” he added. (ABS CBN News)

Chris Bosh And Dying Masseuse 911 Call

Chris Bosh And Dying Masseuse 911 Call, A 911 call made by Miami Heat star Chris Bosh and his wife Adrienne after their masseuse collapsed and died at their house has been released.In the nine minute call, Bosh tells the operator that 41-year-old Chautele Cooksey’s condtion was declining rapidly.

He says, ‘I need a doctor here at my house. A guest of mine isn’t feeling well,” adding she “had passed out a couple of times.”

Then Adrienne takes over, saying, “I don’t know if she is stable, we need someone to come….She can’t breathe, something wierd is going on. Oh my God, I don’t know…Oh my God. Something’s happening, I don’t know. Is she breathing?”

Paramedics arrived at Bosh’s home and took the woman to a South Florida hospital where she died on Monday night.Adrienne tweeted on Tuesday, “A beautiful soul was lost tonight. Never take the here and now for granted. Life can be so frail.” (New York Post)

Mariano Rivera Surgery

Mariano Rivera Surgery, Surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in Mariano Rivera’s right knee Tuesday “went perfectly” according to the all-time saves leader. Joe Girardi wasn’t told how long the rehab would take, but the manager anticipates having Rivera as his closer in 2013.

“I think we’re all expecting to see Mo pitch next year,” Girardi said Tuesday afternoon. “I really don’t think we’re going to see anything this year.”

Rivera, 42, does not have a contract beyond this season, though he and the Yankees have consistently referenced his comeback in 2013.

Following Tuesday’s surgery by Mets physician David Altchek at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, Rivera took to Twitter to update his fans.

“My surgery was a success, it went perfectly,” Rivera tweeted. “I am looking forward to beginning my rehab soon. Thanks as always for your prayers.”

According to the Yankees, the isolated repair of Rivera’s ACL went as planned. There was no issue with the meniscus, which Girardi viewed as “good news.” (ATLANTA)

Chad Ochocinco Finds A New NFL Team

Chad Ochocinco Finds A New NFL Team, The six-time Pro-Bowler and Twitter superstar inks a new deal shortly after the Pats release him. Well, that didn’t take long. Unlike his old buddy Terrell Owens, former Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots receiver Chad Ochocinco found a new team very quickly after his recent release from his old one.Chad will jump AFC East franchises from the Pats, who released him last week, to the Miami Dolphins, who agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the productive and mercurial receiver on Monday. The move was made after Ochocinco worked out with the team.

The news was officially released on Chad’s own website, OCNN (The Ochocinco News Network), with the following statement:

We just got confirmation from Chad Ochocinco that he has just signed with the Miami Dolphins. The 6-time Pro Bowler will now get a chance to finish his career in his home state. More details as they arrive.

Ochocinco, one of the more adept tweeters in any field (in April of 2011, CNBC named him the most influential athlete in social media), has already adjusted his Twitter profile with “Miami Dolphins WR” in his profile and a new cartoon version of himself, wearing the Dolphins’ uniform.

The Dolphins later confirmed the signing. Ochocinco didn’t do much in one season with the New England Patriots after the Bengals traded him up north — he caught just 15 passes for 276 yards and one touchdown. It is believed that he struggled with the team’s complicated system of option routes, and he wouldn’t be the first player to do so. With the Dolphins, things are likely to be different — there’s a three-way quarterback battle with a relatively inexperienced rookie at the head (first-round pick Ryan Tannehill, who played quarterback for less than two years in college), so it’s doubtful that every route will have four or five possible permutations right away.

In addition, Chad brings his expertise to perhaps the most receiver-starved team in the NFL. With former No. 1 receiver Brandon Marshall off to the Chicago Bears in an offseason trade, the Dolphins’ leading receiver from last year’s roster is possession man Davone Bess, who caught 51 balls for 537 yards and three touchdowns. Before his relative drought in New England, Chad had caught at least 53 passes in each of the last nine seasons. In seven of those seasons, he gained at least 1,000 receiving yards, though he last did that in 2009. But even if Chad can’t bring himself in his prime to Miami, what he has left in the tank should help an offense desperate for assistance.

McQueary Repairs Image, Hurts Sandusky

McQueary Repairs Image, Hurts Sandusky, The ex-colleague who walked in on the defendant and a child recounts that day, and his regrets. For a little over seven months Mike McQueary sat silent, trusting a legal system to let the facts play out in a case where he never has been, and never will be, accused of wrongdoing.The fallout from trying to report Jerry Sandusky of S-EX-ual molestation in 2001 has cost him his dream job as a Penn State assistant football coach, caused him to be raked over the coals in the media and have every fiber of his ethical being questioned in his hometown of State College, Pa., and beyond.

Mike McQueary testified about the 2001 incident that made him a central figure in the case. (Reuters) Tuesday, on the second floor of Centre County Courthouse, he finally spoke publicly, under oath and in front of Sandusky, the man he stumbled upon showering and, McQueary alleges, S-EX-ually assaulting a boy in the Penn State locker room late one February night over a decade ago.

It came just as stories continue to break that the state attorney general is in possession of emails between some of the men McQueary told about the incident: Penn State’s president, vice president and athletic director.

According to NBC, those emails not only show McQueary was clear in his reporting of the incident (the Penn State officials originally insinuated he wasn’t) but that the officials made the potentially criminal decision to not turn the information over to social services or law enforcement in an effort to be “humane” to Sandusky.

That’s what McQueary was unknowingly dealing with: a bankrupt culture he should’ve never trusted.

And that’s what made Tuesday the time for McQueary to step out of the cloud of condemnation that’s followed him since Sandusky was indicted last November for molesting 10 boys over 15 years. Sandusky maintains his innocence. His trial began here Monday.

Let’s be clear on one thing: Mike McQueary could have done more that night he found Sandusky in, what McQueary calls, an “extreme S-EX-ual position” with a boy in the showers.

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