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    Brian Murphy

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    Brian Murphy covered golf for the San Francisco Chronicle and now talks about sports in the mornings on KNBR Radio's "Murph & Mac" show in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    • Yes he can!

      By Brian Murphy | Yahoo! Sports – Mon, Feb 25, 2008 12:46 PM EST

      Four weeks ago in this particular slice of cyberspace, after Tiger Woods gave the field a wedgie at Torrey Pines, I offered the notion that golf is far too fickle a mistress for The Chosen One to win the Grand Slam this year.

      After pumping that baby O.B., can I get a mulligan?

      And after witnessing six matches of scientific approach shots, chip shots executed with the deftness of a locksmith and bloodless putt after bloodless putt after bloodless putt – in the middle of this sentence, he just made another 15-footer, center cut – it's time for us to go Barack Obama on Tiger and the Slam:

      Yes, he can.

      On the morning after the Oscars, let's give Tiger the Irving G. Thalberg Lifetime Achievement Award for always making us re-define our expectations and achieve new parameters on our enjoyment of his glory, from the three down after 13 win over J.B. Holmes in the first round, to Sunday's 8 and 7 win over Stewart Cink in the Match Play final. Cink was last seen getting scraped off the Arizona

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    • Fantasyland

      By Brian Murphy | Yahoo! Sports – Mon, Feb 18, 2008 1:12 PM EST

      Welcome, golf fans, to Fantasyland.

      In Fantasyland, every drive off a cart path kicks back to the fairway. Every skulled chip hits the flagstick at 70 mph and dies, on the spot, inches from the cup. Every match-play foe concedes the 18-incher, and every cart girl looks like Scarlett Johansson.

      And in Fantasyland, Phil and Tiger wage epic, Braveheart-styled battles on the back nine, while we sink deeper into the couch and pile Jujubees into our mouths, loving every minute.

      Oh, and in Fantasyland, the Jujubees never stick to our molars.

      Fantasyland is on our minds today after Lefty took down Riviera and flew home, in his private jet, with a pelt from Hogan's Alley. May the golf gods bless Phil Mickelson, who now has something even Tiger and Jack do not: The California Slam, with wins at Torrey Pines, La Costa, Palm Springs, Pebble Beach and now Riviera.

      The California Slam doesn't exist, but it should. It should involve a prize basket that includes SPF 15, a 10-year pass into the carpool

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    • Making our day

      By Brian Murphy | Yahoo! Sports – Mon, Feb 11, 2008 4:13 PM EST

      Congratulations to the man who came to Pebble Beach this week and proved he was better than them all.

      Let’s all applaud his execution under pressure, his visions of greatness and his ability to rise above the field.

      That’s right – huge praise and big ups to the man of the moment on the Monterey Peninsula … the pilot of the Snoopy MetLife blimp.

      Steve Lowery? Shoot, he doesn’t need our love. He’s got a check for $1.08 million, a two-year exemption on Tour, an invite to the Masters and perhaps best of all, a photo of him and San Francisco Police Inspector ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan on the 18th green at Pebble.

      For Steve Lowery, who at 47 years old actually had the words ‘Just-Biding-Time-Till-The-Champions-Tour’ stitched into his golf bag, a photo with Clint and some crystal to take home is beyond his wildest dreams. He left a patch of rubber in the parking lot at The Lodge and laughed all the way on the drive to San Jose International Airport.

      You won’t hear from him again, but in the

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    • The Little Man

      By Brian Murphy | Yahoo! Sports – Mon, Feb 4, 2008 11:55 AM EST

      One hundred and seventy thousand, eight hundred and two fans flocked to watch golf on Saturday at the FBR Open in Scottsdale. Again: 170,802!

      Not bad, if you’re into junior varsity stuff.

      The varsity was a world away this weekend, in Dubai. That is, unless you think J.B. Holmes vs. Lefty trumps Tiger vs. Ernie. The Super Bowl analogy: Holmes-Lefty is a Jordin Sparks lip-synched national anthem. Tiger-Ernie is Tom Petty at halftime.

      Then again, of those 170,802, how many arrived at TPC Scottsdale to watch the golf, and how many arrived at TPC Scottsdale to scope the babes and pound the brew? You’re on the same page with me: about 80-20, latter.

      In Dubai, it was all golf, where Tiger got his Eli Manning on.

      Poor Ernie. He’s a 3-time major champion, one of the luminaries of his generation, a surefire Hall of Famer. And yet, there was little doubt in my mind that a 4-shot Saturday night lead over Tiger was the worst gift you could ever give The Big Easy. See, he is The Big Easy in some

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    • Golf is fickle

      By Brian Murphy | Yahoo! Sports – Mon, Jan 28, 2008 7:27 AM EST

      He walked around Torrey Pines focused, rarely wavering, eyes squarely on the prize.

      He tuned out his competition, and over 72 holes, took each golf hole as a personal challenge. Sunday, he knew, when it was all over, could bring reward.

      And in the end, sweet triumph was his.

      So join me, golf fans, in congratulating Ryuji Imada on winning the 'B' Flight at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. For his final-round 67 and his overall score of 11-under 277, he gets the 'Feet of Clay' trophy handed out by the tour on those weekends when Tiger Woods decides to get his Mount Olympus on.

      You have to see this trophy. It’s two tiny feet, made of clay. Imada probably had to brush away a tear, he was so proud.

      How dominant was Tiger at Torrey? Shoot, even he got bored. There's no other explanation for his back-to-back-to-back bogeys on the back nine Sunday. With a 10,000-shot lead, these were candidates for his swing thoughts over those three holes: Shoot, did I forget to pack my electric

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