Phil Tiger at Pebble Getty Images

The golf world was never supposed to be like this. There were certain things that made sense and that was that. Fred Couples had a smooth swing. Tiger Woods was the champion. Phil Mickelson was the lovable loser we all enjoyed rooting for, even if at times he came through in the clutch.

[Video: Mickelson, Woods and even Tony Romo highlight week's best shots]

But this? This?! No no no. We were told this wasn't going to happen. Phil Mickelson was paired on Sunday with Tiger at Pebble Beach, a place that still has a bruise from the last time Tiger slapped it. No matter what happened since, Pebble was Tiger's to feast on, and Phil was the guy that had won here before but always as the guy he was, nothing more.

Nope. This isn't the script. Phil isn't supposed to be sticking irons to three feet while paired with Tiger. He isn't the guy that makes clutch par putts from darn near Burlingame. And an iron off the 18th tee?! What happened to the man that hit driver off the deck with a chance to win?

Tiger toss Getty Images

The goal of Tiger Woods resurgence has never been about going low or getting off to a hot start. The thing Woods had to find in this second phase of his career was consistency. Have a solid round and follow it up with something just as special. Putt well for four straight days. Get the driver in play for a stretch of tournaments.

We saw a little bit of that earlier this year at the Abu Dhabi event when Tiger went into the final round tied for the lead, but his inability to keep that consistency led to his eventual loss to Robert Rock. This week, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Tiger is once again showing us that things are starting to click. For the first time since the 2009 Tour Championship, Tiger has put together two opening rounds under 69, as Woods shot a tidy 68 on Thursday at Spyglass and a solid 68 on Friday at the sneaky great Monterey Peninsula Country Club.

Chopra via Ping Golf

Every golfer dreams of a few things. A round in the 70s (or 60s for those lucky few). Playing Pebble Beach. Making a hole-in-one. But what if you could do all of those things at the same time, in the same round, twice? That's what Daniel Chopra did.

The 38-year-old Swede was playing a practice round at the beautiful Pebble Beach Golf Links when he saw his ball on the short seventh hole disappear for an ace. Awesome, right? It gets better.

Chopra hit a 7-iron into the 17th hole at Pebble, site of some of the most dramatic golf shots in the history of the game, and it went in the hole as well, giving him two aces at Pebble on the same day in the same round.

The picture above, provided by the Ping Golf Twitter feed, shows Chopra after each ace and exactly what club he hit.

What are the odds of such a feat? According to the Hole-In-One Registry, 67 million-to-one. I hope you bought a round of drinks for the entire city of Monterey after that practice round, Daniel.

Other popular content

Mickelson WaMo / Getty Images

Let's face it, the Waste Management Open is 20 percent golf tournament, 65 percent party, and 15 percent headache the next day. Few golf tournaments outside of majors get this many people excited for so many different things, and for good reason, because the entire week is the greatest show on grass. But what to do if you're in Phoenix for the week? Holes to visit? Places to hit up? Events to attend? We've got you covered for the 2012 Waste Management Open.

-- Spend an entire afternoon on the 16th hole -- Sure, this seems like a no-brainer, but hear me out. The 16th hole is the biggest draw of the tournament, and one of the easiest places to watch golf on the entire course, but instead of just going and plopping down for 45 minutes, spend an afternoon there. Head into the grandstands behind the green. Walk over to the ones south of the bunker, and then finish in the rowdiest place on the hole, just north of the tee box. Those are where the fans get the craziest, and where the best caddie bets are placed. Trust me, walking from grandstand to grandstand will not be something you regret.

-- Find out where Camilo Villegas is, and then follow his gallery -- Scottsdale is known for the beautiful female contingent. This is where they will all be for about 4.5 hours.

-- Find a way to get into the corporate tents north of the 17th green -- You'll hear all week about Greenskeeper tickets, but the best badge to have of them all is the one that gets you just north of the 17th green. My favorite spot on the course, it's the best place to see drives find the green, find the pond, or find the tough pitching area just to the right of the green. It's also the most relaxing area on the golf course, which would be like finding the quietest place at Coachella, but still ...

Kyle Stanley Torrey Pines / Getty ImagesThere is a saying, "I wouldn't even wish that on my worst enemy" that people use quite often. Normally it's about personal stuff like losing your job, having family issues or if you know Billy Cundiff. But more times than you'd think, it is the perfect saying for the game of golf. Q-school comes to mind. So does Scott Hoch. And after Sunday, Kyle Stanley might make that list.

Leading by five shots heading into Sunday, and up to seven at one point during the final round, Stanley stumbled a little over his final nine holes but looked like as long as he had an active pulse on the final hole, a birdie-friendly par-5 at Torrey Pines, he'd walk away with his first PGA Tour title. Stanley had a three-shot lead and had played the final hole 1-under the two other times he'd played it that week, but in golf, there is a little thing called your mind that means way more than stack and tilt, your lie or what iron you have into the green.

Stanley had 240 yards into the 18th after a solid tee ball,

McIlroy Error Getty ImagesSome rules in golf might not make very much sense, but they are still rules. You can't test the conditions of a bunker. No grounding your club in a hazard. If you drop a ball and it hits your ball marker and moves it, you could be penalized.

But they are the rules, and we golfers must abide by them. That's why on Friday, when Rory McIlroy went and swept some sand out of his way on the ninth green, he knew almost instantaneously that a two-shot penalty was heading his way.

You see, removing sand in your line is totally fine if your ball is already on the putting surface, but Rory wasn't, and after brushing some sand away, was told by playing partner Luke Donald that what he did might not be legal.

McIlroy Woods Abu Dhabi / Getty ImagesThere is an old saying in golf that simply goes, "You can't win a golf tournament on the first day, but you sure can lose it," and yes, such a thing is simply the truth. But still, what do you want from a threesome at an early tournament in the season that includes the world No. 1, the former world No. 1, and the future world No. 1?

Yes, the Abu Dhabi Championship had a feature group on Thursday that included Luke Donald, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, a group you don't see much outside of majors these days, and for most of the day, it lived up to the hype.

The final tally? McIlroy finished with a 5-under 67, Tiger with a 70 and Donald with 71.

The Snake Shaker YouTubeSo in an attempt to inject a bit more life and interest into tournaments, and because we're all inveterate gamblers who are one bad card from being out on the streets, Jay Busbee, Jonathan Wall and I are playing a golf version of a football suicide pool: We each pick one golfer per tournament and see how they do against each other, straight up. Victory over the other guy gets one point, victory in the tournament gets three points, and a tie between two of the three lands you half a point. (Double for the majors.) And when we burn a golfer, he's done for the year. Busbee won the inaugural run at this, so we decided to add a third member to the team. The season is really starting to heat up with the Farmers Insurance Open.

Wall: I'm going to roll with Nick Watney this week. His past success in this event makes him a must-play, in my opinion. He won the event in 2009 and also has four top-10 finishes in his last five starts at Torrey. With numbers like those, I have a feeling he's going to produce another strong finish.