Sometimes You're The Windshield......

Sometimes you're the bug.

That was a semi-popular country song...back in the 80's, I believe.

It also could be the theme song for the 2009 US Open Golf Championship, which is currently being played at Bethpage Black in New York.

There are always two waves of golfers in a tournament. One wave starts in the morning, the other starts in the afternoon, and then on the second day they switch positions.

In this year's US Open, Thursday's morning group is "the bug". They began play in the rain, played in the rain for three hours and sixteen minutes, and then went home for the day. On Friday, the were out early to finish their first rounds, and then they went home.

Thursday's late starters (if there had been no rain) are the windshield. They never teed off at all in Thursday's horrid conditions, and they didn't start until mid-morning on Friday, which allowed the course to get a little drier. These players played somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 holes in these calm conditions. For the first round, the late starters averaged two shots less than the early starters.

But that's just the beginning....

The real reason that the windshield/bug song popped into my head is the forecast for Saturday.

In the morning, when the late starters are finishing up their second rounds, it is supposed to be cloudy. When we get to the afternoon, and the early players from Thursday are playing their second rounds, more storms are coming. Those players will be in the rain...again.

Tiger Woods is in the early group, which means he will play most of his golf in the rain. However, don't feel too bad for him, because he was four over par for his last four holes in his first round, and that was under the same scoring conditions that many, many players were able to take advantage of and post good scores. If Tiger is going to make this US Open his 15th major victory, he will have to shoot a couple of really good scores.

Phil Mickelson should be basically done with his 2nd round before the rain hits, which should give him a chance to post a good score and set himself up with a chance to win. I am not usually a big fan of Mickelson's, but I don't think you can help but root for the guy to play well with the huge off-the-course issue he's currently having to deal with. Hopefully, Phil's wife Amy will win her fight against breast cancer so that I can go back to wishing Phil's ball into the woods!

Add mine to the millions of prayers being said for Amy Mickelson's quick recovery.