With all of the rain and weather delays the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black started out as dull as many British Opens, but by Monday morning it evolved into quite a thrilling final round thanks to the lead horses coming back to the field. Here are some various thoughts...

Kudos to Tiger and Phil for grinding it out and somehow getting into contention when it looked like they had no chance after 36 holes. They did the same thing at The Masters earlier this year. Golf fans always tend to focus on the majors and total tournament victories, but to me Tiger's legacy will be his ability to somehow always put himself in contention even when he's off his game.

Phil Mickelson did not choke. Critics will say that all he needed to do was par the last four holes and he would have been in a playoff, which is a convenient way of glossing over the fact that 15 and 17 were playing as the two most difficult holes on the course and many other players missed the same short putts on those greens. Let's not forget that he had to drop some long birdie putts and make an amazing eagle to even get a share of the lead to begin with.

Lucas Glover may be a bit of a dark horse winner, but his victory wasn't nearly as surprising as many are making it out to be. Yes, he only has one career victory on tour, but Glover has been playing some solid golf this season, particularly in some of the more noteworthy events. 19th at the Bob Hope, 3rd at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, 11th at Arnie's event at Bay Hill, and 2nd at the Quail Hollow Championship. The guy has been in the mix all year long.

David Duval may really be back. It's far too easy for a player to perform well at a major and then read too much into it, but Duval has been telling anyone who would listen for the past several months that his game is getting back on track. So while it was a pleasant surprise to see him with a share of the lead with only a few holes remaining, it wasn't as shocking as you might think. Don't be surprised when his name is in the mix next month at The British Open - it may have been a life-time ago, but he's won it before. How can you not be cheering for Double D at this point? The PGA could use his presence right now.

Sure, Ricky Barnes blew a huge lead as the 54-hole leader, but it's extremely common for a young or no-name golfer to be in his position at the U.S. Open and then quickly fade from contention. Think Jason Gore a few years ago, who finished with a final round 81. Give Barnes credit for toughing it out and still finishing as runner-up. He hit several fantastic putts that should have dropped, particularly on the final hole - I still can't believe his birdie putt missed. It certainly would have made Glover's 4-footer a heck of a lot more difficult. I don't think this is the last we'll hear of him.

Link: Some Thoughts on the 2009 U.S. Open

One of the most common knocks against Tiger Woods' illustrious PGA Tour career is that even if he passes Jack Nicklaus in major tournament victories, he never had to play against the same stiff level of competition. Jack had to face off against the likes of Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Gary Player. Old time golf fans proclaim this argument with the same conviction of a priest quoting scripture from the Bible. But is there any truth behind it?

First, when comparing career competitors, I observed that the most common mistake those who believe Nicklaus faced tougher opponents make is to compare the career numbers of his rivals as opposed to where they stood when Jack was around the same age as Tiger is currently in 2009 (33). The only fair and logical method for comparing these two dominant golfers from different eras is to examine the playing field in 1973 when Jack was 33 years old, because while we know what his rivals did for the remainder of his career, we have no idea what Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington or other opponents of Tiger will do over the next decade or so.

Before digging into opponent statistics, let's compare 2009 Tiger to 1973 Jack...

Tiger Woods: 14 majors (4 Masters, 3 US Open, 3 British Open, 4 PGA Championship).

Jack Nicklaus: 11 majors (4 Masters, 3 US Open, 2 British Open, 2 PGA Championship).

Now for the opponents, comparing golfers who won multiple majors and played against Tiger to golfers who won multiple majors and played against Jack as they stood in early 1973...

Tiger's Opponents as of early 2009
Phil Mickelson (3 majors)
Vijay Singh (3 majors)
Padraig Harrington (3 majors)
Ernie Els (3 majors, 2 against Tiger)
Payne Stewart (3 majors, 1 against Tiger)
Angel Cabrera (2 majors)
José María Olazábal (2 majors, 1 against Tiger)
Mark O'Meara (2 majors)
Retief Goosen (2 majors)
Lee Janzen (2 majors, 1 against Tiger)
John Daly (2 majors, 0 against Tiger)

Those red clay courts have never been kind to Maria Sharapova. Given her long absence from singles play, it would be fair to say her performance at the 2009 French Open was at least respectable considering she made it to the Quarterfinals. On the other hand, once she made it that far she was absolutely crushed, losing consecutive sets to Dominika Cibulkova (6-0, 6-2). With Ivanovic and Sharapova both eliminated, my interest in the remainder of this event has officially diminished. Sorry, die-hard tennis fans.