With the 00's or aughts (or whatever you want to call the last decade) officially complete, the technological advances in golf during this period were still significant even if they weren't as groundbreaking as the equipment changes the game experienced during the 1990's. While the introduction of ultra-durable and lightweight metals is likely to never be challenged in terms of its direct impact on the sport, one could argue the biggest change in how we play the game now compared to 10 years ago has nothing to do with the clubs or balls we use so much as how we prepare for each shot. The introduction of GPS units and highly-detailed course maps has revolutionized the game for the average golfer, which have achieved a new level of accuracy and usefulness with SkyGolf's latest model, the SkyCaddie SG5.

I'm not suggesting there weren't great strides taken in the past decade with golf equipment, but with certain limits put in place by the USGA there was really only so much room for improvement. Sure, my Callaway FT-3 driver nets me 5-to-8 extra yards on average compared to the Titleist 975-D I was using back in 2001, and my new Titleist AP2 irons are much more consistent and controllable than the Ping i3 blades I used previously. The golf balls are supposedly better too, although back in 2000 the Pro-V1 was already immensely popular and the only real difference I've noticed in general is that balls tend to be a bit more durable now. All of these little improvements add up, of course, and have probably shaved a stroke or two from my average round, but it was the addition of the SkyCaddie SG5 to my game that had the most obvious and immediate impact.

The SkyCaddie's usefulness was apparent not just from situational observations, but could also be measured statistically. I compared the 15 rounds I played before using the SkyCaddie SG5 to 15 rounds using the device, played on the same courses in similar conditions. My average round improved from 78.7 to 77.1 and I hit approximately one-and-a-half more greens in regulation per 18 holes. While an improvement of 1.6 strokes per round may not sound like a dramatic difference to some, for a golfer with a 4 or 5 handicap like myself, it's huge. I suspect golfers with higher handicaps will experience even greater results.

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)

Any golfer whose ever seen the Adam Sandler golf flick Happy Gilmore has likely tried his patented hockey golf swing on the range at least once or twice. My personal experience was I would either blast the hell out of the ball if I made good contact or completely shank it by turning over the club face too quickly. Padraig Harrington decided to give it a try and it turns out the running head start really can make a difference. I'm starting to appreciate Paddy more and more, as I'm not sure many professional golfers would be willing to do this on camera. Of course, Harrington's fun and relaxed attitude towards the game is one of the reasons he's won three majors over the last two years.

There are few things more annoying in the world of sports than journalists standing up on their soap boxes to moralize at the very same heathen athletes they cover. This week's theme, in the aftermath of the Masters, has been how Tiger Woods is a bad guy because he's not all smiles and giggles during interviews and occasionally uses some foul language on the golf course.

There are several columns in this vein I could choose from, but the one I found most irritating was Ron Galloway's piece for The Huffington Post, ludicrously titled, Why Tiger Woods is Bad for Golf. Here's a few quotes from the article just to give you an idea:

As I watched the tournament later on TV, Tiger would openly mouth obscenities when he hit a bad shot. You might chalk it up to a bad day, but he has made a habit of this during his career, as well as tossing clubs around on occasion. It's expected behavior for him now. If the FCC fined Tiger for every time he blathered the F-word on national TV he'd probably have $25 million in penalties racked up by now.

Many people, including most fawning TV commentators, celebrate this as "passion" or "competitive drive," as if the rest of the PGA tour do not possess these qualities. The reality is that it that Tiger's "intensity" is simply the d-bag behavior of a coddled bully. This narcissism first evidenced itself a decade ago when he imperiously hung Fuzzy Zoeller out to dry for misinterpreted comments that offended Tiger's sensibilities. If you google "Fuzzy Zoeller," 10% of the responses reference this incident. All Tiger had to do was shrug it off. He chose not to, nearly destroying Zoeller's career.

So just to be clear, it's bad to curse, but making racially offensive comments is perfectly acceptable. Yes, Zoeller's comments were slightly misinterpreted, but he still shouldn't have made them and that's on him. It's absurd to suggest Tiger - barely old enough to order an alcoholic beverage at the time - was a jerk for how he didn't just come out and say what Zoeller said was okay. What a diva! Nevermind that Tiger did in fact make an effort to play down the situation, even though I'm sure on some level Zoeller's comments bothered him.

Before last Friday, Sergio Garcia had gone several years at the Masters without shooting a round under 70. Not that his breakthrough round led anywhere, as he quickly faded over the weekend and ended up near the end of the pack amongst those who made the cut. So maybe Augusta National simply doesn't suit his game? Of course not, it's just because the course sucks.

This interview with the Golf Channel is the latest in a long line of incidents of Sergio acting - if you'll excuse me - like a whiny little bitch. Can you imagine Tiger Woods ever under any circumstances acting this way? No, because he's not a loser and when he doesn't make the shots he needs to make, he owns it. You'll notice Padraig Harrington, also not a loser, completely contradicts Sergio right after the interview when they ask him about the course.

The one huge thing Sergio seems to forget is that everyone else is always playing the same course in the same conditions, and if Anthony Kim can make 11 birdies in a single round it's ridiculous to suggest the course is unfair. Garcia has as much talent as anyone on tour, but it's obvious he lacks the mental toughness to take full advantage.

The 2009 Masters nearly delivered what golf fans have been hopelessly anticipating for years now: a showdown between Tiger and Phil for a green jacket.

While both golfers started the day seven shots back of 54-hole-leader Kenny Perry, a ridiculous run of birdies and eagles by Woods and Mickelson (who shot a Masters course record 30 on the front nine) left both golfers at 10-under par and only one shot off the lead heading into the par-3 twelfth hole. Sadly, that's where the day took a turn for the worse, with Mickelson putting his tee-shot in the water.

There were some other blunders and missed putts to follow, and just like that what could have been a round for the ages ended up with a fairly boring three-way playoff between Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry, and the ultimate victor Angel Cabrera. It's not fair to say Tiger and Phil choked considering they put on such an amazing charge and actually scared the leaders, but I'll always remember this year at the Masters as the big tease. I'm sure in hindsight knowing that 12-under would have gotten them into a playoff, both golfers were kicking themselves for giving away those shots over the final holes.

Even if it was a disappointment, this is a great sign for the remaining season on the PGA Tour. Tiger wasn't really on his game most of the week and Phil barely made the cut before a back nine turnaround on Friday, and yet both were able to put themselves into contention.

On a final note, serious kudos should be given to the folks at Augusta for how the course was setup on Sunday. There were some great pin placements that offered a lot of reward for going at the flag, unlike recent years where birdies and eagles were seldom seen in the final round.