HONOLULU (AP)—Robert Allenby had every reason to skip the pro-am at the Sony Open this week because of an ankle sprain that turned the bottom of his right foot purple and made it difficult to walk even a flat course like Waialae.

One reason he played was to see how a bum ankle would affect his swing, and to learn to accept bad shots.

There haven’t been too many when it counted.

He made three birdies from inside 4 feet for a 3-under 67 on Saturday and was tied for the lead with Ryan Palmer, the first time Allenby has been atop a PGA Tour leaderboard through 54 holes in more than six years.

“I wanted to have a feel for how I was going to play golf,” Allenby said of his decision to play the pro-am Wednesday. “I think it was a good thing for me. It enabled me in my mind that I’d hit a lot of (bad) shots, but I’d be able to accept it. When you know there’s a problem, it’s a lot easier to accept.”

Palmer also played bogey-free in his round of 68, two-putting from long range on the final two holes—one for par, one for birdie. The last one gave him a share of the lead at 11-under 199, and another date with Allenby in the final group.

Neither of them were spectacular, although they didn’t need to be with no one making a big move.

Eleven players started the third round within three shots of the lead. When the sun dipped below the Pacific horizon, Allenby and Palmer had a three-shot margin over Davis Love III (68), Troy Matteson (68), Steve Stricker (69) and defending champion Zach Johnson (70).

Five more players were another shot back, including a pair of 50-year-olds in Tom Lehman and Michael Allen.

All their hopes start with the play of Allenby and Palmer, who have been steady throughout.

“If I can go out tomorrow and shoot under par, someone will have to shoot a good round to catch or pass us,” Palmer said.

Allenby last had a share of the 54-hole lead at Sahalee in a World Golf Championship in August 2002, and his most recent PGA Tour victory was the Pennsylvania Classic in 2001, the first event after the Sept. 11 attacks.

He has won seven times around the world since then, including the Australia “Triple Crown” in 2005 when he won his native country’s Masters, PGA and Open championships. And he is coming off consecutive victories last month in South Africa and Australia.

“I’m moving in the right direction,” Allenby said. “I may not win tomorrow, but I believe I will definitely win this year. And when I do, I’ll win again and again. With me, it’s just confidence. When I get the confidence going, I feel like I can do anything. I have that confidence right now, and I’m very patient. Hopefully, I can do what’s needed.”

Into a stiff breeze from just over 150 yards, Allenby hit a 6-iron that settled 4 feet behind the flag for a birdie on No. 2 to erase Palmer’s small lead. He also hit a delicate pitch-and-run to 2 feet on the 10th, and a wedge to about the same distance on the 12th.

His best shot might have been a 5-iron around the trees on the 13th, which bounced onto the green for an easy par.

Palmer can relate, as his most memorable shot also led to par.

His wedge got away from him on the 16th hole and landed on the back slope of a bunker, leaving him little room to bring the club down steeply to carry the clip. He thought about a putter to get into the middle of a bunker, a hit-and-hope sand wedge, even a utility club to slam it up the front of the bunker.

Palmer settled on a 7-iron that came out perfectly, caught a good bounce and settled 6-feet away for a remarkable save.

“It’s a big help having a three-shot lead,” Palmer said. “That’s still a lot to make up in one round of golf, especially if the wind keeps blowing. I’m very ecstatic with where I’m at. I couldn’t be in a better spot.”

Stricker missed four birdie putts inside 10 feet, so he was thrilled to see a 12-footer from the fringe fall for birdie on the final hole, leaving him in range.

“Very important,” Stricker said. “It’s a good start for tomorrow. I’ll only be about three shots back, and not a lot of guys in between. So I’ve got a shot at it.”

So does Love, who has made only two bogeys all week at Waialae. He didn’t make many birdie putts Saturday, although a few 4-foot par putts saved the day. A victory would be the easiest way for Love to get into the Masters, and get him headed back to where he feels he belongs.

“If I can hole a few more putts, I’ve got as good of a chance as anyone,” Love said.

DIVOTS: Among those who missed the 54-hole cut was Sean O’Hair, who had a 74. He is headed home to Philadelphia to get tests on a stress fracture in his left arm and likely won’t return until Pebble Beach or Match Play. … Tom Lehman, using a one-time exemption from career money, said he plans to divide his time between the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour the rest of the year. His PGA Tour plans include Phoenix, Pebble Beach and Riviera.

It hasn’t been an exemplary week for the integrity of the NHL. Auger/Burrows exposed, at a minimum, the ugly side of subjectivity, as on-ice officials enter games with previous incidents with players on their minds. Whether that translates into premeditated retribution we’ll never know, because Alex Burrows(notes) is $2,500 light and it’s all now under rug swept.

Then there was the Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh “missing replay” flap that resulted in a producer being suspended and cynicism of the NHL’s War Room process reaching exciting new heights. Puck Buddy and Pittsburgh Penguins fan Jon L. was one of the fans who dropped a line about this story during the week:

“Prior to finding out that FSN PGH had withheld the replay in question, I was always under the impression that the NHL had their own cameras in the War Room and a live feed to every game along with full access to every angle available without even the possibility of partial parties becoming involved. But I couldn’t be any more wrong about that and this makes me wonder how many other times this has happened before, in Pittsburgh, and other cities as well. 

“So my real question is this: Does the NHL intend to do anything about this? Obviously, the current system leads to failures on the highest level. Why doesn’t the NHL have their own feed as opposed to relying on outwardly biased parties for such crucial outcomes?”

Cost, obviously, prohibits that; why would the NHL fill buildings with its own cameras when local television takes care of it for them? Integrity is one thing; a state-sponsored broadcasting department that would blow out the League’s budget is another.

But Jon’s primary point is taken: Are we simply dealing with a flawed system, and are we willing to accept that as fans?

First off, know this: We’re fans of video reviews. Big time. Overall, they’ve changed the game for the better in the sense that the human eye can’t possibly catch every puck that crosses the line, or the nuance of whether that puck completely crossed the line. As video technology has improved, so has replay. It’s not perfect, it’s sometimes a painful time-waster; but if we’re paying good money to see competitive sports, then replay is a vital component in make the competition a fair one for both teams.

Here’s how the NBA’s most dramatic story took its next turn: The Washington Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas(notes) pleaded guilty on Friday in a plea deal on his felony gun possession charge, with the U.S. Attorney’s office recommending to the District of Columbia Superior Court a sentence that doesn’t exceed six months and perhaps doesn’t include prison time at all.

The suggestion to D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert Morin was that punishment be served with probation and community service, but Morin has the latitude to deliver a harsher penalty. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, so the Wizards’ star is still largely at the mercy of Morin.

Nevertheless, Arenas pleaded guilty to a single felony count for one of the four guns he brought into the team’s locker room, and now the possibility becomes real that the Wizards will take the abandonment of Arenas to a far greater length and try to terminate the approximate $80 million left on his original $111 million contract.

The Wizards have abandoned Arenas in ways public and private, and would like to void a contract that could free them of a star who has lost his basketball and box-office allure. Arenas knows they don’t want him, and he told that to Washington general manager Ernie Grunfeld when they were still speaking. From the beginning of this sad, sordid saga, the Wizards have made it clear they’re determined to move on without Arenas.

Without prison time, it’s unlikely the Wizards would have a sustainable case to terminate the contract. With it, it’s possible. Whatever the circumstances, the process of trying could have damning consequences should they lose and Arenas eventually returns from a league suspension. The relationship is already fractured beyond repair.

A vicious, nasty fight with Arenas could ultimately unseal and unleash whatever secrets lay within the walls of the Verizon Center. The Wizards will be taking on the wrath of Arenas, the players union and ultimately putting themselves on trial for a culture of enablement that existed for years with the clown prince of basketball.

This case has polarized the Wizards’ locker room – pitting the front office and players against each other – and an unprecedented fight to terminate Arenas’ contract could unravel the franchise. The Wizards better hope they win, because the possibility of trying to reintegrate Arenas into an organization that tried to take away his contract could have colossal complications.

“If they try to terminate his contract and fail, they’re in big trouble,” said a source familiar with the Wizards-Arenas dynamic. “The Wizards don’t want Arenas back in the locker room after they’ve tried to screw him.”

The Wizards have scrubbed Arenas off the Verizon Center billboards and signage, and the NBA was right there with them, eliminating his likeness out of stories and online shopping catalogues. Arenas initially believed the organization was on his side after the Dec. 21 incident, but eventually realized that wasn’t the case. The Wizards moved rapidly to distance themselves once the details of his locker-room showdown with Javaris Crittenton(notes) became public.

It’s a shame, because the Wizards marketed and made money on the clown persona that ultimately got Arenas an indefinite suspension by NBA commissioner David Stern, and they don’t deserve the salary-cap relief that voiding his contract would give them. The Wizards’ organization isn’t a victim of Arenas’ recklessness, but a co-conspirator. He’s untradeable now, and they’ve played an immense part in that. Stern could suspend him for the rest of the season – almost assuredly no less than 20 games – but Arenas should be back in a Wizards uniform when the sentence is over.

Sources say Arenas’ attorney had tried hard to plead the case down to four separate misdemeanor charges – one for each gun in the locker room – but Arenas’ past misdemeanor gun possession, as well as the public nature of the case, made it impossible. It took Arenas too long to surround himself with competent counsel and advice, and he paid a price.

His own judgment is horrible, and Arenas should’ve relied on others. He turned his guns into team security, when he probably should’ve hustled them out of the building. He kept talking, when he should’ve stayed silent. He let the Wizards advise him on an attorney, when he should’ve found his own.

Arenas testified to authorities that Crittenton responded to his ill-fated practical joke of laying unloaded guns on Crittenton’s locker room chair with the brandishing of his own weapon. At least one other teammate witness in the locker room backed that story, sources with knowledge of the case said. Yet, sources also said two teammates – Mike Miller(notes) and Randy Foye(notes) – backed either very little, or none, of that account.

This case was never about Crittenton, and whatever happens to him will have little bearing on the public fallout. He’s been injured this season, and most believe that he’ll never play another game for Washington. The Wizards can make him and his contract go away, and almost assuredly will. Antawn Jamison(notes) and Caron Butler(notes) could be traded. Grunfeld will have to answer to a new owner soon.

On Friday, Arenas walked into court, copped a plea on a gun charge and now everything goes into motion: The judge, the commissioner, the Wizards. Prison time could complicate Arenas’ future, but without it, the most ironic thing of all could happen to these Wizards: Eventually, they’ll look around, and Gilbert Arenas could be the last man standing.

2009 record: 74-88
Finish: Fifth place, NL Central
2009 final payroll: $108 million
Estimated 2010 opening day payroll: $88 million

OFFSEASON ACTION

Among the many ways to improve a team, any of the following four is generally unadvisable:

1) Sign a starter who punched his wife in the face with a closed fist less than seven years after cutting your starting shortstop for his arrest on domestic violence charges.

2) Trade for a reliever who nearly incited a brawl at the World Baseball Classic by mindlessly throwing behind a hitter, hurting himself in the process and ending the regular season with a 5.89 ERA.

3) Give three years and $15 million to a reliever who, historically, does not strike hitters out, does give up a tidy bunch of hits and isn’t exactly a groundball pitcher in a home ballpark that almost necessitates as much.

4) Spend $4.5 million to lure a third baseman, in a market full of them, who set a career high with a .308 on-base percentage last year. His career, by the way, has lasted more than 4,000 plate appearances.

All four? That constitutes quite an offseason. Perhaps Brett Myers(notes), Matt Lindstrom(notes), Brandon Lyon(notes) and Pedro Feliz(notes), respectively, make Houston a better team. To commit upwards of $20 million for their services, however, is a stunning waste of resources, especially when … well, just keep reading.

REALITY CHECK

Everyone saw this coming. The Astros, in the World Series five years ago, were headed for a precipitous fall, and it wasn’t even because of contracts like Lyon’s or Carlos Lee’s(notes) $100 million disaster.

Houston’s track record in the amateur draft is not just embarrassing. It’s stupefying, short-sighted, blatantly stupid, hilarious in a what-in-the-Sam-Hill-are-they-doing fashion and, well, if there’s one word for it, then it’s ironically appropriate: amateurish.

Since 2006, the Astros have spent $15.4 million on four amateur drafts. It is the lowest figure in baseball. Though they have coughed up $10.7 million in the last two drafts, the spoils won’t show for at least another two years, which leaves the Astros with the current dearth of young homegrown talent. They could break camp with catcher Jason Castro (the 2008 first-rounder) and shortstop Tommy Manzella(notes) (who turns 27 in April) as starters.

The 2006 and 2007 drafts are among the decade’s worst. No player from 2006 has made the major leagues, and the Astros spent only $1.4 million in 2007, which hasn’t graduated anyone, either. Houston’s insistence on hewing to slot recommendations at the behest of commissioner Bud Selig while most of the 29 other teams ignore them shows that playing company man isn’t always the best route.

The Astros are old. They are financially hamstrung. Their owner, Drayton McLane, is trying to sell. There is no quick fix here, not with Myers or Lindstrom or Lyon or Feliz, and they’re the only ones who didn’t see it coming.

INDIANAPOLIS – Can anybody touch Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning(notes)?

This is a literal question, not a figurative one. As the only man to ever be named the NFL MVP four times, Manning has already gotten to the figurative status of “untouchable.”

Instead, actually getting to him is more of an issue than ever before for opposing teams. Can they get to him in any way that forces the issue or otherwise puts the kind of pressure on him that can change a game?

On Saturday night, the Baltimore Ravens couldn’t as they were handed a 20-3 loss in the second round of the AFC playoffs. Sure, the Ravens registered two sacks, but those were courtesy of Manning flops as he avoided contact in the second half and played it safe.

When it really counted, nobody got close to Manning. Nobody has all season.

Manning led the Colts to the AFC championship game next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, back here at Lucas Oil Stadium, after getting plenty of protection on the way to a 17-3 halftime lead. Indianapolis will face the winner of Sunday’s game between the New York Jets and San Diego Chargers.

Manning entered Saturday’s game having been sacked a career-low 10 times (he was sacked an average of 19 times over his first 11 seasons) and zero times over the past five games, the longest stretch of sack-free games in his career. The fact that he has rarely been harassed this season is both critical in the quarterback-centric NFL and impressive considering the circumstances.

The game against the Ravens was a clinic in protection, combining both solid blocking and exquisite timing. Moreover, it was part of a game in which the Ravens should have been able to pass rush. The Colts couldn’t run (25 carries, 42 yards), yet kept Manning clean.

If this holds up and the Colts defense continues to handle the opposition like this, Indy can pretty much punch its second ticket to Miami in four years.

“The guys up front are fighting hard and our receivers are doing a good job of getting open on time,” Manning said. “I’m not having to hold the ball a long time. We ran a lot of timing routes tonight against a lot of man coverage, a lot of double man.”

Ravens coach John Harbaugh paid Manning his due respect.

“He does a great job of finding receivers,” Harbaugh said. “He finds a matchup. I thought we really did a good job of making that tough on him.”

It wasn’t tough enough, as Manning completed 30 of 44 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns.

Most impressive is that Manning and his receivers have reached this level after the Colts lost three of their top five receivers from last season (Marvin Harrison(notes), Anthony Gonzalez(notes) and Dominic Rhodes(notes)) and replaced them with relatively unknown players (Pierre Garcon(notes) and Austin Collie(notes)).

To have developed this kind of timing after such a short time together is staggering. This is the kind of performance that usually takes years to develop.

The impact runs even deeper, giving Colts coach Jim Caldwell the kind of confidence to take a critical risk at the end of the first half.

Up 10-3 with seven seconds remaining and no timeouts left, the Colts faced a third-and-goal from the Baltimore 3-yard line. Many coaches would have played safe in that situation, taking a field goal and a 13-3 lead.

A well-timed blitz or a blown assignment on the line or by the receivers could have foiled the play. At least that’s what a lot of coaches would have imagined. Caldwell, armed with the sense that nothing bad would happen, didn’t think twice and left Manning on the field.

“I think we have earned that confidence in the coach to go for it with seven seconds left,” Manning said. “I’m sure he’d tell you that it wasn’t much of a decision.”

Indeed, that’s just what Caldwell said.

“There’s always kind of a rule of thumb you look for around that five-second mark,” Caldwell said. “You want to be careful. With seven seconds left, it either happens right now or he gets rid of it. He has done it enough times and certainly been around the block that we trust him to get it out of his hand with enough time to kick a field goal.”

What the Colts got was a play that broke Baltimore’s back. Instead of throwing into the teeth of eight-man coverage, Manning hit wide receiver Reggie Wayne(notes) at the goal line. Wayne danced along the line but clearly reached over the goal line with the ball for the score and the two-touchdown lead.

From there, the Colts defense took over, forcing three of four turnovers by the Ravens – the fourth coming during a Baltimore interception when Garcon stripped Ravens safety Ed Reed(notes). In fact, the Garcon play was part of a general implosion by the Ravens. The worst part of that is Baltimore’s best people were the main culprits, with one terrible play or decision after another.

Specifically:

• Linebacker Ray Lewis(notes) committed a personal foul with a helmet-to-helmet shot on Collie, extending a last-second drive in the first half. The Colts eventually cashed in with a touchdown for a 17-3 lead. Lewis got up and screamed his usual, “This is football, man.” Yeah, but it’s not legal football.

• Reed had two interceptions wiped out. The first was erased by the Garcon strip, giving the ball back to Indy at its own 28. Later on in the same drive, Reed had another interception nullified by a pass interference call against Corey Ivy(notes). The Colts added to the frustration by eventually scoring a field goal on the drive.

• The Baltimore coaching staff spent four of its first five timeouts on defense, including all three in the first half. Not good for an offensively challenged team.

• The Ravens coaches also went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Indy 45-yard line with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter. Not a good call for a team that leans so heavily on its defense.

To recap, that’s Baltimore’s two best players and its coaching staff not exactly getting it done. Then again, what could really be done when you can’t touch the opposing quarterback?

At least when it counts.

Welcome to a special Wednesday edition of The Live Report. Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus played together—for the first time in nine years—in the eight-man Double Skins Game at the Memorial Tournament. PGATOUR.COM’s Helen Ross was on the scene and filed live reports from Muirfield Village (all times are ET).

CINK ON TIGER & JACK (4:40 p.m.): Stewart Cink called Wednesday a “cool day”—and he wasn’t referring to the temperatures, which hovered in the mid-50s as a steady rain fell on Muirfield Village.

Cink was in the marquee group of the Memorial Skins Game—playing with two greatest players in the game, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, along with the Memorial tournament’s defending champion, Kenny Perry.

It’s Jack Nicklaus week here at Devil Ball, what with it being his tournament this weekend and all. So why not take a moment to look back at his greatest wins? These are the ones that defined golf not just for Nicklaus, but for — wait for it — America. Enjoy.

1. The 1986 Masters: Of course. The finest tournament of Nicklaus’ career, and one of the finest tournaments in golf history as well. Six years removed from his last major, Nicklaus shot an astonishing back-nine 30 to claim his 18th major.

2. The 1962 U.S. Open: Not a bad debut, huh? For his first professional win, Nicklaus bested Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff even though Arnie’s Army spent much of the tournament calling the young upstart “fatso.” He wasn’t hurt too badly.

3. The 1975 Masters: Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf were trading punches all week, and the outcome was in doubt all the way to the last few holes. Nicklaus’s birdie on 16 propelled him to the title, his fifth Masters win.

4. The 1965 Masters: Nicklaus thumped both Palmer and Gary Player at this classic, winning by nine strokes. Afterward, Bobby Jones uttered one of the most famous quotes in golf history: “He plays a game with which I am not familiar.”

5. The 1980 U.S. Open: Two years removed from his last victory, and with hints of “washed up” starting to make their way around the galleries of golf, Nicklaus absolutely dominated the field, setting a record 272 that still stands.

6. The 1967 U.S. Open: As with 1980, Nicklaus pushed around the field, winning by four shots over Palmer, Billy Casper and Lee Trevino.

7. The 1966 British Open: This marked the final piece of Nicklaus’s career Grand Slam, and at 26 he was the youngest player to complete the feat. (Tiger Woods would best him by two years.) Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player are the only other players to have completed the Career Slam.

8. The 1971 PGA Championship: With this win, Nicklaus became the first golfer to win all four majors twice.

9. The 1960 U.S. Open: He didn’t win this one — Arnold Palmer did, of course, in one of the landmark tournament victories of Arnie’s career — but Nicklaus posted a total score of 282 to finish second. Oh, did I mention he was an amateur at the time? The record still stands for amateurs.

10. The 1956 Ohio Open: At age 16, competing against professional golfers, a young kid named Nicklaus won the tournament, serving notice that everybody else needed to get their winning wrapped up; he was on his way.

There are so many more; digging into Nicklaus’s career just staggers you with its breadth and achievement. Feel free to add your suggestions below. You’re up!

Sometimes, the golf gods give you love in ways you can’t possibly anticipate. When Phil Mickelson announced he’d be returning to the game next weekend at the St. Jude in Memphis, the first thing I thought was, “Great!” The second was, “Memphis … St. Jude … why does that sound familiar?” Then I completely forgot about it and went on to surf for bootlegs of Terminator: Salvation more golf news. After awhile, though, it hit me:

Memphis! That’s where John Daly’s coming back! Oh happy day!

Right on the heels of the Tiger Woods/Jack Nicklaus matchup, we get this Christmas present in June. Both Daly and Mickelson will be returning to the course next week at the St. Jude at Memphis, which is not just great news for the tournament — it lost its title sponsor, Stanford Financial, earlier this year — but for the game as well.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em, Daly and Mickelson combined provide the PGA with about 80 percent of the color (and the honestly interesting off-course stories) it generates in a given season. (Boo Weekley covers another 10 percent, Tiger 5 percent, and everybody else combines for the final sliver.)

Now, I could go and make all the easy jokes about Phil and Daly — you know, lock up your barbecue joints and all that — but I’ll leave that to you, dear reader.

We’ll be holding a live chat here next Thursday to yak about the two returns. And if the golf gods are feeling really frisky, perhaps they’ll give us the matchup we’re all craving. Sure, Tiger-Jack is wonderful, but a Daly-Phil pairing would be absolute can’t-miss. Make it happen, golf gods!

The PGA Tour season can seem like an endless highway on a long road trip – sometimes you just drive for dozens and dozens of miles with your brain on cruise control, not even noticing that the only radio station you can get is playing a medley of Stephen Bishop’s soft rock hits from the 1970s.

And then your trip gets broken up by figurative beacons of light, like the blue highway sign that says “FOOD-NEXT EXIT” and features the inviting yellow arrow of In-N-Out Burger amid its block of fast-food logos.

That’s sort of how I feel about the Memorial coming up this week. After three weeks of the Texas Swing, after three weeks of Zach Johnson and Rory Sabbatini and Steve Stricker – which in this analogy is the long stretch of highway with your brain on cruise control and Bishop on the radio – I’m ready for Jack to host a shindig, and Tiger to show up.

Tiger coming to Jack’s bash would be the inviting yellow arrow on the In-N-Out logo in this analogy.

Just making sure you all were following the analogy. It’s important, you know, for us artistes.

In the meantime, poor Tim Clark. For the seventh time since the ’05 season, the little South African with the ball striker’s game finished in second place, or tied for second place in a PGA Tour event, this time blowing a 72nd hole lead with an ill-timed bogey. He has enough game to insert himself into the mix quite frequently – including a runner-up at Colonial just last year – but also enough Miss Congenialities to make you realize some guys on tour will always be Tim Clark: Richer than Croesus, but still 82 PGA Tour wins behind Sam Snead.

Like “Britain’s Got Talent” legend Susan Boyle, he’ll have to settle for silver.

Clark’s failings should in no way diminish the win for all time good guy Stricker, whose chip-in on 17 in regulation saved his bacon, big-time. (And really, other than whinin’ Brett Favre, have you ever met anything but good people from the state of Wisconsin? It has to be the state with the most grounded citizens in the lower 48. Once, covering a Niner-Packer playoff game in 33-degree rain at Lambeau, I was nearly forced against my will to partake in multiple pregame tailgates with people I’d never met.) Plus, Stricker’s winning red plaid Colonial jacket will go well at some Elks Clubs meetings in the Cheese State.

Stricker not only leads the Tour in scoring average this year (69.46), his six top-10s tie him for the lead with Sean O’Hair and Kenny Perry. Not only that, he’s one of those guys who is so humble and real, he breaks down into tears after winning a playoff; whereas most everyone else watching is saying to each other: “Man, can you believe Clark choked that bad?”, not even realizing Stricker won with a birdie on the second playoff hole.

Clark making bogey on 18 with a one-shot lead; Clark missing a five-footer for the win on the first playoff hole … it all made us crave the cut-throat stylings of T. Woods that much more, just so we can see how the real pros close it out.

Oops, wait. I forgot. Tiger doesn’t do that so much anymore, either.

See? With silly comments like that, it’s time for your loyal correspondent to get grounded in reality again. Let’s set sail for Jack’s place, and see that guy in Sunday red stir our souls once more. In the meantime, I’d advise you to call your bookie and bet on Tim Clark to place, but he’s not playing this week.

Scorecard of the week

• 65-69-65-67 – 266, Kevin Johnson, winner in a playoff, Rex Hospital Open, Nationwide Tour in Raleigh, N.C.

I know, I know. Most of you pay attention to the Nationwide Tour like most of you pay attention to the WNBA.

And I’ll admit it: Usually the extent of my Nationwide Tour involvement is to check the 25 names of Nationwide grads at the end of the year, to see if the next year’s PGA Tour will have any comeback stories, or arrivals of great college prodigies.

Kevin Johnson is neither. He’s a Nationwide Tour lifer. Began playing it back in 1990, when it was the Hogan Tour. Before it was the Nike Tour. Or the buy.com Tour. Or the Nationwide Tour.

He’s not the former Phoenix Sun-turned-Mayor of Sacramento. He’s a 42-year-old former Walker Cupper and All-American at Clemson, a New England native who loves his Red Sox and a guy who, last year, made three of 22 Nationwide Tour cuts and finished 208th on the money list of golf’s developmental circuit.

One year, one golden year, in 2001, he had his PGA Tour card after making it through Q-School, but he lost it by Halloween of ’01, and it was back to the minors.

So Sunday in Raleigh, Johnson had a three-shot lead after 54 holes, then found himself one shot behind Jeff Gallagher as Johnson arrived at the 72nd hole. He birdied the par-5 hole, forced a playoff, and birdied it again for the win. He’s now 4th on the money list, and has a real chance to win a PGA Tour card again. That’s what you call chasing the dream, still crazy – in a good way – after all these years.

And here comes the full disclosure part: Two months ago, the Nationwide Tour came to the Bay Area for the Stonebrae Classic at TPC San Francisco Bay. My radio station, KNBR in San Francisco, had a foursome in the pro-am. Kevin Johnson was our pro. Over 18 holes, he showed himself to be encouraging, enthusiastic, engaging and any other “en” word you can think of. My boss’s son, in our foursome, is a young golf pro, and Johnson was only supportive and positive throughout to the lad.

As we toured the Hayward hills with spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, I thought about the fact that Johnson was dedicating his life to this wacky game, and a long shot dream, and wondered about the sanity of it all. He’d already spent his year flying from Panama to Australia to New Zealand to Louisiana to California – and it was only early April.

And then you see results like the Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C., and you realize why. You can’t catch a dream, after all, unless you’re still chasing it.

Broadcast moment of the week

• Nick Faldo: “You don’t need friends in this game, Jim.” Jim Nantz: “And that’s worked out quite well for you.”

Boo yah! Look at our guy, Nantz, feeling his oats!

Working with Faldo has pushed Jim Nantz, the most sincere, G-rated, straightforwardly nice man you’d ever want to meet, into a place where he’s breaking out the zingers. Can you blame him? If you had to spend six hours a weekend in the same booth with Nick Faldo’s biggest fan, you’d want to sharpen the knives a bit, too.

The context of the remark was an anecdote related to playoff runner-up Steve Marino, who had some friends in the gallery at Colonial Country Club. Nantz then asked if Faldo relied on support from friends in the gallery when Faldo was scowling his way through his playing career.

The above exchange then followed, and I nearly shot out of my La-Z-Boy in my haste to award Nantz B.M.O.W. status.

Of course, Nantz tried to soften the blow with a few laughs, slaps on the back and “You know I don’t mean it” platitudes, but you knew it burned Faldo when the Englishman made another reference to his lack o’ pals later in the broadcast. I almost began feeling sorry for Faldo, picturing him as a boy like Charlie Brown in the pumpkin patch, waiting for a friend like Charles waited for “The Great Pumpkin.”

I got over it quickly, though. Don’t worry.

Mulligan of the week

• Most of Tim Clark’s defining moments at the Colonial were candidates for Mully of the Week. His drive on 14, while blocked right, found a lie so unfair, you wouldn’t wish it on Faldo in his prime. David Feherty noted that if you dropped a hamster in the same spot, it couldn’t burrow as deep as Clark’s ball. The bit of misfortune led to a bogey.

Then there was his tee shot on 18 in regulation. Sitting on a one-shot lead, all he had to do was make par, and win his first PGA Tour event. Instead, he got a case of the 72d Hole Yanks, and his tug led to another bogey. You’d like to think he deserved a mully there, too.

But the cake-taker was the five-footer on the first playoff hole. Finally, after all the breaks both good and bad, Clark could seal the deal. He pulled the 60-incher left of the cup.

That’s where I want to intervene, go to that 18th hole, plant that ball five feet from the hole and, for the love of Mike … give that man a mulligan!

D.C. United saw their seven-game unbeaten streak end, but may be facing the perfect opponent against which to bounce back.

United look to get back on track Thursday night when they host the New York Red Bulls, who have yet to score on the road this season.

D.C. (3-2-7) was 2-0-5 in its last seven league matches before Saturday’s 2-1 loss at New England. United held a 1-0 lead at halftime after a goal by Fred, but let it slip away by conceding an equalizer in the 55th minute and a disputed penalty kick to the Revolution in the 90th.

After a dominant first half, United felt like they gave the match away over the final 45 minutes.

“We were way too spread out,” United midfielder Santino Quaranta said. “We weren’t compact. I think that there is going to be times in a game with a wave, and we didn’t do well. Balancing our attack and our defending, we didn’t do well, and we need to do better.”

The chances are good that D.C. will do better against New York (2-7-3), which has nine points – the lowest total in the Eastern Conference. The Red Bulls have played their worst on the road, going 0-4-1 while being outscored 6-0.

United gained a leg up towards retaining the annual Atlantic Cup these rivals play for with a 3-2 victory at New York on April 26. D.C. got goals from Luciano Emilio and rookie Chris Pontius in a 36-second span of the final minute to stun the Red Bulls.

New York fell to 4-10-4 against D.C. over the last six seasons – a span in which United has retained the Atlantic Cup every year. This is the final meeting between these teams in 2009.

It isn’t coming at the ideal time for New York, which is starting a difficult road trip that includes a visit to New England on Sunday. The Red Bulls completed a 1-2-1 homestand with Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Colorado.

“We are in a very difficult situation right now,” New York midfielder Albert Celades said. “We were hoping to obtain more than four points while we were home, but that wasn’t the case. Now we have to go get those points away from home.”

New York star Juan Pablo Angel has a team-high four goals, but like his teammates is still waiting to break through on the road.

“It’s getting harder and harder,” Angel said. “It’s hard to explain it or justify it. I just think we just have to work harder than we are right now and try to turn things sooner rather than later because it’s almost halfway through the season and we haven’t been able to get this sorted out.”