All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis(notes) and the Jets agreed in principle to a four-year contract Sunday night, reaching a deal a week before the team’s season opener.

“It not has only been hard on u guys, but it has for me too,” Revis wrote on his Twitter page early Monday morning. “I just want to tell yall that I’m sorry for this process and I can’t wait to get back on the field.”

The Jets wouldn’t disclose financial terms of the deal, but the Daily News reported it was worth $46 million, including $32 million guaranteed.

“Barring something unforeseen, we expect Darrelle to be here (Monday),” general manager Mike Tannenbaum said during a conference call early Monday morning.

Revis, nicknamed “Revis Island” for his ability to routinely shut down opposing receivers, planned to fly from his home in South Florida to New Jersey on Monday morning. He’s expected to finalize the deal and end his 36-day holdout.

“This is an intermediate step to what we hope is an entire career of Darrelle as a Jet,” Tannenbaum said, “for him to retire a Jet, for him to hopefully go to the Hall of Fame one day as a Jet and for him to be in our ring of honor.”

The move capped a busy day for the Jets, who earlier Sunday cut veteran fullback Tony Richardson(notes) and waived wide receiver David Clowney(notes) and running back Chauncey Washington(notes). New York also claimed wide receiver Patrick Turner(notes) (Miami), offensive tackle Patrick Brown(notes) (Minnesota) and defensive tackle Marcus Dixon(notes) (Dallas).

But, the deal with Revis was by far the biggest news, especially because Tannenbaum acknowledged he wasn’t sure it would ever happen. He said the Jets even looked into trades over the weekend for other cornerbacks.

“This was one of those things where I really wasn’t optimistic,” Tannenbaum said. “I really wasn’t. I’m an optimist by nature, but this was really hard. There was a lot of heavy lifting, a lot of work put into it.”

Including both owner Woody Johnson and coach Rex Ryan flying down to South Florida on Saturday to meet with Revis, mother Diana Gilbert, and uncle and former NFL player Sean Gilbert to try to help get a deal done.

“I think that was an important step in the process, but there was still obviously more work to be done,” Tannenbaum said. “We spent all day looking at it and probably about (11 p.m. Sunday), we made a very significant breakthrough to finding a landing spot that was good for both sides.”

Ryan was scheduled to have a conference call with reporters Saturday night to discuss the Jets’ roster cutdown, but Tannenbaum handled it instead. A team spokesman said Ryan was unavailable because he was at an “appointment.”

That turned out to be a visit with the man whom Ryan has repeatedly called the best cornerback in the NFL.

Revis began his holdout Aug. 1, when the team reported for training camp in Cortland. Tannenbaum said the nearly $600,000 in fines Revis accrued for sitting out would be handled internally by the team.

He was scheduled to make $1 million in the fourth year of his six-year rookie deal, but wanted to become the league’s highest-paid cornerback. While he didn’t get that this time around, he’s getting the guaranteed money he sought during negotiations over the last several months.

With NFL Films cameras following the Jets all summer for HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series, Revis’ holdout was a major story line without him ever appearing in an episode. He’ll certainly be a major focus in Wednesday night’s series finale.

Revis, who made no public statements about the sometimes acrimonious negotiations since minicamp in June, thanked his family and agents, Neil Schwartz and Jonathan Feinsod, through Twitter.

“To my family, neil, & john I love u guys I’m comin home baby!!!” Revis wrote. “Revis Island LET’S GO.”

The new contract means Revis will likely be back on the field in time for the opener next Monday night against Baltimore at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

“That’ll be Rex’s call,” Tannenbaum said.

The general manager said he “had no idea” what corresponding roster move the Jets would make once Revis was signed, sealed and delivered.

“I’m sure Rex will be able to figure out what to do to get Darrelle on the team,” Tannenbaum quipped.

Since early August, the team and Revis’ agents agreed to keep all negotiations confidential after things got testy through the media. With the silence came the fear that Revis could sit out the entire season, as his uncle once did.

Now, the Jets and their fans can breathe a big sigh of relief.

“Obviously, Darrelle’s a great player,” Tannenbaum said. “He’s our guy and he’s an important piece to what we’re trying to accomplish here. … I don’t think anyone wanted it to take as long as it did, but it did. Now, we can put it behind us and move on to Baltimore.”

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.

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!

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!

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.”

The 27-year-old seemed to read crosses far before his markers, and could have added another two against the New York Red Bulls, but his brace was enough to make the difference in a 3-2 away win for the Rapids.

“With the way he’s been scoring goals lately, it’s hard to imagine Casey won’t get a shot with the national team in the near future,” said Goal.com’s Seth Vertelney. “Another two goals and another win for Colorado, one of the league’s pleasant surprises in the early going.”

Casey’s goals have propelled the Rapids up to fourth in the Western Conference, only two points off Houston in second.

Chief editor Andrea Canales echoed the calls for the former Mainz striker to return to the U.S. National Team.

“Do you hear footsteps, Brian Ching? There’s a big bruiser of a forward who is getting the job done up front and could eventually get a look from Bob Bradley for his efforts.”

Another former international who impressed in domestic play this week was the New England Revolution‘s Taylor Twellman. In his first game back since October 25 of last year, Twellman offered the emotional boost needed for the team to win its first in seven matches.

“You can’t quantify what Twellman did for New England on Saturday night with any numbers, but he was clearly the most influential player on the pitch after coming on in the 25th minute,” said associate editor Allen Ramsey. “No goals, but he was involved on both. He also changed the entire nature of how New England was playing.”

The Spanish and Italian media are absolutely certain that Kaka will join Madrid in a €65 million deal, and just an hour or so ago Sky Italia claimed that the Brazilian had given his approval to the move.

An official announcement was then expected imminently, but this confirmation has reportedly been delayed after Chelsea lodged a last-gasp bid to try and sign Kaka themselves.

The 27-year-old is still expected to sign for Madrid, despite the presence of Kaka’s old Milan mentor Carlo Ancelotti, who only took over as manager of Chelsea on Monday morning.

The club said on its Web site Wednesday that Madrid will play Toronto FC at BMO Field on Aug. 7—two days before a previously announced game in Washington against DC United at FedEx Field.

Madrid finished runner-up to archrival Barcelona in the Spanish league this season.

The club this week appointed Florentino Perez as its new president and Manuel Pellegrini as coach.