Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Woods rallies to win U.S. Open in sudden death
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Tiger Woods cradled the silver U.S. Open trophy in his right hand and limped toward the edge of the Pacific bluffs, each step as much a burden as the 91 holes he played at Torrey Pines for a major that might have been his most amazing yet.
Out of competition for two months because of knee surgery, he won the toughest test in golf.
For the second straight day, Woods came to the 18th hole one shot behind and stood over a birdie putt to avoid a shocking collapse.
His knee throbbing and heart pounding, he delivered. He always does.
An epic U.S. Open finally ended Monday afternoon on the 19th hole of a playoff when Woods outlasted a gritty Rocco Mediate for a victory that surprised even him.
"I think this is probably the best ever," Woods said. "All things considered, I don't know how I ended up in this position, to be honest with you. It was a long week. A lot of doubt, a lot of questions going into the week. And here we are, 91 holes later."
Now the greater question is his future.
All week, Woods had managed to mask the pain, walking with an almost imperceptible limp. Finally, he could give in to it. Walking toward the bluffs for his last round of interviews, he could barely make it up the hill.
Woods conceded that he risked further damage by playing the U.S. Open, and said it was possible that he had indeed made it worse.
He does not know when he will play next, even uncertain whether he will show up at Royal Birkdale in five weeks for the British Open to continue his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus' record 18 majors. Torrey Pines was Woods' 14th major and made him the only player besides Nicklaus to win the career Grand Slam three times over.
"I think I need to shut it down for a little bit," Woods said. "It's a bit sore. I need to take a little bit of a break."
It might take that long for this victory to sink in.
Caught in a tussle with Mediate, a 45-year-old with a creaky back and no fear, Woods blew a three-shot lead with eight holes to play before rallying with a birdie to send this 18-hole playoff into overtime.
On the verge of one of golf's great upsets, Mediate instead became another victim.
He had a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win - not many players get a chance like that against Woods - and pulled it just slightly.
"I just yanked it a touch," Mediate said. "But I can't really complain. I did the best I could."
Woods reached the green in two and his 45-foot eagle putt rolled some four feet past the hole. He backed off the putt when a seagull's shadow crossed over his line, then watched it tumble in for birdie. Both Woods and Mediate finished at even-par 71.
Going to the seventh hole for sudden death, Mediate drove left into a bunker, pulled that shot to the edge of the bleachers, chipped 18 feet past the hole and missed the par putt.
"Great fight," Woods told him as they embraced on the green.
It was almost more than Woods could handle, yet he escaped again. He won the U.S. Open for the third time, and the first since it was last held on a public course at Bethpage Black in 2002.
"I'm glad I'm done," Woods said. "I really don't feel like playing anymore."
While Tiger Woods and caddie Steve Williams celebrated, Rocco Mediate could only wonder what might have been. (Chris Carlson / Associated Press)
Mediate's odyssey began two weeks ago when he had to survive a sudden-death playoff simply to qualify for this U.S. Open. Even more unlikely was going toe-to-toe with Woods - whom Mediate referred to as a "monster" - and nearly slaying him.
Mediate struggled to keep his emotions after taking bogey on the first extra hole, but he walked off Torrey Pines with 12,000 new friends who crammed both sides of every fairway for a playoff that was tighter than anyone imagined.
"Obviously, I would have loved to win," he said. "I don't know what else to say. They wanted a show, they got one."
Did they ever.
From the opening tee shot Thursday in a light fog known as "June Gloom," this U.S. Open simply shined.
"The atmosphere is what kept me going," Woods said. "The tournament, being a major championship here at Torrey Pines, all the people, it could have very easily ... I couldn't ever quit in front of these people. It wasn't going to happen."
The week was filled with some of Woods' greatest moments in a major - a 30 on the back nine Friday to get into the mix, two eagles from a combined 100 feet and a chip-in birdie on Saturday to take the lead, and one of the biggest putts of his career when he holed a 12-foot birdie with the final stroke of regulation to force the playoff.
Then came a playoff in which he built a three-shot lead with eight holes to play, only to find himself trailing four holes later.
"You just keep pushing and pushing," Woods said. "And I did, all week."
Woods seized control when Mediate bogeyed consecutive holes around the turn, but Woods bogeyed the next two from the bunker and Mediate tied him by nearly driving the 267-yard 14th hole and chipping to a foot for birdie.
Then the playoff took yet another surprising turn on the 15th.
Woods hit his tee shot so far to the right that it landed in a fairway bunker along the adjoining ninth fairway. But he carved a 7-iron from 170 yards around the trees to 12 feet, one of those defining shots that turns a tournament in his favor.
But not this time. Mediate dropped in a 25-foot birdie putt, while Woods missed and spent the next three holes in a desperate chase to make up ground until he did on the last hole.
"I never quit. I never quit," Mediate said. "I've been beaten down a few times and came back, and I got what I wanted. I got a chance to beat the best player in the world. And I came up just a touch short."
It was the second time Woods has won a PGA Tour event and a U.S. Open on the same course - Pebble Beach in 2000 and Torrey Pines, where in January he won by eight shots for his sixth Buick Invitational title.
He now has won eight times at Torrey Pines, including a Junior World Championship.
It was his 65th career victory, passing Ben Hogan for third all time. Woods raised his playoff record to 15-2 and made it 14-of-14 in majors when he had at least a share of the lead going into the final round.
He now has won every major in a playoff except for the British Open.
Just like the last U.S. Open playoff seven years ago, both players arrived wearing the same outfit - khaki trousers and a white shirt at Southern Hills, black slacks and a red shirt with a black vest at Torrey Pines.
That's typical for Woods, and when he saw Mediate, Woods removed his vest.
It felt like a prize fight the way both players marched through a wall of fans and onto the first tee, posing before the silver U.S. Open trophy. And it finished that way, too.
"With everybody in the world all looking in, and everyone expecting me to get my (behind) handed to me, and I didn't," Mediate said. "And I almost got it done. I almost got it done."
Woods raised his arms like a heavyweight champion walking off the first tee, but only because he found the fairway for the first time all week. He had double bogeyed it three of the previous four days.
Mediate flipped his club to the front of the tee box when he came within inches of an ace on the par-3 third.
Back and forth they went, Woods building an early lead with consecutive birdies, Mediate refusing to go away. But when Mediate three-putted from 15 feet for bogey on the ninth, and Woods holed a 20-foot par putt from the fringe on the next hole to go three shots ahead, it looked as though this playoff would turn into another snoozer.
Then it was Woods who faltered, and Mediate caught a second wind. It set up a fabulous finish, just like everything else this week on the public course in the tony hamlet of La Jolla that translates to "The Jewel."
"It was just unreal," Woods said. "It was back and forth, back and forth. And 90 holes wasn't enough."
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Nice. Take care.
Chachahamas!
Hina
at
9:21:00 am
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Monday, June 16, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Bill Murray sex addict, abusive: wife
Bill Murray sex addict, abusive: wife
AFP Video Search: Bill Murray The wife of US actor Bill Murray has filed for divorce, accusing him of drug abuse, violence and abandonment, court documents in South Carolina show.
Jennifer Butler and Murray were married for 10 years and had four children, but they separated more than a year ago, her petition filed in Charleston county this week showed.
In 2006 Butler moved with her children to Sullivan's Islands, South Carolina, "due to defendant's adultery, addiction to marijuana and alcohol, abusive behavior, physical abuse, sexual addictions, and frequent abandonment," the petition said.
"The latest altercation occured in November 2007 at Sullivan's Island when the defendant hit her in the face and then told her she was 'lucky he didn't kill her," it added.
Butler charged that Murray's "violent, abusive and erratic behavior toward plaintiff destroyed the marital relationship between the parties and plaintiff no longer feels safe being in the presence of defendant."
Murray, 57, a Hollywood star of films such as Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Lost in Translation.
He also has two sons with his first wife, Margaret Kelly, from whom he divorced in 1994.
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Chachahamas!
Hina
at
4:06:00 am
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Many many...
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Too many.
Too many.
Write them down!
Write them down!
Too many.
Too many.
Write them down!
Write them down!
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Chachahamas!
Hina
at
2:07:00 am
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Whimsicka
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We are going to hire a lot of good bartenders!
Isn't it a great news...
They will wear beautiful uniforms designed by us.
Rock it! And stay tuned!
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Chachahamas!
Hina
at
4:20:00 am
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Monday, May 19, 2008
Look!
Look at you... awww, look at you...
You are playing us on a little chess board.
Funny huh...
What are you?
Chachahamas!
Hina
at
11:04:00 am
1 comments
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Teacher dies helping pupils
Teacher dies helping pupils
(STANDARD) 14th May Wednesday 05:30AM
A teacher who had made it out of a collapsing school was killed when he went back in to retrieve the bags for two students.
Zhou Kaishun, 43, was described by many as a "good teacher" at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan.
Only about 200 students escaped when the four-story building collapsed, trapping about 900 children.
Zhou went back in to prevent two students who wanted to retrieve their bags, from returning.
When Zhou's body was found, he was clutching the schoolbags.
Scores of family members broke down as the bodies of their children were extricated and placed in minibuses that served as temporary morgues.
"My child was only 15 ... He was my only hope. What am I going to do without him?" cried a mother.
One report said 50 students in one class were among those buried as the teacher told them to stay put. The only one who survived was a student who defied the order.
Some parents complained the school, built 10 years ago, collapsed because the contractors had cheated on the material and work. They pointed to nearby buildings built 20 years ago that had withstood the tremor.
At a chemical engineering plant in Shifang, workers returned to the site to help get their trapped colleagues out. They could only do so by removing the concrete piece by piece by hand, fearing that any heavy machinery would endanger those trapped inside.
In another collapsed building in Dongchuan, a child said through gaps in the rubble that she was cold, thirsty and hungry but not injured. "Mama, come save me quickly," the girl called out.
There was chaos on highways as victims trying to flee the affected areas attempted to get on outbound coaches through windows.
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Our father God, do you really exist?
Chachahamas!
Hina
at
11:22:00 am
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Labels: china, earthquake, sichuan, tragedy
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The earthquake in Sichuan...
報導:四川強震 綿竹一地即有一萬人遭活埋
(法新社) 05月 13日 星期二 11:50AM(法新社四川 都江堰十三日電) 中國官方「新華社 」今天報導,中國四川省昨天發生大地震後,今天光在綿竹一個城市就至少還有一萬人被埋在瓦礫堆裡,等待救援。
報導指出,綿竹當地有一萬人失蹤。綿竹位於昨天這起規模七點八大地震震央的東南方三十五公里。
報導還提到,綿竹另有一千五百人的「傷亡數字」,但沒有說明是死亡人數,或全部為受傷人數。
官方媒體今天稍早報導,綿竹地區漢旺鎮裡一家蒸氣渦輪機工廠在地震中全毀,當時有六千人在廠內工作。
「中國新聞社」報導,數以百計的人恐怕已經被埋在廠區,其中也包括兩所遭嚴重損毀的附設學校。
官方媒體今天稍早表示,根據中國民政部的統計,確認的地震死亡總人數已經增加到接近一萬人。
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It is really hard to describe the sorrow in me right now.
I'm trying the best I can do. But still, I'm nothing to this enormous and disatrous tragedy.
Chachahamas!
Hina
at
11:50:00 pm
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Labels: earthquake, sichuan

