Tiger Woods at Oakmont in 2007 US Open: Follow Real Time Leaderboard

Tiger Woods is very much in the hunt for the 2007 US Open Championship. True, only one 1/2 full days of play has been carded, but Tiger fans, safe to say all golf fans, remember last year's open when Tiger failed to make the weekend cut. After his opening round this year, however, Tiger has posted a competitive +1. To follow the real time leaderboard throught the tournament, go to www.usopen.com.

The leader at present, with a -1 under par 68, is Angel Cabrera. He will be hard pressed to hold his lead with dozens of players within 5 strokes of him, including the ever-dangerous Woods who is currently 12th on the leader board. On Friday, it appears that no less than 4 players haved joined Woods at +4.

The US Open at Oakmont is always a great event for golf fans. The men will leave the boys behind, even if some of those "boys" are over 40 and some of those "men" can still go days without shaving with no one the wiser.

Oakmont is a course as heralded as the PGA itself. In its 104 year history it has chewed hard on every golfer of fame who's stepped on its turf. And those average Pittsburgh Joe's? There's a reason they are called the Steelers. Sure they get chewed up, but they keep coming back to do a love-hate tango with the course.

H.C. Fownes, a Pittsburgh industrialist, designed the course. His son, W.C. Fownes once remarked with a grin, "A shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost." It is said that a superintendent at Oakmont once called the younger Fownes to inform him that Sam Snead had succeeded in hitting a tee shot past a difficult bunker during a practice round. The next day, Snead landed in a sand trap that had been installed overnight in the exact same spot his ball had landed the day before.

Of the bunkers, Oakmont's most famous is the Church Pews bunker, that stretches about 100 yards long and has a width of 40 yards. The giant hazard also has a dozen grass covered ridges that run across it.

The Church Pews bunker plagues golfers on holes 3 and 4, whereas a smaller, but equally deadly version runs along the 499 yard (Par 4)15th hole.

What golfer wouldn't love such a challenge? "You're going to get putts that will make guys look like dumbbells," says NBC analyst Johnny Miller, who won the '73 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Although Miller astounded the world with a 63 stroke round in 1973, most players predict the winning stroke total in 2007 may be well in the + column.

Can Tiger win at Oakmont? Millions of fans hope so. Regardless of the outcome, we're guaranteed a fight to the end. Heads up, Oakmont monster - there's a Tiger on the prowl.

Also in the hunt and of high interest to golf fans of the US Open, is Richard Lee of Chandler, Arizona. A 16-years-old Hamilton High student, Lee is in the field after finishing in a tie for second at Monday's sectional qualifier in Murrieta, Calif.

Richard Lee, as of this writing is currently + 17. Unless something supernatural happens, he is unlikely to make the weekend cut. But he's at Oakmont and that's saying a lot for any 16 year old.