US Open Digest

Tiger drops his rivalry with Lefty for the duration- Who knows, maybe there will be another Tiger-Phil battle this week at Bethpage. But yesterday Woods let it be known his sympathy is very much with his chief rival in Amy Mickelson's fight with breast cancer.

Of Phil Mickelson’s situation, Woods observed: “I couldn’t imagine dealing with what he has to deal with on a daily basis, and hats off to how he has handled it because it is so hard to do. Everywhere you go, people are reminding you of it and you can’t get away from it. You think the golf course would be your escape, but it’s not.”

Woods also revealed something about the relationship between the families. “Amy as a person, she’s a sweetheart. She’s been just so nice and so generous to everyone she meets.

“And all the years that we’ve played doubles table tennis (at Ryder Cups), Elin and myself and Phil and Amy, those are priceless times.”

Campbell seems happy to be back on his cycle

Michael Campbell, the 2006 US Open champion at Pinehurst, has had a miserable time on tour this season, having missed the cut in all eight tournaments he has played in.

However, the 39-year-old New Zealander – who was sidelined last year for six months due to a shoulder injury – has retained a sense of optimism.

“It’s been like that my whole career. I’m used to the cycles, even as an amateur. My cycles go for four or five years. I’ll go a long spell and do nothing, and then have a year where I do something great. I’m well into the cycle now.”

Win a round with McIlroy

Rory McIlroy is auctioning tickets to his match with Pádraig Harrington at Lough Erne on July 22nd – plus a round of golf the following day with the highest bidder – to help a child from his home town in Holywood who suffers from severe epilepsy.

Carter Buchanan, the three-year-old son of Robert, a greenkeeper at McIlroy’s home course, developed epilepsy as a baby when he had up to 20 seizures a day.

“They have to take him over to Chicago to get treatment, maybe six or seven times a year,” said McIlroy. “It costs them a lot of money but they’ve got his seizures down to one or two times a day, which is great. They just want him to try and lead a normal life.

“I’ve known Robert for a long time so anything I could do to help his child, I would.”

The auction will take place on McIlroy’s website, www.rorymcilroy.com.

Countdown continues

Reporter:"Tiger, in your opinion, who do you think at this point is the best golfer of all time and why?" "Jack (Nicklaus). He's got 18 (majors). I'm at 14."

Woods:

Brangelina get on the guest list

The USGA have invited a number of celebrities to attend this week, among them Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who have a house on Long Island.

Pitt was a member of his high school golf team before the acting bug took centrestage.

Others included on the VIP invitation list include billionaire Donald Trump and film director Ron Howard.