Micheel salvages day with a double-eagle 2

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Of course there had to be an eventful day to finish an eventful, emotional week for Shaun Micheel. He shared the first-round lead at 69 despite being sad and concerned about his mother, Donna, who has terminal cancer.

"She wants me out here and I think that makes it easier for me," he said at the time. "Moms want what's best for their kids, and I appreciate that."

Micheel shot 77 Friday, and a member of his threesome, Graeme McDowell, said it seemed as if Micheel had been guilty of a double-hit, which would have been a penalty. He was not penalized, but he was unnerved and never contended.

But Micheel, who shot 1-over-par 72 Sunday to finish in a tie for 22nd at 9-over 293, put a stamp on the day with a double-eagle 2 on the imposing par-5 sixth hole. He sank his second shot, a 239-yard 3-iron up a steep hill and over a chasm. It was only the second double-eagle in Open history. T.C. Chen has the other one, at Birmingham Hills in 1985. Chen, coincidentally, probably is better known for a double-hit later in that same Open.

Micheel, who followed the double eagle with a double bogey, said of his memorable 2: "It's a lasting image that I'll take with me forever, to pick that ball out of the hole. I've got it hidden away in my secret pocket in my golf bag. I'll probably give that one to my mom."

Watson's last Open?

Tom Watson didn't sink his second shot from off the green at No. 17, but at 60, he was close enough. This time he got out of the bunker and made a short par putt on the hole where he famously chipped in on his way to winning the 1982 Open. He closed out his 31st Open, misty and hugging his son, who caddied for him on the course Watson used to play with his dad. "There was a lot of sadness today," said Watson, who was 11 over and tied for 29th. "There are a lot of great memories I've had here. This may very well be the last time I play Pebble Beach in a championship of this caliber. Probably so."