Joey Chestnut is the Tiger Woods of Eating!

I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. One of the great recent traditions of the celebration of America's independence is Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. The excitement this year surrounded Joey "Jaws" Chestnut's title defense. He is ranked #1 in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Joey plowed through 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win by a Tigeresque margin of victory of nine over his closest competitor, Patrick Bertoletti. Check out the event below:



It was Chestnut's fifth-consecutive championship earning him $10,000 and the coveted mustard yellow championship belt. Hmmm...I guess the real lesson here is that if you're going to dominate an individual sport, do it in golf rather than eating. Also, I'm pretty sure that the groupies aren't as hot on the hot dog eating circuit as it is in golf.

Jerry Kelly is No Welcher!

The average golf fan doesn't know much about Jerry Kelly. He's a low-key kind of guy with a likeable demeanor. But after finding out he made good on a Rose Bowl bet with J.J. Henry, his cool guy status was firmly cemented in my mind. He actually teed off during the Crowne Plaza Invitational pro-am at Colonial Country Club in a full SuperFrog Horned Frog mascot costume! Check out the video for proof.

How To Shoot a Double Snowman!

All golfers have had their fair share of blowup holes. You know, the kind of holes where absolutely nothing goes right and you just want to chuck your clubs into the nearest dumpster and take up a rational sport. Once we've regained our composure, we find that the stroke tallies on such holes are simply abominable. If it happens to be an eight, it is affectionately called a "Snowman" because the number "8" resembles that ubiquitous man-made winter creation. It truly gives new meaning to the creature known as "The Abominable Snowman"!

But even more frightful is the dreaded "Double Snowman". That is the term for a 16 because it is composed of two snowmen added together (8+8). It is so rare that it has never been captured on camera. That is, until now. Luckily the Golf Channel was there when it was spotted on the the ninth hole at the TPC San Antonio during last week's Valero Texas Open. Kevin Na was the unfortunate sap to shoot this terror of the links. Watch it below whenever you feel down about your next inevitable blowup hole. In some ways, it can be considered a feel-good horror movie!

Rory McIlroy Chokes Away the Masters Green Jacket

After watching Rory McIlroy completely dominate the field after 3 rounds of the 2011 Masters, I logged into my favorite online betting site to consider placing a wager. According to the odds makers, to bet on Rory to win the whole kit and kaboodle you had to lay down $160 to win $100. With a four shot lead and demonstrating a complete mastery of Augusta National, I figured that betting on Rory was a sure thing. I didn't hesitate to lay down my hard-earned greenbacks on the Irish kid with the Ronald McDonald's fro.

But just when I thought that the recent meltdowns were over and confined to Japan, a complete meltdown was about to happen during the final round at Augusta. The overwhelming pressure cooker of the Masters finally got to the once unflappable McIlroy. I don't want to recount the blow by blow destruction but it was ugly. His sizeable lead evaporated in quick order and left the door wide open for the field to march right in. There was probably a dozen players in contention all day and it actually made for one of the most entertaining Masters final round ever. Tiger Woods was one of those contenders, but his putting still isn't back to form and he fell short. However, his new swing has made great strides and he's far ahead of schedule, IMHO. It will be interesting to see what happens to Rory now. Will he bounce back or will his massive choke job haunt him in the future? He's got a great swing and he's young so my bet would be on the former. Unfortunately, that doesn't say much based on my betting results as of late! Regardless, the first Major of the year was phenomenal and hopefully it sets the tone for the rest of the year. Congrats to Charl Schwartzel!