Believe it or not, the unofficial second half of the PGA Tour Season begins today.  Hopefully your team is running as successfully as mine is, and by following and getting your information here from ScreamingSports.com, you should be pretty successful too.  The first half wraps up after another great week of storylines at The Open Championship and I think you know who is going to get my number one spot (hint: it's not the winner).  This week proves that, even without Tiger, the Tour can be compelling and exciting; and this major was that, without question.  Also, at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, Kenny Perry, after a pretty pedestrian week, closed with a 64 on Sunday to finish in an eventual T-6th, continuing his insane run of top 10s.  Netting the victory was Sweden's Richard S. Johnson, who bracketed a decent Friday and Saturday with an opening round 63 and a 64 on Sunday to beat out Ken Duke by one shot.  Chad Campbell and Dean Wilson were in a group finishing in a T-3rd, two shots back.  I'm doing my best not to gloat here, but I had an awfully good week over both tournaments overall.  I'm not going to give myself a Top Tournament Performance, but I deserve an honorable mention for bringing the good this week.  I'm kidding, but in my Yahoo! League, I jumped from the 55th percentile to the 61st percentile on the strength of this week's selections, and unfortunately, my U.S. Bank Championship picks were not counted in that move; otherwise it would have been even more.  All right, enough about me, enough about you, it's all about the golf, and the best story we've had in a major in a long time; well, since Rocco Mediate anyway.

Gold

Greg Norman - You'll hear chatter that he "choked" again on Sunday, and while he did shoot 77 on Sunday; it was far from the worst score posted (for example, 'Media Darling' Sergio Garcia posted 78), and the conditions were extraordinarily difficult, with wind gusts in the 40+ MPH range.  You know, the kind of wind that even throws off putting.  It's difficult for anyone to compete in these conditions, never mind someone who is barely a part-time player these days; was on his honeymoon (just getting hitched to Chris Evert three weeks ago) literally before coming to Royal Birkdale, and, oh yeah, is 53 years old.  It was just a phenomenal performance all week for Norman.  He didn't shoot a single round in the 60s, but with conditions the way they were, 70-70-72 for the first three days was good enough for the 54-hole lead.  Good stats aren't available (it's not officially a PGA Tour event, and The Open Championship folks decided not to post the awesomeness of stats for us Fantasy geeks), but I can tell you, with the exception of Sunday, his putting was fantastic, and always seemed to find the fairway.  And, as usual, he was one of the longest players in the field.  Norman, of course, as a two-time Open Champion, has a lifetime (until age 65) exemption to The Open, but his third place finish earned him a two-year exemption at the Masters, where he will appear next year for the first time since 2002.  I honestly don't expect this to have much of a Fantasy impact; but you can't deny that someone of this age making this sort of run is remarkable.  Throw in the fact that the tournaments he has played, he's struggled mightily; it makes his finish at The Open even more remarkable.  Good on ya, Mr. Norman, good on ya.

Silver

Padraig Harrington - And it appears that for the second straight Major, your winner has overcome injury to win; although even Tiger didn't enjoy a four-shot lead walking to 18 Green on Sunday.  Harrington overcame a mediocre opening round 74, to close with a remarkable 68-72-69 on the weekend to win by four shots over Ian Poulter, who, in a tournament with fewer stories in it, would probably earn a spot on this list as well.  Harrington, perhaps tentative or even hurting from his wrist injury on Thursday (it was still 50/50 as to whether Harrington would even show for his tee time; so much so that alternate Heath Slocum (T-32nd in his first appearance at The Open) was literally waiting at the tee box for Harrington's tee time; he would get in the field later in the day); fought through the pain the rest of the way in a courageous defense of his Championship, and continued the run of repeat Champions at the Open (shattering the "don't pick the defending champ" rule.  Tiger 05-06, Harrington 07-08).  It was a masterful week overall, especially on Sunday, when conditions late in the day dictated nearly impossible conditions.  Harrington made shot after shot through the winds, and ended up with an incredible 69 on Sunday.  He was impeccable Friday-Sunday in all phases of the game, and his second straight Open Championship win was more than well-deserved.

Bronze

Ernie Els - There are probably four or five contenders for this final spot, but Ernie gets the nod because he got absolutely zero weekend coverage (warranted, as we'll see), and ended up in a totally-under-the-radar T-7th finish; which is his third straight top-10 finish at The Open, and his second-best finish (by a lot) this season.  Ernie Els opened with an 80 on Thursday and everyone (including me) wrote him off for dead.  He bounced back huge with a 69 on Friday, making the cut on the number, and bounced back from a 74 on Saturday to post another 69 on Sunday to put him in the T-7th (sure, it's nine shots back, but no one will care 10 years from now).  Els was rumored to again be battling his painful knee at times this week (the damp conditions at times surely didn't help) but when he was on, he was one of the best ball-strikers in the field, and potentially the best putter, without reservation.  Non-American players tend to really get up for The Open, so I don't know if this will be much of a Fantasy indicator going forward.  He's been so inconsistent all year; it's tough to imagine this finish would be a harbinger of things to come.  But, at least I'll keep an eye out for him, which is more than I can say for Els before this week.

Honorable Mentions

And there are a lot of them this week.  So many great performances that really deserve mention on this list.  First and foremost, how about Anthony Kim's T-7th in his first ever Open appearance?  Kim seems to have flipped the proverbial switch, and needs to be focused on this week in a somewhat reduced field at the Canadian Open.  Jim Furyk overcame a Saturday 77 to finish in a T-5th (seven shots back), which was one of his best performances of the season.  Henrik Stenson made it a great week for the Swedes, netting a T-3rd (six shots back) with Norman; which was also nearly totally unreported (and also one of my many picks this week).  Ian Poulter may have had the best "look at me" week; netting easily his best performance on the season with a solo-2nd finish, and a great 69 on Sunday to go into the clubhouse with the lead (tied at the time with Harrington).  Infamous Jean Van De Velde and Graeme McDowell (Who Is He) had great performances with a T-19th, as did Masters Champion Trevor Immelman.  Many great stories in very tough conditions this week; and we were able to gain a lot of insight as to the play of some going forward into the second half.

And a special Honorable Mention to David Duval.  Now ignored by the Golf World, the former World's Number One made the cut and overcame a Saturday 83 to finish in a T-39th, his best finish in a Major in years.  Duval has battled injuries, spent time away from the game, and has, for the last couple of years, tried to re-commit himself to the game, with virtually no success.  Here's hoping that a pretty decent finish (and nice Sunday rebound) will spur him on to becoming, once again, one of the best players in the World.