Too Much Rain, Too Much Spain, Too Much Watson(s) on Top Again

This post is kind of a mishmash from four tours because I found Friday's rounds at all of them very interesting.

You see, all of them have something or someone dominating the broadcasts.



The LPGA event in Arkansas is only three rounds but they didn't even get the first round finished. Rain -- and lightning -- came in during the TV window and there simply wasn't enough time to get it done.

M.J. Hur -- pictured above -- is the current leader by two strokes at -8 even though she still hasn't finished her first round. (She started four hours late and has four holes left.) Anna Nordqvist, Brittany Lincicome and Azahara Munoz all finished and posted -6, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Supposedly the weather will be better this weekend.

However, I seem to remember Stacy Lewis winning the first one when it was rain-shortened to 18 holes so I'm not holding my breath...

Over in Germany at the BMW International Open, Rafael Cabrera-Bello from Spain holds the lead by a single shot after rounds of -7 and -5. The latter included a chip-in birdie after drowning his approach on the par-5 18th. Cabrera-Bello has been playing well most of the year but hasn't been able to close out a tournament in some time. Perhaps this is his week.

Martin Kaymer missed the cut, btw. These last two weeks haven't been very kind to him.

The real fun seems to be at the PGA and Champions Tour events, where both are led by Watsons.

Bubba Watson is leading the Travelers Championship by two shots, which is no surprise since he seems to own the course. GC said he's something like 89-under since 2010, which is 20+ shots lower than the next closest player. Bubba was pretty tactful when he told GC that the greens there were very easy to putt because anything seems easy after a US Open.

Ah yes, Bubba the politician. I never saw it coming, that's for sure. But you could see his good play at the Travelers coming from half a continent away. After all, he ALWAYS plays well there.

And over at the US Senior Open, Tom Watson is tied for the lead at -5 with Peter Fowler -- a pro from Europe -- and Jeff Maggert, who I went out of my way NOT to pick in my "5 to Watch" post a few days back. Jeff, was it something I said?

Watson's 4-under 66 on Thursday was just one shot shy of his age, 65. Like I keep telling you, if you want to play well for a long time then Tom Watson has a good swing to copy!

Of my picks, Colin Montgomerie is one shot back, Bernhard Langer and Kevin Sutherland are two shots back, and Miguel Angel Jimenez is five back at even par. The course is playing very hard -- and very hot, with temps around 102 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 39 degrees Celsius for the rest of you) -- so I'll stick with Monty as my likely winner.

Fred Couples didn't tee it up because of back problems but I did pick him as a flier. I just didn't expect him to fly away before the event even started!

My point is, ALL of the events look to be pretty interesting this week... but you'll have to hunt around for the ones you want to watch. Remember that the LPGA and ET will be on GC, the PGA Tour on GC and CBS, and the Champions Tour on FoxSports1 FOX if you want to watch any of them.