July 18th: On this date...

... in 2007, the NCAA announced Kentucky as its leader in college basketball attendance for the 11th time in 12 years. Big Blue Nation packed Rupp Arena in 2007 with an average attendance of 23,421, the total attendance being 347, 737. Syracuse finished second (21,516), North Carolina third (20,693), and Tennessee fourth (19,661), Louisville fifth (18,488). Syracuse actually had more people for the year, but as usual they play roughly 30 home games each year to Kentucky's 16.

UK calendar

Kentuckians at The Open

J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry both made the cut at this week's Open Championship. Kenny is tied for 53rd at (+3), while J.B. is tied for 9th at (-2).

Round 3 Tee Times: Kenny Perry 4:55am EST - J.B. Holmes 9:20am EST

Good luck to the Commonwealth.

J.B. Makes the Cut

With a solid round of Even par 70, J.B. Holmes has guaranteed he will be playing on the weekend at this year's Open Championship. He made it to the halfway point at (-2) and is tied for 13th currently. The weather is much worse today than yesterday, so chances are he will keep inching up the leaderboard.

Kentuckian Kenny Perry is tied for 40th (+1) as we speak. He still has nine holes left to play in his second round.

Kentuckians at the Open

I'm sensing a hug!

J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry are in Scotland this week competing in The British Open Championship. They both have completed their first round. The weather is apparently awesome, which in Scotland means overcast in the mid-50s with a small breeze.

Perry completed his round with a +1 (71) and is in a tie for 70th place at the moment. He didn't knock himself out of the Championship, but there is definitely work to be done. Maybe Kenny can check out his new best friend's Twitter account for a motivational message.

J.B. finished an up-and-down round moments ago with a solid -2 (68) and is four off the lead. Holmes had five birdies on the mostly windless day and if he can find his putting stroke, the big hitter could make some noise.

Darius dominated the southern hemisphere recently. Hopefully, one of these two guys can take The Open to continue Kentucky's path to world domination.

Highlights from the UK landscape

Some recent highlights from the past week of your University of Kentucky Wildcats. We'll focus on the not so mainstream sports.

• UK senior golfer Jordan Blann (from Bowling Green) won the Kentucky State-Am by two strokes, becoming the first Cat golfer since J.B. Holmes to do the deed. Blann's teammate Ben Fuqua (Danville) finished in a tie for fourth.
• Kentucky sprinter Rondel Sorrillo placed 2nd in the 200m finals and 5th in the 100m finals at last weekend's NCAA Championships. He had a hand in all of Kentucky's 15 points for the meet. The rest of the team didn't do as well.
• Kentucky softballer Molly Johnson was selected to the US National team and will take part in the Japan Cup later this summer. Good news for an up-and-coming team that comes back loaded next year.

Go Cats.

Holmes Qualifies for U.S. Open

Former Wildcat J.B. Holmes qualified for next week's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in New York. He is skipping this week's event on the PGA Tour because of the today's sectional qualifying effort in Columbus, OH.

Holmes has struggled quite a bit recently on Tour, but still ranks 46th on the money list ($947K) and 47th in FedEx Cup points. So it's all relative, right? Just under a Mil in under six months of work.......very relative.

You know what they say, you can't win if Tiger's entered you're not entered. Having said all this, put all of your children's savings on Tiger Woods winning the 2009 U.S. Open. Lock of the century. Bold prediction, eh?

Perry falters down stretch -- poops on 18th green

Jim Nantz is absolutely right. The Masters is a tradition unlike any other. This year' tradition included a 48 year old Kentuckian crapping his pants on the final two holes of regulation to give away a green jacket. I kid because I care, Kenny. The shot on the 16th was just as much clutch as the final two holes were choke-y. No one is talking about how the best player ever (Eldrick) bogeyed those same two holes, or if it wasn't for a lucky bounce off a tree for Cabrera on the first playoff hole, Perry would be "gettin' his green on".

Sunday was easily the most exciting round of golf on television I've witnessed ever. A pairing all golf fans have been wanting (Eldrick & Phillip), at the perfect course (Augusta), going back and forth with one another in some sort of a lawn dart competition. And to top it off, WE had a Kentuckian staring them down and matching shot-for-shot on the back nine. It was setting up for a Jim Nantz "magical, story book ending", but ended with golf fans everywhere dealing with a mild case of IBS.

With Steve Flesch having a monster Sunday, Kentuckians were the second most dominant story on Sunday at Augusta besides Tiger & Phil. Two state guys in the top 6 was fun to watch. Now if we can get J.B. involved, the state will move one step closer to world domination. We need to win one, though, to take step number two. Flesch (2008 Masters), Holmes (2008 U.S. Open), and Perry (2009 Masters) have all let a major slip away in the past year.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter!

A tradition unlike any other -- as long as Tiger is playing

And The Masters is going on this weekend as well. Watch it here. Check out this year's food prices. Of course to get a ticket, you need to spend some coin on the annual membership.

Vijay Singh hit a hole-in-one in a practice round skipping the ball across a pond. Um, he's good.

Long John Holmes comes up short

UK grad J.B. Holmes came within a whisker of making the 2009 Masters field Sunday. He made a valiant run at the Shell Houston Open only to lose on the first playoff hole to Paul Casey of England. Holmes went out early and posted the low number (-11 for the Tournament) and watched everyone else struggle in the afternoon winds. By the time Casey finished his round, J.B. had waited over two and a half hours at the clubhouse and driving range. Needless to say the Kentucky boy was not in a groove when the playoff started. He drew honors on the playoff hole and hooked his drive into the water, thus ending any hope of a win. Holmes needed the victory to gain an invitation in the invitation-only Masters.

A very unfortunate turn of events for J.B. He has only made the Masters field once since turning pro in 2006, finishing in a very respectable tie for 25th in 2008. His game is suited perfectly for Augusta but has simply fallen short in qualifying. This was his fourth Top 30 finish in just nine starts so far in 2009.

Sources say he was last seen wielding a 3-wood at patrons in the clubhouse bar shortly after chucking his golf bag into the lake on 18. Must've been the whiskey from the two and a half hour wait.

Holmes comeback not enough

J.B. Holmes carded a -3 under par 68 to finish in a tie for 6th place at this week's Northern Trust Open. It was a valiant comeback for the former CAT, as he was near the back of the 144 player field after day one. This will definitely help Holmes' world ranking, which needs to be in the top 50 by April 6th, if he wants to get an invite to The Masters. He currently stands at 85th. That ranking does not include this week's results. Holmes great weekend play earned him in the neighborhood of $200K. Kentuckian Kenny Perry finished the tournament in a tie for 17th place at -8 under par.

PGATour.com: Northern Trust Open

Holmes goes Low in Los Angeles

J.B. Holmes went on a birdie binge today and fired a -7 under par 64 today in L.A. His round consisted of 9 birdies with only 2 bogeys, moving him into the top 10 before play had finished Saturday. He needs to keep this up to have any chance of making the Master field. GO CATS!

PGA Tour: Northern Trust Open

**BREAKING NEWS** - J.B. Holmes' 67 makes the cut

Just the breaking news you were looking for, right? After an opening round +2 (73), J.B. Holmes fired a second round -4 (67) to squeak into weekend play at Riviera C.C. in L.A. Holmes, tied for 113th after Thursday's first round, jumped up to 51st late Friday afternoon PST. Fellow Kentuckians Kenny Perry and Steve Flesch shot -3 (68) and -2 (69), respectively. Perry's round leaves him in a tie for 24th, while Flesch narrowly missed the cut by a single stroke.

PGA Tour Northern Trust Open leaderboard

Golf Jokes = John Holmes = J.B. Holmes = UK Golf

University of Kentucky grad J.B. Holmes got off to a slow start at Riviera C.C. with a 73 (+2) this morning in L.A. Even through 16 holes, Holmes bogeyed his final two holes of the day. Fellow Kentuckians Kenny Perry and Steve Flesch finished with 70 (-1) & 73 (+2) respectively.

J.B. really needs to step his game up if he's going to make the 2009 Masters field. He either needs to win a tournament outright or jump into the Top 50 in World Rankings by April 6, a longshot at this point.

Northern Trust Open