Casey Martin Graduates

If lost, then certainly underplayed in a very busy sporting week, the news that erstwhile thorn in the PGA's side Casey Martin qualified for the U.S. Open counts as huge news in these parts. Martin, now the golf coach at the University of Oregon, famously won a 2001 lawsuit that enabled him to use a cart in Tour events because of a degenerative and crippling disease that limits the blood flow in his lower right leg. He hasn't played competitive golf since 2006, but he won medalist honors in a 37-player field at Emerald Valley Country Club in Cresfield, OR, topping one of his Oregon players, Daniel Miernicki, and Nick Sherwood by a stroke.

In a neat bit of symmetry, the 2012 Open will be played at the Olympic Club outside San Francisco, where Martin finished 23rd in his only other major championship appearance in 1998. Obviously, we don't have high expectations for Martin a week from Sunday, but I don't think you'll have to guess who we'll be pulling for.