An Incredible Weekend Of Sports

Just an incredible weekend of sports…locally, nationally and even internationally.

Let’s start with the Masters Golf championship which provided more breath-taking shots than I can ever remember and when it was over the sport’s most popular player collected an emotional victory. Phil Mickelson won for the third time at Augusta National and he did so with both his wife and mother on hand to greet him at the 18th hole. Amy and Mary Mickelson are both battling breast cancer and to say the tears were flowing at the end would be an understatement. Golf’s biggest event of course featured the return of Tiger Woods who at times looked helpless, especially off the tee but somehow managed to finish in a tie for fourth place. Tiger was not happy with his performance and gave no indication as to when he’ll play again but his return provided a big boost to the TV ratings.

I was going back and forth between the golf and hockey late in the afternoon as the Rangers and Flyers played an intense and exciting game on the final day of the regular season in which the loser was going to miss the playoffs. That turned out to be the Rangers, who fell in a shootout and saw their season come to an end. The Flyers meanwhile will take on the Devils in the first round of the playoffs beginning Wednesday night in New Jersey.

Kudos to Toms River’s Frank Edgar who on Saturday stunned B.J. Penn in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight championship. The 28-year old former wrestler at Toms River East and Clarion University and current Rutgers assistant coach was an 8-1 underdog but scored a unanimous decision victory to improve his career record to 12-1. Nicknamed “The Answer” Edgar returned home to Toms River last night. He and his wife Renee have a 15-month old son.

Another successful weekend for the Ocean County College sailing team which not only hosted but won the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s Team Regatta. Under the direction of Roy Wilkins, the Vikings sailing program beat out the likes of Cornell, Colgate and Princeton
at the Toms River Yacht Club.