Michael Jordan wants to be Tiger Woods when he grows up.

If you haven't seen Tiger Woods' spectacular, amazing, inspiring performance on Saturday at the U.S. Open, get the hell away from that rock you've been under and turn the TV on.

His round started off with yet another double bogey on the first hole and he sandwiched bogeys at #4 and #12 around a birdie at #7. Through the first 12 holes of his day he was 3 over par for the day to move back to +1 for the tournament.

That's when the fun started. On the par 5 13th he drove the ball far to the right, near the porta-johns. He got a drop away from the latrines which actually gave him a pretty favorable angle to the green. He still had to contend with that infamous U.S. Open rough. His shot was true and bounced right over the flag and eventually settled at the back of the green, some 70 ft away from the both the hole and an eagle. Only, 70 ft to Tiger is more like 7 ft to you and I. That ball flat out died right in the hole. Absolutely perfect.

Now seems like a good time to tell you that Tiger Woods' left knee (which he had arthroscopic surgery on right after The Masters) was giving out on him on almost every full swing. In between grimaces of pain, Woods hit miraculous shot after miraculous shot. I mean, this guy hasn't played a round of golf in 2 months. To go into the U.S. Open (by far the hardest golf tournament in the world, by the way) cold and even make the cut is just ridiculous.

On the par 4 17th, his knee gave out during his second shot, which he consequently left short and to the left of the green. He chipped out of the rough and caught too much of the ball. As the ball was about to go flying past the hole, it bounced off of the green then hit the flag stick and dropped straight down into the hole for a birdie.

Woods' reaction was priceless. He wasn't too happy after he hit the shot, but when he saw it bounce in he just broke out laughing. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good, something Woods is well aware of. He finally hit a fairway on the par 5 18th, and parlayed that into reaching the green in just 2 shots. As he lined up the eagle putt, the announcers were talking about how they thought he was aiming too far left. I turned to my dad and said, "Doubting Tiger Woods is not a good way to earn a living." Sure enough, he drained the 30 footer for his second eagle in the final 6 holes (he also bogeyed one and birdied one) to go from 5 shots off the lead to a one stroke advantage going into the final day.

This dude is just sick, plain and simple. It would've been an amazing display of athleticism even if he wasn't playing on one leg. It would've been extremely impressive if he had hit every fairway and green on the way to that scintillating final six holes. But the fact that he was clearly in lots of pain and also spraying his drives all over the place, to do what he did is nothing short of legendary. If he was a mere mortal, those last 6 holes would likely have been the ones that put him out of the tournament. Clearly, he is on another plane of athletic existence that the rest of us can only dream about.

I never thought I'd see anything like Kirk Gibson hitting that home run (down a run with a man on first and a 3-2 count) in the bottom of the ninth inning in game one of the 1988 World Series off of the best closer in the game, Dennis Eckersley, then limping around the bases pumping his fist while Jack Buck's famous call rang through our ears. "I don't believe what I just saw!" But now, Kirk has some company in the person of Tiger Woods.

So, as you celebrate Fathers' Day with your dad, do yourself a favor and watch some golf with him. Win or lose, this performance will go down in history as one of the all time greatest and will be spoken about in hushed and reverent tones for generations to come.

- Murdock