Provisional figures showed the UK received 145.3mm (5.7 inches) during June, beating the previous record of 136.2mm (5.4 inches) seen in June 2007 - and more than double the average for June of 64.9mm (2.5 inches) It is the second month this year to see record-breaking amounts of rain, after this April became the wettest in the records dating back more than a century to 1910.
June saw long, prolonged rainfall and short but exceptionally heavy showers, and ended with freak storms which battered areas of the Midlands and the North East.
And maybe the most impressive, as he faced withering heat, a stubborn Bo Van Pelt and a difficult test, pulling off only-Tiger-can-hit-that-shots at 12 and 18 to win the AT&T National.
"No offense to any of those other guys, but he's the only guy to win three tournaments on TOUR this year;" said Van Pelt, who assisted Woods by bogeying his final three holes. "On three different golf courses, and he was leading the U.S. Open after two days. So I'd say that he's playing the best golf in the world right now."
Three times, Woods took the outright lead in the final round. Each time, Van Pelt made a birdie of his own to catch him. The tournament was decided on the last three holes, and it featured a surprising turn of events.
Van Pelt had Woods on the ropes on the par-5 16th by ripping a 345-yard tee shot and having only a 6-iron into the green. Woods hit a spectator in the left rough with his tee shot, laid up, and then attacked a back flag only to see the ball tumble over the green and down an 8-foot slope. It looked as if it might be a two-shot swing for Van Pelt, or at least the lead going to the 17th.
That's when Van Pelt answered with unforced errors of his own. His 6-iron was slightly heavy and didn't quite reach the bunker, meaning he had to plant his feet in the sand and grip the wedge on the shaft for his third shot. He moved it only a few yards, still in the collar of the rough, and chipped about 12 feet by the hole. Woods' chip up the slope rolled 15 feet by, and he missed the par putt.
Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: What meant the most to Tiger, I'd guess, is that he won at a Congo that played more like a major course than the Congo of June 2011, when that other "next Tiger" won. (What was his name again?) Maybe the next Tiger is ... Tiger.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: He's certainly POY so far, but even for Tiger 3.0, a year without a major is not a success. The British and PGA will determine how we (and he) view this season.
John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: Declaring Tiger "back" or "not back" may be a pointless exercise, but it's been a full-time job for most of us. My Tour Tempo co-author, John Novosel, declared Tiger "back" at the U.S. Open because Tiger was swinging with consistent tempo again. Same thing this week. So I say the Cat is Back and yeah, he's POY.
"I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again," Woods said. "Here we are.
"A lot of media people didn't think I could win again, and I had to deal with those questions for a quite a bit. It was just a matter of time."
Yet many of his doubters were also average golf fans. Since I joined ESPN.com in August, I have received an avalanche of mail from readers who have grown impatient with Tiger. Nearly every day for the past three years, people from all walks of life have drilled me with questions about Tiger's future.
Many of the fans or commenters generally fall into three camps. The first group abhors any mention of Tiger unless he's winning the tournament. On Saturday night, when Brendon De Jonge held a 1-shot lead over Tiger and Van Pelt, a reader pelted me for barely mentioning the 31-year-old Zimbabwe native in my column.
CBSSports.com includes this Feherty post-round interview with the usual sucking up from one EA Sports colleague to another, and also has Tiger talking about that incredible approach to 18.
Good news and slightly hard to believe, but the troops have rallied at The Greenbrier to clean up the mess from Friday night's storm to get the place back to some semblance of order for this week's Greenbrier Classic.
James Donaldson broke through to win his first European Tour event but was overshadowed by the stunning success of Royal Portrush and the supportive galleries.
The Royal & Ancient observers can’t have failed to have been impressed by the numbers, commitment and course. Let us pray this wonderful venue soon appears on the Open roster. It deserves it; Portrush deserves it.
This felt like an Open Championship. The event ran without a hitch, and was a fantastic test run for a future Open.
The first available slot for the game’s oldest tournament is 2017. The R&A should seriously consider Royal Portrush again. The course deserves it, the fans will support it and it would be a fantastic Open venue.
Brandon Tucker also declared it a victory for those hoping to see the Open Championship return to Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951, but he leaves the last word to winner Donaldson.
"I don't think we've ever played a better golf course on the European Tour," said Donaldson. "It's that good. The course is incredible. The crowds are unbelievable."
While the tournament was still taking competitive shape, that objective had already been richly realised. It was achieved through the extraordinary enthusiasm of spectators who clearly adopted Kenny McDowell's philosophical attitude towards often cruel conditions. Having come to honour their golfing heroes in an event they had waited years to stage, they weren't about to let wind and rain deflect them from relishing every moment.
And their enthusiasm spilled over the fairway ropes. "I've been very pleasantly surprised at the warmth of the crowd, given that I'm in Graeme's back yard," said Pádraig Harrington. "By turning out in such numbers, they have ensured that the Irish Open will be classified in future by the players and public as very definitely an 'A' event."
All of which came at a considerable cost to the host club. "We've been closed totally for three weeks," said secretary/manager Wilma Erskine. "And we didn't take any new visitor bookings since last January. Then there are lost sales in the pro shop and a drop in the bar and catering, all of which would come to around £200,000.
"But I believe it's money well spent. In fact, it's fantastic value when you consider the television exposure, especially in America, which is why we wanted the tournament in the first place. In the meantime, the guaranteed success of the event through advance ticket sales has already brought increased business for the next six months, which are fully booked.
"And we should continue to benefit from the Irish Open factor over the next few years when we would expect our world ranking to go up as a much sought-after venue."
Against the background of Irish Open costs, one imagined possible concern at the sort of outlay involved in bringing the Open Championship back to Portrush. "In that event, the Royal and Ancient would carry the financial can for everything," she replied.
According to the Tour’s meteorologist the storm, which began on Friday near Chicago, produced “derecho” winds that gusted to 70 mph around Congressional and had the potential to do tornado-like damage.
The storm arrived at about 10:30 p.m. and lasted just 45 minutes and produced 3/10ths of an inch of rain but the damage to Congressional and the surrounding area was substantial with more than 40 fallen trees at the course. Much of the area, including Congressional’s clubhouse, remained without power.
Russell said the Tour plans to evaluate whether it would be safe to allow fans to attend Sunday’s final round and he still had not determined if any “local rules” would be used on Saturday.
From the sounds of tournament director Greg McLaughlin's Tweet along with chatter from many others staying near the course and reporting power outages, AT&T National host site Congressional has been hit by a storm of Biblical proportions.
McLaughlin wrote:
Wind blew down countless trees at Congo. Came back at 10p and 3 trees uprooted block main drive. Had to climb over to get to club.
The Washington Post reports power outages for a million customers, which will not help in coping with Saturday's forecasted heat where some forecasters are suggesting a heat index of up to 110.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
Daily Mail Reporter says June was the wettest in the UK since records began.
