We’ve all heard those stories about a freak accident that ends up saving someone’s one life. A person breaks their arm, and when they go in for surgery, the doctor notices a far bigger medical issue that may not have been caught in time had it not been for the broken arm.

They’re pretty cool stories that prove things do happen for a reason. If you don’t believe me, just ask Sean O’Hair, who helped save a guy’s life with a wayward shot off the tee at last year’s AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club.

Playing his last hole of the day in the final round of last year’s tournament, O’Hair’s drive on the 18th hole went offline, eventually hitting 25-year-old spectator Chris Logan in the temple, an injury that one could only imagine wasn’t the way Logan had hoped to spend Fourth of July.

But as Philly.com noted in the story, the shot ended up being a blessing in disguise.

As emergency medical technicians hustled him to a nearby tent to be examined, Logan had no idea this would be the luckiest day of his life.

While checking him out for a concussion, a doctor inquired about a lump just below his throat and urged him to visit his family doctor to get it checked out. The lump turned out to be a malignant tumor on his thyroid. He underwent two surgeries less than six weeks after being struck by the ball.

Of course, the best news of all is that Logan is now cancer-free, and he even got the chance to spend some time with O’Hair during Tuesday’s practice round.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the first time in the history of golf that a fan getting pegged by a ball was the one saying thank you.

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The Ryder Cup is more than a year away, but that doesn’t mean American captain Davis Love III can’t already be talking about it. And who else would he be talking about but Tiger Woods, the man that hasn’t played golf since the Players Championship because of a one-two punch of injuries that includes his knee and Achilles.

Love was asked by 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh about Tiger’s chances of making the 2012 team (he’s currently fourth in points for all the Americans), and his answer was as pro-Tiger as you can be.

“It depends how his knee is and his Achilles and if he’s out of that boot. I think if Tiger can walk the golf course, he’s going to be on that team because he always seems to play well if he’s not hurt. We’re obviously a year-plus away. Hopefully he’s going to be healthy. I saw him say the other day he’s not going to play until he’s 100 percent. He’s saying the right things. Hopefully he’s getting better and feeling better. … If we can get him healthy, I’m sure he’ll be on the team.”

A few interesting points there by Davis on Tiger. First, “he always seems to play well if he’s not hurt”? Before his 2010, when Tiger went 3-1-0 in their loss to the Europeans, Tiger’s record was 9-13-2, not exactly awe-inspiring. And to compound on that, if not for his great singles record in that event, Tiger’s numbers would be even worse, as he has always seemed to struggle during the first two days of team competition.

Now, with that said, would I want to put an American squad out there without Tiger? Absolutely not. Even if he isn’t one of the top four or five Americans playing golf right now (and I’d probably say he isn’t even in the top-20 right this second), he still invokes an amount of confidence and experience that you just can’t find with some of the other possible picks.

Tiger will be on every Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team from now until he decides not to play, just because he’s Tiger and the options for American captains are, sadly, limited. But if he isn’t healthy, and can’t show some consistency heading into those events, I’m sure it’ll a lot tougher of a pick for captains in the future.

But hopefully, for all of us, Tiger will be walking just fine by September of 2012.

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I grew up in a small town in East Texas, and these days my family and friends joke about how nobody really knew the names of streets in our little city because we just made note of directions by familiar landmarks. “Yeah, take a right at the Hamptons’ house and then its’ down there on the left,” or “just past the old JC Penneys is the new restaurant.”

It didn’t matter that the Hamptons hadn’t lived in that house in more than a decade or that JC Pennys had been out of business since the first Bush was in office, it just is how certain things are remembered.

That’s why no matter how many times the newly named Humana Challenge changes sponsors and names, it will forever be known as the Bob Hope Classic, and that’s fine, because it should be known as the Bob Hope.

Hope, who added his name to the tournament in 1965, was as much an ambassador of golf as anyone that has ever stepped foot on stage or been around a boom mic, and will forever live a pioneer in the art of integrating stars and golfers together for tournaments. His love for the game helped push golf into another arena, and while adding a sponsor these days is necessary to keep certain tournaments afloat, I believe that like my hometown, PGA Tour stars will still be asking their friends, “are you playing the Hope this year?”

I do applaud Humana for coming up with the idea of a Bob Hope Trophy to give to the winner, keeping the legacy alive for even longer, and I’m glad they signed on as I’m sure a lot of their changes will make the tournament even better.

Adding a sponsor to this event is, interestingly enough, another step forward in golf, much like Hope did back in the ’60s when he joined this event.

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As any golfer will tell you, next to winning to actually winning a golf tournament, carding a hole-in-one is the ultimate goal in this sport.

Plenty of brilliant players have gone an entire career without reaching what some consider to be the pinnacle of golf greatness.

But for a rare few that have accomplished the feat, just making a hole-in-one isn’t enough. Nope, some guys have to make two in one round. And then there’s Derek Ernst, a UNLV junior who accomplished an unheard-of feat on Wednesday, carding a hole-in-one on a par 4 during the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.

Yep, you read that right; the kid holed out from the tee on a par 4. As Golf World’s Ryan Herrington reported, Ernst got a nice kick on the 299-yard par 4 8th hole at Brandon Trail Golf Club for the ace.

On the eighth hole at Bandon Trails GC, a drivable par 4 that was playing 299 yards, albeit downwind, Ernst took out a 3-wood and went for the green. With the hole location in the back left, Ernst thought his drive was heading to the right bunker. A nice kick to the left, however, sent it toward the cup, where it proceeded to disappeared, according to Ernst.

“I was thinking there’s no way it went over the green,” Ernst said. “There were two marshals on the side of the green and one guy ran out and put his hands in the air. That’s when I knew it was in.”

Now, I’m sure there are going to be some out there that will debate his hole-in-one was made far easier by the fact the hole wasn’t even 300 yards and was playing downwind, but come on people, look at the bigger picture here.

He carded a hole-in-one on a par 4. I don’t care what you think, that’s still pretty incredible, and deserves some serious recognition. And best of all for Ernst, he ended up winning his match in 19 holes to advance to the next round. Not a bad day at the office.

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We might not see Tiger on the course anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean one Woods isn’t doing to a USGA event what her uncle used to do. Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger and a senior at Wake Forest, took medalist honors at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship on Tuesday, being the only golfer to break par over two rounds (hum, I wonder if Tiger was ever the only person to break par at a USGA event), and has already rolled through her first opponent in match play.

The most interesting part? As Golfweek’s Beth Ann Baldry reports, Cheyenne arrived at Bandon Dunes and texted a friend saying she didn’t know if she was ready for the event.

No worries, as Woods posted stroke play rounds of 72-69 to land the top seed in match play, and then roll over Ashley Edwards of Oakley, Calif. 4-and-3 on Wednesday.

It probably isn’t a genetic thing to be great at USGA events, but if it is, Cheyenne is doing her uncle proud. Tiger was medalist in three USGA events (1991 and ’92 U.S. Junior Amateur, and 1996 U.S. Amateur) and won six consecutive USGA events from ’91-96 before turning pro and winning three U.S. Opens, with the last coming in 2008. Cheyenne is no slouch herself, winning more than 30 amateur events already in her young career, and was the ACC individual title winner this year at their conference tournament.

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David Feherty has spoken with a fine array of guests for his new show, and next week sees one of the best in the game, Mr. Tom Watson. In this clip provided exclusively to Yahoo! Sports by the Golf Channel, Feherty and Watson discuss one of the more remarkable majors runs in golf history. And it’s exclusive, so not only are we cool for having it, you’re cool for watching it.

The episode airs Tuesday, July 5th on The Golf Channel at 9 p.m. ET. Be there!

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So in an attempt to inject a bit more life and interest into tournaments, and because we’re both inveterate gamblers who are one bad card from being out on the streets, Jay Busbee and I are playing a golf version of a football suicide pool: We each pick one golfer per tournament and see how they do against each other, straight up. Victory over the other guy gets one point, victory in the tournament gets three points. (Double for the majors.) And when we burn a golfer, he’s done for the year. We head to the bearded one’s tournament this week, with the AT&T National.

Busbee: Gary Woodland! Who? Gary Woodland, fool! He’s putting together a solid season this year, and at a tournament where most of the big names will be watching on TV, the Transitions winner will be a solid pick. He’s never played Aronomink, but he’s got 8 top 25s on 15 tournaments this year. More importantly, I haven’t picked him yet. Yep, we’re starting to get to that point in the schedule. At least I’ve still got Tiger Woods in the tank.

Bacon: K.J. Choi might have missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but the man has five top-10s this year including that win at the Players Championship. Also, he’s won this event before, and although it was at a different golf course, there has to be positive feelings heading back to an event as a past champion.

Last week: Bacon’s pick of Webb Simpson finished in a tie for 13th, while Busbee’s pick of Spencer Levin finished at a tie for 38th, giving Bacon the point, and leaving Levin 0-2 as a pick this season.

Current standings: Bacon 16, Busbee 15

Already Used: Busbee: Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Chad Campbell, Bill Haas, Nick Watney, Tim Clark, Hunter Mahan, Graeme McDowell, Brian Gay, Matt Kuchar, KJ Choi, Webb Simpson, Jhonattan Vegas, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Jim Furyk, Luke Donald, Anthony Kim, Ben Crane, Zach Johnson, Sean O’Hair, Kenny Perry, David Toms, Lee Westwood and Levin. Bacon: Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Marino, Ben Crane, Jhonattan Vegas, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Nick Watney, Padraig Harrington, Tiger Woods, Spencer Levin, Anthony Kim, Angel Cabrera, Aaron Baddeley, Pat Perez, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, David Toms, Rory Sabbatini, Chez Reavie, Jonathan Byrd, Phil Mickelson and Simpson.

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