Stuart Appleby won his second PGA event this year, this time winning by 6 shots at the Shell Houston Open. It’s the first time he has won multiple events on tour in the same calendar year.

Although it wasn’t the strongest field, a victory is still a victory and Appleby blew the field away, leading after every round and pocketing close to $1 million. He is also fourth on the money list now after Phil Mickleson, Tiger Woods, and Geoff Ogilvy (another Aussie). It would be nice for Appleby to take some momentum into the US Open which is held June 15-18, but his game is better suited to the British Open, so I expect him to do well there this year.

In Formula One, Fernando Alonso’s impatience cost him a victory. After being stuck behind Michael Schumacher for a few laps, he decided that he would change his pit stop strategy and pit earlier than expected in the hope of having a quick stop and being in front after Michael Schmuacher made his stop. Alas, this didn’t happen and Schumacher pitted the very next lap, getting out in front of Alonso and holding him off for the victory - Ferrari’s first since the debacle last year at Indianapolis. Because of the speed of Alonso’s Renault (which was surprisingly faster than the Ferrari), he would most definitely have returned to the race ahead of Schumacher if Alonso had kept his original pit strategy and stayed out for a few laps after Schumacher made his stop. The impatient decision to pit earlier really backfired and cost Alonso another victory. What I found disappointing was the poor performance of the McLarens. After last season, when McLaren was really unlucky not to have won both the World Championship and Constructer’s Championship, they look like they are no longer on the top teir of cars. I hope they can get the cars back up to the competitiveness of last year because Kimi Raikkonen is great to watch. He reminds me of Ayrton Senna in the way he attacks a race track - definitely great to watch.

Oh what a feeling!

The NBA playoffs have begun and I have to admit that I really don’t have a great idea of who I think will win. I didn’t follow the NBA that closely this season as a result of the poor play and attitude of the Trail Blazers. Despite that, I have opinions on who will win the individual playoff matchups to move on to further rounds. Here they are: In the Western Conference there are two matchups that will be blowouts and two that will be very close. The two blowouts will be the San Antonio Spurs over the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks over the Memphis Grizzlies. The two close series will be Phoenix against the Lakers and the Clippers up against the Nuggets; in these two series, I like Phoenix and the Clippers. The fact that the Clippers finally made the playoffs after years and years of futility is good to see, but it’s almost hard for me to believe that I would pick them to win a series.

In the Eastern Conference, I like the Pistons over the Bucks (and Aussie, Andrew Bogut), Lebron James (and the Cavs) over the Wizards, the Nets over the Pacers, and the Heat over the Bulls. After seeing some clips from the Heat vs Bulls game tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bulls give the Heat a real run in this series. They have a young energetic team and Ben Gordon is just an unbelievable player - can someone please tell me why he isn’t starting for that team?

In other sports news, the Imola Grand Prix gets underway in a few hours, with Michael Schumacher starting from Pole Position. Fernando Alonso is starting from 5th on the grid, and Kimi Raikkonen is starting from 8th. For the Aussies, Webber is starting from 10th. Schumacher looks in good form, and if his Ferrari stays reliable throughout the race, no-one should come near him.

In golf, Stuart Appleby is ahead by two shots going in to the final round of the Shell Houston Open. If he holds on for the win, it will be his second win on tour this year and will get him closer to cracking in to the top 20 in the world golf rankings.

I remember when I was growing up that I first got interested in Formula One after playing the classic Grand Prix game. I was lucky enough to have one of my best friends also share a love of Formula One racing, which led to a lot of discussions in my teenage years. One of my memories growing up that really stands out is meeting with a group of my friends to ride to school, and my friend telling me that Ayrton Senna had died in a crash during the night. I believe that the late 80’s and early 90’s had some of the most intense racing and rivalries in Formula One. Watching Alain Prost battle with Ayrton Senna was great. Rivalries between Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher, and in the late 90’s between Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher again were excellent for the sport. Unfortunately, the sport became boring from 2000-2004, and during this time Michael Schumacher (driving for Ferrari) won 5 straight world championships.

Changes in rules and regulations that levelled the playing field resulted in the 2005 season being one of the most competitive in recent memory. If Kimi Räikkönen’s McLaren-Mercedes had not had reliability issues throughout the season, he would have won the championship; however, Fernando Alonso’s Renault prevailed to win the Championship.

The race that took place today in Melbourne, Australia, was the most exciting that I can remember. The result was rarely in doubt, but the action that took place throughout the race kept me on the edge of my seat. The safety car was out at least 4 times because of accidents and debris on the track. These safety car periods resulted in any lead that Fernando Alonso had built throughout the race being lost. The most exciting part of the whole race occurred on the final lap of the race when Jenson Button’s engine blew in his Honda car with only one corner left. His car stopped right before the finish line after catching on fire.

I had almost given up on Formula One, but now I look forward to watching it whenever it is on. The regulating body of Formula One, the FIA, receives a lot of criticism, but it needs to be applauded for making Formula One interesting, intriguing, and competitive once again.