I got this email.  It gave no reference to who authored it, but I thought you all might like to read it.

The right guy won for all the right reasons.

It's not often women win the Masters, but they did Sunday.  Actually, Phil Mickelson won, but for millions of women around the country, it must have felt like a victory.

Mickelson, in case you forgot, is the guy who stayed true to his wife.  He's the guy who's been missing tournaments the last 11 months while he flies her back and forth to a breast cancer specialist in Houston.  He's the guy who didn't need reminding that women are not disposable.

Also winning Sunday:  Karma, which proved to be alive and well.  And guys who never had a temper in the first place.  And endings that make you wipe your tears on the couch pillows.

Mickelson is the guy whose heavy head on the bed pillow lately wasn't self-inflicted.  Both his wife, Amy, and his mother, Mary, have breast cancer.  Usually, those two are at every tournament he's in, but for the last year they've been fighting, resting and fighting again and resting... at home.....and Mickelson has gone back to his rented homes each week....alone.  So when Amy turned up on the 18th green Sunday at Augusta National for the first time in 11 months, and you watched as Mickelson practically fell into her outstretched arms, you wanted to hug somebody yourself.  Mickelson hugged and cried.  His wife hugged and cried.  His coach and his caddy hugged and cried.  And 10 minutes later,  Bones was still crying.

This is way beyond golf.  This is about a guy who loves his wife and would never cheat on her.  This is about a guy who had a really hard year.  Twenty years from now, nothing will compare with this....his greatest win by far,  because of Amy and because of his mom.  God bless all those women that go through what Amy and Mary have gone through, because I've seen it and it ain't easy.

"Of all the majors I've been involve in," said Mickelson's coach, Butch Harmon, "be they with Tiger, Phil, anybody, this is the most emotional by far.  This year has been a big, big strain on him.  His game has suffered.  What he really wanted was to be home with his family."  You figure a guy who came into this Masters having played only seven tournaments this year-- and never placing better than eighth in any of them-- would have a snowball's chance.  But something melted in him when his wife and kids showed up for the first time in nearly a year on Tuesday.  "He just had this peace to him that I haven't seen in awhile," said his caddy, Bones.  Amy was still hurting,  she wasn't able to come to the golf course, but it was close enough.  Each morning Mickelson would take his oldest, Sophie, to a local coffee shop and play chess for an hour.  At night, the whole brood would watch dumb movies.  Mickelson came through that door each night after work like it was Christmas morning.  You don't know how dispiriting it is to come home after a long day, to a strange, empty house.  Come to think of it, maybe Tiger knows.

"It's been tough," Mickelson said.  "The meds that she's been taking have been very difficult and she didn't feel well and she doesn't have energy and she's just not up for a lot, but to have her here, man...."   Amy Mickelson attended a golf tournament for the first time since last year's Players Championship.  Amy Mickelson is the kind of walking rainbow that could put a smile on a mortician's face, so when she showed up, everything started looking up.  The golf gods started raining favors down on Mickelson's curly hair.

On Saturday, golf balls started going into tiny little cups from great distances.  Sunday it got even better:

At 9: ball hits tree, bounces back into fairway.....Par.

At 10: ball hits tree, bounces back into playable territory.....Par.

At 11: ball hits fan, bounces into short, happy grass....Par.  "Got an assist there", Mickelson said.  Did the guy say     anything?....."Ouch?" Mickelson guessed.

Then big lefty took it from there.

At 12:  looked into his "book of reads" for the 20-foot putt-- the green-studying book that Bones and he spent days and days putting together on a trip this year to Augusta.....and he buried it!......Birdie.

At 13: pulled off the most audacious, swashbuckling shot of his life---from the right woods, off pine straw through two trees (4 feet apart), over Rae's Creek, from 207 yards to 3 feet.....Birdie.

At 15:  Smashed an 8-iron from 205 yards -- yes, 8-iron-- to 15 feet....Birdie.

Suddenly, the guy who'd spent a career being eaten alive by Woods had left him 5 shots behind.  It was only a matter of lag for par, lag for par?...10 foot birdie and get the Kleenex ready.  "I saw Amy before I putted," Mickelson said.  "That was so great.  I mean, I didn't know if she would be there.  To walk off the green and share that with her is just very, very emotional.  We'll remember this the rest of our lives."

Contrast that to Woods, who spent the week reverting to form -- acerbic answers, sprayed swear words, and curt interviews.  He finished fourth, which shows that the golf game is very close.  The personality makeover, though, looks like it needs some work.  Soon enough, though Woods will win tournaments like this, pass Nicklaus, and order will be restored in the universe.

But for this one Sunday in a flower-stuffed pocket of Georgia, the good husband, the good son, the good man actually got rewarded.

The Golf Channel, also affectionately known as the Tiger Channel, has announced it's new and improved programming lineup for 2010.  In light of the incredible success of its past programming, The Golf Channel has decided to "tweak" the current lineup to meet the ever changing golf landscape.  

Here are a few of the changes:

• Big Break - Mustang Ranch - Filmed at the infamous brothel in Reno, NV, this Big Break will feature "the girls" competing through a number of non-golf "activities".... vying for the ultimate prize......An exemption into Tiger's little black book.  White, blond women only need apply.
• Playing Lessons from the Ho's - This great show will feature weekly lessons from Tiger's Ho's.  You will learn all of his secrets.....from his "shorts" games to "putting with your eyes closed".
• Grey Goose 19th Hole - This of course takes on a whole new meaning.
• Tiger Week will be replaced with "Tiger's Bimbos Week," which will undoubtedly take longer than 2 weeks.
• Tiger's Top 10 "Friends"
• Golf's Classics will feature Tigers greatest conquests.
• Golf in America will take you on an adventure visiting all the "weird" sites of Tiger trysts.
• The Golf Fix - Tune in to see if this mess can possibly be "fixed."

The Golf Channel will continue to improve it's programming to keep Tiger in the news!!