When the final round of the rain-ravaged U.S. Open continues today at 9 a.m., you have to root for David Duval, don't you?

Here's a guy who's battled more demons than the Exorcist. He's overcome enough health problems to have the Mayo Clinic sponsor him. Once No. 1 in the world, Duval entered this Open ranked 882nd. The fictional Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy is supposedly No. 883.

But at least the 37-year-old Duval has formerly been golf royalty. He's won the British Open, 13 PGA events and more than $17 million. So even if he never returns to his glory days, he knows what it's like to hold high a meaningful trophy with the world at your feet.

So maybe we should all pull for Ricky Barnes, who once led this event by six strokes on Sunday.

Instead, he'll return to Bethpage Black's wicked second-hole rough this morning with his ball buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa and his 7-under score atop the leaderboard now shared with playing partner Lucas Glover.

Maybe Barnes will regain the composure that briefly vaulted him to 11-under par early in Sunday's third round, but he has now bogeyed six of his last 13 holes, hardly numbers to bring a good night's sleep.

"I wouldn't have liked to bogey the last hole and end (Sunday) that way," the former University of Arizona player said as darkness swept over Long Island. "But I've got to go back, take my shoes off and think, 'Hey, I shot even par with the lead.' If I go out and do the same thing, someone is going to have to really come back low ... to catch me."

The gallery would no doubt love for that person to be Phil Mickelson, who also nearly caught Tiger Woods at Bethpage in the 2002 Open. Phil the Thrill arrived the sentimental favorite, largely because his wife, Amy, will undergo breast cancer surgery on July 1.

Currently five strokes off the lead, Mickelson knows his chances to avoid becoming anything greater than the first five-time U.S. Open runner-up are slim.

Of course, he also knows that this being the Open, he could also be, "One good round away."

And that one good round could also belong to Glover, the 2001 Clemson grad and South Carolina native who keeps stubbornly hanging around, much as Rocco Mediate did a year ago before finally losing to Woods in an epic Monday playoff.

But the 29-year-old Glover has won one PGA tournament in his career and never before made the cut at an Open until this year, which means the one person most likely to win today is also the one contender who left the course with a birdie Sunday evening -- His Stripeness.

You could argue that the most amazing factoid in sports is that Tiger has never come from behind after 54 holes to win one of his 14 majors. Yet today sets up perfectly for him. He's only got 11 holes to play, which means he'll have an excellent chance of becoming the leader in the clubhouse.

Now even-par for the tournament, does a single living soul not expect him to go 4 under by late this morning, which is enough to make the rest of the field start their usual Tiger Tremors, uncontrollably quaking in their spikes, bogeys falling over them more steadily than the rain.

No, a Tiger Turnaround has never happened before on a major's final day. And Duval, Mickelson, Barnes and Glover would all be a far more appealing story this time around.

But to borrow a line from Barnes, who else has the skill and will to "really come back low" more than Woods?

"Obviously, it's not totally in my control," Woods said. "Only thing I can control is whether or not I can play a good one or not."

After winning last year's Open on one good leg, he can always play a good nine holes, which is all he'll need to send Tiger Tremors through the rest of the field and end the most amazing factoid in sports.