Rory McIlroy comes from three back to win Deutsche Bank Championship

On Monday afternoon at TPC Boston, Rory McIlroy put the PGA Tour Player of the Year debate to bed with an impressive 4-under 67 that saw him win the Deutsche Bank Championship by one shot and pick up his third win of the season.

But forget about the Player of the Year hardware for a second; the win ended another, far more important, debate that's been raging recently: Who's the best golfer on the planet. Prior to McIlroy's win at the PGA Championship, you could have kicked around a couple of names around for the top spot in the sport.

Following McIlory win in Boston? Well, there's no need to debate who the king of golf is at the moment. It's the kid from Northern Ireland.

After spending the last year questioning his lack of closing ability and his inability to put consistent finishes together, the 23-year-old managed to add another eight-shot major win and a come-from-behind victory at the Deutsche Bank to his resume in less than a month.

Say what you will about McIlroy still be young and having moments where his game inexplicably disappears for stretches, but for the first time, it seems like the he finally has a handle on closing out tournaments -- something that didn't seem possible back in April after he fell out of contention on the weekend at the Masters for the second straight year.

However, things have changed over the last month. After going through the worst droughts of his career -- a stretch that included three straight missed cuts, a missed cut at the U.S. Open and a T-60 at the British Open -- McIlroy found something at the Bridgestone Invitational.

Ever since that T-5 in Akron he's looked like a different golfer. Case in point: the start he had during the final round on Monday. Instead of waiting for the leader to make a mistake, McIlroy player the role of the aggressor, opening his round with five birdies in his first eight holes, turning a three-shot deficit into a lead. He looked to be well on his way to his third win when he extended the lead to three shots on the 12th hole.

Even with McIlroy's strong start, Oosthuizen, who battled a pulled muscle for much of the round, didn't go down without a fight. The South African birdied the 13th and 15th to cut the lead to one with three holes to play, but when his birdie putt slid by the hole on the 18th he had to settle for a second-place finish and a spot on the list of 54-hole leaders to squander a sizable lead in the final round this season.

We've spent countless hours dissecting the struggles of the 54-hole leader this year, but there's no question this win didn't fall into McIlroy's lap. He went out and earned it with a strong final round -- one that proved once and for all that he's the best golfer in the world for the moment.

Conditions ripe for spread of wildfire near Los Angeles

(CBS News) LOS ANGELES - In the west, a fast-moving fire is eating up part of the Angeles National Forest in California. It's burned five-and-a-half square miles so far.

The wild fire keeps extending its grip. Long fingers of flames stretched up mountain sides, aggressively blazing paths deep into the Angeles national Forrest. The push back by firefighters was just as aggressive.

"We have not got a lot of rain this last winter," said firefighter Nathan Judy with the U.S. Forest Service. "Everything is really dry out here."

About 500 firefighters are battling the blaze, the heat and steep terrain, trying to contain the fire and snuff it out.

They're encircling it on the ground and hitting it hard from the air. A big DC-10 drops 10,000 gallons of retardant with each pass.

"Access is our biggest challenge," Judy said. "The steep, rugged terrain is hard to get into. It's sloped from 40 to 90 degrees. To get them in there safely is pretty hard."

Firefighters don't yet know what ignited this fire, but once it started Sunday afternoon, it spread rapidly. It forced the evacuation of a trailer park and resort.

Conditions are perfect for this fire to spread. The vegetation is bone dry providing plenty of fuel. And the wind is expected to pick up again Monday evening.

Right now this fire is moving away from residential areas, but three years ago the Station Fire in this very same forest burned 250 square miles and 89 homes. So no one will rest easy until this fire is out.

Michael Clarke Duncan, Academy Award nominee for 'Green Mile,' dead at 54

(CNN) -- Michael Clarke Duncan, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1999 film "The Green Mile," died Monday morning at age 54, according to a representative for his family.

Duncan "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," a written statement from Joy Fehily said.

Clarke died at a Los Angeles hospital where he had been since having the heart attack more than seven weeks ago.

According to TMZ, it was Duncan's girlfriend Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, a reality star and former contestant on "The Apprentice," who had acted quickly and provided lifesaving efforts when he had the heart attack.

Most recently he was on the TV series, "The Finder," on the Fox network.

His co-star Mercedes Masohn tweeted: "Today is a sad day. Michael Clark Duncan passed away this morning. Known for his moving performance in The Green Mile. RIP MCD. You'll b missed."

According to Entertainment Weekly, the TV series was canceled in May.

A towering and hulking figure, the 6-foot-5-inch Duncan also was known for his deep voice.

A Chicago native, Duncan went to college at Alcorn State University in Mississippi with plans to major in communications, but he dropped out and moved home.

In his 20s, he worked digging ditches for Peoples Gas during the day and as a bouncer at night. He told CNN in 1999 that his coworkers at the gas company called him "Hollywood" because he'd often talk about becoming a movie star.

"I'd be digging a ditch and they'd say, 'Hey, man, Bruce Willis wants to talk to you about a movie.' And they'd just crack up laughing," he said while doing press for 'The Green Mile.'

"Those coworkers had no way of knowing how that joke would turn on them."

In 1990, he decided to measure up his nickname and he moved to Los Angeles. He worked as a bodyguard then got a part in a commercial as a drill sergeant.

More roles followed -- often ones that depended more on his 315-pound frame than his acting ability. He was a guard in "Back in Business," a bouncer in "A Night at the Roxbury," a bouncer for 2 Live Crew in "The Players Club," and a bouncer at a bar in the Warren Beatty film "Bulworth."

In 1998, he landed his first significant movie part, playing Bear in the film "Armageddon," where a crew of drillers from an oil rig save the Earth from an asteroid.

"Armageddon" was the beginning of his friendship with Bruce Willis. They appeared in four films together. And it was Willis who called 'The Green Mile' director Frank Darabont to put in a good word for Duncan.

In the Oscar-nominated film, Duncan played John Coffey, the huge black man wrongly convicted in a Louisiana town for the rapes and murders of two white girls. Coffey has supernatural powers, though; his hands can heal, even bring back the dead.

A microcosm of faith, Coffey is a messenger of hope and lost hope who develops a relationship with Tom Hanks' character, a guard named Paul Edgecomb.

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Duncan's performance "is both acting and being." Ebert tweeted Monday that Duncan was "A striking screen presence."

Duncan was nominated for an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, which was won that year by Michael Caine for "The Cider House Rules."

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who starred with Duncan in the movie "The Scorpion King" said on Twitter: "When something happens, we always say it happens for a reason ... Michael Clarke Duncan 12/10/57 - 9/3/12 I'll miss you my brother."

According to the Internet Movie Database, Duncan had two completed projects that have yet to be released on a nationwide basis. He is slated to appear in "The Challenger," a boxing movie written and directed by Kent Moran. He will also appear in the Robert Townsend film, "In the Hive," about an alternative school for boys who have been kicked out of other schools.

One of his co-stars in that film was Vivica A. Fox.

"My heart is shocked and saddened!! RIP Micheal Clark Duncan. U were the most gentle giant and the most gracious of a man! U wont b 4gotten! " she tweeted.

Michelle Obama embraces the role of first celebrity

WASHINGTON — Four years ago, the Obama campaign was strategizing about how to present Michelle Obama to the country with her prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention. Today, the A-lister needs no introduction.

If you missed her on David Letterman last week, you can catch her on television soon with Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz. If you have kids, you know her from the Nickelodeon channel — iCarly, anyone? If you're a reality TV fan, you caught her doing squats on "The Biggest Loser" or judging contestants on Bravo's "Top Chef." If you cook, you saw her on Epicurious.com.

She blogs. She tweets. She posts recipes on Pinterest.

Each president's wife is given the challenge and luxury of making a name for herself in an undefined, unelected position. It took Michelle Obama little time to settle into her role: first celebrity. Her life is not an open book, though. She picks and chooses among interviewers in risk-averse settings and steers clear of Washington's hand-to-hand political combat.

While Barack Obama was knocked by opponents for soaring to star status in 2008, it's Michelle Obama who has embraced pop culture and entertainment media, using it to her own and her husband's advantage.

She just finished a stint as a guest editor on iVillage, a website for women, whose votes could tilt the election. Obama confessed her weakness (potato chips), explained why the president quit smoking (their daughters) and ventured an opinion on why the erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" caught fire with women (she hasn't read it, she said, but members of her staff have).

"She's the first fashionista, the mom in chief, the first gardener, the cool aunt — she's Oprah with good arms," said Robert Watson, an expert in first ladies at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. "I don't know if it's rebranding or we're finally getting the real Michelle. Whatever it is, it's very effective."

A Gallup poll taken in May found 66% of those asked had a favorable opinion of Michelle Obama. That's down from 72% early in the Obama presidency, but far higher than the 43% in June 2008, before the last Democratic convention, when Obama was in need of an image recovery. (Critics had cast her as an angry and radical woman, fueled in part by when referring to her husband's campaign she said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.")

The 48-year-old, Harvard-educated lawyer is hardly pure pop, though. In each breezy chat on the couch, she evangelizes about her causes: getting kids fit, gardening and supporting military families. Her work has been dogged and strategic, with some heralding her anti-obesity initiative, "Let's Move," as one of the most successful crusades by a recent first lady.

Once a reluctant trail warrior, the first lady has emerged a campaign powerhouse. She has hit 77 fundraisers, an average of five a month, since May 2011, and in recent months knocked off 24 political rallies in battleground states. Her events draw crowds of thousands. Her stump speech is a politically shrewd testimony to the middle-class roots she shares with her husband, drawing a clear, though unspoken, contrast with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

"I've been able to see up close and personal what being president really looks like, you know?" Michelle Obama said at a rally last month in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "But let me tell you something — at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, truly, all you have to guide you are your life experiences. You understand me?"

A day later in Milwaukee, she told a delirious crowd that the president had the backs of American workers. People who work hard, do well and walk through the "door of opportunity" shouldn't slam it shut behind them, she said. "You reach back," she said, "and you give folks the same opportunities you had to get ahead."

Michelle Obama will hit similar themes Tuesday night in her convention speech in Charlotte, N.C., aides said.

Top Obama strategist David Axelrod called the first lady the campaign's "No. 1 surrogate" and noted: "It isn't that she's terribly political. One of the appeals is she's not. She speaks in an idiom that middle-class families across the country understand."

But there's no doubt the Michelle Obama profile is a matter of personality — and politics — within a White House that uses nontraditional channels to communicate its message. She declined a request to be interviewed for this article. "The first lady is not going to do any interviews with political reporters," said Olivia Alair, a campaign press secretary.

The first lady often seeks unfiltered ways to reach her targeted constituencies: women, young people, African Americans and Latinos.

She's praised Beyoncé, and the campaign turned the diva's fan letter to Michelle Obama into a Web video. She has appeared on dozens of magazine covers, from AARP to Vogue. Ellen DeGeneres goaded her into a televised push-up challenge, which the talk-show hostess lost when Obama pumped out 25.

Michelle Obama is hardly the first presidential spouse to dive into popular or consumer culture. Dolley Madison set the bar for a proper party in the early 1800s. Toward the end of the 19th century, Frances Cleveland's hairstyle — "the Cleve" — was the rage. Jackie Kennedy's bouffant hair and pillbox hat were widely copied in the 1960s. And Laura Bush was no stranger to women's magazines or heart-to-hearts on the couch.

Yet it is hard to imagine the previous first lady assuming the side plank position with contestants of an extreme weight-loss show, or suggesting an erotic novel gives "people permission to explore parts of themselves that maybe felt a bit taboo."

White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said Michelle Obama doesn't agonize over what's appropriate for a first lady. "She's not a stereotype," Jarrett said. "It's appropriate if she does it — she's changing the definition of what's appropriate."

It doesn't hurt that the first lady has a knack for talk-show banter. "You have to be a certain type of person to be successful at those things," said Mark Young, a University of Southern California professor who studies celebrity marketing and the entertainment industry. "She's self-effacing, funny, comfortable."

Not everyone is impressed. Her 2010 vacation in Spain with a small entourage cost taxpayers $467,000 for transportation and security, drawing howls. She regularly takes heat from detractors on the right who are quick to cry "nanny state" in response to her healthy foods campaign — or who simply can't stomach her spouse and his political views.

Even some softer-edge interviews have created a stir. In May, when People magazine asked who she would be if she could be anyone else, Obama's reply elicited some groans. "If I had some gift, I'd be Beyoncé," Obama said. "I'd be some great singer."

When Michelle Obama wants to be a pop star, "how can we expect young black girls who didn't go to Princeton to aspire to more than that?" wrote author Keli Goff in a column on Loop21.com, a site for news on African American issues.

But such dust-ups haven't affected Michelle Obama's penchant for showing up in unexpected places, even to the apparent surprise of some who invite her. In a recent appearance on "Access Hollywood Live" — her third this year — host Billy Bush remarked on her frequent visits and joked that she might be giving the president pause.

"When you get back, do you imagine he'll say, 'What's with you and Billy Bush, this guy?'"

Roddick Staves Off Retirement With a Win

For stretches after Andy Roddick’s latest victory, the one that extended his farewell tour at least another two days, he seemed unsure how to react — what to do and how to celebrate.

This whole retirement thing is new to him, after all.

He clapped. He blew kisses. He waved. He sat in his chair and leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. He threw a treasure trove of souvenirs into the crowd: shirts, towels, wristbands, even a racket. He answered questions. He received a standing ovation.

The Roddick goodbye party continued Sunday at the United States Open, three days after he announced that this tournament would be his last. It continued against a colorful Italian named Fabio Fognini, he of the bright yellow shirt and lined beard and animated gestures, the friend Roddick downed, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4, to advance to the fourth round.

“Anybody retire here?” Roddick asked in an on-court interview. “You want to tell me. ...”

His voice trailed off, choked with emotion, the product of another afternoon spent in the unknown. For most of his teenage years and all of his adult life, Roddick hit a fuzzy yellow ball over a net. This particular skill took him all over the world, earning him praise, particularly for his 2003 United States Open triumph, and criticism, largely for the lack of major championships that followed, and for his status as the best of an American men’s tennis generation that either underachieved or came of age in the wrong era.

Then came Thursday, his 30th birthday, and the evening Roddick made his intentions clear. Unable to continue meeting the physical demands of the ATP Tour, unwilling to put the time that he once did into tennis, Roddick said he would retire after this Open concluded, no questions asked, no chance he would change his mind.

Someone asked Roddick if he could pull together a dream run, like the one he watched Jimmy Connors embark on in 1991, when Connors was 39. Roddick said he wished he had a choice.

Instead, his choice was to play, and play he did. Roddick beat Bernard Tomic of Australia in straight sets Friday to set up the meeting with Fognini, which Roddick began by quickly going up two sets.

“It was loud out there,” Roddick said. “About as loud as I remember.”

For Roddick, the sentimental favorite, Fognini provided a perfect foil. He looked like a pirate, and he screamed at the chair umpire. He angrily threw a towel in the vicinity of a ball boy, and smacked a ball so high in frustration on a changeover that it nearly lstruck Roddick’s head.

Earlier in the match, Roddick attacked Fognini when he served, charging the net, finishing off volleys. Yet, as Roddick crept closer to victory, he ventured forward less and stayed back more and played too often off his back foot, a frequent criticism of him in recent years.

The players traded service breaks early into the fourth set. Fognini talked to himself. Roddick continued to yell, “Come on!” Roddick later said he played more aggressively because he struck the ball well, which allowed him to come forward.

At 3-3, Fognini lost two -consecutive challenges, gifting Roddick another break point. Fognini then missed a forehand.

Roddick later served for the match, and with each point he won, the crowd roared louder. Twice in the final game the umpire called for quiet. The match time went over three hours as Roddick unleashed his final serve. Again, it threw Fognini off balance.

Afterward, Fognini said Roddick served “unbelievable,” especially on the crucial points. “He has no pressure now,” Fognini added. “He was really aggressive, nothing to lose.”

Except that is not really true. If you believe Roddick, if he does not win the tournament, the next match he loses will be his last, at which point he will lose his vocation, part of his self-identity and much of his fame.

There will be no more opponents, like Fognini, to ask for Roddick’s shirt when the games end. No more crowds begging for his autograph. No more news conferences to spar with reporters.

“I’m not able to articulate it, but I’m trying not to overthink it,” Roddick said of the few days since he announced he would retire. “I’m trying to be as simplistic as possible.”

That meant Roddick shortened his practices and concentrated on recovery. He planned to get a massage on Sunday night, to rest. He is 30 after all.

Roddick will need it. The draw gets exponentially tougher from here. In the fourth round, he will face Juan Martín del Potro, the Open champion in 2009, the last player not named Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal to win a major tournament. Should Roddick upset del Potro, he will very likely face Djokovic, the second seed, in the quarterfinals.

“I know this is special for him,” del Potro said. “But this is my job. If I play in a high level, it will be tough. The crowd loves Andy here and has respect for me. So it will be a great show.”

In the on-court interview immediately afterward, when the reporter asked Roddick about Del Potro, a murmur ran through the crowd. The spectators knew the challenge that lay ahead.

Roddick said he would try his best to beat Del Potro, to stay in the moment and maintain control over his emotions. He could fail on all counts, or succeed at only one. Roddick said he and Del Potro, with big serves and similar skills, usually play each other close. Roddick’s injured shoulder, which he compared to hamburger meat, felt “not great,” but “good enough.”

Regardless, as he prepared to leave Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday, officials cued Journey on the stadium loudspeakers. The song, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” rang throughout the grounds. For Roddick, in this tournament, it seemed appropriate.

Roddick sauntered down the tunnel and into the locker room. Retirement, for at least another two days, could wait.

“It’ll be here before we know it,” he said.