Lauer Hoping Shoulder Recovers In Time To Land Golf Digest Looping Gig

Justin Timberlake obviously didn't get tortured enough last year, so he and Ben Roethlisberger will be joining Michael Jordan and some really, really white guy in year two's NBC-Digest-USGA 7 hour round to be aired before the real 7-hour round at Bethpage.

FINAL TWO CELEBRITY PARTICIPANTS NAMED FOR 2009 GOLF DIGEST U.S. OPEN CHALLENGE

Ben Roethlisberger and Justin Timberlake to Join Michael Jordan at Bethpage Black

NEW YORK (April 17, 2009) – Golf Digest, the United States Golf Association and NBC Sports have announced that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Justin Timberlake will join Michael Jordan in the 2009 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge. The three celebrities will play with one amateur golfer who will be determined by online voting.

The foursome will play the Black Course at Bethpage State Park, the site of the 2009 U.S. Open, and attempt to break a score of 100. The 18-hole round will be taped by NBC Sports and air on Sunday, June 21st from 12:00pm – 1:30pm ET, immediately prior to the final-round broadcast of the U.S. Open.

All three celebrities have a single-digit Handicap and have been included in previous Golf Digest rankings of athletes and musicians. In the 2007 list of the top athlete-golfers, Jordan ranked T-30 with a Handicap of 1.2 and Roethlisberger ranked T-121 with a Handicap of 7. Timberlake, the host of the PGA Tour’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, was ranked T-15 with a Handicap of 6 in Golf Digest’s 2008 “Top 100 in Music” list. Timberlake played in the 2008 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge and shot 98 at Torrey Pines.

Butch Harmon, who is ranked No.1 in Golf Digest’s “America’s 50 Greatest Teachers” list, will once again caddie for Timberlake. Fred Couples, the 15-time PGA TOUR winner and 1992 Masters champion, will caddie for Jordan. Roethlisberger’s caddie will be announced at a later date.

Matt Lauer maybe? Since he played last year with Greg Norman on the bag, he can help Ben get through the grueling Roger Maltbie interviews and offer tips on playing a marathon round...assuming he can lift a bag by then.