PGA Tour: Open Championship / True South Classic: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Well done Zach Johnson, winning the John Deere Classic after you tried hard to throw it away on the first play-off hole. Second win of the season for Zach who is on the Board of the tournament and has done so much to ensure its place on the PGA Tour schedule - reminiscent of Carl Pettersson's win at Greensboro a few years ago in that respect.

2).This win doesn't arithmetically ensure Zach Johnson of a place on Davis Love's Ryder Cup Team, but he and DLIII are near neighbours on the Georgia coast, have worked together to help create "The McGladrey Classic", and it would be a huge surprise if his John Deere success doesn't clinch a spot at Medinah.

3).Troy Matteson came way too close to winning last week's John Deere Classic, leading as he did every day, to throw it all away on his first play-off hole. He would have been the first player to win a Tour event in which he finished last in driving accuracy for 24 years! But he putted for his dough, leading the field in "strokes gained - putting". Sometime College Teammate of Kuchar and Molder, among others.

4).Open Championship week, then, and let's hope Royal Lytham gets the Champion it deserves. Rather like Carnoustie did in 1999, or so Davis Love thought:
"When you have a screwy setup, you're going to get a screwy finish," Love was quoted as saying. "And if Paul Lawrie is the champion that Scotland wanted, I think they got exactly what they wanted."
The R&A get exactly what they want on Thursday, 8.31 a.m. BST, when Lawrie and Love tee it up together with Tim Clark!

5).Let's see who's done well in the past at Lytham:
1996 result:
1st: Lehman
2nd: Els
11th: Darren Clarke, Vijay Singh
14th: Duval
18th: Harrington
22nd: Woods, Stricker
27th: Broadhurst (also 58th and Leading Amateur in 1988 - hope he plays well this week, will never get the credit he deserves for his 1991 Ryder Cup play.)
41st: Calc, Mickelson
Also made the cut: Hamilton, Furyk, Allenby, Ames, Lyle, Daly, Goosen

6).2001 result:
1st: Duval
3rd: Els, Clarke, Jimenez
9th: Garcia
13th: Vijay, Goosen, Jacquelin
21st: DLIII
23rd: Michael Campbell, Greg Owen
25th: Woods
29th: Barry Lane
30th: Cink, Mickelson, Rose
37th: Harrington
42nd: Stricker, Paul Lawrie
Also made the cut: Allenby, Scott, Westwood, Calc, Lyle.

7).The last two Major winners won Majors their namesakes had won, Watson and Simpson. Sadly Jarrod Lyle won't be maintaining the tradition as he battles leukemia in Australia. But Aussie Luke Elvy tweets a promising update on Jarrod's condition:
"Has had his ups and downs over the past 6 weeks but Bone Marrow tests overnight showed no leukemia cells. Great news."
Get well, Jarrod, hope to see you on Tour soon.

8).No idea who'll win this week, fingers crossed though for Westwood and Harrington. Obviously Els, Clarke and Vijay have played well here in the past, but, Woods apart, it's difficult to see where any American challenge might come from. (Interesting take in USA Today on David Toms' non-participation: "He's pulled out of the British on several occasions due to injury and general disinterest."!)
Apart from the golden oldies, Woods, Stricker, Furyk and Phil, the leading Americans in the owgr have little to show for their trips to The Open, Dustin Johnson, Fowler, Mahan and Watney scoring the only 5 top 15's.

9).Hate disclaimers but this week's "opposite field event", the True South Classic in Mississippi, has been abandoned by PGA Tour players in their droves, very few of the owgr top 200 bothering to show up for a $540K first prize. Players are withdrawing by the dozen and it seems futile to speculate too much about the event. If they don't care, why should we?

Except to say that it's a BIG tournament for Gary Christian and Russell Knox, not to mention the ailing Richard S.Johnson and a golfer with an excellent record in Lytham Opens, Alex Cejka - a cut for Cejka this week will earn him PGA Tour "Veteran" status as he reaches 150 career cuts. Good luck Alex, but a poor reward for a first-time sponsor and a Jack Nicklaus course that the players rate more highly than Torrey Pines, Doral, Bay Hill and the Greenbrier.

10).Finally, Majors may be two-a-penny on the Champions Tour, two-in-Michigan even, but Sundridge Park's Roger Chapman won't be complaining as he added the US Senior Open title to the Senior PGA he won a few weeks ago. Two fingers, then, to the USGA who only saw fit to invite five Europeans (Hogberg went through qualifying) to their Senior Open which is even more of a closed shop than the Champions Tour. Pathetic.

Roger Chapman won't mind though as he will be at Kiawah Island for next month's PGA Championship, and joins Lee Westwood in being the first two Englishmen to punch their tickets to next year's US Open at Merion.

he gets to know the course better- must be..

all i know is that everything suggests if he does get into contention he will close out,

I am not gonna say its just nerves at the start- because luke has won from being nowehere a few times before but on regular pga tour events. so he still feels like he can win. He made the point that he doesnt need to start quickly and the steady approach works for him- b ut in fairness this isnt working in the majors- due to him having to overhaul way to many good golfers

Mysti - I certainly would not rule out nerves. These are majors, not regular tournaments. Also coming back big on the weekend when you are nowhere near the last group is not the same as coming back big when you are in one of the final groups.

Kwin - Not sure you can legislate common sense, but I would rewrite the gun laws in this country. It's harder to get a permit to burn leaves in your backyard!

i didnt rule out nerves, so i agree

Shotrock wrote:Kwin - Not sure you can legislate common sense, but I would rewrite the gun laws in this country. It's harder to get a permit to burn leaves in your backyard!

Agree that there's something wrong with the American gun culture. But if you add up all the European shooting sprees in recent years (10-15), we're not that far from the yanks - we might even be ahead - even without counting the Norwegian tragedy last year. On the other hand it's always more fun to "shoot" at the yanks (so to speak).

not that far from the yanks- are you serious!!

your using specific sprees yet you dont even know the numbers- you are also not including gang shooting either!

sorry Pedro but your just not right. It really is a problem in the states

Well, we elected Barak Obama, so that's a positive.

On the other hand, we have a very vocal, well funded "Religious Right" that's neither!

in the states there is over 22 times the chance of someone being shot by a gun than is this country.(10.27 to .46 per 100,000)

however in regards to homicides uk is .07 to usa's 4.14- which means murders by firearms are 60 times more likely in the states than england and wales!!

the top western european country is switzerland(6.2 per 100,000) However its a very stragnge stat because 5.61 are by suicide!!!

the us is close to 40/60 suicides to homicides, yet switzerland is 90/10 suicides to homicides. btw france is very close to that swiss figure as well.

Switzerland has similar gun "rights" to the US mysti, in fact I think all adult men there are required to own a gun, no wonder they're at the top of the list.

Hard to compare the situation in "Europe" to that in the states because firearms regulation is so variable across a continent of 30 or so countries.

I didnt know that- however at least they use the guns on the whole to shot themselves!!!

You see people cycling around switzerland with guns over their shoulders like it's just something they take down the shops.

lol- crazy stuff!

why???

Its kinda crazy ironic-The most chicken country in the world - a country that just rolls over in wars..yet they are all trained at shooting. i cant get over this.

THey like shooting, plus every Swiss man has to serve for a period once a year in their "army".

Could probably over run it with a swiss army knife, but thems the rules.
Italians are also gun crazy and will shoot anything,

mystiroakey wrote:lol- crazy stuff!

why???

Something like their official "Army" is all men aged 18-45 or whatever, but they're all reservists so although they don't get any pay for that, or any training or anything, they all have to own a firearm in case the call suddenly goes out that they need to fight. I think that's it anyway.

The tragedy of gun ownership in the United States is not so much the headline-producing massacres which, to some extent, could occur anywhere but the vast number of accidental deaths which are seldom reported beyond the local area, and domestic dispute deaths where it is apparently all too easy to resolve problems with a gun, often at the expense of an innocent bystander. Plus, of course, gang-related violence which occurs in every town in the country, and which most people don't care about unless they are inadvertently caught up in it.

A recent propsoal to tax bullets was not totally facetious.

in case they need to fight- they never fight!!!!

mystiroakey wrote:not that far from the yanks- are you serious!!

your using specific sprees yet you dont even know the numbers- you are also not including gang shooting either!

sorry Pedro but your just not right. It really is a problem in the states

Mysti, I'm only referring to killing sprees. I assume kwinis comments were made in the context of the Denver massacre, not because the thought just struck him out of the blue. I think we all know that gun killings in the US is uncomparable to Europe. I'm just saying that you'll probably find just as many killing spree prone sickos in Europe as in the US. See here, for instance from 2000 and up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_spree

pedro,
Yes, it was to try and draw contrast between a College athletics scandal and rather more serious things (not to minimize the repulsive behaviour and subsequent cover up at Penn State) like the Denver atrocity, where there is no public will to do anything about it.

try this tool out to see how americans die;

http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html

It's quite funny to read the OP article, and then read some of the latest comments. Where's all this come from???!

This may get ignored given the last few posts but i've only really got back from The Open and thought i'd share a few tidbits from the tournament.

I've never been to all 4 days off a golf tournament before and it was a fantastic experience. The first thing I noticed is that tv does not do justice to the conditions of the course. The fairways were better than most greens I play on and the bunkers and greens were immaculate.

The Sunday was a bit of an anti climax. As Scott rolled in his birdie putt on the 14th there was an air of resignation that there was going to be no fireworks. Nobody made a decent charge against Scott all day and the atmosphere on Sunday was nowhere near what it was like on the previous days.

The actual golf was great in places, the ball striking of the players is simply on another level. Even the bad shots looked like great shots and were only off line a bit but punished heavily.

Everyone on the course was very friendly. People were happy to share stories,stats and general info on players. It was a great time to share such long hours with people who are enthusiastic for the game and had great knowledge. The "in the hole" brigade only really arrived on the last day and still it was a very small minority and even then it wasn't like they ruined anything.

The facilities were excellent. A few problems around 9, 10 and 11 when it was clear the course wasn't big enough to handle big crowds but apart from that it was really easy to catch all the action.

The media centre was pretty cool. The flightscope , road bunker, seve car park challenge and long drive contest were all good fun.

The pace of play was generally pretty decent , especially Saturday when the morning groups played rapid. McDowell was the biggest culprit of slow play. I think they fell 2 holes behind at one point on Sunday before they were put on the clock and him and Harrington both seemed quite excessive at times but nobody else really stood out.

In general a great week and already looking into Muirfield for next year!

As for the Scott blow up the course seemed split between half delighted for Els and the other half gutted for Scott.
I watched quite a lot of Scott over the 4 days and he was head and shoulders above the rest for 68 holes. Just shows how hard the majors are to win when 2 bad shots, a poor drive and a missed tiddler over 4 days of great golf can still lose you the tournament. I was personally gutted for Scott. He seems such a decent and genuine guy and it was awful seeing him throw it away so dramatically.

Els was a class act in his speech but like Lawrie it will be seen more as an Open gifted to him more than one he won.

nice one cone!

lucky dude!!

Thanks Coney, Great to read your (and Sky's) eye-witness accounts.


Never been to an Open Championship, but quite a few Majors over here - different vibe from players and fans alike than for a regular Tour event in my experience.
(Just posted my Notes for this week, wonder if you agree about my comment regarding the Scott Team after #14?)

Thanks again.

replied on your thread Kwini in case the gun debate takes over this one again.

Last bit of gossip.

On day 1 Zach Johnson was playing the par 5 11th. I was in the mens toilets when i hear "room for a little one" and lo and behold Johnson has just rushed in and is next to me!

I even waited outside to do a double take to make sure i wasn't going crazy. I saw a few toilets on the course marked players only and they were normally single cubicles but i was surprised he was there as he had to walk past one food stall and was near a beer tent but i guess he thought he wasn't well known enough to get mobbed.

It was very bizarre and i wish i had made a funny comment or quip to him but alas i was left a bit star struck and said nothing.

Thanks for your report conehead. Also feel too bad for Scott, but Els is always a class act.

The gun debate is over for my part. But where's the debate on Scott's long putter?

Conehead wrote:Last bit of gossip.

On day 1 Zach Johnson was playing the par 5 11th. I was in the mens toilets when i hear "room for a little one" and lo and behold Johnson has just rushed in and is next to me!

I even waited outside to do a double take to make sure i wasn't going crazy. I saw a few toilets on the course marked players only and they were normally single cubicles but i was surprised he was there as he had to walk past one food stall and was near a beer tent but i guess he thought he wasn't well known enough to get mobbed.

It was very bizarre and i wish i had made a funny comment or quip to him but alas i was left a bit star struck and said nothing.

Did he have a big johnson?

so thats still no major wins with a long putter then

Mr. Scott's long putter may yet be banned as well.
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/21/r-usga-consider-bold-stroke-anchoring/

Shotrock wrote:
Mr. Scott's long putter may yet be banned as well.
http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/21/r-usga-consider-bold-stroke-anchoring/

well thats it for scott then

pedro wrote:

Conehead wrote:Last bit of gossip.

On day 1 Zach Johnson was playing the par 5 11th. I was in the mens toilets when i hear "room for a little one" and lo and behold Johnson has just rushed in and is next to me!

I even waited outside to do a double take to make sure i wasn't going crazy. I saw a few toilets on the course marked players only and they were normally single cubicles but i was surprised he was there as he had to walk past one food stall and was near a beer tent but i guess he thought he wasn't well known enough to get mobbed.

It was very bizarre and i wish i had made a funny comment or quip to him but alas i was left a bit star struck and said nothing.

Did he have a big johnson?