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

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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.

Leff wrote:I plan to watch at 7am too after running 6 miles with my wife. Watson and Westwood will have completed their round by then.

Running with your wife or running from your wife?

Thorbjorn Oleson disappoints me. with a name like Thorbjorn, I am expecting some 6'4" Nordic Grizzly Bear type. Instead we get a guy who looks like Justin Beiber's younger brother.

I too think one of the early starters will go low. He is not one of the earliest starters, but I think D.J. is going to take it low as well.

ESPN's broadcast is very Tiger-centric. I care about the over the top coverage of TW that much, but I never saw a shot of Oleson until he was -3. Never saw a shot of Haas, Mahan, Romero, Chalmers, Pettersen, or Kyle Stanley either.

Thorbjorn can throw a wrench in someone's Ryder Cup plans if he can somehow win this thing. Stranger things have happened. Hello Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton.

The Open Championship is not all that Open to Amateurs, is it? How many Amateurs can reasonably expect to get in? You have to be ranked in the OWGR to get into the International Qualifying.

The water in the bunkers is a black eye for the R&A and Lytham:

Hey R&A and Royal Lytham/St Annes, if you can't take care of the bunkers and pump the water out of them, I would take a few out until you find a number that you can manage.

Not a good start by Westwood

Sang-Moon Bae the only early starter under par at -1 through 6.

Anyone else find the live scoreboard kills their internet feeds. Whats the weather like at Lytham, hoping it blows a plenty today to sort the wheat from the chaff.

GPB,

2 Amateurs in the field...............4 spots for them but 2 others turned pro.

That's enough................Masters usually have 7 or so............too many.

Yeah i am hoping it gets ugly windy out there

Oi Rickie!!!!

John Cregan wrote:GPB,

2 Amateurs in the field...............4 spots for them but 2 others turned pro.

That's enough................Masters usually have 7 or so............too many.

Just clarify isn't the Open 4 spots the auto spots for them via British Am, Us Am etc. But also anyone pro or Amateur that decides to go through qualify and makes the grade gets in so in answer to GPB if more were good enough then they would have qualified, but they didn't.

I do agree though JC 4 auto spots is enough and 7 is to many.

correct the open could in theory have loads of ams

great to see faldo on our TV for once.. Intellegent lad

. What the heck happened to howell anyway?
He was at the top of the game one minute and and then.....

loveing poults little warm up excersie.. that would work well i am sure, I noramlly swing with two clubs. But that would probally do the trick better

Westy get in pal and then let the wind blow wind blow...

Whats Poults using to warm up mysti, i'm coverageless againtill about 2pm when i'll hopefully be finishing work to catch up.

Anyone have a dependable weather forecast? Best I can find is dry, some sun, low 60's, light breeze, 5 - 10 mph. Warmer and windier on Sunday, but dry.

Nothing better than Bradley's -2 after 12 on the course right now; where's the low score from the middle of the pack going to come from? Padraig??!!

his caddy has holding onto a rope type thing and he was holding the other side and swinging his arms from side to side pulling it

weathers getting so much better in this country today kwini.Its quite warm and not much change of rain . and the wind may be abit mild! which isnt what i want. Poulter has just said he really wants the wind to blow otherwise the 10 shots will be to hard to get back, which i agree with

kwinigolfer wrote:TV starts 7.00 a.m. EDT; I'll be up at least 90 mins before that, making my wife's breakfast before she goes to work!

Hope there'll be Westwood and Fish well under par for the day by then. Can't wait!

Please dont broadcast stuff like that, my girlfriend has to leave for work at about 7 am. I hope she never finds out anyone gets up that early to make a partner breakfast.

lol Mac. I cant believe these yankies- one getting up before 7 to run 6 miles and the other cooking there other half breakfast- crazy stuff..

Whats wrong with being up early to exercise i'm often in gym by 6am. As for cooking someone else breakfast that is crazy....

Christ, people have a go at poulter for lack of style, but he looks like john steed compared to Watson. Can't someone tell America that it is the 21st century, not 1985

Who would have thought backing Westwood, mcIlroy, Mickelson and Fowler wold be such a waste of money. Damn bookies and their tempting placing of first 7!!

Harrington has to be the most frustrating player to support. Just about gets things going then throws it away. I have never cursed at another golfer so much. Well apart from Na the players.

Hard to see past woods for me. I think Brandt played a good round yesterday which turned into a great round with a good bit of luck. Luck will only last for so long. Tiger very consistant, very controlled. Not sure if Scott can handle a crisis if he encounters one today or tomorrow but has to be second favourite at this stage.

Tones, tomorrow is going to be pretty windy, and fortunately woods hasn't played well at the open in bad weather. I'm hoping for Olesen today, but I think snedeker is a good guy despite suffering from the same affliction as harrington as having your eyes too close together giving you the inbred village idiot look.

So sneds, Olesen, Scott, mcdowell or Lawrie would all be good, don't rule out a charge from Erie either.

Didn't people say the same thing about Woods at the US last month! Look what happened there. I think Lawrie or McDowell can come through especially with the wind thats due.

Talk about fashion no-no's:
ESPN's "Host" wearing a very natty pinkish tie, but with the thin part hanging down below the fat part.
Why don't they just wear golf shirts?


No-one going low today; Tiger could hardly have shot any higher than 68 yesterday, he must be licking those lips of his.

What happened is that he didn't win the US. Thank goodness.

He's close here, but wind and links isn't a good mix for him. The three opens he has won were at a scorching calm hoylake and two at a toothless old course. The easiest and least punishing course on any major rota.

If the wind blows and he steps up his game and wins then he will deserve it, but I see Lawrie and McDonut as better wind players. Plus I have McLardass in Kwinis league and I need the cash.....

He? Who do you mean? I see no reason why woods is in a better position or more likely to win than snedeker or scott, especially as he's never won from not leading on day four.

He's also 3/4 shots behind those two.

If he overtake them today and scores well tomorrow then fair enough, but that's a lot of ifs

super_realist wrote:Tones, tomorrow is going to be pretty windy, and fortunately woods hasn't played well at the open in bad weather. I'm hoping for Olesen today, but I think snedeker is a good guy despite suffering from the same affliction as harrington as having your eyes too close together giving you the inbred village idiot look.

So sneds, Olesen, Scott, mcdowell or Lawrie would all be good, don't rule out a charge from Erie either.

It's not just the eyes too close together, have you seen paddy when he's really concentrating and he sticks the tongue out. It looks like Forest gumps dumper Irish cousin wandered onto the course and grabbed a 7 iron!

Hope the wind does blow tomorrow, big time. Not an
Open for me unless it's a little bit miserable. Though woods strategy at the moment would suit windy conditions. He's hitting a lot of low drilled irons off the tee.

Not seeing much golf over here, all fluff and Bubba with the obligatory Woods features.

But good news for BBC viewers as we're about to get a dose of Peter Alliss - and he won't change the average age much of the geriatric commentating crew ESPN provide us with. Just awful.

Good morning. I see the best scores today have come from Baldwin, Bradley, Vijay, and American English.

52 y.o. Calc is in the 15th place waiting to start his third round!

Jesus is walking with Bubba, not Zach, today.

Don't know much about Olesen but he's just been interviewed on our coverage... he really isn't a looker is he?!

Calc into the top ten....

They tried to interview Olesen on ESPN but had so-called audia problems and never returned to him. Foreigner you know; imagine that happening with Tiger? No, thought not.

I see Vijay's been in for an hour with the best round in the clubhouse. Hasn't been mentioned here yet. Oh well.

Was that an ace for Lahiri?

Calc looks like Steve Elkington.

Leff wrote:Was that an ace for Lahiri?

Yes it was, on 9

Dufner just teed off. My 6-pack prediction rests on him.

Bubba playing great today

AlciG wrote:Bubba playing great today

And just as I say that he dumps his tee shot in the deep stuff

Faldo putting a shift in on the BBC, he's actually a pretty good commentator when he's alongside some half-decent colleagues instead of Kelly Tilghman.


Meanwhile in Italy, the Challenge Tour event has had a finish and a half. Kofstad of Norway in the final group went -4 for his last 5 holes, including eagle 3 - birdie 2 at 16-17, to catch Hansen of Denmark who was playing alongside him and was bogey-free 6 under for the round. Hansen bogeyed the last and Kofstad made par to steal the win.

Super

Bubba wears pink to promote breast cancer charities, so I am sure you can give him a break.



Just wondering if tiger wishes he was playing with sneds so he could apply a bit more tiger factor on him? Or will the pressure of a major championship lead do the trick anyway?


As for commentators we have stolen Nick Faldo for bbc coverage, I dont know what others think but I actually quite like the insights offered by him. No doubt some see him as blowing his own trumpet but he is an all time great.



Two shots from gmac have had a hard bounce so far. Is that what we have to look forward to this afternoon (firmer)?

Quite likely, we will have a first-time major winner, and it won't be Donald.

Snedekar and Scott, both underachievers in majors, one of these should win, barring some silly play.

Golfers are more likely than others to suffer from low testosterone and impotence?

Tiger at +2, while nearly all the top 20 at par or better. He is sadly out of it already.

Woods feeling the Thorbjorn effect!

Mac, its not the colour pink, its the cut and way his clothes look on him, plus his terrible haircut and retro visor.
Yanks just can't dress themselves, cink, fowler, woods all dress terribly.

Martin Laird having a horror show: +9 after 14 holes.
Maybe he wants to play with Tom Watson on Sunday?

Am i the only one just about to give up watching this event?

There is no way I am wasting a saturday afternoon watching Snedeker, Zach and some old fat guy fight it out for a major. Once you throw in Kuch, we are a couple of scott/els bogies (which will happen) away from this being even worse than some recent majors.

Is the fat guy Woods mac? He's definitely about to enter a phase in his life where he struggles with weight. It's already starting with his nine chins that he's trying to cover up with a rubbish beard