There's Life In The Old Monty Yet
/Monty makes it to St. Andrews with a second round 62! The other scores are here.
Read MoreWhen you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Tiger One-Ups Jack!
/So Tiger, who wouldn't be caught dead on the par-3 course before the Masters (and who can blame him after what it's turned into) because he's preparing for the tournament, will play the former champion challenge event on Wednesday of Open Championship week. That leaves Jack, Nick Price, and Johnny Miller as the only living absentees (along with 89-year-old Kel Nagle).
The Annual DNF, NR, SCR Watch
/
It was the Europeans who pioneered the art of difficulty in finishing the 36-hole international U.S. Open qualifier, but not to be outdone are the PGA Tour players handed an easy qualifying opportunity into the Open Championship, yet still just can't get through 36.
Stephanie Wei spotlights another reminder that even when you make it easy for the world's great golfers to qualify, they still show a little disrespect.
There were also nine WD's from yesterday's Japanese U.S. Open qualifier but zero listed for the European edition.
"It will not look as much out of place off the golf course during the Open as it does now."
/
The R&A must have had some kind of fine goody bag at the Open Championship media day, or perhaps it was just the thrill of playing the Old Course for free, but the scribblers turned a dismal performance when it came to evaluating the Road hole's new tee.R&A On Tiger Hecklers: "We're not a police state here."
/Alistair Tait reports on R&A secretary Peter Dawson's comments about the heckling policy at this year's Open Championship.
Read More"Shame on you, Jack."
/I was a bit busy during Masters week and never had a chance to go back to read Jack Nicklaus's press conference transcript that left many scribblers swooning over the performance. This, however, was not swoon-worthy, as John Huggan noted in his Masters winners and losers column.
Read More"So crude as to be ridiculous"
/That's one architect off the record in Lewine Mair's look at the new Road hole tee and the reactions of, among others, Christy O'Connor Jr. whos says:
Read More"Sometimes these people think we're stupid. It's an amazing thing to assume that we had mucked up to that degree. It's just staggering."
/The first Global Golf Post is up and in it Brian Hewitt sits down with a cranky Peter Dawson who continues to peddle the Henry Cotton-said-we-should-lengthen-the-Road-hole-nonsense to justify going over the wall for a new tee. The R&A Secretary was asked about criticism of the new tee:
Read MoreR&A Gives Tom Watson Five-Year Open Exemption Without Mentioning His Name
/Five years for a top ten finish! Looks like Watson can say farewell in 2015 at St. Andrews unless he grabs a top ten in the next five years, which is very possible.
For Immediate Publication
"The decision to defile arguably the most renowned hole in golf reveals how little confidence the R&A has in the efficacy of next year's change from box to v-grooves"
/The most blistering commentary yet on the R&A lengthening the Road hole comes from the Irish Independent's Karl MacGinty:
Read MoreR&A Contemplating Out-Of-Bounds Tee For Road Hole
/
Earlier this week it was noted here (courtesy of Trevor Immelman's Tweet) that the Road Hole still features a silly roadblock of rough about 310 yards off the tee.
Now we learn this from John Hopkins' Spike Bar column:
An intriguing whisper was circulating in St Andrews recently. The Royal and Ancient have asked a leading player his thoughts on the positioning of a new tee on the 17th, the famous Road Hole. The tee would be 40 yards back from the existing one and therefore over the fence, which used to be the line of the old railway line from Leuchars. Clearly, the 2010 Open, the 150th anniversary of the event next July, is on the minds of the R&A.
First, as a blogger who has made a study of the R&A's emasculation of rota courses in place of regulating distance, this one will be particularly fun since it's only the most famous hole in golf.
Second, isn't it a bit late in the game to be scouting out a possible new tee for a major that is only ninth months away? Particularly when the tee in question will be off the property and driving over a stone wall and a billboard for the Old Course hotel? I can only imagine how tastefully it will erupt out of the landscape.
At least we know the R&A has experience now with this hole off-course tee thing when it went over so well last time in 2005 when they couldn't really figure out the whole OB thing on No. 2.
Road Hole Still Unsafe For Passage
/Trevor Immelman posted a photo on Twitter from his Old Course Hotel room. Besides showing us the awesome view, it's quite apparent that even with new groove rules that are going to make players throttle back and use softer balls,
Read MoreSeve Again Vows To Be At St. Andrews
/Poignant comments in this unbylined report:
Read More
