When 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
2011 Open Championship Clippings, Round 3
/Before It Gets Swept Under The Rug: The Much Needed 10-Shot Rule
/2011 Open Leaderboard Taking Shape; Final Round Thoughts?
/2011 Open Championship Third Round Open Comment Thread
/2011 Open Championship Clippings, Round 2
/The Maiden Is Back!
/2011 Open Championship Second Round Open Comment Thread
/Day one's late afternoon excitement means many of the leaders will be teeing off an hour that I can best describe as several before I awake, but I know you'll already have many shrewd observations by the time I log on.
I'd post the weather forecast, but we know how well that turned out Thursday.
**Tom Watson's 6th hole ace Friday morning:
2011 Open Championship Clippings, Round 1
/The Tom Lewis Story
/2011 Open Championship First Round Open Comment Thread
/Sandwich Ready To Cause Indigestion
/The weather is shaping up to be the dominant story before a shot is struck, but as Jim McCabe notes, the UK weather forecasts are not only wrong sometimes, but downright fun to analyze.
Doug Ferguson says the current forecast calls for the early/late tee times to get the worst end of the draw.
The Hole To Watch: Royal St. George's 14th
/With the bizarre practice round winds, Jim McCabe notes that No. 14 played unusually short.
The only par 5 back on the homeward holes, No. 14, seems a pushover based on the yardage – 547. But there’s out-of-bounds down the right side and some 300 yards out is the “Suez Canal,” a burn that cuts through the middle of the fairway. With the hole playing dead downwind Tuesday, the sensible tee shot was a 4- or 5-iron to get it out there 250, 260 yards and not bring the water into play.
Dustin Johnson did just that, but then he re-loaded and gave it a go. His first attempt with the driver found the burn, but his second cleared it on the fly, much to the delight of a marshal who stood there in amazement.
Regardless of the wind, expect 14 to once again play a pivotal role in the championship: OB, water, a bumpy landing area and sound strategy make it fascinating. Though I'm not a fan of OB as a hazard, it is a course boundary and ample width is allowed to avoid it on No. 14.
A few photos taken a year ago when I visited Royal St. Georges. Click on the images to enlarge:
Portrush Remains (Sort Of) On R&A Radar Screen
/Bob Harig on the question of Portrush's prospects raised during Wednesday's R&A press conference. Peter Dawson:
Three Cheers For The R&A! A Proper Slow Play Answer!
/Other tours and governing bodies now just throw up their hands, shrug their shoulders and give the "it's always been that way" answer to slow play questions.
Not for the R&A's Championship Committee head Jim McArthur, with a nice assist from Peter Dawson!