Hope For Tiger? Duval's Open Resurgence

Going first out in Sunday's third round at The Open, David Duval posted a 67 and signaled that he's not ready to stop playing just yet.

While the chances of another 67 are unlikely given the weather forecast, Karen Crouse with some stellar insights from Duval and his veteran caddie Ron Levin into one of golf's most fascinatingly complex personalities. (Thanks reader Tim.)

Levin added: “He wants to win golf tournaments. That’s all he’s ever wanted to do. He didn’t grow up and say, ‘I want to be a golf announcer.’ ”

The broadcast booth is where noncompetitive players go to reinvent themselves. But for Duval, analyzing the performance of other players has reinvigorated his game.

“When you’re playing well, you forget immediately about the bad shots,” Duval said. “But when you’re not playing well and you’re struggling, you feel like everybody else is hitting it beautiful and perfect all time.”

Duval said, “Sitting up there when you’re announcing and recapping the tournaments, you realize, ‘Man, these guys hit some really ugly shots.’ ” He added, “Seeing that, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, everybody screws up and does bad things,’ and so it removes a little bit of the pressure of ‘I have to go out and play perfectly.’ ”

Tiger's Going To Check Up On His Spin Rates

There have been many awkward, empathy-inducing comments from Tiger Woods as he continues to struggle, but this might have been the saddest:

Q. Did you learn anything about your game this week?

TIGER WOODS: You know, it's kind of funny because I didn't -- we were talking about that the other day; I hit the ball solid. It's just that it wasn't getting through the wind. I don't know what was causing that, and it's something that we're going to have to take a look at, look at my numbers, see if the spin rates are on or not, but it was so frustrating because all my shots that I hit solid and flush into the wind, they just weren't carrying at all.

John Strege has this roundup of some takes on Tiger, including this from ESPN.com's Kevin Van Falkenburg who says we're seeing something unprecedented.

But after watching him trudge around the Old Course for three days, and seeing the melancholy look on the man's face when it was finally over, I no longer feel even a hint of schadenfreude. I feel only empathy.

When he took off his hat on the 18th green to shake hands with Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen, he looked as close to broken as I've ever seen a truly great athlete look. He entered this event thinking he had a real chance to contend. He wasn't even close to making the cut.

John Huggan builds a case for Tiger being done.

Right this minute, Tiger is not capable of winning major championships. Nor is he capable of winning a regular tour event. He is, in reality, a well-below average PGA Tour player.

The numbers are instructive. So far in 2015, Tiger has hit 52.86 per cent of the fairways he has aimed at. That would make him the 194th most accurate driver (out of 199) on the PGA Tour. In ‘greens in regulation’, his percentage is 61.11, “good” enough for 190th spot. But the most egregious figure is his stroke average of 72.796. Only former Masters champion Mike Weir is worse. Little wonder then, that Woods is ranked the 241st best golfer on the planet.

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com adds this and more about the spin rates comment:

“We're going to have to take a look at my numbers, see if the spin rates are on or not,” he said.

What happened to just hitting golf shots?

Now fully healthy, Woods has been working through this most recent  swing change with Chris Como for about nine months. It's unclear if he's made any progress at all. His good swings are very good. He pures it at home, and on the tournament range, and in practice rounds – or, in other words, when it doesn’t matter.

Doug Ferguson noted that Woods' preparation was strange, too

He looked lost on the Old Course.

"I felt like I was playing well enough to win this event," Woods said.

He arrived on Saturday to do a junior clinic for Nike - Woods typically is all about preparations at the majors - and then after practice rounds on Sunday and Monday, he didn't play another practice round on the Old Course until the championship started. Woods said he knew the course, practiced in both wind directions and wanted to conserve energy for what usually is a long week.

Da Anderson's Ginger Beer Is Back (At The 2015 Open)!

The R&A is paying homage to the drink and man that inspired the 4th hole's branding as Ginger Beer.

The "Gunner" comes in a bottle decorated by a label featuring an image of Auld Da Anderson selling his Ginger Beer and food items (historian David Hamilton theorizes that the round objects are poached eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried). I came across it at the British Golf Museum's new cafe with sensational views of the courses here.

Anderson was a caddie, ballmaker and clubmaker, and keeper of the green at St. Andrews before transitioning to his role selling beverages and food on the course. Many believe he served at the 9th hole, but the most consistent location of his Ginger Beer Cart was most likely the 4th.

The non-alcoholic Gunner consists of part Ginger Beer, part Ginger Ale, lime squeeze and 2 dashes of Angostura Bitter.

The spectator village here is particularly good, as Ryan Herrington notes in this post with extensive photos. As he points out, you can come here without seeing a shot and have a grand old time.

A key part of the village: exhibits from Emory University and St. Andrews University. The Emory collection is devoted to Bobby Jones' life in St. Andrews and includes pages from his manuscript (with Jones markings) for Golf Is My Game, along with a postcard sent after the Freedom of the City speech.

And watching over this to keep the gulls away? This hawk...(thanks Nancy for the link):

Meet Fearnley the Eagle.He's at The Open to keep pesky seagulls away from food in the Spectator Village.

Posted by The Open on Friday, July 17, 2015