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
Despite Terry Gannon's comment about Hoylake taking driver out of Tiger's hands, it was clear he made a strategic decision to hit all but one driver off the tee because it gave him the best chance to win.
I'd love to ask Tiger why he hit so few run-up shots to the greens. In other words, was part of the strategy of laying back to allow him to hit higher approaches with more spin?
All times Pacific Standard Time, hit refresh to update page...
6:21: So glad I woke at 5:30 am so I could enjoy all of the commercials. Let's hope they were getting some out of the way. Early highlight: a dog painted like a Tiger and Nick Faldo talking about his fish and chips Masters dinner. Early theme: hole locations are brutal, wind is up a bit.
6:23: Sean O'Hair posts a 67, so there is a low score out there.
6:27: Ernie has 197 into #1. The wind is definitely up.
6:30: Tiger hits 3-wood off #1.
6:39: Cabrera triples #2, Faldo: "I think that was the Roberto cinderella story out the window already."
6:40: Tirico mentions Floyd Landis wearing the yellow jersey and likely winning the Tour de France today, segue's to Sergio in his all yellow outfit. Faldo: "it's certainly tight enough, isn't it, to be a yellow cycling jersey."
6:41: Sergio leaves his birdie putt on #1 way short after Azinger talks about how he left everything short yesterday. Faldo: "Zing there's your opener, your starter for ten, 6 feet short."
6:44: Ernie drives it 360 on #2. Tanihara looming just 2 back...
6:51: Tiger (2-iron) has 208 into #2, Sergio (driver) 112 from the fescue rough.
6:53: Phil's doesn't look hung over for today's interview with Terry Gannon.
7:12: Sergio misses second shortish par putt. Alliss: "he's missed two 'tiddly" putts." Sergio three back of Tiger, Els one back.
7:17: Alliss reviews the best scores from the week, "I think the course has stood up remarkably well. Every pundit has said they are going to eat this course alive, and they haven't done so. We've had four 65s, six 66s, bout 8 or 10 or 12 67s, so that's not ripping the course to pieces when you've had the most perfect weather, and hardly any breeze. So those great pundits, whether they be golf course architects or inky-fisted peasants, they really don't know much about the game."
Faldo: "We should bring a fire extinguisher into the booth to cool Mr. Alliss down."
Alliss: "It just makes me cross when...you come and you play and you have a winner. If it's 20 under, so what."
7:45: Well, not much was happening thanks to these hole locations. Tiger hits beautiful second into #5, eagles. Leads by 2. Alliss just mentioned Tiger's mom and the "Oriental" influence.
8:00: Alliss says he expects that Hoylake will see another Open in 6 or 7 years. He mentions it might be green just as I'm looking at the overhead shot thinking, soak up the lean conditions, because it'll all be lush golf the rest of the year!
8:05: Tiger three ahead of DiMarco and Els and "looking comfortable" according to Alliss. "But you never know."
8:06: Tirico asks Alliss if the school kids still operate the big yellow scoreboards. Alliss lists various public schools with names like Giggleswigs, Charterhourse, Cramley...and Faldo chimes in, "Hogwarts." You gotta love him!
8:06: ABC graphic: Tiger 54.3% on the PGA Tour this year in driving accuracy (179th), this week: 85.1%.
8:07: Note to BBC: the tee shot camera view that shows the spectators following the ball while the player is but a small speck on the screen? Getting old.
8:17: Garcia makes another bogey, Faldo and Azinger's bickering is the only thing keeping this entertaining, Lord knows it's not the R&A's anti-birdie setup. Oh, and Tiger and Sergio are a hole behind.
8:21: Azinger: "Tiger is putting on a clinic right now with his ball striking."
8:23: Els in furrowed lie in bunker on 10.
8:29: Tiger -15 (9), DiMarco -13 (10), Els -12 (10), Andres Romero -11 (12). Adam Scott -10 (12)
8:30: Tiger backs off 10 tee shot, yet another camera phone. "Everything over here is about 10 years late," Azinger on why there's no rule banning cell phones.
8:44: DiMarco is three through 11 about the only hope of anyone giving Tiger a run at this point.
8:59: Yet another camera phone causes Tiger to back off on 11, hits horrible approach, DiMarco drains long putt on 13, do we have a tournament? Yes, Tiger fails to get up and down.
9:04: Azinger: "if the R&A can't control the crowd, then they should not force these guys to play a pace that's unattainable." (On Woods-Garcia being on the clock and the camera phone nonsense.)
9:08: Another camera phone on 13, Tiger backs off. "This is getting really ridiculous. It's actually becoming part of the story, isn't it?"
9:12: DiMarco drains 45-footer for par, Scott chips close on 16 for a tap-in (3 back), Azinger has "chill bumps," and Els makes birdie to get within 3.
9:26: Tiger hits beautiful approach to 14, nails birdie putt. Well, we had some excitement for a few minutes.
9:35: Tiger birdies 15, DiMarco birdies 16, lead is still two.
9:45: DiMarco gives his birdie putt a great run on 17, Tiger continues his flawless play on 16, driving in the fairway, hitting it safely left of the hole and two putting for birdie. Andy North: "he's made it look so simple."
9:56: DiMarco and Els tell the camera "see you tomorrow," Els mentioning South Africa. Faldo: "it's nice to have a G-5 waiting for you at Liverpool airport."
9:59: Azinger: "Tiger has squashed anyone's question marks now" about his swing changes.
10:06: Azinger wonders if Tiger will "reign it in" from now on after this performance. "He's beaten the field from where the field is driving it."
10:09: Purple paint cannisters are thrown onto 18 green. Azinger: "that'll solve whatever they're protesting about." Azinger hopes no one writes about it. Sure.
10:10: Walking down 18 fairway, Tiger and Stevie try a handshake/hi-five of sorts. As usual, they miss.
10:12: First engraver shot. Tirico says he looks at 1999 every time and swears he sees a bit of a smudge. Faldo: "You mean Jean Paul Lawrie."
10:16: Tirico: 10 of the last 12 Open Champions are American.
10:17: Love the helicopter hovering over the green as Tiger's preparing to finish up. An all around great security effort this week. Oh wait, they are the security according to Tirico. Wonder what they'll see up there.
10:19: Tirico declares this one's for pops. Tiger hugs Stevie. Tiger's sobbing. Wow. what a moment.
10:26: Tiger to Terry Gannon: "It's been a long week. The golf course played very difficult."
10:28: Gannon: "You know in an era when they're making golf courses longer to Tigerproof them, now you come to a course that takes driver out of your hand, you're hitting longer approach shots than anyone else, yet you win the British Open again, that's a statement in itself." Tiger: " Well, from what I've been told by a bunch of people in the press is that I only do well on bomber's courses, so hopefully this will silence that a bit. This golf course, I just played it for what it was. I played very conservative. And I had a lot of lag putts and I just trusted my putting all week."
10:42: Tiger, holding the Claret Jug: "To come here and have the course in such fantastic condition and where you have to think and shape shots and be creative, I think all of us, all of the players, would like to thank the staff here for presenting just one of the greatest championships ever staged."
10:45: Tiger: "Today was my best ball striking day of the week."
10:47: Faldo: "I don't know how he can hang onto his emotions there in the final ceremony. It's been a fantastic week, the golf he played was absolute perfection. He talked about his inner calmness, which was great. I think it was also created by hitting iron off the tee. He didn't hit it all over the show, didn't put himself under any extreme pressure. Well done Tiger."
Alex Lowe on SportingLife.com, writes about an interview given by Gary Player on BBC Radio Five Live:
Player has been saddened by the sight of Tiger Woods and Ernie Els using long irons off the tee this week because their drivers would send the ball too far on the bone-dry links at Hoylake.And...
He has urged the Royal and Ancient, the world body in charge of setting golf's rules and regulations, to take immediate action.
"As a spectator, I want to see Tiger and Ernie and the top players taking a driver," Player said.
"They are all hitting off with three irons and four irons. The ball is going so far that they can do that and I find it very sad the Open championship has come to that.
"The R&A and the USGA (United States Golf Association) have to cut the ball back by 50 yards.
"In 30 years' time players are going to be hitting the ball 50 yards beyond Tiger.
"It is a technology issue. The galleries have said to me 'I want to see these guys hit a driver'. These fellas are all hitting irons off the tee.
Butch Harmon, Woods' former coach, agreed with Player and insisted there is no problem with the professional game operating under different regulations to amateur golf.
"The ball is the big problem. It goes so much further than it ever did," Harmon told Sportsweek on BBC Radio Five Live.
"If you take these players back to equipment Gary won his three Opens with they wouldn't take irons off the tee because they would then have to hit woods onto the green.
"The R&A and USGA have to step up to the plate and decide what they are going to do with it. Professional golf can have own rules compared to amateur golf."
Perhaps the lack of air conditioning, paltry ice cubes and no SportsCenter has caught up to the inkslingers, because after a week of inspired writing Saturday's third round did not create much in the way of great reads. Most of the stories are built around the Wood and Cabrera comments appearing in the posts below this. Crikey, I can't believe these people ruled the globe for so many years. You've already heard my sob story about the air conditioning (or lack thereof) in my hotel. Tonight the elevators went out, too. Upon trudging up the stairs to my room after a grody dinner I discovered that the Internet service was also kaput. This second-round wrap-up is hours overdue, but don't blame me, blame the Queen!Rich Lerner delivers his hooks and cuts from Liverpool, and like Shipnuck, is just loving the accomodations.
I miss the 500 channel American television universe. Our hotel features five stations. I watched The Golden Girls in German last night.Kevin Mitchell in the Observer reports what the bookies think about Sunday's showdown:
Cabrera, 36 and sporting a belly that betrays a love of life, will have to conquer the considerable presence of Tiger Woods, the precocious, unreliable talent of Sergio Garcia, the eccentric putting of Chris 'Claw' DiMarco, the equally odd whirlwind golf of Jim Furyk and the icy science of Ernie Els. The bookies think he has little chance. He is at 14-1. Odds on the others are predictable: 4-5 Woods, 4-1 Els, 6-1 Garcia, 7-1 DiMarco and 10-1 Furyk.Golfonline's Cameron Morfit looks at the on the variety of styles that work at Hoylake and links golf in general.
It is hard to argue with the quality and the variety of the leaderboard produced at Royal Liverpool this week. The big names are in the hunt, and there's a good combination of power players and short hitters.Lorne Rubenstein writes about ways to enjoy the Open on the web and kindly mentions this site. In case the link doesn't work, here's a Google Canada search link that should let you find the article that will direct you to some sites you may or may not know about.
"It's a very fair golf course," Tiger Woods said. "You can play it so many different ways and it lends itself to a bunch of different styles. [If you hit] quality golf shots around this golf course, you're going to give yourself plenty of opportunities."
Here's a birdie for Royal Liverpool. It may not be flashy, but it is getting the job done.
Watching him in on the 1st tee, it was easy to see why playing with him might be wearisome. There was a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a double wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a final wiggle, and then he hit the ball.
Off the fairway, he was no quicker. A test for wind, a chat to his caddy about yardage, a club selection, caddy tests for wind, Crane positions himself two yards back from the ball, a couple of practice swings, he approaches the ball, a look, a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, a look, a wiggle, and the ball is struck.
And, sad to say, he is no faster on the green. Here he spends plenty of time in the crouch position with his hands cupped round his ears for maximum concentration, then, once he is composed, makes five little practice swings before after five trademark looks finally putting the ball.
All in all, he has the potential to be one of the slowest players seen for a while, right up there with Bernhard Langer at his most phlegmatic, Sergio Garcia at his twitchiest and Glen 'All' Day.
Bold question here from a scribbler considering he has a one shot lead and was 3 made short putts from having another "flawless" round:
Q. How risky is this approach with no drivers in terms of having to hit so many long irons? If somebody should start to push ahead in front of you, would you have to abandon that and start trying to whack it over those bunkers?And someone's working on a great-courses-bring-out-great-leaderboards story:
TIGER WOODS: Well, I don't see any reason why, unless I absolutely had to. The problem is if you hit the ball over the top and you put the ball in that wispy stuff, you can't stop the ball near the flag. You're better off you can control your spin with 7 irons and 8 irons better than you can a sand wedge out of that stuff, because you just can't control your spin. And with these pins you've got to be precise.
It's gotten me to the lead so far. Hopefully tomorrow I can putt better. If I putted normally and took away my three putts, I shot 4 under par today.
Q. There's a terrific leaderboard, a lot of different styles, and I'm just wondering why? Why here? Why now? Your thoughts on the golf course and on your competitors.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's a very fair golf course. It's extremely fast. You can play it so many different ways and it lends itself to a bunch of different styles, but ultimately it's fair. It's not tricked up at all. Quality golf shots hit around this golf course, you're going to give yourself plenty of opportunities. And when you've got four par 5s where you can hit normal drives in play you're going to have irons to, I think generally when that happens you're going to see the leaderboard bunch up.
Some fun stuff here:
Q. We've heard so much about guys playing conservatively around here; I don't believe you have. Do you still like to hit the driver here?
ANGEL CABRERA: I played a practice round with Seve and Seve said I said to Seve, "How do you play this golf course?" And Seve said, "The closer you get it to the green the more chance you have," and that's the way it's played.
Q. So you're hitting driver a lot?
ANGEL CABRERA: Whenever I can. I played iron off the tee on the 2nd, 4th and 8, and everywhere else I hit driver, except the par 3s. The last nine holes all driver.
Q. Did you like the course at first glance when you got here and have your feelings changed since you first saw it?
ANGEL CABRERA: It's a British Open golf course, special in the sense it is difficult, complicated and can come up and bite you if you don't play well. You have to execute the shots to be able to play this sort of golf course.
Q. Do you enjoy playing links golf?
ANGEL CABRERA: When I play well I like every sort of golf course.
Following the third round, Luke Donald talking to the media:
Q. Is it a problem that playing so much in America you don't play on linksy courses? Jack was saying yesterday that you should be able to play on any course.
LUKE DONALD: Everything I do in my swing is geared towards hitting it higher and farther. That's very much against what you need on a links course. But in saying that, most people are doing that, even over here in the European Tour. It's not an excuse.
To simulate the conditions at Hoylake, I went to the beach with the rest of southern California to ponder Sunday's potentially epic finale to the British Open.
Unlike Winged Foot, the players are playing the course (instead--apologies to Walter Hagen--the course playing the players). Isn't it refreshing? Why can't all golf be like this? Oh that's right, low scores reflect poorly on administrators.
So here's the big question for Sunday. Do you think Tiger is not using driver because it is the right thing to do strategically, or because he simply doesn't like the way he's hitting the big stick?
It seems to me that the answer is somewhere in between, but one longtime Tiger observer insists it's strictly Tiger's lack of comfort with the driver that is keeping it in the bag. But I countered that it was hard to see anyone gaining much advantage by flogging tee shots, especially Els today.
Your thoughts on this vital issue and anything else related to Sunday?
Yes, shocking as it may seem, I did not rise at 4 a.m. to hear more of Bobby Clampett's supreme wit and wisdom. Besides, I have TNT's PR department to capture the highlights.
Clampett: “You know what (the media is) going to do? They are going to write about Phil Mickelson if he doesn’t do that great this week and say that he over prepared. What a bunch of hogwash. The poor guy just can’t win.”
"Poor" would not be a word I associate with Phil.
Clampett on the definition of a “links course:” “I thought for years that a “links course” meant that the 9th hole didn’t return to the clubhouse, but that has nothing to do with a links course. It’s the stretch of sandy soil land along the edge of the ocean or the sea that really describes links land, and thus a links course.”
He gets it right, but then Gannon can't resist shoveling some horse puckey on top:
Gannon: “It links the town to the sea. You can’t farm on that land…but it’s great for golf.”
It links the town to the sea?!?! Hopefully he was joking.
Oh, and I missed more of Clampett on bunching.
Clampett on the difficulty of the course: “This golf course lends itself towards “bunching.” You have to take your medicine on a certain number of holes and birdies are hard to come by. And the combination of the two leads to bunching on the leaderboard.”
Birdies are hard to come by at Hoylake?
Clampett on Phil Mickelson’s demeanor after completing 10 holes of Round #3 with a score of 75 (+3 over par): “(Phil Mickelson’s) just about got the demeanor of a guy playing with his buddies in a practice round. The competitive spirit is just gone.”
Clampett on Tiger Woods’ demeanor as he steps onto the course: “(Tiger Woods) reminds me of a boxer entering an arena. That look, all business like, and the stare down.”
Almost poetic. Almost.
All times Pacific Standard Time...refresh page to update.
6:11 - Scott and Jimenez tee off on #1 and I just realized the R&A forgot to hang those gaudy Lexus signs all around the tee.
6:13: Faldo says he and Tiger "sorted things out" early in the week. But I thought there was no there there?
6:18: Azinger: "it's not the hardest course they're ever going to play, certainly not Winged Foot." Unfortunately, no one pointed out that this is not necessarily a bad thing.
6:19: Tirico again brings up how "crammed" things are at Liverpool, points out that the practice tee is setup at a public course across the street because the actual practice area between 3 and 18 is too small. Faldo, sarcastically: "It was right in the middle of the hospitality! Slightly inconvenient, with balls flying everywhere."
6:30: It sounds like someone gooses Ivor Robson just as he announces a player's name.
6:31 - Every leader is hitting driver off No. 1 except Tiger. Ernie outdrives him by 79 yards. Tiger lips out for birdie, Els drops second into front bunker and makes bogey.
6:42: Sergio opens with ho-hum 29, he's one back.
6:53: ABC is off to their usual fine start, with plenty of good natured fun and solid commentating. What a difference a day makes. Though the scoring crawl appears to be designed for widescreen and HD televisions, because only half of it is showing on my old Sony.
6:57: Tiger bogies No. 2, Els birdies, and now with Garcia they are tied for the lead.
7:07: First Tom Rinaldi essay on "chance" in links golf and the Open. Meanwhile Furyk joins the group at -11, Garcia puts old stroke on birdie putt on 11, leaving 7 footer short.
7:24: Ernie pulls driver on 5, Faldo and Azinger are skeptical of the choice. Tiger hits iron, can still get home in two. Azinger points out that the cool IBM hole overview graphic is incorrect on No. 5's hole location, but after seeing Tiger's solid approach, the graphic was right. Els drive ends up okay, but bad angle to come in from (again). Tiger birdie, Ernie par.
7:42: Terry Gannon interviews Phil Mickelson. Phil is unshaven, looks tired.
7:48: ABC previews each par-3 with their overhead graphics, Azinger asks if they're the easiest set of par-3's in major championship golf. Says that won't be the case at Medinah. First reminder of the day to really soak this up, because the next major is going to be tedious. Oh and Woods hits his shot tight on 6, trickles birdie putt in, while Els hits draw that doesn't spin, makes par.
7:49: Tirico calls Steve Williams a "hall of fame" caddy. There's a hall of fame for caddies?
8:20: Geoff Ogilvy is interviewed by Terry Gannon. Names Ian Baker Finch his favorite player growing up.
8:21: Steve Williams asks someone to put camera phone away. Nick Faldo: "that's the first time he's said that...in the last 5 seconds."
8:22: Cabrera plays 5 hole stretch -4, jumps to one shot back.
8:32: Tiger hits 3-wood, 6 iron to par-5 10th. Sergio is just short of 18 in two with a very lofted iron. And the relentless commercial breaks continue.
8:52: Tiger rolls in 20 footer for birdie on 11, third day in a row he birdies the 393-yarder. Faldo is asked if there was an aura around Tiger, he hesistates in answering with an emphatic yes.
8:54: Azinger declares he's shocked that Calcaveccia doesn't kiss his hot blond caddie. Who is she? **His girlfriend, which Azinger apparently mentioned.
8:56: Furyk admits to Terry Gannon that making himself a better player in the States cost him when it came to links golf and that he's learned to adjust to links golf better. 66 today would back that up.
9:01: DiMarco hits it tight on 13, makes his third straight birdie to get to 11 under, and H.S. Colt still hasn't gotten any credit for that neat little redan like par-3.
9:03: Sergio tells Gannon that the greens are firming up, says driving the ball is vital, says pars are good. I bet you're glad I documented that great moment in television history.
9:06: ABC graphic: Tiger and Ernie were 14-under yesterday, 1-under today through 12. Beatles "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" returns for the lead in to the commercial break after Steve Miller Band makes bizarre appearance at previous break.
9:16: DiMarco uses normal grip on long first putt at 14, then uses claw for 5-footer for par.
9:18: ABC graphic, Tiger through 13 today: 1 Driver, 8 3-woods, 29 irons off non-par-3 tees.
9:30: ABC having major technical difficulties. We see Tiger and Els approach 14, then only see Els making a par save putt and the end of Tiger's 3-putt. But we get the commercials and that plug in for the Senior British Open!
9:41: DiMarco birdies 16 to join Tiger and Sergio in the lead, then the sounds of Lady Madonna mean yet another commercial break.
9:46: The commercials keep coming. The first hour wasn't this bogged down with ads. What happened?
9:48: ABC returns from commercial, shows Tiger on 16, DiMarco on 17, Els on 16, CMA Music Festival plug, then goes to commercial at 9:50. Because of the tee times moving up an hour, don't they have an hour to kill when they could pay some of these bills?
10:00: Azinger: "for the first time I can remember, Tiger Woods is playing from the same places as us mere mortals with his strategy this week. He's not really taking advantage of his massive power. And he's beating everybody from where everybody hits it. You say Tiger's great when he hits it long. But he's great when he hits it the same distance as the rest of us."
10:20: Maybe they could get more reporters, camera carts and other minglers following the last group?
10:24: Els scrapes around in 71, same with Tiger, who will be paired with Garcia, while Els will play with DiMarco, Furyk with Cabrera. Round time for leaders: 3 hours and 55 minutes.
10:25: Faldo on Tiger: "He doesn't need a driver at all. That's amazing."
10:32: Tiger: "I didn't putt very well today." And "three three whips." Tiger says ball is rolling different speeds through different colors. Clampett said it first! Tiger: "these pins are not easy."
For all of Tiger's brilliance, it is fascinating that his competition no longer seems to be scared of him (well, we'll see how they play this weekend).
Scott Michaux, writing in the Augusta Chronicle:
Just because Woods is the game's consummate closer doesn't mean the rest of the field thinks he's invincible - especially with five more of the world's top-10 ranked players among the top 10 on the leaderboard.
"It's doable," Chris DiMarco said.
"He's not fool-proof," Adam Scott said.
"I don't think anyone is scared of him," Geoff Ogilvy said.
Golf Digest's Mark Soltau on Tiger's opening 36 holes.
Here's how he's done it: After hitting 11 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens Thursday, Woods hit 12 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens Friday. Combined, that's 82.1 percent and 77.8 percent, respectively.
He's also been hot with his putter, especially inside 10 feet. He took 27 putts Thursday and 28 Friday, canning a 60-footer at the par-4 eighth hole to ignite his second round. At the par-4 14th, Woods holed out a 4-iron from the fairway from 205 yards for eagle, helping him to a back nine of 5-under 32.
Will the wind tempt him to hit a few more drivers over the weekend, maybe even flog a bit like he did on 16 Thursday? Should be fun to watch.
John Huggan focuses on Tiger's pursuers while the Telegraph's Martin Johnson devotes Saturday's column to Tiger and Nick Faldo:
He could also, it's fairly safe to assume, have done without Nick suddenly becoming talkative on a golf course, and as the pair of them set off down the opening hole, Faldo was yakking away to him like a man just released from a 10-year stretch in solitary confinement. This continued down the second, but when Woods started par-par to Faldo's birdie-birdie, he made sure - with the old untied shoelace ploy - that Nick could spend the rest of the hole, and indeed the round, talking to himself.
It's ironic that Faldo, who won six majors with less conversation than a Trappist monk, should suddenly become garrulous on a golf course, even if he was trying to mend a few bridges.
And finally, Mike Clayton looks at the success of Australian players this year over at GolfObserver.com.
I'd love to meet the TNT exec that said, "let's have Terry Gannon and Bobby Clampett on for extended on camera conversation and knock Alliss down to a 30 minute cameo."
Stellar stuff. Remember the old days when they'd turn it over to the BBC for an hour?
Anyway, more wisdom from TNT's color man, courtesy of their PR department...yes, they actually send this stuff out:
Clampett on Tiger Woods’ 205 yard eagle shot on the 14th hole: “I think the Claret Jug just fell off of the table.”
Clampett on Tiger’s low round: “It almost deflates you emotionally when you see a score posted like that. For most of the players, it is so far out of reach that they don’t conceivably think that they can even get near that at that point. They may even get a hot round going but it doesn’t feel like a hot round because you are so far behind. He’s the best front runner in the history of the game.”
Clampett on Phil Mickelson’s method to improve his swing: “What Phil’s doing there, I think we can all take a lesson from. When you lose your swing a little bit the best way to get back into it is to go back and start doing some drills. Start feeling what you’re working on and get it so engrained in your mind and in your feel that it becomes second nature when you get over the ball. (Phil) is taking a lot of practice swings on the tee.”
Clampett on Phil Mickelson having to overcome an eight-stroke deficit to take the lead: “It’s demoralizing for guys like Mickelson because he knows he’s got to play such a great round of golf to get back into contention. If he’s not right on top of his game like he is today then it’s just demoralizing.”
Clampett on the preparation done by Phil Mickelson for major tournaments: “When (Mickelson) has a bad major, people start saying that he over-prepared and he tried too hard. I don’t believe there is such a thing as over-preparation. He’s changed his preparation and started preparing harder for (majors), which has given him an edge the last two years.”
Clampett on the scores of 65 posted by Tiger Woods and Ernie Els: “For Tiger (Woods) to go out early in the morning and post (a 65) and then Ernie to have to come out in the afternoon to face (Tiger’s score) head-on and say ‘that’s what I have to go after’ and do it, that’s a great confidence booster for Ernie.”
At 12-under, leading by two, Tiger was asked mostly about his epic shot on 14. And this:
Q. Obviously The R&A has a completely different philosophy in setting up the course than the USGA. If you're going to shoot 20 under, go ahead and shoot 20 under. Do you like that compared to the U.S. Open?And in my view, he pays the ultimate compliment to Hoylake, and why this not-so-attractive looking layout has been admired for decades:
TIGER WOODS: Well, it's just different. Here, if you set up like U.S. Open site, which Carnoustie was, and if it blows, that's what's going to happen. You're going to see everyone shoot really high scores. But I think that when you come over here you play you know the golf course is always going to be fair, and it's just a matter of the weather. If we get brutal days like it was at Muirfield on Saturday, that's what's going to happen. Or you get great days, like it's been here all week, you can shoot some good numbers.
But it's all dependent on weather here. I think that's what The R&A allows for. Each day they adjust the pins based upon weather, and it's kind of nice to see.
Q. You've touched on this already, but if somebody, when this tournament is over and you go home, asked you what distinguishes Hoylake from the other courses of The Open Championship, what would you say?
TIGER WOODS: I think it's probably the fact that it's you have so many ways of playing the golf course. It's not just one way. You have the option of playing the way I am. You have the option of playing how John Daly is playing. You have plenty of options. Or somewhere in between and try to roll the ball between the bunkers. You have so many options here, and it's just a fun way to play golf, because you don't get a chance to play golf like this, where you have so many options. Usually it's target golf and you play to some target and hit another target island somewhere.
This week it's so different. You've got to be creative and you've got to really understand how to control your ball.
Yields all sorts of fun stuff.
Q. Nick, you haven't been playing much, you've done a lot of TV work, why would you put yourself under this pressure to come here and try and play on a golf course so difficult?
NICK FALDO: I wasn't intending to put myself under that much pressure. I was hoping to get a nice quiet draw, maybe with Mr. Watson or maybe Mr. Ballesteros. Maybe that's what the crowd would have liked. Instead I get Tiger and get thrown into the deep end.
And I only had a week's practice and that was a tough experience. I didn't enjoy that, because you're playing under pressure and you're just not prepared for it. I used to beat balls and hit millions of balls to boost my confidence. I've only hit hundreds in the last week. Obviously my game is very rusty and that was hard work so I don't think I'll do that again to myself. If I'm going to play again I need a good couple of weeks practice and I've got to get some confidence in my putting before I get back on the golf course again.
Q. Are you going to put your TV hat on now and see if anybody can beat Tiger this weekend?
NICK FALDO: Not really. He's got a great game plan, playing so many irons. If he keeps it totally in play and doesn't scare himself missing a fairway or getting a bad lie then anything can happen. But his touch is so good, his competitive ability is the best, I would predict that if the weather stays decent, he will get to 20 under and good luck. How are they going to beat him with that score?
I've only had a week's practice and then I was thrown in with Tiger and that's not what I was looking for this week. Watson and Ballesteros would have been a good draw, that's maybe what the crowd were looking for, 11 Open Championships between us. But I didn't get that, I was thrown in the deep end and I've only done a little work on my game and I need to practice more and I need to get a putting stroke if I'm going to play again. So I'm not too keen on venturing onto the golf course for a while.
But it's great to be at close quarters with Tiger. I can see what's going on. I should be able to tell ABC viewers up close and personal this weekend.
Q. You didn't like what was written about you and Tiger before the tournament?
NICK FALDO: No, it was the usual, complete mountain out of a molehill. Fortunately I don't read it, which is even better tactics.
Q. Did somebody tell you about it then?
NICK FALDO: A pigeon flew past and crapped on me, and I guess that was the message. I knew something was coming.
This is very interesting...
Q. Has your opinion changed on his golf swing and some of the technical aspects of his game?
NICK FALDO: There are some shots actually that he is uncomfortable on. I can see some technical things in his swing, yeah. But he gets by because he is so physically strong and so mentally determined and such a great competitor that, yeah, there are some technical things in his swing that if he were honest he'd say he'd love to iron out.
He's got a good plan. If he can keep hitting those irons, coming from the fairway he'll be just short of impossible to beat.
Q. Another player thought he said the swing changes he was working on with Hank were designed to help him control the trajectory, especially on his irons, and if you watch him he's clearly doing that and is able to hit more and varied shots?
NICK FALDO: The thing now is that the ball doesn't curve as much and you have to work on the swing factor. The guys will develop different follow throughs to develop different spins and that's what you need. Some shots it will stop and some that will run. You have to do that in your swing to make that happen. That obviously affects ball flight as well.
Q. Does the fact that Tiger has only hit one driver in two rounds sort of take something away from the first two days?
NICK FALDO: It doesn't sound great in the stats, does it? Obviously he's long, that does help. And even yesterday's drive on 16 was the wrong club. He should have hit 3 wood. It should have been 0 0 for two days. It just shows you it's all down to the burnt golf course. It is short.
Someone is obviously working on a story about links golf. Tom Watson after finishing 2-under for the first 36:
Q. Chris DiMarco was talking about the state of the course, and compared to the courses in the U.S., the courses in the U.S. are so soft; you can hit a driver and no way it's going to stop. And hit a wedge over here, you can't hit a driver?
TOM WATSON: You have to think on this golf course. You have to think where you want to put the ball. And there are certain holes where length really is important, length that I don't have. But there is a game plan that everybody has to have, that everybody uses on this golf course. The number one game plan, stay out of the bunkers.
Q. Do you think courses like this are the way to tackle the greater length that players are getting at?
TOM WATSON: Well, I think so, I do. I think to a degree. But if you're a little bit off on a golf course like this, it can eat you for lunch. You don't recover from the fairway bunkers. That's the leveler in this golf course, the bunkers.
Q. Chris was saying it's the first time in a long time he can remember hitting 3 wood off the tee. Normally on the PGA Tour he hits driver 14 times out.
TOM WATSON: This is different golf. This is a hard, firm golf course. That's the way The R&A would like it to be. When they had the greens like they had on Monday, we were really seeing some funny scores out there. They were tough on Monday. They decided to soften those greens up a little bit.
Q. Did the rain hurt you at all?
TOM WATSON: No.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
