Archive for July, 2010
July 29, 2010
Get in on the best odds for European Tour golf betting for all of this week’s action at the Bet365 Sportsbook, as it gears up for the year’s fourth and final major. The PGA Championship is only two weeks away, making this crunch time for golfers – and for handicappers looking for the next Louis Oosthuizen, who landed the Open Championship at huge odds. This weeks action is at the Irish Open where as well as the outstanding value on the outright market, Bet365 Sportsbook are also offering match-ups priced to 102.5%, giving you the best chance to win more on European Tour golf.
European Tour Betting - Local Hopes High On Irish Open Odds
Rory McIlroy is the 6.890* favourite at Bet365 Sportsbook on their odds to win the Irish Open for the event at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, but he’ll be in tough against the likes of Justin Rose (15.09*), Graeme McDowell (15.61*), and Padraig Harrington (17.69*).
McIlroy was third at the Open Championship at St. Andrew’s, where he recorded a record-low 63 in the first round, while McDowell won the U.S. Open, and Rose has won twice on the PGA Tour this season, with both wins since June.
Harrington hasn’t played his best golf lately, but he’ll look to ride the luck of the Irish in Killarney this week, and replicate his success at this event in 2007 when it was held in Adare. Irish-born players have taken home four of the last 13 major championship titles, while McIlroy is seen as a major winner in waiting. His chances at the PGA Championship could well be dictated by whether he can continue his good form at the Irish Open.
July 29, 2010
Given the economic circumstances of the moment, it was trumpeted with all the fanfare that the state of West Virginia and the PGA Tour could muster.
After the long-lived Buick Open abruptly went belly up in the middle of 2009, the tour soon located a viable tournament site that not only was willing to host an event, but foot the fat title-sponsorship bill. So the tour fast hauled out the velvet ropes, wingback chairs and opened the doors to the TV cameras.
The announcement that the venerable Greenbrier Resort would stage a tour event in a mere 12 months time was excitedly conveyed by the govern who h and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.
The tour was so happy, if not relieved, to have filled the void created by the defunct Buick that it beamed the introductory press conference for the Greenbrier Classic into the media center at the Bridgestone Invitational, outside Cleveland.
Greenbriers Old White Course is 97 years old. But the top golfers are staying home this week. (Getty Images) The Greenbrier had changed owners in mid-2009 and the Buicks 51-year assembly line had been formally shut down days earlier, so the new tournament had been cobbled together in six weeks, Finchem estimated, a comparative blink by tour standards. Thus, there was much glad-handing, though the devil is sometimes in the details.
In the downright effervescent transcript of the announcement, provided afterwards by the tour, Greenbrier was misspelled … a total of 67 times.
Ah, the not-so-fine print.
Fifty-one weeks later, the big day is finally at hand for the Greenbrier, which has undergone millions in expansion and renovations since deep-pocketed CEO Jim Justice saved it from bankruptcy in 09 and promised to restore it to five-star status.
Thats four more stars than are entered in the inaugural tournament field.
The iconoclastic resort, which claims more than 200 years of history and once served as home base to Confederate and Yankee troops in the Civil War, albeit at different times, is hoping to reinvent itself this week with a splashy showing in its tour inauguration gala. But mere petticoat ruffles, lace and organza cant make a debutants coming-out party a hit, which is why the success of the Greenbrier wont be known until after this weeks Cotillion is over, if then.
The resorts Old White Course, a name that vaguely conjures up uncomfortable images to some, has hosted both Ryder and Solheim cups, joining only Muirfield Village in that distinction. The 97-year-old track, which Sam Snead used to call home, is an old parkland layout the likes of which arent often seen on tour these days, where shot values and strategy ought to mean something. Of course, thats what they thought last week at the Canadian Open, when the classically styled St. Georges, long missing from the tournament rotation, was torched for a third-round 60 by Carl Pettersson.
The Swede, with four career tournament wins, might be the second-biggest name in the field, since the only player ranked in the world top 25 who showed up for the ribbon-cutting is Jim Furyk. Only five players entered at Greenbrier have won this year on tour, and two of those victories came in so-called opposite events against the weakest fields of the season.
More than 20 American presidents, not to mention luminaries such as Gandhi and Princess Grace, have laid their heads on Greenbrier pillows over the decades past. As for golf royalty, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, not so much.
At the unveiling press confab last summer, with Watson, Finchem and the governor at his side, Justice said all the right things and said that a top tour official had jokingly assured him that Woods was already on board to play. Looking back, kidding aside, it sounds a bit naive. “No, really and truly, I hope Tiger and Phil and everybody in the world can hear me say this, that this is a really special place,” Justice said. “This is a special place and this is the time of year, really and tr Disney World times 10. We surely want Tiger to come, we want Phil, we want all the great players, and well just work really, really hard to make that happen.”
(Note to Justice: Phil and Tiger stopped playing at Disney World years ago, and its tournament courses are located five miles outside Tigers back gate.)
This is where more fine print should be causing hard squints for the resort, which, for all its cash and good intentions, will have a hard time finding relevancy when crow-barred into a hectic, largely unworkable portion of the tour schedule for the tours marquee contingent. The schedue this week reads Greenbrier Classic, but for the heavy hitters, it might as well say, “open date.”
Starting next week at the Bridgestone Invitational, the games big boys are looking at playing seven times in the next nine weeks, culminating with a brutal Transatlantic trip to Wales for the Ryder Cup, only hours after the FedEx Cup finale and $10 million in bonus winnings are settled in Atlanta.
In a way, the tournament underpinnings are reminiscent of the now-defunct 84 Lumber Classic, staged at the Nemacolin Resort in rural eastern Pennsylvania. Joe Hardy, the owner of the lumber company, threw around so much money propping up the t he even that his daughter reportedly revolted at the staggering price tag and the tournament was eventually shut down.
A local writer called Hardy, who generally delivered a solid field, the modern equivalent of Jed Clampett, which Hardy took as a compliment. The folksy, personable Justice, who coaches a girls high-school basketball team for fun, seems like even closer kin to cousin Jed. Justice, who grew up near the Greenbrier and made a fortune in farming and the coal business, is a genial giant at 6-foot-7 with a drawl thats commensurate. A poor Mountaineer who barely kept his family fed, he isnt. Hes supplying the green in Greenbrier.
Like with which it already is, at least by some definition. In an attempt to get more customers to the largely remote locale, Justice somehow convinced Delta Airlines to add service into the White Sulfur Springs, W. Va., area from Atlanta and New York.
To modify a phrase borrowed from another walk down nostalgia lane, if you rebuild it, will they come? The resort was well down a hot rail to bankruptcy under former owners CSX, the railway giant. Justice spent millions from his own wallet in an attempt to make the Greenbrier relevant again, building an underground casino, sponsoring the tour event, and even mandating that male guests wear sports coats after 7 p.m.
This could be the best part of the week: A dress code for guys in white belts, wing-tip shoes, neon-colored clothing and logo-emblazoned lids? Can Daly wear that obnoxious Loudmouth jacket he was sporting at the British Open two weeks ago and still get in the gentrified joint?
If everything goes off as well as Justice hopes, word-of-mouth will mean something going forward among tour players and should help deliver a deeper field next year. But given its proximity to the WGC event next week at Firestone, plus the PGA Championship and four FedEx Cup series stops that follow, he might have to hand out free poker chips to attract the true stars to the venerable venue.
Justice stole the ailing property for the fire-sale price of $20 million, and has dropped at least five times that sum on the casino and golf tournament, calling the shots himself and paying cash on the barrelhead as he goes. Justice loves the autonomy of being rich and cracked recently to Golfweek: “You know the definition of a committee? Its a group of individuals who individually cant do anything, but collectively, they can decide that nothing can be done.”
Funny line. But if Justice had solicited the opinions of folks with knowledge of how the tournament game works, he might have thought twice about his investment this week. Best intentions and best wishes aside, wedged into an unenviable calendar spot and starved for stars as a result, the Greenbrier hues could again resemble an old Civil War pallette.
That is, mostly blues and grey. Even Justices green cant completely change that.
July 29, 2010
Bobby Wyatt shot a 57 at the Alabama Boys State Junior Championship.
The University of Alabama-bound teen, who turns 18 this weekend, had 12 birdies, an eagle and five pars Wednesday on the par-71, 6,628-yard course at the Country Club of Mobile. His birdie putt hung on the lip on the 18th green and he had to settle for par.
Wyatt needed 23 putts total and shot a 9-under 26 on the front nine.
The previous low round in the State Junior was 61 by Glenn Northcutt in 2004 on a par-70 layout which measured just over 5,000 yards.
Wyatt has won the states junior championship the past three years.
Ryo Ishikawas 58 in the final round of The Crowns tournament on the Japan Tour on May 2 is the lowest score on a major tour.
July 28, 2010
Online betting players know that you have to lose a few times to learn how to win, and that appears to be the case for England’s Lee Westwood as we head to the final major of the year, the PGA Championship. Westwood has come close this year, in and out of the majors, but he’ll finally come through at Whistling Straits.
What: Golf Odds
When: Thursday, August 12th- Sunday, August 15th
Where: Whistling Straits, Haven, WI
Defending Champion: Y.E. Yang
The Storyline
The last time that the PGA Championship was held at Whistling Straits was 2004, when Vijay Singh held off Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard in a playoff despite shooting a +4 in the final round. Y.E. Yang is the defending champion after storming back to beat Tiger Woods at Hazeltine in Minnesota, and we could have another surprise winner after what has occurred in the majors this year. While Phil Mickelson’s win at the Masters could have been expected, no one saw Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell taking the US Open at Pebble Beach, and especially, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen’s slaughter of the field in the British Open at St. Andrews.
PGA Championship Betting – The Favorites
Tiger Woods (+450): The signs are encouraging for Woods, who was T-23 at St. Andrews, and he’ll be hungry to avoid his second straight major-less year, the first time that has happened since 2003 and 2004. However, that T-23 was his lowest result in a major since Whistling Straits in 2004, when Woods came in T-24, and unless he figures something out with the putter, he won’t be able to lift his fifth Wanamaker Trophy. Put him down for a top-10, though.
Phil Mickelson (+815): We can throw out Mickelson’s T-48 at St. Andrews, as he never does well at the British Open due to his high ball flight. He was T-6 at Whistling Straits in 2004, but like Singh, he struggled on the Sunday with a 74. You get the feeling that Mickelson will challenge at some point, but his wayward driving could hurt him.
Lee Westwood (+1215): Westwood is turning into Mr. Consistency, or he can’t win the big ones, depending on who you speak to. Westwood’s second-place result at St. Andrews was his fourth finish of second or third in the last five majors, and both runners-up came this year at Augusta and St. Andrews. He missed the cut in 2004, but Westwood is a much better player now, and you would think he would have to come through at some point, right?
Rory McIlroy (+1415): The kid excited us with a Thursday 63 at St. Andrews, then the Old Course bit him for an 80 on the next day in insanely windy conditions, and McIlroy was left with a T-3 result. He’s going to win a major sooner than you think, but this year has been up and down for McIlroy, and we’re banking on a letdown at Whistling Straits.
PGA Championship Betting – The Second Tier
Paul Casey (+2550): Casey collapsed to a final-round 75 at St. Andrews to settle for a T-3, and he missed the cut at the Canadian Open, but he’s solid from tee to green, he just has to settle his nerves. Casey missed the cut here in 2004, but like Westwood, he’s far improved as a player.
Steve Stricker (+2850): Golf betting players may be apt to take the homefield advantage: Stricker is a Wisconsin native who loves playing in the Midwest, so he’ll be excited for this tournament. Stricker has made the cut in all three majors this year, and has never finished higher than 30th, but we’re taking him for a top-10, at least.
Luke Donald (+3550): Donald actually finshed T-24 here in 2004, and he followed up his T-11 at the British Open with a third-place result at the Canadian Open. Donald has been very consistent this year, and he may be finally ready to fulfill the promise many saw in him when he turned pro in 2001.
PGA Championship Betting – The Longshots
Henrik Stenson (+5050): Stenson is coming off a T-3 at St. Andrews in which he had a hot putter, and after a few injuries, the long-hitting Swede will be dangerous at Whistling Straits.
K.J. Choi (+6550): Choi’s year has been adventurous as he began with a T-4 at Augusta, and it declined from there until he won the Scandinavian Masters last weekend. Choi was T-6 at Whistling Straits in 2004.
Ryo Ishikawa (+8050): The 18-year-old shows no nerves whatsoever, going from a missed cut at Augusta to a T-33 at Pebble Beach, and a T-27 at St. Andrews (playing alongside Tom Watson at the last two tournaments, no less). He’s probably more likely to win than McIlroy, his 21-year-old colleague.
PGA Championship Sports betting & Outlook
We’re taking Westwood to learn from his past mistakes this season and come through in the clutch at Whistling Straits. He didn’t lose the Masters, he was beaten by Mickelson. Even at the US Open, Westwood was T-16 and always in the mix. He played solid golf at St. Andrews, but no one was beating a red-hot Oosthuizen. It’s Westwood’s week in Wisconsin, so take him in your sports betting picks for the PGA Championship.
PGA Championship Betting Pick: Lee Westwood +1415
July 28, 2010
With a few days remaining before the most daunting s many will play seven times in CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling and golf writer and columnist Scott Michaux pass the popcorn and do their weekly Siskel-and-Ebert act.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie . Universally panned upon release and cobbled together with a somewhat ad-libbed script attempting to duplicate the raunchy success of “Animal House,” its got to be the most-quoted sports movie of all time. Whats your favorite scene and why?
ELLING: So they threw in the episode in the cart barn, where Carl Spackler was living, and the two Saturday Night Live alums winged their way through a masterpiece of utterly ad-libbed comedy. Dont believe me? Check out the outtake version of the scene, included on the 25th anniversary DVD. Its unwatchable and awful. They turned on the camera, somebody shouted “action,” and the two went at it, hoping for the best. I still dont know what getting “stoned to the bejeesus belt” means, but its hilarious. Tiger Woods was asked a few years ago to identify his favorite golf movie. After hesitating for about one second, he said, “Theres only on possibly better than ever. By the way, there is no right answer to this question. Pick a scene, any scene. Like when Dangerfield fakes breaking his arm to get out of the money match with Judge Smails. If you think my pick was crazy, well, thats what they said about Son of Sam. Cannonball coming. Double turds. Ahoi, polloi. I could go on. …
MICHAUX: The best part is when Jackie Mason buys the majority stake in Bushwood and turns it into an amusement park. … Oh wait, that’s . Probably the worst sequel of all time (and that’s saying something). I dont think theres a line in the original that I don’t know by heart, having seen the thing at least 60 times in the last 30 years. Any scene with Al Czervik (Dangerfield), Judge Smails (Ted Knight) or Carl Spackler (Murray) are classics. They all carried this crazy tune. Spacklers cinderella story, Dalai Lama and pool-or-pond scenes are legendary ad-libs and probably top my personal faves. Czerviks one-liners ironically turned him into the respected comic legend that never could. (It annoys me that the Caddyshack restaurant near the World Golf Hall of Fame doesn’t serve i “It looks good on you, though.”). And Smails nailed every snooty country-clubber with his many gems including “Youll get nothing and like it!” When was the last time you got through a r “I don’t think the heavy stuffs gonna come down for quite awhile;” “right in the lumberyard;” “Billy-billy-billy-billy-billy;” “you’re a tremendous slouch;” “be the ball;” “thats a peach, hon;” “rat farts;” or “its in the hole!” So weve got that going for us, which is nice
Five of the past six Grand Slam events, and nine of the past 15, have been won by first-time major winners. Is that good or bad for golf?
ELLING: It might be the ultimate double-edged sword. As evidenced by the abysmal television ratings from the British Open, where the final round set record lows on ESPN, having unknowns or less-heralded players atop the scoreboard tends to make the casual fans flip the remote control to another channel. Surely, its a boon for the game in places like South Korea, Ireland and South Africa, which have all produced upset major winners in the past 11 months. But odd as it sounds, from reader feedback alone, its almost as though fans would rather see Mickelson or Woods win by a landslide than watch a close contest between Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and Ben Curtis, who fought it out at the PGA Championship two years ago. Golf fans will watch regardless and t but the sidewalk viewers who watch only during the Masters, U.S. Open and other biggies want a rooting interest with identifiable players. Louis Oosthuizen seems like a terrific kid who has overcome plenty. Graeme McDowell is underrated and played on a Ryder Cup team. Y.E. Yang took down Woods. A little variety is fine for the growth of the game, especially globally, as long as the big boys are in the mix and they win at least occasionally.
MICHAUX: Golf is one of those weird games where everyone seems to root against the underdogs. We all judge the quality of a tournament by the names on its leaderboard, and if those names don’t include Tiger or Phil or Ernie or some other chosen favorite, than it gets diminished in the eyes of the beholders. Few bothered to behold this year’s British Open simply because a “no-name” ran away and hid with the claret jug. But if the 27-year-old Louis Oosthuizen develops into a multiple major winner (as countryman Ernie Els did after surprising at the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont) then history might look back on this event differently. Having some fresh faces pose with major trophies isn’t a bad thing. We just seem to prefer those faces already being defined before they kiss the prize. McDowell and Stewart Cink were established contenders before breaking through. Lucas Glover, Yang and Oosty were relative interlopers. But so what. We’re the ones with the problem if we can’t respect their achievements on merit instead of popularity. Take it from a guy who has to write epic articles on reigning Masters champions every year. It’s more fun to tell a new tale than try to come up with a new angle on a story told so many times we all know it by heart.
Weve had consecutive first-time major winners with McDowell and Oosthuizen. In their honor, please pick the greatest one-time major winner of all time and defend your position.
ELLING: Im going slightly off the traditional track here. You can have Fred Couples and Lanny Wadkins, guys who would certainly be at the top of most lists given their firepower and considerable gifts. But when I was a (very) young boy, my grandfather was a big fan of Gene Littler, who had a swing that was as smooth at age 60 as it was at 30. Littler, who like titans Phil Mickelson and Billy Casper hailed from the San Diego area, won the 1961 U.S. Open, right in the midst of the rising tide for American golf and the birth of the so-called Big Three. He was a college grad, part of a new breed who attended college before turning pro, establishing a career template that still holds true for most career paths today. He won the U.S. Amateur and a PGA Tour event as an amateur. He later lost playoffs at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. In all, he won 29 times on tour, including five titles after he beat a case of lymph cancer. Needless to say, Couples and Wadkins did not play in the shadow of the Big Three, not to mention the likes of Casper, Floyd, Miller, Trevino and their ilk. In 27 Ryder Cup matches, he lost five times, amassing a 14-5-8 mark. Gene the Machine, indeed.
MICHAUX: As tempted as I am to pick Michael Campbell, I think this argument comes down to two great Hall of Famers – Lloyd Mangrum or Roberto De Vicenzo. Though his only major win was the 1946 U.S. Open, Mangrum ranks 13th on the PGA Tour’s all-time win list with 36 – smack dab between Phil Mickelson (38) and Vijay Singh (34) for those needing perspective. And neither of those guys had careers interrupted by earning two Purple Hearts fighting in World War II. Mangrum lost to Ben Hogan in a playoff at the 1950 U.S. Open and was runner-up in three majors including the 1940 Masters when he opened with a 64 that stood as a scoring record for 46 years. He finished in the top 10 in 25 majors, including 10 straight at Augusta from 1947-56. He also earned two Vardon trophies and won seven times in 1948. But since this isn’t just an American game, De Vicenzo deserves strong consideration as well. More famous for not winning the 1968 Masters because of his scorecard gaffe than winning the 1967 British Open at Hoylake, “El Maestro” is among the all-time greats. He won 231 tournaments around the world (six on the PGA Tour) including 48 national opens in 18 different countries. He had 17 top 10s in majors, which accounted for 40 percent of his career starts. And he did much of this in an era when overseas traveling included ships or short-hop flights that took three days to get from Buenos Aires to Miami. Lets see Couples or Love measure up to that.
July 28, 2010
Cristie Kerr says she has her sights set on getting back to the top of world rankings when she tees off at the Womens British Open at Royal Birkdale on Thursday.
Kerr is currently third behind Japans Ai Miyazato and top-ranked Jiyai Shin of South Korea, the winner of last weeks Evian Masters. The American reached the top in late June after winning the LPGA Championship, before slipping back.
Kerr says she has worked her whole life to be world No. 1 and was in a position now to do it. However, she says it will probably take a couple more tournament wins to get back there.
Kerr will play with compatriot Brittany Lincicome and 1990 champion Swedens Helen Alfredsson in the first two rounds at Royal Birkdale.
July 25, 2010
Dean Wilso and his long friendship with Canadian star Mike Weir.
Relying on his past champion status to get into tournaments after finishing 152nd last year o received a sponsor exemption into the Canadian Open.
Canadian Open Leaderboard
“I really appreciate that,” Wilson said Saturday after shooting his third straight 5-under 65 to take a four-stroke lead over record-setting Carl Pettersson, Tim Clark and Bob Estes at rainy St. Georges.
“Last year didnt turn out so good, and Im a little more appreciative of getting in tournaments and playing and being out here and fighting and being in the battle. That time away, makes you think about what you dont have.”
Before Wilson and Clark teed off, Pettersson shot a 10-under 60 in calm and dry morning conditions to break the tournament record, missing a 59 when his 30-foot birdie putt from the fringe grazed the left edge on the par-4 18th.
“I hit a pretty good 6-iron in there, but the wind sort of got it,” Pettersson said. “And you cant go past the hole because then you got no chance. And it was actually a difficult putt to get to the hole because it was very steep uphill.
“I hit a good putt. I told myself, You cannot leave this short. You got to give this a chance. And I hit a solid putt and it was just hovering right on the left side. … With 6 inches less pace it probably would have gone in.”
Estes had a 66, and Clark shot a 69 to match Pettersson at 11 under. Bryce Molder (63), Kevin Sutherland (65), Trevor Immelman (65) and Brock Mackenzie (68) were 10 under, and Jeff Quinney (64) and Cliff Kresge (66) were another stroke back.
Wilson, a six-time winner in Japan who won the 2006 International for his lone PGA Tour title, made his move midway through the round in the rain, birdieing Nos. 9-11. He holed a 5-footer on the par-5 ninth, an 8-footer on the par-4 10th and another 5-foot putt on the par-5 11th to open a three-stroke lead.
“Another day in Hawaii,” said Wilson, from Kaneohe. “You just cant fight [the rain]. You know that its going to be there. You cant complain about it, and you just got to be a little tougher than the rain.”
Wilson birdied the par-5 15th, making a downhill 6-footer, then gave the stroke back with a bogey on the par-3 16th. He closed with a 5-foot birdie putt on 18 to match Arnold Palmer at 195 for the tournament 54-hole record. Palmer set the mark at nearby Weston in 1955 en route to his first tour victory.
“This golf course is a great test,” Wilson said. “I havent heard one bad thing about it.”
Pettersson was trying to become the second player this month and fifth overall to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour. Paul Goydos did it July 8 in the John Deere Classic and Al Geiberger (1977 Memphis Classic), Chip Beck (1991 Las Vegas Invitational) and David Duval (1999 Bob Hope Classic) also have accomplished the feat. In May on the Japan Tour, Ryo Ishikawa shot a 58 - the lowest score ever on a major tour.
“Obviously, Im happy with the round, but I would have loved to have seen that putt go in,” said Pettersson, a three-time PGA Tour winner.
Playing in the third group of the day after making the cut by a stroke with opening rounds of 71 and 68, the 32-year-old former North Carolina State player from Sweden had two eagles, seven birdies and a bogey.
“I thought I was going to miss the cut yesterday,” Pettersson said. “We got finished with the round and it was right on the borderline. Me and Jay Williamson were actually watching the computer to see if we were going to make the cut, and had a few Canadian beers in there. That settled me down, I think. Maybe thats what did it.”
Pettersson broke the tournament record of 62 set by Leonard Thompson in 1981 at Glen Abbey and matched by five others, including Brent Delahoussaye on Thursday and Sutherland on Friday. Pettersson tied the tournament record for relation to par of 10 under set by Greg Norman in 1986 when Glen Abbey played to a par of 72.
The Swede hit all 13 fairways in regulation, 14 of 18 greens and was 18 for 18 on putts inside 15 feet.
“Im reading some of the stuff in the media about St. Georges getting slayed and stuff like that,” Immelman said. “I mean, thats fair enough, but the players are getting good, too. For Carl to shoot a 60 this morning, thats unbelievable golf.”
John Mills and Adam Hadwin, the former Louisville player making his first PGA Tour start, were the top Canadians at 6 under. Mills had a 66, and Hadwin shot a 70.
Divots
Only three of the 18 Canadians in the starting field made the cut. Stephen Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago, was 2 under after a 73. … Clark played 42 bogey-free holes before dropping a stroke on No. 7.
July 25, 2010
American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin will talk to Tiger Woods at next months PGA Championship to learn whether he wants to be in his team at Celtic Manor in Wales in October.
Woods is seventh in the points table that will provide eight automatic members for the United States against Europe.
However, he could drop down the standings and need a wild card if the likes of Ricky Barnes and Hunter Mahan outperform him at the Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA in August.
July 23, 2010
The pack of roving American journos walked down the quaint street, lined by centuries-old stone buildings and rich with ghosts from the games past, when a familiar face appeared. That, in itself is hardly unusual at St. Andrews, which is to the global golf scene what the atom is to molecular makeup.
During British Open tournament weeks, when its the nucleus of the sport, it represents the most concentrated bits of energy imaginable. The prominent sports agent the writers had run across, after a brief chat, noted that a top player was housed at a nearby locale, prompting the scribes to amble across the cobblestone street.
Inside, with a window open on the ground floor of his rented home for the week, was Davis Love and his wife, watching the telly. One playful writer stuck his head in the window, and in a kids falsetto voice, said, “Mr. Love, Mr. Love, can I please have your autograph?”
Love looked across the room and recognized the source, then hilariously shot back, “After the round, boys, after the round.”
Only, and I mean only, at St. Andrews.
For largely undisclosed reasons, Royal & Ancient officials havent yet declared where they will play the 2015 British Open, and the general public assumption is that the host organization will continue its five-year migration to the Old Course, the games Lourdes, Mecca and Sistine Chapel rolled into one package. Its even located just outside the backdoor of the R&A headquarters.
But renewing the timeline is apparently a big assumption, even though the Open has been staged at St. Andrews in 2000, 2005, 2010 and everybody seems to love the rhyme, reason and rhythm of the five-year plan.
“With regard to the 2015 question, I seem to be getting asked this a huge amount the last couple of days,” R&A chief Peter Dawson said this week when pressed for an answer. “I dont know why people are asking it. Is there a hare running on this one?”
Are there harebrains running your organization?
“I have nothing surprising to tell you,” Dawson said. “We have announced [future sites] up to and including 2014. We will be announcing 2015 later this year, and I doubt if it will be bothering your pens at the time, but well just have to wait and see.”
Forget taking the fifth. The Home of Golf deserves as many home games as possible, for myriad reasons.
“Its my favorite place to play golf in the world,” Stewart Cink said. “Its a variety. Theres not another word to describe it. You can pick every superlative that there is out there for variety, and thats what it is. Scott Verplank had a great quote that I read recently that said, The Old Course will teach you everything you need to know about playing golf, and I think that sums it up pretty well.”
Cink didnt even mention the atmosphere at St. Andrews, which is unlike any in the game. At no other venue in the game can fans reasonably expect to see players, caddies and celebrities dining out en masse during the tournament, soaking up the culture and scenery, or just plain hoisting a cold pint to help decompress after the round.
If the R&A unnecessarily delays renewing its vows with the St. Andrews Links Trust, which runs the Old Course, then they should be cobblestoned. At the risk of sounding like the TV commercials for the World Golf Hall of Fame, if you havent been to an Open at St. Andrews, youve simply got to go. There is no comparable experience in the professional game.
It took, oh, about six hours in St. Andrews to figure ou especially on the PGA Tour, where players stay at high-end hotels scattered all over large cities at regular tour stops. The most vivid color at St. Andrews isnt really found on the most famous golf course on the globe, but within a three-street radius surrounding the course.
Theres a popular haunt located on a key street corner about three blocks from the course called the Dunvegan Hotel bar, which was packed with players, caddies, swing coaches and a few media types on Saturday night before tournament week. It was like that every night, with crowds spilling out into the streets. Some bars employed people to keep Americans drinking libations from straying into the street and getting hit by oncoming traffic, which of course, heads in an unfamiliar direction.
The local cops were out in uniformed packs, largely watching, occasionally interacting, prominent in their presence but minimalist in their intrusion. Outside the Dunvegan late Saturday night after the third round, one St. Andrews policemen, seeing a slew of Americans lined up to take pictures on the street with CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz, walked up quietly behind one of the golf fans and gave him the rabbit-ears behind his head just as the picture was snapped. Then the guy sidled away, acting all innocent and invisible.
“Saw that,” I said. “You are so busted.”
The cop smiled broadly and walked away, clearly enjoying the laissez-faire attitude of the games epicenter for the week. Even the cops have fun.
On Wednesday, a pack of scribes ran into former British Open champ Tom Weiskopf, who was working as an ESPN analyst for the week. Weiskopf, cruising down the sidewalk as he headed off for dinner, stopped and stood on a street corner to hold court for 10 minutes on why he thinks the R&A is a better steward than the U.S. Golf Association, the Old Courses timeless design, his love for driveable par-4 holes and a few other topics du jour. Then he and his wife, arm in arm, headed off for dinner. That memorable episode sure isnt being repeated in Augusta, Ga., thats for sure.
Yet there was no scene that was more representative of the St. Andrews scene than what took place after Louis Oosthuizens award ceremony on Sunday night, when thousands of fans roamed the parallel first and 18th fairways.
A parade of American journalists, camped inside the media center and cranking out final-round stories, left their laptops to survey the crazy scene, where fans lined up to take photos of the Swilcan Burn, the iconic R&A clubhouse from the famed Valley of Sin near the 18th green. Some of us took pictures of fans taking pictures.
A guy with a vaguely Eastern European accent asked me to take a photo of him with his camera, with the first tee and clubhouse in the background. Two other guys did likewise. Elderly women and toddlers posed for shots as people ran around in the fairway like it was Central Park on a New York Sunday.
Think youll ever see a comparable scene at Winged Foot, Oakmont or Augusta National? If we do, Tasers and SWAT teams will be involved.
The charm of the site and city is palpable, like the wind, rain and haar (the Scottish term for fog) that enveloped the city during various times at the week. Small wonder that golfers have made pilgrimages for hundreds of years.
No question, the city has plenty of historical significance beyond golf. Tour groups ambled around the town even as the tournament was being played, with guests checking out the ruins and historical sites that predate the birth of the United States. In the U.K., “olde” takes on a whole new meaning compared to what passes for history in the States.
Unlike at other venues, a fun camaraderie typically unfolds at St. Andrews. Over the course of the week, British Open golfer Todd Hamilton bought me a beer, as did Sergio Garcias caddie, Glen Murray, and the guy who owns Loudmouth Pants company, those obnoxious britches that John Daly wears. I forked over a few pounds and bought libations for Ernie Els veteran caddie, Rikki Roberts, who seemed to enjoy the nightlife as much as anybody. Daytime isnt bad, either.
“They should have the Open here every year,” Roberts said.
No argument here.
In what seemed to be a moment of personal kismet, I ran into rising American player Jeff Overton late Sunday night outside a crowded restaurant. Overton had been kind enough to let me squire him around the Old Course a week earlier as he played his eye-opening first practice round at the most venerable site in the game.
Seven days later, he had just finished T11, had played the first two rounds with Oosthuizen, and thus had quickly dived deep into Old Course lore. Sitting at a dining table outdoors with his caddie, parents and girlfriend, Overton summed up his inaugural trip in fine fashion.
“Pretty amazing place,” Overton said. “That scene when you play the 18th, with all the fans, in the grandstands and along the street, playing back toward the clubhouse, its pretty special. Awesome.”
Its just as unforgettable on our side of the ropes, too.
July 23, 2010
Brent Delahoussaye shot an 8-under 62 on Thursday to match the Canadian Open record, making an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey in perfect scoring conditions at historic St. Georges.
Delahoussaye, the 29-year-old whose lone professional victory came in the 2006 Hooters Tour Classic, teed off on the ninth hole and played the front nine - his first and last eight holes - in 6-under 28.
Because of logistical problems, the players started on Nos. 1 and 9 instead of the usual first and 10th.
Delahoussaye broke George Knudsons course record of 64, set in 1968. (Getty Images) Four other players have shot 62s in the Canadian Open, the first three at Glen Abbey. Leonard Thompson set the mark in 1981, Andy Bean matched it in 1983, both at a par of 71, and Greg Norman did it in 1986, when par was 72. Hunter Mahan had a 9-under 62 at Angus Glen in 2007.
Delahoussaye, in the last group of the day off the ninth tee, also broke the course record of 64 set by Canadian George Knudson in 1968, the last time the national championship was played at the Stanley Thompson-designed course.
Vance Veazey and Brock Mackenzie opened with 64s, and Mahan, Dean Wilson, Charley Hoffman, Jimmy Walker, Rich Barcelo, Steve Wheatcroft, Spencer Levin, Daniel Chopra and Brian Stuard had 65s.
Delahoussaye, a Q-school graduate making his 14th career PGA Tour start, was 3 under on his first two holes, hitting a 3-iron to 8 feet from 230 yards on the par-5 ninth to set up his eagle and holing a 14-footer on the par-4 10th.
“I was 3 under after two and thinking, `Wow! This could be good,” he said.
He birdied the 12th, gave the stroke back with a bogey on the par-3 13th and birdied the 17th to get back to 4 under. He then birdied Nos. 2, 5, 6, and 7 and closed with a par on the par-3 eighth.
Canadian Open Leaderboard
Delahoussaye hit 13 of 14 fairways in regulation, 14 of 18 greens and had only 24 putts on the undulating, but very receptive greens.
“The key was probably hitting fairways,” he said. “I figured the rough was going to be thick, after my practice round.”
The 45-year-old Veazey had 27 putts.
“The putter. That was the key ingredient,” Veazey said. “This golf course seems to be about putting it in the fairway and on the greens. You have to hit good shots into the greens because they have slope. And I had a lot of good looks with the putter.”
Barcelo had nine birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey. He had seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch, including five in a row on Nos. 4-8.
“Today was an extremely fun day to play golf,” Barcelo said. “The weather was nice, the golf course was set up great, the fans were fantastic. … Its refreshing to see a setup where you have to hit good shots all day long.”
Canadian star Mike Weir shot a 72. Struggling with tendinitis in his right arm, the 40-year-old Weir is trying to become the first Canadian winner in 56 years and first Canadian-born champion in 96 years.
“It actually felt a lot better today,” Weir said. “I dont want to use an excuse like that. I just didnt play well.”
Stephen Ames and Jon Mills topped the 18 Canadians at 67.
“Im surprised how many good scores there are,” said Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago. “But the greens are very receptive.”
DIVOTS
Pat Fletcher, born in England, was the last Canadian winner, taking the 1954 event at Point Grey in Vancouver. Carl Keffer is the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. Albert Murray, a Canadian also born in England, won in 1908 and 1913.
