The 150th Open Championship thread

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

At least it gives me a chance to say "and here's John Daly on the 7th tee, with the wind gusting ferociously from his rear".

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

God, I love Seve Ballesteros.

I hope he lives for another 50 years.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Louis Oosthuizen must be sat in the clubhouse watching this with a bloody great smile on his face. He's going to have at least a 6 shot lead over the nearest serious contender (Westwood) by tomorrow.

On the flip side, he'll have to play his third round with Mark Calcavecchia, who'll hit an 80 and may drag him down with him.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 150th Open Championship thread

He finished before the wind, right?

Rory M currenly +6 for 11 holes today.

[ursus arctos]

The 150th Open Championship thread

We were once on the Eurostar from Milano to Venice with Calcavecchia and his wife. Pleasant people, very down to earth.

I share Rogin's view on Seve. Trevino was my favorite golfer as a kid, but Seve is very close.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

The wind's really getting up again, just as the leaders go out. If the likes of Stenson and - surely not? - Sergio Garcia get home at 5 or 6 under, I think they might not be too far off the lead later on. Oosthuizen's got it to lose, of course, but we saw McIlroy scramble to an 80 yesterday, it could easily happen to Louis today. Westwood or Casey, at -6, may well be clubhouse leaders tonight if it does really blow up and they can just go round in par.

[Etienne]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Looks like McIlroy might finish this Open still never having played a round in the 70s at St Andrews.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Heh, and virtually as I type Stenson holes his approach shot for an eagle at 13. It walloped into the flag, too, it would have gone about 40 feet past if it hadn't gone in.

Stenson -8 now, and only 5 holes to negotiate. If he can get past the Road Hole safely, and birdie 18, he could be in the clubhouse at -9, and I reckon that could be clubhouse lead tonight, unless the wind suddenly drops.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Yeas, I'd love Rory to get one more birdie coming in and finish at -6 himself.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Good lord, Calc's had a worse start than even I was anticipating for him. Sad to see really. But +7 after 5 holes - if he doesn't pull himself together he could shoot 90 here.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Peter Alliss has just reacted to some students waving out of window with "we know what goes on up there!"

He just about carried it off without sounding too much like Benny Hill.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Well tomorrow's now either going to witness the most dramatic final day turnaround in Open history, if both Oosthuizen and Casey buckle under the pressure of realizing they could win a major championship (and not just any old major, an Open at St. Andrews) or it could be one of the most boring final days of all time, if the pressure gets to Casey alone and Oosthuizen is allowed a fairly serene stroll to clear victory by all the rest.

With the main field 7 shots back from Oosthuizen and 3 back from Casey, the two leaders will both have to have a pretty disastrous day for it to end up as a bunch finish, but this has happened before in majors, on occasion.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Talking about how the pressure might get to Oosthuizen by tomorrow, bear this in mind:

Prior to this week, he's only once before made the cut at a major (the 2008 PGA, where he finished, er, 73rd and last).

Even Jean Van De Velde had had a couple of top-40 finishes at the Open before his famous blow-up in 1999 (as indeed had Paul Lawrie who beat him that year). It's very, very, rare for someone to genuinely come through and win a major with no real previous experience of playing under the pressure of being there on the Sunday of one - Ben Curtis (at this championship in 2003) was probably the last example of that happening, and before him, I think it was John Daly's debut win in the 1991 PGA. Zach Johnson had enjoyed a couple of top-40 finishes, and Geoff Ogilvy was almost on fire by comparison, he'd had two top-10 finishes prior to winning the US Open as an "unknown" in 2006. I checked, but yes, even Yong-Eun Yang had two top-50 finishes in majors prior to his PGA win as an "unknown" last year. Put in that context, for Oosthuizen to win (even with a 4-shot head start) would be a truly commendable achievement. In fact, the more so because he'll be under the spotlight so much - when Curtis won in 2003, he was able to kind of just go round from the middle of the field and make his score unnoticed thinking he was going to finish 4th or maybe 5th, then sat as astonished as everyone else when it turned out everyone behind him failed to match his score.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Well, Oosthuizen is looking at a tricky pitch out of rough at the fifth, but he needs to start playing much worse than this if today's going to be interesting. No-one behind is doing anything - no Greg Norman-style final round 64s today it seems, which is a shame.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

or it could be one of the most boring final days of all time, if the pressure gets to Casey alone and Oosthuizen is allowed a fairly serene stroll to clear victory by all the rest.

It was this one. Hate to say it, but maybe rather than St Andrews they should play this at Carnoustie every year.

[Gangster Octopus]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Yup, in some ways a serious anti-climax. Where can I get odds on no Englishman currently in the top fifty never winning a major?

[Duncan Gardner]

The 150th Open Championship thread

"Tiger, can an American ever win another Major?"



Listening to the once-yearly golf phone in on the BBC last night (six-scratch-six, heh). At least one klutz was moaning that the British players always seem to choke when about to net a big one.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

It must be particularly galling for Lee Westwood, though, that after over 10 years experience of winning events and being in the world's top ten, he beats everyone in the field bar the surprise winner who could have had no real expectation to be there. I don't know about the other English players, but I'm beginning to agree that Westwood may simply not be destined to win a major, a bit like Monty. Then again, we all said that about Harrington, and he suddenly won 3 out of 5.

[Gangster Octopus]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

God, I love Seve Ballesteros.

I hope he lives for another 50 years.

Hope harder.

[ad hoc]

The 150th Open Championship thread

Rumour seems to be flying that he's died. Couldn't give much of s hit about the sport, but he was a man who managed to make it exciting and worth watching. In fact the only man (in my lifetime at least)

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The 150th Open Championship thread

If you'll forgive me, I want to start to start a seperate Seve thread to this one.

[ursus arctos]

The 150th Open Championship thread

You should.

No forgiveness needed.

This sucks.