Belated Day One British "Open" Thread
There may be a couple of nervous breakdowns in these afternoon groups. I don't know as though I have ever seen a major played on a course this hard and dry. It is almost not really even golf at this point. That being said, this is going to produce an interesting weekend to watch. Look out for Mark O'M(e)ara. 3 under now, won the Open before, is able to land the ball really softly. I think the winner of this tournament is going to someone with a few scars on them from tough weeks past.
Mark O'Meara and Mark O'Mara are not the same person.
Me too. I love watching them get chewed up by the course.
That just shows how difficult the course is (or how bad the weather is). The U.S. Open was brutal for the players. Last year's Open Championship featured awful weather and thankfully the weather is expected to be good this weekend at Muirfield. I have been listening to the tournament on Sirius all day.
Rory McIlroy shoots an 8 over 79. Two doubles, six bogeys, two birdies
Edit: should be labelled OT
the good people on this blog are able to reach that conclusion easily based on the fact that the title of the thread itself is very specifically OT.
Is this something about the royal baby?
makes me sick.
Every tournament he is in, he's the lead story - or dominates the stories even when someone else is winning and kicking his a$$. They never focus on the leader - it's "Tiger Woods is 12 shots back...with Garcia leading at -10".
He took another likely illegal ball drop but still got a Bogey despite cheating yet again.
Go away Tiger.
Then like it or not - go away casual golf viewers on TV. Study after study show that ratings spike when he is on the leader board and slump when he's not. He's mentioned because people (like it or not) are interested in him and watch more when he's playing.
I'll admidt to being one of those people. When Tiger (and Phil to a lesser degree) are playing well I'll watch. And if they're in the hunt on Sunday (like Phil was for the US Open) then I'll watch the whole thing.
Money talks. Tiger isn't going away.
issues permitting he will be in the mix weekend. He has made a couple of ridiculous mistakes but he is dialed in with his irons and distances. A course that makes driver unnecessary is gold for him right now. He just needs to grind through today. He is out early tommorow and that will be the day that he goes after it a little bit.
drop was legit. I think with an unplayable it is now closer to the hole as far back as you would like. That is my understanding anyway. The provisional was questionably as the marshalls had clearly found the ball but I think the drop was fine.
Wut? you mean the guy that is still trying to chase down Jacks 18 is getting media attention? what a shock. Oh he is also one of the most iconic sports figures in the world too. Maybe they should pay more attention to Shiv Kapur.. considering he will more then likely flop by the time the weekend comes, he deserves way more attention %s.
Cheating? jesus H christ.. he took a legal drop on an unplayable lie. The ruling at the masters was a mess. That rule has been discussed for the last two years and many of the pros, club pros, and officials are still having trouble figuring it out. The ruling didn't even come down till 14 hours after it happened because none of the officials on the course thought he did anything wrong untill someone from the usga rang it in from watching the broadcast. yeah what a cheater. Go watch something else if your going to complain about the number one player in world and the most popular.
get off my lawn
don't think he did anything wrong. Talk that the drop was 2 or 3 yards behind the original spot was eroneous. The drop was no more than 2 feet behind its original spot. I actually thought Tiger got royally hosed at Augusta.
he actually is leading, or wins something - fine. Put him in the headlines. But when he's 12 shots back and/or misses the cut, focus on the LEADERS and give them some credit. Focus is on him all the time and not those who are actually WINNING. He's in 16th place, and the article title is about him: "Tiger begins British Open Chase" - what about the guy in FIRST FREAKING PLACE???
And yes, cheating. In the game, and in life. He's a scumbag. Also too bad they don't have PED testing in golf. Convinced he and several others are on PEDs.
seriously do not like Tiger Woods. Is that fair to say?
Yes - that is for sure fair to say.
What if I told you Tiger, for all his professional and personal indiscretions, liked cowbells? Would that change your opinion of him?
Tiger
Okay Elin.
have both sucked (compared to their past performances) since they switched to Nike...Obviously the club company has little to do with performance, but Taylor Made and Ping continue to be on top of the Winners Circel week in and week out...I would like to see Bubba win it!
I think he's done just fine with Nike sticks.
Rory are not going into Carl's Golf Land and picking a set off the rack. They are playing Nike only in the sense that they smash a swoosh on golf clubs that are specifically designed for their game in every way. They more or less wear Nike clothes and carry a Nike bag. Tiger is playing the Tiger Woods Golf Clubs, not the latest Nike V series. Equipment is having nothing to do with either of their issues.
each pro has all of their clubs custom fitted to their exact measurements, however titleist and ping putters produce more champs year in and year out...and you are right about TW switching a long time ago, but he has been on a downward spiral since shortly after swtiching (after 2006 to be exact)...just going by the stats here, and i originally posted that the company has little to do with it
I didn't appreciate what you were saying in that part of your post. My bad.
I'm curious if that will continue to be true... Seeing as Nike didn't get into the club business until 2002, how much of that is inertia? I suspect more pros grew up playing Titleist and Ping, since those were the go-to brands, and there's probably some inertia/brand loyalty involved.
That said, Ping in particular does seem to market more toward the skilled amateur, and with a lot of custom options - so perhaps they'll continue to hook 'em young. Whereas Nike's line seems to be more bifurcated into the weekend hacker line and the pro stuff.
Tiger's Nike putter looks like the carbon copy ofhis Scotty Cameron putter.
Tiger should get Nike to slap on the swoosh onto some Titleist blades.
I believe they did that for awhile while he was transitioning. Just like he had Titleist slap their logo onto the back of Miura blades when he got his first endorsement deal.
As is covered in many of the posts in this thread, it is crazy to put any player's performance (Tiger, Rory, etc.) on switching between major golf club manufacturers when they all spend alot of time creating prototypes to their exact specifications.
Put me in the camp that is excited to see Tiger and Phil in contention. If we had to slog through another Justin Rose/Adam Scott snoozefest I would need to find something else to do this weekend.
If you think the company has little to do with performance, what exactly is the point of your post? Titleist and TaylorMade seem to sponsor everybody, Nike seems to focus on a few of the biggest names.
If your point is "Tiger started sucking as soon as he switched to Nike", you're simply wrong:
He switched to Nike balls in 2000, Nike drivers in early 2002, and Nike irons in September 2002 (not sure about wedges and putter - for awhile he was putting with a Scotty Cameron with the Titleist logo blacked out, and he kept using Vokey wedges for some time after switching to Nike irons).
If you mark 2007 as the start of Tiger's decline (which is an odd year to pick, since he won 7 tournaments, including the PGA Championship, that year), that's still 4 full seasons after going with all Nike gear. Hardly "shortly after switching".
2003 and 2004 were not good years for him - I guess you could call that a Nike curse if you want, but then he came roaring back in 2005 and 2006. And let's put "not good year" in perspective - in 2003 he had 5 wins and was 2nd on the money list, in 2004 he had only one win but finished top 10 in 14 of his 19 starts and ended up 4th on the money list. That's a career year for all but the elite of the elite.
(The one Elin cracked over his head.)
It's actually called The Open Championship, but whatever.
My three favorites are Rory, Tiger, and Rickie. Both Rickie and Rory played terribly today. Tiger is doing just fine.
I don't know that? Americans call it the British Open because our "Open" is already spoken for. I am american. To me it is the British Open.
How am I supposed to know that you know that? Also, I wasn't really speaking directly to you, rather everyone.
Calm the F down.
EDIT: Our "Open" is not spoken for. It's called the U.S. Open. If it is spoken for, why do you call it the British "Open?"
a hell of a back nine under those conditions. Tees off at 4:45 am tommorrow and will get the easier conditions the early players had today.
Spieth needs to get more love. After winning last week to qualify and posting 2 under today (tied with tiger) and nobody is talking about him. I get he is only 19 but the kid is playing some good golf right now.