2014 Open Championship (Mens)

[buckeyebri]

All four days being broadcast on the mothership, or Tiger Woods network in this case, which is unfortunate. When you play on a day can certainly dictate the scoring. Conditions for the morning groups have been very calm. Rory with a blistering first round. Tiger with a nice opening round after going bogey-bogey to start. Fowler continues to play well in the majors and Spieth is going along nicely in the first round.

I am always intrigued by the guys that you never see all year round that show up in majors. Guys from the U.S. that I have never heard of (and I watch a fair amount of golf) playing in the open. I guess Calcevechia's flight got cancelled so he didn't make it over. Seems odd that a guy would miss a tournament that way, but I guess it happens to everyone.

 

[ScriptOhio]

I presume John Daly's pants are within the rules.

John Daly and his girlfriend Anna Cladakis.

SpongeBob pants in a practice round.

In case you are wondering how he is doing: http://www.cbssports.com/golf/players/playerpage/149697/john-daly

 

[buckeyebri]

Both Jordan Spieth and Ricky Fowler are looking sharp and sporting Buckeye like garb today.....Nice round by Phil this morning as he hung tough. Looks like Bubba is going home....

 

[ScriptOhio]

Tiger Woods had an eventful back nine during the first round at the British Open Thursday and not only because he sunk five birdies to finish with a 3-under 69.

On the 17th hole at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Woods sliced a drive that bounced and drilled an oblivious course marshal in the head. Then on 18, Woods stopped at the top of his swing to shout "Jesus Christ" at a throng of photographers standing directly in front of him snapping pictures, distracting him from his shot.

http://www.cbssports.com/golf/eye-o...-woods-hits-somebody-in-the-face-with-a-drive

 

[buckeyebri]

First time ever that they have split the groups and times to both front and back tees. Kind of strange that Phil is already done and Tiger just started his second nine, when he was at the back of the pack coming in to today. Weather has been wet today but no wind.

 

[ScriptOhio]

10-year-old bet big for Gerry McIlroy

According to the BBC's Andrew Cotter, 10 years ago Rory McIlroy's father Gerry and three friends made a legal bet of 400 British pounds (100 each, equivalent to $170.87 currently) that the then-15-year-old would win the Open Championship by the age of 26.

On Sunday, the Northern Irishman will be 25 years, 2 months and 16 days, meaning his father and friends would collect 200,000 pounds (roughly $341,730). Though the bet actually stipulated that the younger McIlroy would win by the time he was 25, Cotter confirmed that even though McIlroy's birthday has passed, the wager still counts as he has not yet turned 26.

Entire article: http://espn.go.com/golf/theopen14/s...hampionship-dad-bet-rory-mcilroy-win-title-26

However, if Rory does win (and he has a nice 6 shot lead after 3 rounds he'll be an even bigger money winner (equivalent to $1,196,055). FWIW, others get:


Top 10
2nd: $956,844
3rd: $615,114
4th: $478,422
5th: $385,300
6th: $334,041
7th: $285,344
8th: $241,773
9th: $211,018
10th: $193,077

Top 25
11th: $173,427
12th: $154,632
13th: $144,380
14th: $134,983
15th: $126,440
16th: $115,333
17th: $110,207
18th: $105,081
19th: $100,810
20th: $96,538
21st: $91,412
22nd: $87,141
23rd: $82,869
24th: $78,597
25th: $75,180

 

[buckeyebri]

Rory just killed it today. It wasn't like Ricky had a bad day, but when the guy in the lead eagles 2 of the last 3 holes, what are you going to do. It will be interesting to see if Ricky Cowboys it up tomorrow with his attire. Spieth had a great round today. I am encouraged to see some young American guns coming up. If Keegan and DJ can keep there shit together the future looks bright for US golf.

Saw a good full frontal shot of Tiger and the guy looks like he should be playing linebacker. His upper body, neck, and arms are just ripped. Maybe too much so that he is losing flexibility.

David Duval as a commentator....yeah that was awkward in the studio....

 

[buckeyebri]

The problem with watching golf is that for some reason the networks seem to think we want to watch the leaders warm up, interview, and exclusively their pairing(s) on the course as opposed to watching guys actually play.

 

[THEWOOD]

I could watch pros hit balls on the range all day long.

 

[buckeyebri]

Nice win by Rory, just to far ahead to be caught. Great rounds by Ricky, Sergio, and Jim. DJ just hasn't gotten it yet, but hopefully he will in the future. Strange and Zinger just need to STFU...

 

[WoodyWorshiper]

I could watch pros hit balls on the range all day long.

Too late and too many beers in the gut to respond about the entire day I had back in 1980 at the opening round of the WSOG so I'll just share one memory now, more to come.

I went down to the event in Akron on a whim because I heard Nev Chandler say on the 11:00pm news the night prior to that Trevino, Watson, and Jack were playing in a threesome thursday.
Drove down to Akron as a blind 18 year old kid who had no idea where he was going. Made it there and alot of cool things happened, but the one I'll share with what The Wood posted was this.

Followed Raymond Floyd out to the range. Dude pulled out his pitching wedge and went to work. I'd say he hit about 15-18 balls, each and every one about 175 yards and so far into the sky that you basically lost sight of them them in that they were so far and high. When he was done with his wedge, honest to Christ, you could have taken a 175 yard walk out to where his balls landed, dropped a hula hoop on the ground, and EVERY SINGLE ONE of those balls would have been within the hula hoop. Absolutely AWESOME!

Peace

 

[buckeyebri]

Don't get me wrong, back in the 70s I went to a number of tournaments. I used to go to the range prior to the start and watch guys like Jack and Tom hit balls. Hell I marveled at the cool pyramids of brand new balls these guys were hitting. Sure beat the hell out of the shags I hit at the range or what I played on the course half the time as a youngster, but I digress. I learned things at that time from watching them. Sometimes they would even talk and joke around with you, but that is a personal experience.

That being said, when guys are playing on the course in a major championship I want to see them play. They never showed McDowell or any of the other guys that were having great rounds on Sunday, except for the obligatory shot of them finishing on 18. I really don't give a rats ass about Rory, Sergio, or Ricky coming into the parking lot, getting out of their luxury rides and putting on their shoes. Wow, we were treated to Dustin Johnson talking on his cell phone while stroking one handed putts on the practice green. Fat lot of good that did him on the course. I'll grant you the quick interviews with the leaders prior to tee off. There was, however, a lot of great golf being played by fantastic players, many of which were former champions and ShitSpin didn't show it. Of course, I need to lower my expectations right....

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Don't get me wrong, back in the 70s I went to a number of tournaments. I used to go to the range prior to the start and watch guys like Jack and Tom hit balls. Hell I marveled at the cool pyramids of brand new balls these guys were hitting. Sure beat the hell out of the shags I hit at the range or what I played on the course half the time as a youngster, but I digress. I learned things at that time from watching them. Sometimes they would even talk and joke around with you, but that is a personal experience.

That being said, when guys are playing on the course in a major championship I want to see them play. They never showed McDowell or any of the other guys that were having great rounds on Sunday, except for the obligatory shot of them finishing on 18. I really don't give a rats ass about Rory, Sergio, or Ricky coming into the parking lot, getting out of their luxury rides and putting on their shoes. Wow, we were treated to Dustin Johnson talking on his cell phone while stroking one handed putts on the practice green. Fat lot of good that did him on the course. I'll grant you the quick interviews with the leaders prior to tee off. There was, however, a lot of great golf being played by fantastic players, many of which were former champions and [Mark May]Spin didn't show it. Of course, I need to lower my expectations right....

My favorite part of yesterday's coverage was "Amateur Pysch Hour" where they made sure to let us know on multiple occasions that Sergio "didn't even acknowledge the roar or look at the scoreboard" after McIlroy did something good. (Like anyone thought Sergio would actually win ) That or right after Rory dropped a stroke early on, whichever one of their halfwits said that Rickie Fowler gave him a wink as he walked by "as if to say 'the game is on now'...."

Just typical shitty ESPN-generated middle school drama sports coverage.

 

[buckeyebri]

My favorite part of yesterday's coverage was "Amateur Pysch Hour" where they made sure to let us know on multiple occasions that Sergio "didn't even acknowledge the roar or look at the scoreboard" after McIlroy did something good. (Like anyone thought Sergio would actually win ) That or right after Rory dropped a stroke early on, whichever one of their halfwits said that Rickie Fowler gave him a wink as he walked by "as if to say 'the game is on now'...."

Just typical [Mark May]ty ESPN-generated middle school drama sports coverage.

What is even funnier is the assumption that Sergio knew it was McIlroy and not Ricky that caused the roar...FBMs.... Add on to that the psychobabble coming out of Strange and Azinger and it was absolutely classic ShitSpin announcing....