The John Deere Classic is this week, but who in their right mind is thinking about the event? Michelle Wie will be trying to make her first cut in a men’s event, but that’s old news. The Open Championship is next week, and that’s where my focus is. This year’s British Open has flown under the radar somewhat here in the United States, but that shouldn’t be the case.
There are plenty of great storylines brewing for next week’s major championship at Royal Liverpool. Will Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson get themselves in contention on Sunday? Is Hoylake good enough to host a British Open Championship? These are just a couple of the storylines I’m going to talk about, so sit tight and continue reading.
Giant club heads, exotic shafts, and weird-looking putters have become staples in the bags of players today. In fact, it seems every year brings a new twist on technology that prods players to keep pace.
Fresh from a nice little Fourth of July break, Hittin’ the Links is back and ready to go. This week features the intoxicating smile of Brittany Linicome, Pink Paula Creamer, a severe Tiger Woods hater, Trevor Immelman, and much, much more. 
Starting with the original Big Bertha, Callaway has always been associated with quality, high-performance drivers. Nearly every company has rushed to the 460cc limit, although Titleist took their time getting the 
Callaway Golf’s HX Tour golf balls are among the best-selling balls at retail and also enjoy strong usage numbers on tour. While the HX Tour and HX Tour 56 still look longingly up at Titleist’s Pro V1x and Pro V1, Callaway’s flagship balls have actually outpaced Titleist in major championship wins on the PGA and LPGA tours over the last two years (thanks to Annika Sorenstam, Phil Mickelson, Michael Campbell, and even Nike-using Tiger Woods).
Annika Sorenstam needed 90 holes to do it, but she wins the U.S. Women’s Open. This week, talk of Annika’s win, Geoff Ogilvy on distance, Greg Norman’s advice, Carolyn Bivens’ reign of terror, the flaws of the FedExCup and Ryder Cup, Seve on the U.S. Open, and two chips by Jeong Jang. Tune in to this episode of Golf Talk for more.
The Open Championship at Hoylake is less than two weeks away and I can hardly contain my excitement for golf’s oldest and grandest stage. Some of golf’s greatest champions (Vardon, Jones, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, Woods) have won The Open and I’m looking forward to seeing which winner will be revealed in 2006.
Thanks to the (not-so-) modern miracle of cascading style sheets (CSS), today we’re introducing a long overdue feature here at The Sand Trap: printer-specific style sheets for cleaner prints.