The 2011 British Open

[jamo]

And Boston

Oh totally. All of the local news channels are going crazy. It's Clarke-mania! :-D

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by jamo

What's the correct terminology then? Is the entire island Ireland, while the larger county is ROI, and the smaller one is Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK? I hope that didn't sound smart-assy, I just don't know what the correct terms are.

Check out http://qntm.org/uk

[Chas]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

On the coverage here in America (I don't know what channel it was because I'm watching from a hotel in Vegas), immediately after he hit that shot (or maybe immediately after the hole was over) they showed a montage of his final-round collapses/failures in majors.  The context of the analysis was that, "he's done it again."

I believe it was Ben Curtis who was saying something to the effect that DJ may be developing a pattern of collapsing in majors.  That wasn't a collapse.  Darren Clarke (sp?) won that tournament and DJ came up shot in trying to catch him.  Yes, a very very poor shot ended his chances, but even if he pulls off that shot he wasn't assured of anything.

Brandon

Well said.  Some of the commentators seem to have developed this talking point about DJ - a particularly foolish one since a player at DJ's stage in his career can be expected to experience some disappointments like this.  Before pulling off a big win.  If Curtis really said that he will certainly now have been asked to explain what he really meant because that was certainly no "collapse".

Sometimes you have to wonder if some of the commentators care what people think of them.  Perhaps they're just talking amongst themselves much of the time, at least that's the impression you can get.

Perhaps they need to be told," if you can't fill the time with intelligent and worthwhile commentary, try not talking so much - more silence would be an improvement".

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by jamo

Oh totally. All of the local news channels are going crazy. It's Clarke-mania!

Haha. I can only imagine. Can't forget Oirland Overseas.

Happy for the big man. Thoroughly deserved win. Four rounds under par in those conditions is classy golf.

[carpediem4300]

was good open, really enjoyed it, my girlfriend has even become hooked!!

Was rooting for fowler, something about him i like,

Lewis the young amatuer looked like he could be good, but blew up ont he final two rounds, although my first perception is that i dont like him, his face just looks like the type of guy being nice to people because he is told to, but thats just perception and not truth i guess

whats next on the calendar? ive become a little out of touch recently :P

[deasy55]

I like the way some people are trying to claim that Clarke, McIlroy and Gmac are not from Ireland even though they obviously are. "They're not from Ireland, they're from Northern Ireland" makes absolutely no sense. And people that believe it does make sense should click on sacm3bill's link above and educate themselves.

[nevets88]

Originally Posted by jamo

What's the correct terminology then? Is the entire island Ireland, while the larger county is ROI, and the smaller one is Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK? I hope that didn't sound smart-assy, I just don't know what the correct terms are.

That Venn, Euler, whatever diagram in the link is very good, actually the best explanation I've seen you can get just from a glance without reading anything. This link I posted before the Open tells a bit of the story behind the geography, you might have already read it, but I'll include it anyway:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/sports/golf/northern-irelands-mcilroy-transcends-boundaries.html

Not only do you have the geographical distinctions, you have your Unionists, Loyalists, Nationalists, Ulstermen, the troubles,  the color orange, the twelfth, Celtic-Rangers, etc... a whole slew of history that I try to understand but an still learning new things about every time I open link to a UK/Irish newspaper article.

[brgolf]

Originally Posted by Tiger Spuds

I happen to know a lot of people in the North have Irish passports only because they're cheaper to obtain and because Irish passport holders are perceived to get less hassle than British passport holders while travelling to other countries due to neutrality etc. Regardless, what that has to do with the Republic and the North not being seperate countries, I don't know. Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain, therefore it's seperate to the Republic. For that reason, to me at least, Darren's win is a win for Northern Ireland alone. That's just my view on it, you're entitled to view it as you please.

It has to do with the Good Friday Agreement and that I am legally entitled to have an Irish passport and therefore they are not 'entirely' different countries.  By law my nationaility is what I consider it to be- British, Irish or Northern Irish or all three.  That's just one example. The fact that many N Irish people including Unionists casually refer to the Island as a whole is another and therefore hardly requires correction.

[brgolf]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Haha. I can only imagine. Can't forget Oirland Overseas.

Happy for the big man. Thoroughly deserved win. Four rounds under par in those conditions is classy golf.

Only level par for the last round but he had shots in hard. He really mastered the conditions. I don't think he has the game to win in benign conditions but he has to rank as one of the best ball strikers around.

[makaveli]

Just back from Royal St. George's, so happy for Darren!! :)

[Tiger Spuds]

Originally Posted by deasy55

I like the way some people are trying to claim that Clarke, McIlroy and Gmac are not from Ireland even though they obviously are. "They're not from Ireland, they're from Northern Ireland" makes absolutely no sense. And people that believe it does make sense should click on sacm3bill's link above and educate themselves.

Ask Rory where he's from and he'll say Northern Ireland, not Ireland. Does he need to 'educate' himself?

[deasy55]

Exactly? Because he is from there. He is from Northern Ireland. He is also from Ireland. Get it? It's not that hard. Even look at who came 2nd here http://worldcup.pgatour.com/leaderboard.aspx (Click Ireland, who came 2nd, to see who represented them)

Either way you decide to look at it, you must still say it's a great achievement for 4 golfers that grew up playing Fred Daly Golf(my favourite competition to compete in growing up myself) and representing the same Irish teams around the world to win 6 majors between them in recent years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiger Spuds

Ask Rory where he's from and he'll say Northern Ireland, not Ireland. Does he need to 'educate' himself?

[Kieran123]

There are two Irelands. One of them is free, the other is not

*waits for flames*

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Chas

Well said.  Some of the commentators seem to have developed this talking point about DJ - a particularly foolish one since a player at DJ's stage in his career can be expected to experience some disappointments like this.  Before pulling off a big win.  If Curtis really said that he will certainly now have been asked to explain what he really meant because that was certainly no "collapse".

I can't say for certain that he used the word "collapse" since I wasn't watching on my DVR, but he seemed to imply it with the language he used.

Brandon

[Tiger Spuds]

Originally Posted by deasy55

Exactly? Because he is from there. He is from Northern Ireland. He is also from Ireland. Get it? It's not that hard. Even look at who came 2nd here http://worldcup.pgatour.com/leaderboard.aspx  (Click Ireland, who came 2nd, to see who represented them)

Either way you decide to look at it, you must still say it's a great achievement for 4 golfers that grew up playing Fred Daly Golf(my favourite competition to compete in growing up myself) and representing the same Irish teams around the world to win 6 majors between them in recent years.

Missing the point, again. If those lads view themselves as Northern Irish, and they do, then that's who they're representing, and it's a win for their country, not ours. If they were also representing Ireland (I thought there was no such place as 'just Ireland'? ) , then they'd be playing under the Tricolour, which they don't. The Northern Irish flag is what they play under, because that's their country.

Looks at Rory's twitter. "Northern Ireland, Golf capital of the World". Not Ireland.  In my view, if they seem themselves as from Northern Ireland, that's who the win belongs to. But that's just me, you've very welcome to view it any way you like.

[Taggsy]

As an Englishman, allow me to briefly explain the rules on where people come from and what they're known as over here.

If you're a sportsman from Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales and you're WINNING tournaments, you're British.

If you're a sportsman from Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales and you're crap, you're Northern Irish / Scottish / Welsh.

The English are English regardless of how good / crap you are at your sport.

;)

But back to the thread, I was at St Georges for the last day. Highlights were; watching Adam Scott at the practice range, standing next to Tom Lewis' girlfriend by the 8th green (wow), being acknowledged by Simon Dyson after shouting "great shot" at him, and pitching up on the 18th just where most player's drivers were ending up, watching their approaches into the green right in front of me.

They were pretty strict at the course and you weren't allowed to bring in mobile phones or cameras. They had airport style security at the gates where you had to put all bags through an xray machine and then be searched via magic wand.

[Tiger Spuds]

Originally Posted by Taggsy

They were pretty strict at the course and you weren't allowed to bring in mobile phones or cameras. They had airport style security at the gates where you had to put all bags through an xray machine and then be searched via magic wand.

Really? I didn't think they were that strict over here compared to the States, say. Probably because it was a Major, I'd imagine. I know regular European Tour events aren't that strict on phones and cameras. Unless Bubba's whining has kick started some stronger measures..

[deasy55]

Oh dear..........
There's no need to twist my words and then proceed to say people can view it whatever way they like. That just makes me look like an a$$hole if I reply. Well played.

And by the way, they played under the tricolour for the World Cup (Which actually surprised me). You are also still confusing Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

Anyway i'm done here. I've had enough of this pointless drivel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiger Spuds

Missing the point, again. If those lads view themselves as Northern Irish, and they do, then that's who they're representing, and it's a win for their country, not ours. If they were also representing Ireland (I thought there was no such place as 'just Ireland'? ) , then they'd be playing under the Tricolour, which they don't. The Northern Irish flag is what they play under, because that's their country.

Looks at Rory's twitter. "Northern Ireland, Golf capital of the World". Not Ireland.  In my view, if they seem themselves as from Northern Ireland, that's who the win belongs to. But that's just me, you've very welcome to view it any way you like.