2012 British Open Discussion Thread

[Wally Fairway]

Originally Posted by BallStriker

QUESTION:  What players outside the top 150 in world golf rankings are in good form and have a very solid chance of making the cut?

Responses very much appreciated.......

John Daly

[Zwick]

Originally Posted by joekelly

Great visuals of each hole including a comment on each hole from top pro.  Cannot believe all the sand bunkers i see.  And only 2 par 5 holes on entire course.  From UK newspaper The Telegraph      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/theopen/9406557/The-Open-2012-hole-by-hole-guide.html

I played this course a few months ago, with the rough a little lower and the fairways a little wider. But it still was a very big challenge.

In these visuals you can't see how close the railway track really is on some holes on the front nine (especially 2, 3 and 7). I won't be surprised to see some tee shots out of bounds on these holes.

One of my favourite holes is number 9, short par 3 over a little valley, the green is tilted back to front with quite a large ridge in the middle of it. If you hit it in the bunkers short and right you have close to no chance to make par, but in the bunkers long and left your chances are not much better either.

After that you turn into the wind on 10 and get your only blind tee shot of the round. It only gets harder from there on in.

Brilliant course and the bunkering is probably the best I've ever seen. The only negative I can think of is the lack of visual attraction (no ocean view, big cliffs etc. like on some other Open courses).

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by joekelly

Great visuals of each hole including a comment on each hole from top pro.  Cannot believe all the sand bunkers i see.  And only 2 par 5 holes on entire course.  From UK newspaper The Telegraph      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/theopen/9406557/The-Open-2012-hole-by-hole-guide.html

[ApocG10]

Can't wait to play this course next month when the wife and I are there for our our anniversary. Wish we could have been there for the open instead :(

[joekelly]

brocks, i have no idea what is going on, except that i use Google Chrome and have no problems viewing.  If IE is Microsoft, then... ask Bill Gates and Firefox is unknown to me.

[brocks]

brocks, i have no idea what is going on, except that i use Google Chrome and have no problems viewing.  If IE is Microsoft, then... ask Bill Gates and Firefox is unknown to me.

Thanks. Yes, IE is Microsoft's Internet Explorer which is the default Windows browser, and so is widely used by people who don't realize there are alternatives. Firefox is the Mozilla browser, which is second in popularity to IE, although I've seen some reports that say Chrome is overtaking it. Anyway, I tried it with Chrome, and I only got about a line more, but that was enough to see that I was mistaken about only seeing part of the quote. Apparently I'm seeing the whole thing, but they just cut off the last sentence, without so much as a period. For example, the last sentence of the comment on the first hole is, "A trio of bunkers guard either side of the green and the players must commit", which I expected to continue with something like "to their shot, if they want to get off to a good start." But with Chrome, I can see a horizontal line that apparently indicates that's the whole quote, and just the very top portion of the pro's name. I don't know why I'm having problems seeing the whole thing, but the diagrams of the holes giving yardages from the tee and green are extremely useful, so thanks again for the link. Edit: I'm calling it right now --- Kodai Ichihara, the only player under par after about a dozen guys have teed off, is going to win.

[brocks]

Good stuff already. Lawrie chips in twice, Westwood opens birdie-birdie, and Tiger just sank a ten-footer for birdie on the first hole.

[bplewis24]

Wake up, the rest of you bums!  It's 1AM on the West Coast!

[Zwick]

Weather looks perfect so far. Scores are still not very good, that shows how hard this course really is.

[brocks]

Early days, but Tiger is driving well, chipping well, and putting well. It was really impressive when he hit a low bullet with an iron that went farther than a 3-wood that Rose absolutely flushed with a slight draw. Bubba is the other guy who seems to really be on his game. It would be great if it came down to those two on Sunday. Tiger's group is already a full hole behind where they should be. Sergio and Rose have spent a lot of time in the weeds, and Tiger has backed off a lot of shots. If the other thread is right about the PTB enforcing the clock, they might get into trouble.

[nevets88]

Originally Posted by brocks

That course guide looks great, but I've tried with both IE and Firefox, and I can only see the top half of the pro's comments. Any advice?

Get Google Chrome. I only use IE if I have to and switched over to Chrome from FF, 4-5 years ago. FF got slow, fat and crashy.

[bplewis24]

I loved it when Scott Van Pelt said, "when guys at your local club say 'I drove it 320..,' no, no you don't.  That's what it looks like."

[zipazoid]

Very impressive shot out of a divot by Tiger on 10. His swing looks really good.

BTW, I wrote this last year about the Open Championship -

http://zipsclips.blogspot.com/2011/07/macho-golf.html

[darkhunter139]

Some serious scoring going on so far it looks like. It'll be fun following this during work :)

[nevets88]

Love the teaser:

Ian McShane, Game of Thrones style overheads, Gary Player off the side of a building.

[ScT1]

The course is playing kind of soft and easy this first round. No wind. The only danger out there right now is being offline and getting into the tall rough which is thicker than normal because of the rain they've had. Or if a player hits into a fairway bunker.

The course is going to need some wind to give these guys a challenge.

[Chilli Dipper]

Some really good scores coming out of those players starting early today. Lytham won't be so accommodating all weekend; the guys who shot over par day may well shoot a good round tomorrow, then start to see the leaders fall back to them.

[jamo]

Adam Scott in the lead so far, at -6. Tiger finished at -3. I ... mentioned Scott in our pre-tourny predictions.