Insomnia is a strange bird.
At times inevitable, regretful, helpful, disagreeable—the thing just cannot be tamed however. Rarely this gets discussed, like climate and how it affects golfers and their games.
During this Open Championship, climate has been more of a hindrance than anything else. The weather will be a constant wildcard throughout this tournament: Temperature, precipitation and, of course, wind. They’re all major factors—as much as the hazards and yardage even.
Who is Brandt Snedeker?
I had no idea who this guy was, so I turned to Google, like everyone else when they’re stumped.
But Google doesn’t even help, for it just tells me everything I already know: The guy’s leading the British Open, he’s from Tennessee and Snedeker shot (-10) through two days without a single bogey. Impressive.
The cat shot his way into the final group for the weekend, and with the lead, that presents a rather interesting dilemma. Going into a day being in front, as opposed to being in chase, makes a world of difference.
Plus, I believe this is shaping up to end like the US Open concluded: Someone posting a low round and then watching everyone else come in higher. But it is only Friday—too much golf to play to say anything that grandiose…(even though I did)
Tiger Watch, Day Two
Another day, another 67—but these were anything but similar.
Sure: Woods shot the exact same score, each time shooting four birdies and only one bogey, yet the journey was quite different.
Where yesterday was a hot start with a not-too-dazzling finish, today we saw fireworks at the close. Tiger birdied Hole 16, pared Hole 17, and he looked rather good amidst a massive group of players at (-4).
Then he found one of those bloody British bunkers to the right of the green on Hole 18. Deep breath; at least this one isn’t full of water.
Tiger Woods couldn’t end on an off note however, so he put the thing in the hole out of the limey bunker. This guy’s too much fun to watch play golf.
Those Moving on Up
Other than the obvious mover known now as the leader, there were a few that threw down some rounds in the positive direction.
Adam Scott had a start that appeared to be headed in completely the wrong direction. He bogeyed his third hole and I began to think I was right on his second round being above par—but boy was my prediction wrong.
Scott’s only a shot back after his 67, but he showed me some moxie, as well as the ability to deal with his mistakes and recover nicely, for he followed his bogey with four birdies. Nice.
People shooting themselves up in the ranks were Jason Dufner and Matt Kuchar, both now sitting at (-4). Dufner shot 66 because of a great run he had on Holes 6-10 where he birdied all of them but Hole 9, which he pared; Kuchar had a much different path: Holes 1-10 produced two bogeys and a birdie; Holes 11-18 garnered four birdies. Sweet.
After that, Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark came storming into the clubhouse at (-5), and the 22-year-old will be paired with Tiger tomorrow. This guy came so far out of left field that the people running the scoreboard initially spelled his name wrong as they moved his name up into the fourth position. Ouch.
The Rest
Rory McIlroy didn’t have a good day; no sir. McIlroy shot a 75 to put himself at (+2) thanks to five bogeys, a double and only two birdies.
Bubba Watson also shot himself in the foot today—with an 8 at the par 5 Hole 7 to follow back-to-back bogeys. Then the salvaging began; Bubba shot only one more bogey and birdied three holes to claw his way back to (E) overall, successfully making the cut when it looked like all hope was lost.
Zach Johnson started out alright, with a birdie on the opening par 3. Then it went south in a hurry: Double bogey on Hole 3 and a bogey on Hole 7 on his way to shooting a 74, planting his flag at (-1).
The cut wasn’t even that brutal, so it won’t be getting its own segment, but names that’ll be fun to watch in the wee small hours of Saturday morning for their colorful outfits as well as their golf games are John Daly and Rickie Fowler. Double bonus.
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