The Open Championship (or British Open for us across the Pond) 2010, July 15-18

[Red Dog]

Facts and Figures:

Event: 139th British Open

Dates: July 15-18

Site: St. Andrews (Old Course)

Length: 7,305 yards

Par: 36-36—72

Field: 156 players (147 professionals, nine amateurs).

Prize money: 4.8 million British pounds (approximately $7.3 million).

Winner's share: 850,000 pounds (approximately $1.3 million).

Defending champion:Stewart Cink.

Last year: Cink was a winner and a villain at Turnberry, easily winning the four-hole playoff and denying 59-year-old Tom Watson a chance to become golf's oldest major champion. Cink holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that appeared to be good only for second place. Watson, who had won at Turnberry 34 years earlier, only needed a par on the final hole. His 8-iron went long, he putted to 8 feet and missed the putt. Cink made two birdies in the playoff to capture his first major.

Last time at St. Andrews:Tiger Woods took the lead with a birdie on the ninth hole of the opening round and never gave it back over the final 63 holes. He closed with a 2-under 70 for a five-shot victory over Colin Montgomerie. Woods joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win the career Grand Slam twice, and he became the fifth player to win the Open twice at St. Andrews. Nicklaus missed the cut in the final major championship of his career.

Open champions at St. Andrews: Tom Kidd (1873), Bob Martin (1876, 1885), Jamie Anderson (1879), Robert Ferguson (1882), Jack Burns (1888), Hugh Kirkaldy (1891), J.H. Taylor (1895, 1900), James Braid (1905, 1910), Jock Hutchison (1921), Bobby Jones (1927), Denny Shute (1933), Dick Burton (1939), Sam Snead (1946), Peter Thomson (1955), Bobby Locke (1957), Kel Nagle (1960), Tony Lema (1964), Jack Nicklaus (1970, 1978), Seve Ballesteros (1984), Nick Faldo (1990), John Daly (1995), Tiger Woods (2000, 2005).

Key statistic: No one has ever won the British Open more than twice at St. Andrews.

Television (all times ET, all ESPN):
Thursday, July 15: 4 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Friday, July 16: 4 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Saturday, July 17: 7 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 18: 6 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

[Red Dog]

Vegasinsider.com odds:

FIELD (all other players) 2/1
TIGER WOODS 3/1
PHIL MICKELSON 10/1
LEE WESTWOOD 12/1
PADRAIG HARRINGTON 15/1
ERNIE ELS 18/1
RORY MCILROY 20/1
GRAEME MCDOWELL 22/1
IAN POULTER 25/1
PAUL CASEY 25/1
LUKE DONALD 28/1
MARTIN KAYMER 30/1
JIM FURYK 30/1
RETIEF GOOSEN 35/1
STEVE STRICKER 35/1
ROBERT KARLSSON 40/1
ROSS FISHER 40/1
SERGIO GARCIA 40/1
JUSTIN ROSE 40/1
HENRIK STENSON 40/1
GEOFF OGILVY 40/1
ADAM SCOTT 40/1
CAMILO VILLEGAS 40/1
CHARL SCHWARTZEL 50/1
HUNTER MAHAN 50/1
SEAN O'HAIR 50/1
STEWART CINK 60/1
TIM CLARK 60/1
ANGEL CABRERA 60/1
K.J. CHOI 60/1
NICK WATNEY 60/1

[wendersfan]

Who in their right mind would take Woods at 3/1?

[Red Dog]

He's probably not that short at most books. He's 4-1 for me. But yes, nobody should take that, but keep in mind, even with the current level he's playing at, he's got 2 top-5 finishes in the majors this year. Nobody else can say that. And he's won the last 2 times at St. Andrews.

[wendersfan]

It seems to me that mental toughness counts for more than is normal when playing at St. Andrews. And Woods doesn't seem to be as mentally tough as in the past.

[Red Dog]

Nobody has the level of mental toughness that Tiger once had. I don't think Tiger should be 3-1 or 4-1. Hell I never thought he should have had those kind of odds when he was dominating - there's simply too many people to beat in a golf tournament to rate odds like that. But if you were going to force me to bet on one guy and give me the same payout no matter who wins, I would take Tiger this weekend.

Anyhow, my loser bets are locked and loaded. Tiger at 4-1 is certainly not one of them.

[classicman2]

I see the betters are sticking with Tiger.

I wonder how many times he'll have to lose before they 'get off him?'

[B.A.]

I have Tiger, Ernie, Padraig and Poulter in my office pool.

[wendersfan]

Woods has ditched his trusty Scotty Cameron:

The Open 2010: Tiger Woods breaks another relationship - with his putter

The world No1 is no longer reluctant to tackle divorce, but only when speaking about how he has ditched his putter



There is a reverential hush as Tiger Woods takes his seat in the interview room and the crowd shuffles in to fill the seats. By mid-morning, much of his preparation for the day had been done, his habitual solo early round – in which he avoided spectators at the start and finish by omitting the 1st and 18th holes – completed before many had finished breakfast. Just the press to get through, a chore but part of the deal, and the day was his again.

These days, a Tiger Woods press conference is conducted as if treading on eggshells and the tension in the packed room was palpable. Rumours abound, not least on the gossip websites, that his marriage is ended, and astronomical payoff figures for his wife are being bandied. Someone will mention the "d" word because they have to, but it will cut no ice. He sits impassively, grins occasionally as another question skips past the subject, offers a little golfing insight and, when a few inevitable tentative stabs arrive, dead-bats any question on his private life, save to say he is striving to be a better person and dad. Divorce? "I'm not going to go into that."

Today, though, he admitted that the most enduring love affair perhaps of his life, one that goes back to a first dalliance 11 years ago, was over, temporarily at least. You can never say never on a tearful reunion, but this week at the Open Championship, Woods has jettisoned his faithful old Scotty Cameron putter, which he has used unfailingly in every tournament he has played since the Byron Nelson Classic in 1999, winning 72 times around the world, and in its place will be a Nike Method putter. All those fist-pumping clutch-putts made with this singular wand in his hand. "It must," remarked one questioner, without quite seeming to realise the irony of it, "be like kicking a member of the family out or something."

Woods is on a mission here. Ten years ago he saw in the millennium by slaughtering the Old Course and opposition alike, to the tune of 19 under par, winning the Open by eight shots. Five years on he repeated the dose, by a five‑stroke margin. The Open has been contested at St Andrews 28 times and besides Woods only a pair of ancients, JH Taylor and James Braid, and, inevitably, Jack Nicklaus managed to win successively here. None made it a hat‑trick.

These may be trying times for Woods as he attempts to bring some stability not just to his life but his swing, which in a sport of such precision has been letting him down at key moments, yet still he starts as favourite to do just that.

All golfers who come to the Open will change the compilation of the 14 clubs in their bag according to the weather conditions, firmness of the course and now the greens. A little less bounce on the wedges, for example, to combat the springy seaside turf, or something that will give a lower ball flight and more fairway roll to combat the wind that is expected to howl through at some stage during the four days.

Woods will be substituting a strong two iron, another old friend, for the high-flying five wood he normally carries. The putter is key, though, the most personal of all golfing implements that some will never let out of their sight, and at the moment one of the most spectacularly deadly putters in golf, someone who can almost will the ball into the hole just by looking at it, feels he has been let down.

Swapping putters, however, represents massive change, much more fundamental, for if Woods throughout a season averages somewhere between 68 and 69 strokes per round, 28‑29 of them are taken with that one club. It is the pace of the Open greens that flummoxes Woods, the transition from the super-slick surfaces of the US tour to the relatively sluggish ones at St Andrews, a difference in pace today of about 25%. This is not a new problem for him, but one that until now he has been hesitant in addressing fully.

"It is one of those things where I have always struggled on slower greens," he said. "I've always putted well on faster greens. This putter does come off faster with the new groove technology. It rolls the ball better and gets it rolling faster. So on these greens I'm having to make very little adjustment in how hard I am hitting it compared to if I had my old putter. I have always been tempted to change my putter on slower greens. I've experimented with other putters throughout the years but I have never put one into play until now."

[classicman2]

Guess who the early leader is?

I'll give you a couple of hints: He isn't young. He's a fat guy. And, he's had alcohol problems in the past.

[Red Dog]

Rory McIlroy is an old fat alcoholic? Doesn't show.

Now I know why McIlroy had such short odds. Sheesh.

Really low scoring early on.

[classicman2]

Oops! He's now in an early tie for second with some others.

The leader shot an opening round 63. Looks like the weather is cooperating.

[classicman2]

Woods finished with at 5 under.

I wonder what the cut-off is going to be?

[Red Dog]

I'm interested to see if conditions remain favorable for the later starters.

[Thrush]

Who the hell bets on golf?

[classicman2]

St. Andrews is like Pebble Beach - the weather is everything.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Thrush

Who the hell bets on golf?

[classicman2]

Originally Posted by Thrush

Who the hell bets on golf?

I don't.

[LurkerDan]

Originally Posted by wendersfan

Woods has ditched his trusty Scotty Cameron:

Is he going with the Billy Baroo?

[Red Dog]

Speaking of putting, anybody seen K.J. Choi's new style? Looks like he's playing croquet.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Red Dog

I'm interested to see if conditions remain favorable for the later starters.

Looks like it was good to tee off early.

[Thrush]

Originally Posted by Red Dog

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/

[Red Dog]

The unknown Oosthuizen might end up with a big lead when the day is over. Good to play early once again.

Casey was on fire early, but cooled off and had a disastrous road hole.

[Red Dog]

Starting to look like an Open Championship now. Play has been suspended due to high winds.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Red Dog

The unknown Oosthuizen might end up with a big lead when the day is over. Good to play early once again.

Very few out on the course now have an under-par round going. McIlroy is backing up....+2 today thru 6.

Ooost should end up being 5 clear over Calcavecchia and 6 clear of a bunch of guys when the day is over. Speaking of Calc, this would make the 3rd straight year that a 50+ guy has made a good run in the British.