Official British Open thread

Whose sister isn't too bad either.

 

Nice job by Mr. Woods. Better job, considering the circumstances, by Mr. DiMarco.

And is there a bigger suckup on the face of the earth than Paul Azinger?

 

Hate Azinger.

Adds nothing but animosity with Faldo, who is a superior broadcaster.

Great win by Tiger.

BTW, more evidence of global warming... The Muirfield monsoons are much fewer and far between then they were 20 years and more in the past.

And the courses are brown on the first day as often as not.

 

Well, most players-turned-commentators tend to be suckups to some degree. Johnny Miller being the most notable exception.

 

What, you've never had to write a gamer on deadline while the game's still going on and you HAVE to file something even if the crowd's still screaming and all of the other distractions that occur?

I understand the frustration and all, but if Tiger can putt just fine when there are police helicopters hovering just above him, why worry about the cell phone cameras? I love golf, but hey, Tiger's made golf popular to the masses. He should know that some of the fanbase doesn't have golf etiquette at all (who in their right mind shouts to Sergio Garcia on 18 "go in the hole!" on his second shot?). These fans just want to see and take a photo of their favorite celebrity athlete.

 

The helicopter is a constant, overwhelming sound. A camera is a sudden noise that breaks what is essentially silence. Big difference.

 

"A good soldier can fire three aimed shots in five minutes."

 

Absolute clinic.

Nothing like seeing dust poof up on every shot. And Terry Gannon brought up an excellent point with Tiger. Since he's hitting iron off every tee, Tiger's hitting longer approach shots into every hole... yet he still dismantles the course. Granted, Hoylake's only defense is the wind (which, for the most part, was nonexistent this week), but that was an absolute surgical dissection of a major championship course.

Damn, I love Sundays at majors.

Truth be told, I thought Tiger would win his one and only major this year at Medinah. Going back-to-back wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

OK, I'm moving on and away from the noise/cell phone camera discussion.    What I'd like to know from the group is an answer to one question and an opinion on another:

1. Why does TV call the British Open simply The Open? Does that give it more prestige as in The Open?

2. Which of the four majors recognized by the PGA is the toughest to win? I think it is the British Open by far because of the weather elements, bunkers and because it is overseas. U.S. Open is a very close second and Masters is third. PGA Championship is a distant fourth. Your thoughts?

 

Spot-on analysis.

I enjoyed this tournament more than any other in the last three years, just for the surgeon's precision, the technical clinic that Tiger put on the last four days. They talk about Tiger's creativity and imagination, and how his ability to think and envision on the golf course is the greatest of all time, and this was absolute proof of that. There's not a professional golfer alive -- Jack excluded -- who can reinvent his philosophical strategy, and still dominate the course and the field, seemingly on a whim.

 

I think the U.S. Open is toughest, followed by the Masters, British and PGA.

Guys like Paul Lawrie and Ben Curtis can win the British some years and guys like Beem can win the PGA, but you almost never see random, usually-average pros win U.S. Opens or Augusta.

 

I wonder which major Tiger thinks is the toughest to win.

Answer: None of the above. ;D