Tom Watson with a 5 under 65 to take an early lead in round 1.

Tigger goes +1 on his day.

Last year we had the Shark in contention, let's hope this year Watson stays in contention through sunday as well.

I had Paul Casey as my choice to win the Open before it started on the ESPN "rank the best chance at winning" poll, and he's started off quite well.

Should be an interesting weekend of golf!

I've still got to go with Tiger on this one. Nothing wrong with a 71 on the first day. I see him getting it together and putting up some great scores the rest of the weekend.

At +5 Tiger is outside the projected cut...

Pretty shocking to see Tiger completely fall apart. Maybe this will remind people that he is in fact human and that even as the best player ever, it's ridiculous to expect him to win every week.

I actually think Tiger is under-appreciated, not for his dominance (which at times can be overstated), but for his consistency.

[This message has been edited by watty (edited 7/18/2009 12:03p).]

I agree completely watty. I hate how 200,000 people vote on ESPN polls at 80% that he'll beat "the field" in every major.

It's so dumb. Tiger hasn't been on in a while. And we were all led to believe he would be better than ever coming back from the knee.

He needs to take a while to figure his game out. I enjoy watching these other players play good golf, and not Tiger struggling through rounds with constant conversation of if he'll be able to get back into contention, or this week...make the cut.

what's amazing is that it takes a ****ing miracle for him to miss a cut.

Tom Watson has 8 British titles (including 3 Sr. ones). If he wins this week, and I'm not counting him out, will it be the golf story of all time?

I say maybe, but Tom Watson winning the Open is about like you or me starting our car. Boy, I hope he pulls this off.

Tiger had more F bombs and thrown clubs than birdies over the last two days.

Maybe that spoiled mother facker will get some perspective.

We all hit bad shots when we play golf.

Not all of us throw clubs or curse.

He's a great golfer yes. He's also a supreme acehole, and I for one, am glad he gets the weekend off.

>>Not all of us throw clubs or curse.<<

Don't play much golf, huh??

quote:

---

Not all of us throw clubs or curse

---

Speak for yourself

I'd throw clubs and curse alot too if I played golf without drinking and smoking

quote:

---

It's so dumb. Tiger hasn't been on in a while. And we were all led to believe he would be better than ever coming back from the knee.

He needs to take a while to figure his game out. I enjoy watching these other players play good golf, and not Tiger struggling through rounds with constant conversation of if he'll be able to get back into contention, or this week...make the cut

---

Do you even follow golf?

Tiger this year
WGC - Doral - 9th place
Arnold Palmer Bayhill - 1st place
The Masters - 6th place
Quail Hollow Championship - 4th place
The Players Championship - 8th place
The Memorial - 1st Place
US Open - 6th Place
The Congressional/AT&T - 1st Place

The British Open is the first time he did not finish in the top 10.

He won 3 of the 8 events (stroke play) that he had played this year

Even though he played in about half the events as everyone else he was the leading money winner for the year.

sorry, I meant during the majors.

since his nice run to finish 06, he's won 2 majors. YES, he missed last year's British and PGA, but he hasn't been the force he was earlier this decade in the majors, and I'm sick and tired of everyone acting like he's the only thing that matters in golf, and he has a 50/50 shot of winning every major, because he doesn't.

I understand he's the best in the game, and probably best ever when he's through, and he still wins tourneys...but it isn't this foregone conclusion that everyone makes it out to be.

What I mean to say is there was a time when he was absolutely dominant, especially in majors, and it hasn't been for a good 2 years. Lately(since the start of 07), he has been giving away chances at majors instead of winning them like he used to do. He still isn't back to the Tiger of the mid 2000's. When he came back from the injury, we were all led to believe he'd be "better than ever"...well his short game may be better, but he's struggling off the tee when it matters.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand a playoff between Watson and Cink

would have been great to see watson win

Watson's final struggle and collapse was painful to watch, but Cink earned his victory with ability and class.









Gig 'em, FAST FRED '65.

Before the world wide web, village idiots usually stayed in their own village.

Do you think Tom missed Bruce on 18? The player bears the burden, but I wonder if the caddy even tried to talk him into a 9 iron rather than an 8 for that approach (note that Cink hit wedge in the playoff).

Fun tournament to watch. After Saturday, I thought Watson was going to win the sucker - unlike last year when I expected other players to catch Norman. Watson just seemed like he'd found such a steady rythm, his putter was working, and unlike Norman, he's continued to play competitive golf consistently so I thought he'd continue hold up under the fatigue and pressure. And he nearly did. That putt on 18 was hard to watch though. He cracked one stroke too soon.

Cink deserved it though. That birdie on 18 in regulation was just awesome and he was just fantastic in the playoff. Cink did hit wedge in the playoff, but he'd absolutely nuked his drive to where pretty much no one had been all day.



[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 7/20/2009 9:19a).]

Bob

I was not surprised to see Tom on the day 1 leaderboard, but since he has not made a cut in over two years on the PGA tour, I really thought he was going to fade quickly in later rounds.

I was very sad to see him not be able to get up and down in two on the final hole. I thought this would have been a great story for the ages.

I thought he'd fade after Day 1 too, but like I mentioned, what really convinced me he would stay in it to the end with a great chance to win was the rhythm he seemed to remain in on Saturday. He was so steady that I really liked his chances to hold it together one more day - and tehnically he did. Problem was it was 18 holes instead of a full day. A couple of other items that led me to think he'd pull it off were (1) guys had to hit irons off of so many tees that it minimized his distance disadvantage and (2) the dude is a links golf freak - he knows how to play the bounces. So for all those reasons, I thought this one would be different vs. what I was thinking on Saturday night of the 2008 British Open about Norman. And it damn near played out that way too.

What bothers me more than anything now is how Cink is turning out to be the bad guy almost. The guy has been a very good player for a decade and played his ass off yesterday. He deserved the win, but with how it's ending up, he almost has to be apologetic for winning.


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 7/20/2009 10:28a).]

True and that sucks for Cink. Hopefully this was a breakthrough for him and he will be able to enjoy another Grand Slam Championship