Wednesday's Open Championship Clippings

It's Wednesday so that must mean recycled stories day in the press tent! Today's special that you can fall asleep to here, here and here? Yes, the European's major drought. Fresh, cutting edge stuff! And in our global golf world where European's play half their golf in America, the majorless drought means so, so, so uh, little.

Judging by the photos on golf.com (with a couple posted on this site too), it looks like it was a nice day Tuesday.

Doug Ferguson reports on all the suckers taking Monty at 25-to-1.

William Hill has lowered his odds to 25-to-1, but the number of bets placed on Montgomerie to win has been so large that bookmakers say the betting turnover would be more than $50 million.

“Despite his failure to make the cut in the Scottish Open last week, Monty is the man the punters want to back for the Open,” Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said. “Every other bet seems to have his name on at the moment, and we will certainly be handing over a hefty, seven-figure sum to punters should Monty manage to win.”

Paul Mahoney highlights Tiger's interesting links golf comments that I'm too lazy to go and read in the transcript tonight. Love the Ryder Cup jab:

"It allows you to be creative," he said. "Augusta used to be like that. The U.S. Open is obviously not. And the PGA is similar to a U.S. Open setup. We play so much in the States where everything is up in the air. Over here, you get to use the ground as an ally and hit different shots. It is neat to hit bump and runs, and to putt from 50 yards off the green, and to hit 5-irons from 135 yards and run the ball in.

"I wish we played more courses like this. It would be nice to see a Ryder Cup played on a real links course. The courses on the PGA Tour are virtually the same apart from the length of the rough. I think the players enjoy going back to the old-style courses like Oakmont and Congressional because we don't get a chance to play venues like that much any more."

What makes Woods so unusual is his ability to conjure up shots that his rivals (if he has any) simply don't have in their arsenals. And experimenting with his game has always been part of his makeup.

"Coming over here just enhanced that," he continued. "A lot of guys just get into a mode where they hit one normal shot all the time. If you are limited by that, when that one shot goes awry, you have no shots to go back on."

Steve Elling on the six guys with lost luggage.

Ed Sherman reports that Tiger supports a 2-year ban for those testing positive for banned substances...assuming they ever figure out what is banned. He sure is adamant about this. It's almost like he knows of someone he really dislikes using stuff! Can't imagine who that could be.

Jose Maria Olazabal is out with an unspecified injury so I think it would be a mistake to bet on him. Then again, people are throwing money away on Monty...

And finally, Martin Greig looks at Zach Johnson's faith and gets a little MBASpeak thrown in too...

"I don't know if He has anything to do with golf," Johnson said yesterday. "Golf is my job. My faith is very important to me. I'm not one that's going to flaunt it, but it's my foundation. It's what's inside of me. That's the way I feel my life should be lived.

"Now, at the same time, when it comes to golf I don't really think God cares what I do. It's just a matter of how I conduct myself and why I play. It's my job, it's the way I support my family and it's my platform. That's the way I go about it."

Johnson does not look like a major champion. He looks an insurance salesman, but he has a green jacket hanging in his closet.

Woods Agrees That Lawrie's Fluke Win Needs To Be Celebrated More

Douglas Lowe files this:

Paul Lawrie said yesterday that he did not get the credit he deserved for winning here in 1999, and no less a figure than Tiger Woods backed him up.

Lawrie came from 10 strokes behind on the final day to capitalise on Jean Van de Velde's infamous errors and make the play-off, and then hit a dream four-iron on to the final green to set up his Championship putt.

Lawrie acknowledges that Van de Velde's cock-up warranted the headlines, but argued yesterday that his subplot was underplayed. "I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of, 'Jean Van de Velde blew the Open, but, by God, Paul Lawrie shot 67 to win the tournament by two shots by hitting the best shot anyone has ever seen down the last hole'," he said.

Kind of reminds you of Monty in the humility department, eh?

 
I don't remember the best shot anyone has ever seen, do you?

"But that didn't happen very often. That's out of my hands. What can I do? There was a lot written about what Jean did. And rightly so. But I didn't read a lot about how well I did the last day."

And not a whole lot since.

Tuesday Open Championship Clippings

Knowing the scribblers don't like to leave the press tent to chase down a story in even the best of conditions, the R&A chased down poor Jean Van De Velde in between cancer tests do a conference call to relive the 99 Open. The USA Today's Christine Brennan has a decent summary of the call.

Doug Ferguson did venture out in Monday's hideous weather (hopefully in more than his usual attire) to take in Tiger's 6 a.m. practice round.

No one bothered practicing putts or chips around the greens because the green was too soft, and some of them had puddles on the edges. Woods was duly impressed when Pampling hit driver off the deck for his second shot (on a par 4), and doubled over in laughter when Pampling hit a 2-iron to the 176-yard 13th hole that didn’t clear a bunker 150 yards in front of them.

But the joke was on Woods at the 14th, a par 5 at 514 yards known for the Spectacle bunkers some 65 yards in front of the greens that players usually can carry easily. But not on this day.

Woods hit driver in the fairway and hit 2-iron short of the Spectacles, just left in a sparse patch of rough. He swung hard and watched his third shot over the bunkers, and stopped in his tracks when he arrived at the green and found his ball a few yards from the green.

“I didn’t get there,” Woods said incredulously. “With a 4-iron!”

Even more stunning was the yardage he had with that 4-iron – 112 yards to the front, 128 yards to the hole.

The link to that James Corrigan piece I tried to post yesterday did finally start working, and it included this nice bit of from the R&A's Peter Dawson, who seems to be working off the talking points memo that says "blame the warm summer for '99, not the 9-yard wide fairways."

"This is the longest and hardest course the Open is played on," said Dawson, before explaining why it played so much longer and harder the last time. "In 1999 we had horrendous rough, but every course down the east coast of Scotland had horrendous rough that year. There was a freak weather pattern that caused it and sometimes people forgot that when pointing the finger. And, contrary to opinion, there was supposed to be interim rough and the balls weren't supposed to go straight from fairway to the thick stuff. It was just that the interim rough all burnt away."

I think that's a new one actually...the interim rough burnt away!

Ron Whitten's Golf Digest preview is up, complete with John Philp's revisionist take on '99.

Steve Elling considers this year's difficult major setups and shares this from Nick Faldo:

 "I think sometimes it's stretching it when over par is the winning score," he said. "If you are missing fairways and laying up, wedging it around, it can get demoralizing. You don't get tested and it cuts off your flair and ability to pull something off. You have no option to do that. For me personally, that's what used to get me down."

Damon Hack tackled a similar subject in the New York Times (thanks to reader Jim for this), and it includes this interesting bit:

More and more, professional golfers are battling lengthened courses and thickened rough, knowing that they may spend hours — and sometimes days — between birdies.

Jesper Parnevik, a five-time PGA Tour winner, said that people would look back on this era and think players were not so good.

“Everybody went from winning majors at 10 and 12 under to winning majors at 5 and 10 over,” he said. “It’s not fair, really. You have golf courses where guys were shooting 20 under 50 years ago and we can’t break par today.”

Greg Owen said, “So many of these golf courses are tricked up every week.”

The Telegraph posts Thursday's tee times.

Finally, Mark Garrod features Jose Maria Olazabal's remembrances of his mentor Seve, who retired Monday.  Lawrence Donegan weighs in with an obituary of sorts too.

Open Championship Photo Caption Fun, Vol. 1

Why, who is that sitting in the dogh...err, really ugly building? From golf.com:

 

TNT Confirms Our Worst Fears: Clampett Is Back As Lead Analyst

Scroll down a bit for details of the pga.com online coverage, the alternative to TNT's "extensive linear coverage":

TNT to Present More Than 50 Hours of Combined Televised and Online Coverage of the 136^th British Open Championship from Legendary Carnoustie Golf Links

Network’s digital plans to include live coverage of Tiger Woods’ first round on PGA.com

Turner Network Television (TNT) heads overseas this July to present more than 50 hours of combined televised and online coverage of the 136^th British Open Championship from Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland . Taking place July 19-22, the historic major tournament will showcase some of the biggest names in professional golf, including back-to-back defending champion Tiger Woods , 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson, 2007 US Open Champion Angel Cabrera and FedEx Cup contenders Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson .

TNT’s televised coverage begins on Thursday, July 19 at 6:30 a.m. ET/PT with a preview show, followed by exclusive coverage of the first round. The network’s fantastic four days of coverage will also include exciting new technical features enhancing the telecast and stories celebrating the course and tournament, such as:

• Total Vision : Super-slow-motion gives our expert analysts the opportunity to break down every detail of the PGA’s top players’ swings.
• Golf Trak : Cutting edge virtual technology allows viewers to follow the flight of the ball.
• Carnoustie: Then and Now : A look at the challenging golf course and how the conditions have changed from 1999, best remembered for Jean Van de Velde’s infamous mishandling of the 18^th hole.
• Only at the Open : Weather reports from Carnoustie’s weather reporter, Patrick Healy ; and fascinating stories and folklore about the remarkable Scottish course.

“We’re extremely proud to continue TNT’s coverage of the British Open Championship as we provide our viewers with innovative features such as Total Vision and Golf Trak while paying tribute to the grandeur of Carnoustie,” said Jeff Behnke , Turner Sports executive producer. “The drama of Tiger Woods’ potential three-peat, combined with the challenging Carnoustie course, will certainly make this year’s British Open a thrilling event.”

2007 British Open Championship on TNT Programming Schedule

DAY/DATE TIME EVENT

Thurs., July 19 6:30 a.m. ET/PT Preview Show

7 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET/PT First Round Coverage

Fri., July 20 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET/PT Second Round Coverage

Sat., July 21 7 – 9 a.m. ET / 4 – 6 p.m. PT Third Round Coverage

Sun., July 22 6 – 8 a.m. ET / 3 – 5 a.m. PT Final Round Coverage

This year's announcers includes Ernie Johnson who returns to TNT’s golf coverage this season, Bobby Clampett (analyst), Billy Kratzert (reporter) and Jim Huber (reporter/essayist). ABC’s Terry Gannon (play-by-play), Peter Alliss (analyst), Paul Azinger (analyst) and Judy Rankin (reporter) will contribute to TNT's four days of coverage as well.

TNT will once again partner with ABC to share coverage of the tournament. TNT will televise daylong exclusive coverage of the first and second rounds and early coverage of the third and final rounds during the weekend. ABC will air the duration of the third and final rounds.

TNT holds the top spot in airing more hours of major championship golf than any other television network. In addition to the British Open Championship, TNT’s stable of 2007 golf programming also includes the Senior British Open (July 26-27), RICOH Women’s British Open (Aug. 2-3), 89^th PGA Championship (Aug. 9 – 12), President’s Cup (Sept. 27 – 30) and the PGA Grand Slam Golf (Oct. 16 – 17).

TNT earned an Emmy® in the Outstanding Live Sports Special category for its coverage of the 2005 British Open. 2007 marks the fifth consecutive year TNT will televise the tournament, and the first time since 1999 that the event will return to Carnoustie.

Turner Sports New Media PGA.com Coverage

In addition to extensive linear coverage, Turner Sports will also provide innovative digital coverage, as it launches Open Championship Live which utilizes CNN’s patented Pipeline technology to simulcast multiple video streams and bring golf fans inside the ropes and closer to the action online. The online streaming of live and taped action from the legendary major will be available on PGA.com, which is operated by Turner Sports . Open Championship Live will feature three pipes that will stream content from Carnoustie, with Pipe #3 featuring Tiger Woods’ first round and other select groups of golfers from 4 a.m. – 7 a.m. ET on Thurs., July 19 . Pipe #1 will stream live action from holes 16, 17 and 18 from 4 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET on Thurs., July 19 and Fri., July 20. Pipe #2 will offer video content including highlights, flyovers, features, behind the scenes coverage, footage from press conferences, an Open Championship spotlight of past winners and events, as well as PGA Golf Instruction from PGA of America professionals. In addition, midday and end of day reports on the status of the players in the field.

Open Championship Live builds on the success of PGA.com's online four-camera feed of last year's PGA Championship which registered nearly one million video streams and was a key driver to setting a single-day traffic record on the site with over 16 million page views and a significant 18% boost in total page views.

“We're excited to complement our television coverage of the British Open on TNT with innovative online coverage to give fans an exciting multi-platform experience to enjoy one of golf's most popular and revered tournaments,” said Lenny Daniels, senior vice president of production and new media, Turner Sports. “ Open Championship Live will help take fans inside the ropes and closer to the action, providing them both a unique showcase of the competitive play of the tournament, as well as up-to-the-minute reports and highlights that they can't find anywhere else."

Monday Open Championship Clippings

I'll spare you the assorted recaps of Jean Van de Velde's meltdown, and point to some of the fresher perspectives on this week's Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Paul Kimmage talks to Nick Faldo about turning 50, and he shares the conversation with us as it occurred. Or so it seems.

The Times' Graham Spiers looks at the town of Carnoustie.

The Independent had a couple of interesting looking stories, but as is often the case with their stellar web site, the links weren't working. Perhaps this story on the state of Carnoustie's rough will be working by morning. And it also appears there is another of James Corrigan's always entertaining email Q&A's, this time with British Amateur champion Drew Weaver.

Robert Philip of the Telegraph turns on his tape recorder and lets Peter Alliss reminisce.

The U.S. golf web sites appear determined to outdo one another in the limited content division, but some blogs are offering up lively reads that'll get you in the mood for this week.

Chris Lewis reviews the weekend's play and previews this week's play.

Meanwhile The Principal offered this countdown, this look at Carnoustie, and a two part look at the R&A's finer moments, here and here.

Possible To Spare Ourselves Of TNT's Open Coverage?

For those of us who have long been willing to pay to hear the BBC Open Championship feed, it seems that there is a paid service offering live UK TV streamed online, with a current 7-day free trial to test things out. I haven't signed up yet because I want to make sure I get next Sunday.

But what better time than now to take in the Open Championship coverage, since any sane being has been dreading two days of Bobby Clampett and hearing those relentless plugs for The Closer (sorry Mike!). Oh, and ABC's coverage will apparently have no Peter Alliss on the weekend. Brilliant move!

The sign up page link is here.

And here are the telecast times on the various BBC's. 

I'll let you know how the sign up goes tomorrow. And if anyone has tried this already, could you let us know how it works? 

"Part of the strategy on any links is avoiding the bunkers. But we couldn't see too many of them because of the rough!"

John Huggan reminds us that Carnoustie is a great golf course, we just couldn't see it under all that rough in 1999. He reviews the event in his Sunday column.

First, this memory from Geoff Ogilvy:

"Then I got up there. It was such a disappointment. Breaking 80 was an unbelievable effort. If there is one course on the rota that doesn't need to be touched at all, it is Carnoustie. And they got lucky. It didn't even blow to any great extent. It was the greenness of the rough that was embarrassing. It looked so cultivated and unnatural. It was bizarre."

That it was, the strangeness of the whole situation summed up by the sight of Greg Norman, one of the game's most powerful players, missing the 17th fairway by a foot with his tee-shot, then swinging as hard as he could in a vain effort to move the ball from a lie best described as subterranean. The whole thing was getting silly enough to cause the then 20-year-old Sergio Garcia to burst into tears after an opening round of 89. Less than one month later, it should be noted, the young Spaniard was good enough to finish second in the USPGA Championship.

"If you missed the fairway - any fairway - by even a yard, you were hacking out," remembers Australian Peter O'Malley, one of golf's straightest hitters and the man who hit the opening tee-shot on day one. "We were just lucky the weather wasn't too bad. If it had been really windy no one would have broken 300.

"The set up was really weird. Part of the strategy on any links is avoiding the bunkers. But we couldn't see too many of them because of the rough!"

And on John Philp's contribution to the game...

Most, if not all, of the blame for the craziness was heaped on the head of one John Philp, the head greenkeeper. And it must be said he deserved nearly all of the criticism that rained down on his misguided head. Indeed, the much-maligned Philp did not help himself with a series of public comments seemingly designed to further alienate the world's best golfers.

"Golf is about character and how a player stands up to adversity," he sneered. "But, like a lot of things in life, golf has gone soft.

"Playing this type of course requires imagination and it requires handling frustration.

"I know there is a bit of a lottery in the way this course plays. Top players take badly to bad bounces. But the element of luck is critical.

"Take that away and you don't have a real game of golf. They are too pampered now."

Amidst the fast-accelerating level of complaints, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club claimed that all was well, that the jungle-like rough had been neither fertilised nor excessively watered and that, besides, they had been unable to do anything about it all. The problem, they claimed, was caused solely by the weather immediately preceding the championship.

Except it wasn't of course. Almost three months before the championship, your correspondent had played the Carnoustie course in the annual media gathering hosted by the R&A. After my round I was - funnily enough - standing at the bar in the hotel behind the 18th green waiting to be served. As I did so, the then secretary of the R&A, Sir Michael Bonallack, approached and asked my opinion of the course.

This was fun too...

"There is nothing wrong with having long, wispy rough that introduces doubt in a player," confirms Scotland's Andrew Coltart, who finished in a tie for 18th back in '99. "But long, lush grass only requires us to mindlessly reach for the lob wedge and is just plain daft.

"Eight years ago, the rough was just so thick and looked to me like it had been fertilised. There was no chance to get the ball on the green and no chance even to take a chance, if you see what I mean. I played with Tiger Woods on the last day and even he couldn't hit out of that stuff. So it was boring to play and, I'm sure, to watch. It was drive, chop out, wedge to green."

And Barker Davis, writing for the Sunday Telegraph, offers these remembrances...

Lee Westwood

The first round I was playing with Greg Norman, and he was playing really well, a couple under or something. On 17 he hit it right, not far right, just a couple of feet off the edge of the fairway and you virtually couldn't see it. He ended up making seven or eight and that summed it up. But I like the course, it's up in my top three with Birkdale and Muirfield.

Richard Green

I remember playing the last couple of holes on Friday just praying to get off the golf course. I was just in a lot of mental pain. There was one tee shot on the fourth that I hooked to the right. I ended up slashing about in the rough for ages. But it's still one of my favourite courses, up there with Kingston Heath in Australia and Royal Lytham.

Hank Gola, New York Daily News

It was like watching a slow-motion car wreck. When Jean Van de Velde went into the Barry Burn and rolled up his pants, it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. The Frenchman goes up in flames. I remember walking in the play-off with Davis Love III, who was smoking a cigar at the time, and he said they got what they deserved for the set-up.

Thomas Levet

On the sixth hole I hit a drive and it bounced 90 degrees right and finished in the rough by two inches. From there I couldn't get the fairway back. So I made a drive, my sand iron five times and a putt - seven, double bogey. It was so deep I didn't know if that ball was going to go one yard or 80. But what I remember most is Jean Van de Velde. I was at the airport with Dean Robertson.

We were sitting in the lounge at Edinburgh watching Jean play the last hole.

It was a great moment of golf, like a great tragedy, but it was not very good to know it was a Frenchman. We couldn't believe it. We were speechless. It was crazy that day.

Michael Campbell

I think I shot 13 over and missed the cut by one. I remember sitting down with a bunch of players and watching the coverage on the Friday afternoon. It was carnage. It was pathetic really. I watched Norman hit it two yards in the rough. I wasn't laughing at the time. I was shaking my head saying: "This is not right, this is not good TV."

Sergio Confident He Can Improve on '99 Carnoustie Performance

Just in case you forgot how silly a test Carnoustie was, John Huggan reminds us of this:

Perhaps the biggest irony of Garcia's disastrous two days at the '99 Open - he followed the 89 with an 83 - was that he arrived having just shot 62 at Loch Lomond in the Scottish Open. For a 19-year old with the game seemingly at his mercy, the world was a wonderful place.

What's Going On With Carnoustie's Third?

(click to enlarge)I opened up Golf World's foldout map of Carnoustie (not posted online), only to find this comment from Brett Avery surprising:

The most significant changes, though, are at No. 3, which becomes a more pronounced dogleg right. One of Carnousties's trademarks, a bunker in the center of the fairway, was replaced by an island smothered by rough. But also pinching in the rough on both sides of the fairway, the R&A greatly restricts options off the tee; the impulse is to play over the island, which brings Jockie's Burn into play through the fairway. Driving the green requires crossing the burn as it curls in front of the putting surface. Although the burn should be dry during the Open, challenging it probably isn't worth the potential penalties considering the green's existing contours. 

I recall this being a wonderful hole, particularly as it appeared from the tee (though my memory is awful!).

Has anyone seen this R&A imposed design change?

Reducing options and a grassy mound in the center of the fairway do not exactly sound like the stuff of great design. 

You can launch the official Open Championship site's course tour (where the drawing above was taken from) here. 

"The set-up was unfair and ridiculous."

Just in case the media starts buying into John Philp's revisionist history (see the July Golf Digest, link not available), Tiger Woods sets the record straight on Carnoustie in 1999, writing:

Although I tied for seventh, it was probably the hardest British Open course I have ever played -- even harder than Muirfield. The set-up was unfair and ridiculous. I remember stepping off the fairway at No. 6 and it was nine yards wide in the lay up area. That's not much room when you have to hit a 4-iron in that space. It's still a great course, but I hope the R&A has learned a lesson.

And this was interesting... 

I will say this: the British Open Championship is my favorite major. My first was at St. Andrews so it doesn't get much better than that. I just love the history, tradition and atmosphere. You need patience and imagination to play well, plus the fans are great.

Lawrie Snubbed Sponsor's Invite; Playing Better Simply Not An Option

For all the grief we Americans get for being overly sentimental, it's fun to read this Derek Lawrenson penned sob story of poor Paul Lawrie, the last European to win a major, crying in Monty-like fashion about not being granted a sponsor's invite to the Scottish Open pro am* on the eve of his triumphant return to Carnoustie.

Mike Aitken weighed in with a decidedly less hysterical version of the same story. 

Mickelson Calls Carnoustie "Nice"

Otherwise, according to Mark Garrod he's holding back his remaining thoughts for his Loch Lomond press conference. How am I going to sleep not knowing more?

Woody Austin Deprives Carnoustie Galleries Of Seeing His Ugly Shirts

His reason for not entering the Open Championship despite earning a spot in the field:

 "I don't know how to play that type of golf. I would probably go and shoot two high numbers and make a fool of myself."

Makes you proud to be an American!

“It’s not rocket science not to put the flag where it was."

This one includes a wrinkle I've never heard of before, and I'm a connoisseur of course setup debacle stories!

Golfweek's Alistair Tait reports.

International Final Qualifying for the Open Championship at Sunningdale, England, turned into a farce when players couldn’t get near the pin at the par-3 fourth hole.
 
It brought back visions of the seventh at Shinnecock Hills during the 2004 U.S. Open, when no player could hold the green even with a perfectly struck shot.

But remember, Furman Bisher says that was just because that darn rain that was not in the forecast never came! 

Martin Kippax, the R&A’s championship chairman, set up the pins at Sunningdale.

Why did that sentence not come as a shock. 

Most of them were fine, with the exception of the fouth on Sunningdale’s Old Course.
 
Eight players completed the hole before Kippax realized he’d messed up. Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez five-putted, and Australian Brett Rumford four-putted. Four-putting isn’t unusual, but Rumford had hit his tee shot to 2 feet.
 
Play was suspended so the hole could be repositioned. The eight players who had already played the hole were carted back out after they had finished 18 holes so they could replay the hole.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they got a replay! I wonder what would have happened if they made a higher score than before? Do they get to pick the lowest!?

The result was a mixed bag. Gonzalez made par the second time and his score changed from 70 to 67. England’s Richard Bland made birdie the first time around but parred the hole the second time to move his score from 72 to 73. Sweden’s Fredrik Anderson Hed was affected the most. He parred the hole on his first attempt but double bogeyed the hole on his second to change a 66 to a 68.
 
“I chose the pin positions because of the weather we’ve had and the forecast we had for today,” Kippax said. “I was then made aware by a referee on the course that we had a potential problem. I went out and saw that it was in an unplayable position.
 
“So, after consulting with various people – certainly the European Tour – I suspended play and moved the pin position.
 
“I admit it was a mistake and the responsibility lies on me and me only. I apologized to the eight, and Richard Bland said it was not in his interests and asked, ‘Why was it there in the first place?’
 
“They were perfectly justifiable things to say, but I told them it was only going to be equitable if everybody had to play it again whether it’s good or bad for them.”
 
Plaudits go to Kippax for putting his hand up and admitting his error, but I tend to agree with Anderson Hed.

Oh yes, big plaudits!

“I think the European Tour should do the pins,” he said. “Every time I’ve played in an event run by the R&A there have been one or two that were barely playable.”
 
Bland was just as caustic in his condemnation of the R&A. “It’s not rocket science not to put the flag where it was. Anything with a small bit of speed that didn’t go in was going to roll off the green.”