A lively opening round with so many (retro) storylines means the scribes turned in some great writing and reporting. Here we go...
Lawrence Donegan's lede says it all:
Golf was never meant to be fair but sometimes the game takes liberties with the fragile souls of those who would seek to write their name in history. Yesterday's opening round of the 2008 Open championship was one such occasion, a day which began with players battling to make par as wind and rain swept across the Royal Birkdale links and ended with a pair of in-form - and lucky - players at the top of the leaderboard.
James Corrigan reminds us that there was another guy shooting 69 besides Rocco:
For the second time in three years Graeme McDowell held the clubhouse lead in the first round of the Open Championship yesterday; yet this time around the Ulsterman appears so much more likely to retain this coveted position. Last week's Scottish Open victor is in the form of his golfing life and playing in the conditions that formulated his golfing life. McDowell is clearly partial to a bit of wind. Almost as partial as Royal Birkdale.
Martin Johnson earns special marks for following Monty around and then filing this epic lede:
Only two things qualified yesterday for the description of wild, large, Scottish and dripping wet - The Loch Ness Monster, and Colin Montgomerie. Actually, it's sometimes difficult to tell them apart, and if they ever acquire the technology to brighten up those fuzzy photographs, the mysterious denizen of the deep might turn out to be nothing more than Monty taking an afternoon dip.
Oh, this was fun too:
When Montgomerie leaves the scene of a double bogey, anxious parents wrap protective arms around their children and remove them to the kind of distance required of police by pedestrians when they've cordoned off an area suspected of containing an explosive package. And yet here he was, rattling up an ugly six with just the hint of a shoulder shrug, and whistling, at least metaphorically, que sera sera.
There were, of course, some Monty moments, the best of which came at the par three eighth, when his duffed tee shot buried itself into a ghastly lie short and right of the green. Up until then it had been a little odd watching him playing in a sun visor, but at this point Monty removed it. Not because he had finally realised that it was not exactly the Costa del Sol out there, but because it was required to deliver a savage thrashing to his golf bag.
Larry Dorman focuses his game story on Rocco Mediate's stellar opening round.
And Steve Elling notes that as great a story as Greg Norman's 70 was, U.S. Open hero Rocco is even bigger.
Speaking of the Shark, Paul Kelso features Norman talking at length about this state of mind and Chrissy's influence along with her meteorological prowess.
John Garrity writes about Rocco's back troubles.
His body is so creaky that a full-time therapist has to follow him around, picking up any pieces of cartilage and bone that fall off. Today, after 11 holes, Rocco had to stretch out on a patch of marron grass behind the eleventh green while the therapist — her name is Cindy Hilfman — helped him snap his sacroiliac back into place.
"Just normal stuff," Rocco says from the platform, making light of a procedure that produces a cracking noise you can hear from across the fairway. "It just keeps it loose."
Tim Rosaforte reports that Rocco spent last week in Los Angeles watching a TiVo'd recording of the U.S. Open.
Paul Mahoney on Graeme McDowell staying hot and opening with a 69:
"There's no doubt that the links short game is so different to what most people are used to," he noted. "Especially for the Americans. You can be chipping with lob wedges or hybrids or even 3-woods. The wind made a three-club difference, but I am pretty good at understanding the gusts. At the par three fourth in practice yesterday I aimed a 4-iron 20 yards left trying to hit a hard pull hook into a 30 miles-per-hour gusting crosswind. I thought, Wow, this course is tough."
Mike O'Malley compiles the best of player comments on the morning conditions and setup.
Kevin Eason reports that more such quotes could be coming with an ominous weather forecast for Friday and Saturday.
In writing about Lee Westwood, Tim Glover shares one of the wilder weather-related incidents:
The sixth is an intimidating par four a few feet shy of 500 yards, although in the conditions most of the fours were playing like fives. His second shot landed on a bank near the green and, from an awkward stance, he almost lost his footing as he dunked the ball into a bunker. From the sand he came out to within 18 feet of the flag. Westwood marked it, cleaned it, replaced it and had walked to the other side of the green to study the line of his putt. What happened next?
A gust of wind blew his ball off the green and down a slope. Enter rule 20-3d: If a ball when placed comes to rest on the spot on which it is placed and it subsequently moves, there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies. Given the unreliability of his putting yesterday, the freak event might actually have done him a favour.
Having faced a putt to salvage a bogey five, Westwood now faced a tricky chip and, lo and behold, the ball disappeared into the cup. "That was a very big moment," he said later. "That's the first time I've faced a putt that turned out to be a 30-yard chip."
John Huggan says Thursday was another example of Tiger-proofing proving disastrous for the game, especially when Mother Nature does her thing.
Clair Middleton offers this note on the setup:
If you enjoy a rant, have a listen to Andrew Coltart on Radio Five. Soaked through and working as a commentator after failing to qualify as a player, he was asked about the course. The former Ryder Cup player promptly let rip. "A 490-yard par four that you can't reach in two, what's that about? When athletes start running the 100 metres too quickly, they don't suddenly make it 102 metres."
Bob Verdi looks at David Duval and his open 73 and as usual, gets an odd quote from Duval:
Duval's vision of the big picture, though, is hampered by lack of opportunities to perform. To play well again, he must play often.
"I'd like to play more than once in the next eight weeks," he said, "but all I've got on my schedule is Greensboro (Wyndham Championship in mid-August.) I could play Reno (two weeks prior) but that's my daughter's (Sienna) first birthday."
Kevin Eason covers Justin Rose and Tom Watson, who played together and carded matching 74s.
Rose said: “I asked him if he had played these conditions before and he said, ‘Yes, at Muirfield in 1980' - and he shot a 68 there. I couldn't believe it. He is awesome. I can see exactly how he won the Open Championship. The way he reads the wind, the ball flight - it's incredible. There was a lot to take from his game to add to mine for the future.”
Rose also writes about the round in his online Times diary where he takes us through his day.
Mike Aitken's Scotsman game story highlighted Sandy Lyle's early WD while John Huggan in the Guardian says the ramifications of Lyle quitting will be huge.
Among Lyle's various adventures were leaving a ball in a bunker at the short 7th then having to play out backwards, seeing his approach shot to the 8th ricochet off the ball of his playing partner, Graeme Storm, and finish 30 yards off the green in deep rough, and making a final-straw triple bogey at the 414-yard 9th.
"There will be other times in the future," he said. "I'll survive." But, perhaps more pertinently, will his reputation?
A letter writer to the Herald is even more blunt: "Sandy has wasted a tee-off time that any number of up-and-coming youngsters would have killed for. One can now scratch his name off the Ryder Cup captains list."
Even worse for Lyle, The Times ran this headline: "Sandy Lyle's captaincy ambitions disappear after he quits." Then again, they declared the 2014 job Monty's last week, so they clearly know things we don't.
Cameron Morfit on Tom Lehman and his opening round 74:
The beauty of a tournament like the Open, a melting pot of golfing excellence, is the vast contrasts — of nationalities, body types, playing styles and, as the example of Lehman's group so colorfully illustrated, ages.
"I still play on Tour, and over in Europe, so I know most of these guys," said Lehman, who shot a four-over 74, five shots off the lead. "Here's what I know about the young guys: If you call them they'll never answer their phone, and they'll never call you back. If you text-message them, they'll answer in 20 seconds."
Mike Aitken files a note on Mark Calcaveccia's wife WD'ing from caddying in round one, sending Calc on a mad dash to find a last minute looper, who turned out to never have walked the course.
Wrapping up with the odds and ends, Jason Sobel at ESPN.com and Bill Fields at GolfDigest.com do the winners/losers up/down thing
Eamon Lynch files an anecdote about Anthony Wall's nickname. His mother had better not read this one.
The live blogging duo of Shipnuck and Van Sickle will be at it again from their respective home towns. I'm not sure what's more amazing, that Shipnuck is going to get up at 4 a.m. to do it, or that two of SI's top writers are not at Royal Birkdale.
Doug Ferguson offers notes on Jerry Kelly's complaints, a reminder that all 19 rounds in the 80s came in the morning and this from Lucas Glover:
"You know you're at the British Open when you come inside to change rain suits," he said.
And finally, summing up the brutality of the morning weather, Cameron Morfit notes that the first 15 groups averaged 77.34.
