Open Championship Saturday Reads

For all of Tiger's brilliance, it is fascinating that his competition no longer seems to be scared of him (well, we'll see how they play this weekend).

Scott Michaux, writing in the Augusta Chronicle:

Just because Woods is the game's consummate closer doesn't mean the rest of the field thinks he's invincible - especially with five more of the world's top-10 ranked players among the top 10 on the leaderboard.

"It's doable," Chris DiMarco said.

"He's not fool-proof," Adam Scott said.

"I don't think anyone is scared of him," Geoff Ogilvy said.

Golf Digest's Mark Soltau on Tiger's opening 36 holes.

Here's how he's done it: After hitting 11 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens Thursday, Woods hit 12 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens Friday. Combined, that's 82.1 percent and 77.8 percent, respectively.

He's also been hot with his putter, especially inside 10 feet. He took 27 putts Thursday and 28 Friday, canning a 60-footer at the par-4 eighth hole to ignite his second round. At the par-4 14th, Woods holed out a 4-iron from the fairway from 205 yards for eagle, helping him to a back nine of 5-under 32.

Will the wind tempt him to hit a few more drivers over the weekend, maybe even flog a bit like he did on 16 Thursday? Should be fun to watch.

John Huggan focuses on Tiger's pursuers while the Telegraph's Martin Johnson devotes Saturday's column to Tiger and Nick Faldo:

He could also, it's fairly safe to assume, have done without Nick suddenly becoming talkative on a golf course, and as the pair of them set off down the opening hole, Faldo was yakking away to him like a man just released from a 10-year stretch in solitary confinement. This continued down the second, but when Woods started par-par to Faldo's birdie-birdie, he made sure - with the old untied shoelace ploy - that Nick could spend the rest of the hole, and indeed the round, talking to himself.

It's ironic that Faldo, who won six majors with less conversation than a Trappist monk, should suddenly become garrulous on a golf course, even if he was trying to mend a few bridges.

And finally, Mike Clayton looks at the success of Australian players this year over at GolfObserver.com.