Capelle On Golf

British Open Coverage

Greg Norman Turns Back the Clock
In winds that blew from 30-37mph all day long, Greg Norman carved out a masterful 72 to assume the 54 hole lead at the British Open. Norman, who spent 331 weeks as the number one ranked player in the world pre-Tiger era, showed that a fit and motivated 53 year old is a match for the best golfers in the world on any given week.

Norman will take a two shot lead into the final round over K.J. Choi (75), his playing partner on Saturday, and defending champion Padraig Harrington (72), with whom he will be paired on Sunday. If Norman wins he will tie Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, and Vijay Singh with three majors apiece.

He will also replace Julius Boros, the 1968 PGA champion at 48, as the oldest winner of a major by a whopping 5 years and 19 days. And he will give the comparatively young Singh (45) a reason to believe that he could keep winning for years to come.

Norman’s Game
All week Norman has been showing off the upright and super aggressive swing that made him one of the longest and most accurate drivers in the game’s history. As he sets up over a drive Norman goes into his Fred Astaire dance routine as he shuffles himself into position. Norman’s iron game, which includes knock down shots that old masters used to use, has been superb. Lastly, he’s been deadly on the greens using a conventional putting technique similar to Tiger Woods’. This is big plus because if he wins, there will be no asterisk for a long putter aided victory.

The Chris Evert Factor
Norman’s revival coincides with his recent marriage to Chris Evert, an 18 times major champion in tennis (from 1974-86), the same number won by Jack Nicklaus. In an on-the-course interview she said her mental strength enabled her to beat physically superior talents such Martina Navratilova, her primary rival. Now imagine if Norman had married Evert 15-20 years ago. He would have had her coaching on the mental game for the bulk of his prime. Considering his lack of closing skills, there is little doubt that his major’s count would have benefitted from her advice.

K.J. Choi’s in the Slot
K.J. Choi’s game reminds me of three times major champion Larry Nelson. Both have smooth and simple swings with an unorthodox move on the backswing. They quietly go about their business with little fanfare, but when their swings fall into the slot and their fade is dialed in, they can compete with anyone.

Anthony Kim is Lurking
Anthony Kim was on the periphery of the Open when he drained a15 footer for an eagle at the 17th to go to seven over. He finished with a par on 18 for a 71, one off the day’s low. Going into Sunday there are only four players between him and the lead, so he is in excellent position to win his first major should the leaders falter.

Jim Furyk’s Demise
Furyk has just birdied eight and nine to tie for the lead at +2. Then, after a 30 minute wait on the 10th tee, he pulled his tee shot into the left rough, made double bogey, lost his momentum, and butchered the first five holes of the back nine, playing them in six over. He’s now tied for 15th, seven back of Norman.

Par is Arbitrary
The announcers reminded us that the par 4 sixth hole is such a brute – and it was as shown by Saturday’s average score of 4.80. Now if the hole was a par five, as it should be, they would be saying that it is the one birdie hole on the difficult front nine. The hole and the player’s scores would be exactly the same, but the conversation surrounding the hole would do a 180.

On the other hand, the average on the par 5 17th hole was .13 strokes lower at 4.67. Now if this hole was a par 4, the TV people would be saying what a super difficult hole that it was. Instead, Tom Watson said that the players were “licking their chops” on the 17th tee.

Quote Book
At 11am ET the eminently quotable Peter Allis retired to the BBC, their gain, our loss. In his place was the workmanlike Terry Gannon. Viewers did get a break when Watson missed the cut because he spent the day in the booth and added much to the proceedings. Paul Azinger as usual did a superlative job.
“You know its bad when they (the seagulls) are walking.” Watson
“Even the best pros underplay the wind.” Watson
“Jack Nicklaus was the best out of rough I ever say.” Watson
“I know he (Tiger) would have been loving these conditions.” Azinger
“Nicklaus never grounded his putterhead in his career.” Azinger
Azinger on the Open: “It’s part of his (Norman’s) honeymoon itinerary.”
“He’s (Norman) clearly outplayed the field and he’s being rewarded for it.” Azinger

Golf’s Worst Rule
The USGA and R&A have had better than a century to clean up the rule book, but it is still packed with archaic and ridiculously unfair rules. Today’s play in the heavy winds exposed perhaps the worst, what could be called the Wind Rule. If a player soles their putter blade behind the ball the wind causes it to move even though they haven’t touched it, it’s a one stroke penalty!

In other words, the ball can move a fraction of an inch due to Mother Nature and the player is penalized though they gained no appreciable advantage, and did nothing to intentionally violate the rules.

Now get this: if the player walks away from the ball after soling his putter and the ball moves, he’s still penalized. But if he takes the time to mark the ball (in a sport that’s supposedly worried about slow play), replace it, and it then moves, he incurs no penalty!

34 Fantastic Scores
Phil Mickelson said that a 74 would be a fantastic score on Saturday. If so, then there were 34 fantastic scores today, which shows that his assessment of the difficulty of the situation was off by several shots. Yes, the course was playing tough but was not impossible. Mickelson had a golden opportunity to show what the number two or three player of the Woods Era could do in high winds. Instead, he ballooned to a 76 when a 70, the day’s low, would have put him in a tie for fifth with the four players at +7, five back of Norman.