Capelle On Golf

Tiger Woods
Woods opened his bid for three straight at St. Andrews with a 67, which included 17 GIR. Though he is tied for eighth, you can eliminate six of the seven players ahead of him who realistically have no chance of winning. This, in effect, means that he is tied for second, four shots behind McIlroy. In short, after his first round he is excellent position to end his two year and one month drought in the majors. Were he to do so, there would be a parallel with Jack Nicklaus, who ended the worst winless streak of his career at the 1970 British Open - at St. Andrews. Many, myself included, questioned Woods’ switch to a new putter for the Open, but he holed several lengthy putts and did not three putt despite hitting so many greens. Reader BD also noticed that he thought that Tiger has narrowed his stance and is placing more weight on his toes.

Rory McIlroy
I mentioned in my preview that it was time for McIlroy to step up and contend for majors. Next morning I tuned in to ESPN and discovered that he had just finished scorching the Old Course with a bogey free 63 to take a two shot lead over Louis Oosthuizen. His masterpiece included 17 GIR (with two hit in under regulation). In the process, he also tied for the lowest round ever shot in a major. Should McIlroy go on to win, he will capture his first major 29 days sooner than Tiger Woods did as a 21 year old. Should McIlroy fail to win, he still has one more shot at the PGA to win at an earlier age that Tiger - if he captures the PGA, he will be 21 and 103 days. Tiger was 21 and 104 days old when he won the 1997 Masters!

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson said he lover St. Andrews and was primed to make a solid run for his first Open title. But he got a bad draw, suffered several close calls on the greens, and three putted twice. He also struck the ball terribly, hitting only 11 greens and only 9 of 16 fairways. After 18 he’s tied for 97th, leaving him 2 shots above the top 70 and ties. To play the weekend, he will probably need a 68-69 on Friday.

Lee Westwood
The old cliché has it that you must beware of the injured golfer. Westwood fits the bill with a solid game and a calf injury. With the expectations lifted, he went out and shot a 67, the best round of the afternoon half. His round included five straight birdies on the final five holes of the front nine.

John Daly
Just when you think you’ve heard the last of Daly (thank god) he pops up again like a bobble doll. This time Daly somehow managed to shoot a 66, tying him for third, and guaranteeing that we will get far more that our fill of him on Friday. Rick Reilly even devoted a TV essay to him before saying that “He’s got no chance to win this.” If he’s got no chance, why waste time on him?

K.J. Choi
Paul Azinger said that it was “strange to see him (Retief Goosen) with a belly putter. I felt the same way when I noticed that Colin Montgomerie is now wielding the belly putter. But now, after putting extremely well at the Masters (he was 5t on the green), we have K.J. Choi using a long putter in the side saddle position. Yikes! I though the side saddle was outlawed after Sam Snead went to it in the 1960s’. For the record, he shot a 76 that incuded 35 putts.

The Luck of the Draw
The vast majority of the 44 sub 70 scores were shot by those with morning tee times. These included McIlroy, Tiger Woods (67), John Daly (66), Nick Watney (67), Sean O’Hair (67), and Lucas Glover. The afternoon half had to contend with rain and wind, so low scores were scarce. Among the best was Lee Westwood’s 67. Perhaps the most disappointing was Phil Mickelson’s 73. As if this were not bad enough, the forecast calls for bad weather in the morning on Friday with conditions improving in the afternoon. If that happens, close to half of the field will be eliminated simply by the luck of the draw.

St. Andrews
The entire golf world is rhapsodizing about St. Andrews, and well it should. Still, this course is not without its oddities. Yes, we know about the double greens and the bunkers with devilish names that are positioned in the fairways of all places. But what is also strange is that all of the worst trouble is on the right side, which favors players who tend to draw the ball. The course also has only two par 3s, and they come close together - at #8 and #11. Furthermore, the two holes measure within a yard of each other. There are only two par fives, but there are four par fours under 360, which puts them within range of today’s bombers.

Broadcast Technology
I have long hated that intrusive putting line that appears on the Golf Channel, but I thought that it would at least never appear in a major. Wrong. ESPN has what they call Putt Zone, which overlay the expected route of the putt while the ball is rolling. Horrible!
On the 17th, the Road Hole, which features a blind tee shot over a hotel, ESPN employed what they called Ball Track to show the ball’s flight from behind the tee. While I would rather see the ball itself, because it is invisible from this view when hit., Ball Track seems to be a logical alternative.

Country Standings
The big number of countries (15) represented in the top 29 shows that the Open is, more than the other three majors, an international championship, giving weight to the Open’s boost that the winner is the Champion Golfer of the Year. For the record, here is the first round breakdown.
6 USA
6 England
3 Sweden
2 South Korea
2 South Africa
1 Northern Ireland
1 Wales
1 Scotland
1 Germany
1 Spain
1 Australia
1 Columbia
1 Japan
1 Ireland
1 Fiji