A fine performance by Louis Oosthuizen at the Open Championship today, which he won by 7 shots. After Paul Casey’s meltdown on the 12th, I had a good snooze and woke up just in time to see Louis’ tee shot to the green at 18.
The most interesting happenings during the Open:
- Tiger Woods forgets how to putt. He had at least nine or ten three-putts. If he’d 2-putted all those holes, he would have been in the final group on Sunday.
- Rory McIlroy has got a lot of game and even more heart. After his meltdown 80 on Friday, he shot 68-69 on the weekend to tie for third.
- Lee Westwood gets yet another 2nd place finish in a major. If only he could have made a few more putts this week.
- Phil Mickelson and the Open are incompatible.
The wind was really howling on the Old Course at St. Andrews in the Open Championship and the bulk of the field went backwards. Louis Oosthuizen leads by 5 over Mark Calcavecchia, but Louis has never lead a major before and Mark plays on the Old Farts Tour. I’m thinking Tiger is really only two back of the real leaders, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, who are at -6.
This morning, I played 18 at WestRidge Golf Course in McKinney. We went off about 11:30 and finished a pretty slow round around 4PM. The day was sunny and hot, with a 1-2 club breeze most of the day. The greens had been recently punched, but it didn’t seem to make much difference. I had my best ever nine holes with a score of 38 (+2) on the front, with 3 birdies. I added a fourth birdie with a chip-in on the back, but otherwise played poorly on the back. Still, 86 is my best score ever, so I’m not complaining.
My score:
| Hole |
01 |
02 |
03 |
04 |
05 |
06 |
07 |
08 |
09 |
Out |
| Par |
5 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
36 |
| Score |
6 |
6 |
3 |
3* |
3* |
4* |
2* |
5 |
6 |
38 |
| Hole |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
In |
Total |
| Par |
4 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
36 |
72 |
| Score |
5 |
7 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
6 |
48 |
86 |
* Hit green in regulation.
Themes:
- Off the tee. I hit only five fairways, which is my worst performance in a while. I also had three penalties off the tee, two into hazards and one out of bounds. I also hit two par-3 holes in regulation.
- Approach shots. Not very good, since I hit only two holes, other than par-3 holes, in regulation. One was stellar, though, a gap wedge to a foot on #6. I had one penalty on an approach, a 4-wood hit into a hazard I didn’t know was there.
- Wedges. I had a mixed day with the wedges. The good: A nearly perfect gap wedge to a foot for birdie on #6. The bad: A perfect drive on #10 and I chunked the gap wedge from the center of the fairway. My next wedge was good but I missed the putt for par. I also had a dead shank with a sand wedge. Yeech!
- Chips. I chipped in for birdie on #12 from about 3 yds off the green, and got up-and-down only three times all day.
- Sand shots. I hit into one fairway bunker, which I hit a good 9-iron out, but well short of the green, and into one greenside bunker that was full of water, from which I took relief.
- Putting. My putting was good today. I hit four greens in regulation, and made three birdie putts. I had 29 putts total, and no three putts at all. Probably my best putting day ever.
I was very, very pleased with my front nine, the best golf I’ve ever played. This was especially nice since I spent the week before I played unable to practice at all due to muscle spasms in my back. My back nine was mediocre, but I still managed to get home with my best score ever.