Day 2 at The Open Championship went pretty much according to most pundits expectations. The weather and wind were big factors for the lower scores and except for a couple of players -3 was a great score. The number of players under par dropped to 27 and the lead by Phil Mickelson narrowed.
The Big 3 all made the cut, but will have to play well on moving day to be in contention on Sunday. If the scores of the Big 3 continue the current 2 day trend, then Pete Robbins, from White Dragon Golf, prediction at none of the Big 3 will win a Major this year still holds true.
After looking at the scores, I will give Day 2 to Royal Troon; most of the field was trooned, but tomorrow is another day! The following are some Day 2 highlights from Twitter that I think you might find interesting! Continue reading →
Troon got Trooned! This phrase, coined by Brian Penn at All About Golf, fits The first day of The Open! Of course everyone is talking about Phil Mickelson’s 63 and 3 shot lead; I for one am happy for Lefty, but unfortunately I did not predict such a strong start for this veteran or any of the current leaders. As some pundits are saying that this is only the first day and tomorrow thinks might be different.
The low scores are quite amazing considering the reputation of Royal Troon. Discounting Mickelson’s score, there is still 1/3 of the field under par; for a Major! 11 players were minus 4 or minus 5! That is an amazing number of players who Trooned Troon. Continue reading →
I can hardly wait! Golf season is just around the corner.
In keeping with the weather theme mentioned by Rick at mindbodygolf, I thought I would show you can what happen at my course in the space of 30 days…..
Golfers are fearless! Without hesitation, they face all natures elements because of an innate desire to finish 18 holes. Some would call this crazy, others compulsive, and others brave….well it is really hard to judge. Most golfers set their own limits and will decide to walk of the course when they have reached their fear factor.
Some will say “challenge the elements”; or “I will face whatever mother nature can throw at me!” Some like, the Bishop from Caddyshack, continue to challenge mother nature and even challenged God…..to his own peril.
On June 28, 1975, while playing in the 1975 Western Open, Lee Trevino was struck by lightning while playing golf. The odds of being hit by lightning in your lifetime are 1 in 300,000 thousand. He has been struck by lightning 3 times while playing golf! His Western Open incident led to one of the most famous quotes in golf where Trevino stated that if he were out on the course and it began to storm again; he would take out his one iron and point it to the sky, “because not even God can hit the one-iron.”
Personally, I have played in rain, pouring rain, pelting rain, freezing rain, hail, snow, blistering heat, using a flashlight (to tee off at 5 am), wearing 3 outer sweatshirts and wearing long underwear. There is virtually no weather conditions that I will not play in except one: lightning! Nope, I do not care how good my game is going, I draw the line at lightning.
So how do we know when lightning is close enough that it is time to walk away? That is a very good question. For me, it is if I see the lightning or the the thunder is so loud that it makes me flinch.
While playing men’s night on Wednesday, we encountered one of those times when a decision had to be made about whether to continue playing or walk away. As we watched this storm cloud roll quickly across the golf course, we decided to carry on….mostly because there was no thunder or lightning associated with the cloud. As it turned out, it rained monsoon like for 5 minutes then cleared up! (I will not tell you where my umbrella was because you would all just laugh at me!) We were wet, but never in any danger…on a side note I found out that I am water tight because the rain just roll off me like water off a ducks back….who knew!
In all seriousness, it is important to know when to walk away from the links. Your health is more important than a low golf score! The golf course is a place to have fun, challenge yourself and meet new people. It is not a place to tempt fate by being foolish. So regardless of much fun you are having it is important to know when to walk away.
The Grateful Golfer 