Golf Talk

The anticipation is over, the practice is complete, it’s time for the pros to put it all on the line for the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie. Regular readers know that I base my picks on Yahoo!’s Fantasy Golf lineup so if you’re familiar with that pool, you’ll know the format of how I’m picking.

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One of the great benefits of technology is the wonderful course breakdowns that are available to the fingertips of golf nuts around the world. Jump on the link to see a hole-by-hole broken down with yardages and all for this year’s British Open at Carnoustie.

I will post my British Open picks later today…

Credit: Ron Mon at WorldOfGolf

Carnoustie, British Open,

As the media scrum gets ready for the Open Championship in a couple of days, here are some tidbits making news on the Monday.

The routine practice rounds on Monday at Carnoustie were met with sun, rain, then sun again. Anyone who has been to that side of the world knows that the weather is wacky there. It could be sunny one minute, thunderstorms the next, then sunny again a few minutes later. Players living out of Florida should be able to relate. Overall, I don’t think this will be a major factor come Thursday.

Boo Weekley gave the stereotype of the dumb southern hick some legs last week when he showed his ignorance to both European and golf history. When playing alongside 99′ Open Champ Paul Lawrie at the Scottish Open, Weekley first asked him how did Lawrie qualify for the upcoming Open and then went on to ask what happened in 99′ at the Open Championship? Um, where have you been the last 10 years Boo??

Finally, Seve Ballesteros decided to hang it up for good today. Not much to say other than it was the right move considering he came in dead last for both his last two competitive tournaments, one the PGA and one on the Senior Tour. Ballesteros also flatly denied the rumors he tried to kill himself. Whatever the truth is, it will come out.

British Open, Carnoustie, PGA Tour, Boo Weekley, Seve Ballesteros

Of course, the British Open at Carnoustie will always be linked to the ‘99 collapse of Jean Van De Velde. This clip is actually an old segment several years back when Jean poked fun at himself when they said he could’ve hit putter and made his seven to win the Open Championship. So, he actually went out and tried to make seven with his putter. And he pokes fun at himself along the way.

Jean Van De Velde, Carnoustie, British Open

In commemoration of Van De Velde’s monumental collapse at Carnoustie in ‘99, CNNSI is counting down the top 11 golf meltdowns in the history of the game.

The fact that there are so many “meltdowns” beyond this list of 11, says a lot about how mentally difficult this game really is. Golf is just one of those games where the mental aspect is ever-so prevalent. Much more so than say basketball or even football. There is no equivalent to standing over a ten foot putt to tie or hitting your tee shot on 18 trying to maintain a lead.

golf meltdown, Carnoustie, British Open, Jean Van de Velde

No golf tip today. Instead, I found this clip from last year when much was made of the whole Tiger vs. Nick Faldo thing before the British Open. Tiger was upset that Nick was critical of his golf swing back in 2005 and made a big deal about it, so someone had the foresight to pair them together. Tiger went on to shoot 67-65 en route to winning the Open while Nick shot 77-71 and missed the cut.

With the British Open at Carnoustie less than a week away, could we see another Tiger vs Faldo rematch??

Anyways, enjoy…

Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, British Open, Carnoustie

Carnoustie, site of this year’s British Open has a bad rap from 99′ when the carnage left Sergio Garcia in tears (imagine that!) and Fred Funk fleeing the scene of the accident.

No, this will be a much tamer Carnoustie this time around. Wet weather combined with course changes have left the course in a much more playable state with fair conditions in the rough and mild greens.

Personally, I could give a damn, if the players get their a** beat, they get their a** beat. The best player will still prevail. This is what the whiny Phil Mickelson had to say,

“It’s a nice course. I never really knew that.”

Carnoustie, British Open, Phil Mickelson

This article appearing on Bloomberg outlines the increase at this year’s British Open at Carnoustie by 5 percent to 4.2 million pounds ($8.5 million).

It’s the first increase in three years. This makes it the richest of all four major tournaments.

I believe the European Tour officials had something to do with this. They want to make their Tour more relevant and one way of doing that is to increase prize money. I still don’t think it will make that much difference though, overall, the PGA Tour still has all the big money events.

British Open, Carnoustie

Over here in the US, a number of players played a 36-hold qualifier at Oakland Hills to qualify for the Open Championship which will be played at Carnoustie in a couple of weeks. The notable players who qualified include Michael Putnam, John Senden, Ryan Moore, Charley Hoffman, Matt Kuchar, Anders Hultman, Brian Davis, Jerry Kelly, Sean O’Hair, Duffy Waldorf, Mark Hensby and Spencer Levin.

Over in England, 16 out of 120 made the cut to qualify for the Open Championship playing at Sunningdale. Notable qualifiers include Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, England’s Nick Dougherty, Ross Fisher, Peter Baker and Scot Alastair Forsyth.

There was controversy over one of the pin placements that required a number of players to replay the hole.

Open Championship choker Jean van de Velde pulled out with a mystery illness.

British Open, Carnoustie

This video clip was taken quite recently at Carnoustie host of this year’s British Open.

Those exploding balls are a great gag to use on your buddies. Very funny…

exploding golf balls, carnoustie, funnies

Reports out of Carnoustie, Scotland, site of this year’s British Open, that head groundskeeper John Philp was suspended last week after an “incident” with an apprentice.

Philp says he did not assault the teen and will be back in time for the Open Championship to be played at Carnoustie July 14.

This isn’t the first reports of confrontations with this fellow and if all goes ahead as scheduled, looks to be headed towards more “incidents” next month as the “arrogant” Americans arrive to play on “his” course.

David Duvall, who won the Open in 2001 at Carnoustie, called Phip an “out-of-control groundskeeper”.

British Open, Carnoustie, John Philp