Open Wednesday Reads

Peter Thomson writes for The Age on the extension of the Old Course, and he is starting to think the lengthening isn't going to have much of an impact. Why? He watched some of Tiger's practice round!

Lawrence Donegan says the Old Course is vulnerable to low scores if the weather forecast holds, and he concludes that if Tiger's 19-under par from 2000 is broken, that it will intensify talk of doing something about distance problem. Donegan has several fun anecdotes in story about how short the course is playing. Somehow, he went the entire article without mentioning that the guys are better athletes!

Donegan also reports on the rolled back ball collection program sponsored by the USGA, and quotes Wally Uihlein, who has a new analogy about the ball (and the unfair emphasis on it in distance debate chatter). Though Uihlein continues to be right that the ball is taking too much blame, he needs to more clearly explain how the USGA bungled the optimization concept if he wants to prevent the ball from being singled out.

As for the course, Vijay says it could be another "Carnasty," providing quite a different take from other players. Singh did single out the same hole others have, #4, where it's a 290 carry to the fairway. Who knew Tom Meeks was involved in the Open setup?!? This Telegraph story also has more of Vijay's concerns, and Tiger's quote of the day: "It's always more fun when you have to think your way around the course instead of belting it and 'who cares where it goes.' Golf is meant to be more cerebral and this course allows you to be creative."

Here’s a Guardian story with another fun Tiger quote. "I didn't really understand how to play links golf, how to bump the ball along the ground, because I never had to. I grew up in LA on kukui [sp.] grass where everything had to be up in the air. For me to come over and play a different game was so much fun."

Alistair Tait of Golfweek reports on the bookmakers and bets you can make this week. "Here's two bets only British bookmakers could come up with – odds of 8/1 for a streaker to run onto the 18th green, and 50/1 on Ian Poulter to sport a Union Jack hairstyle."

Jay Nagle has the interesting story on how Sean O'Hair got his passport. The White House was involved! AP's Doug Ferguson writes about the evolving Old Course and as usual chalks up any concerns about technology impacting the layout to the "it's all progress" theme (he is consistent this way, though it seems odd for AP to have such a strong point of view). Ferguson quotes Titleist's Brad Faxon, without mentioning his lucrative corporate affiliation. Leonard Shapiro previews the Old Course, with quotes from Paul McGinley and a Nick Faldo friend that prove quite interesting.

Gene Yasuda has the story on the new Tiger Nike ad which sounds fantastic. However, do check out this story and the adspeak if your eye-rolling needs practice. There's talk of "pass-along," "viral implications" and "roadblocks."

Finally, in non-Open news, Will Claxton of Georgia is the poor soul who drew Michelle Wie in the first round of U.S. Pub Links match play. And Tod Leonard reports on the vastly improved course conditions at Torrey Pines South as the Junior World gets underway.