The Moon Shot

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GolfDigest.com posts the moon shot video and a transcript for today's 40th anniversary.

"We'll have to see."

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There was so much to enjoy in Tom Watson's post round press conference, but I most enjoyed the jabs at Augusta National and the R&A for over-the-top course changes. Granted, these things have been said many times before by Watson and others, but something about the setting and the magical week transformed these from mere jabs.

Q. With it all said and done, would you have rather gone through this experience at this stage in your career or have the memories be about things you did decades ago?

TOM WATSON: You mean having a chance to win it again?

Q. Yeah.

TOM WATSON: Well, hell, yes. Yeah, darn right. Winning it again was -- as I said, I don't like to go to Augusta anymore because I feel like I'm a ceremonial golfer there; I can't play that golf course anymore unless I'm absolutely perfect. But out here I have a chance. And I knew I had a chance starting out. So, yeah, I'm glad this happened.

Q. Do you think you'll also have a chance at St. Andrews, which is where next year you'll be, of course?

TOM WATSON: Well, it depends on the wind. If the wind comes from the west there, I have a hard time with that golf course. Hole No. 4 gets me. I can't hit it far enough to get it over the junk. You have the rough there, and it depends on how deep the rough is. I'm driving into the rough all the time. It's like the 10th hole at Bethpage Black there at the first U.S. Open; when they moved the tee back, nobody could get to the fairway.

But I feel like I can play St. Andrews. I still have some of the shots to be able to play that golf course. We'll just have to see. We'll have to see.

The fact that a west wind makes the carry at No. 4 nearly impossible does speak to the silliness of these newly installed tees, but also to player perceptions of R&A setup inflexibility.

Speaking of that, did anyone else notice the par-3 tees at Turnberry? All of the divots were in the same general area. The 11th tee appeared to not move more than a five yards over the four rounds.

2009 Open Championshp Clippings, Final Edition

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The inkslingers earned their money today. Not an easy to tournament to summarize so soon after it happened, but they managed anyway. A few ledes:

Bill Elliott for the Irish Times:

HE WAS the plot and the subplot, the whole 7,204 yards of this final round. And then some. But Tom Watson, 47 days short of his 60th birthday, also ended up just one weak putt short of the greatest victory the game has witnessed.

James Corrigan for the Independent:

Stewart Cink broke the heart of Tom Watson – not to mention the entirety of the watching sporting world – here last night when denying the 59-year-old in a play-off for the 138th Open Championship.

Mike Aitken in The Scotsman:

IT PROMISED to be the most extraordinary story written in golf since the Open began up the road from the Ailsa at Prestwick all of 149 years ago. Tom Watson, 59 years young, faced an eight-foot putt on the 72nd hole at Turnberry to win his sixth Open title.

Instead, he left it short and wide and opened the door for Stewart Cink, the unassuming American Ryder Cup player, to win the 138th staging of the oldest major thanks to an unflinching display in a four-hole play-off.

Lawrence Donegan in The Guardian:

History faltered at Turnberry today when Tom Watson, bidding to become oldest man (and the first with a hip replacement) to win one of golf's major championships, was finally vanquished by his countryman Stewart Cink at the 2009 Open Championship.

Doug Ferguson for AP:

Tom Watson stood over an 8-foot par putt Sunday evening on the final hole of a mystical British Open, one stroke away from becoming the oldest major champion in history. For the first time all week, he showed his 59-year-old nerves.

The putt never had a chance.

A little more than an hour later, neither did Watson.

Larry Dorman in the New York Times:

Not the onrush of history, not the seeming preordination of the champion, not the brutal crosswind off the firth or crowds of thousands of Scots who roared almost exclusively for his astounding 59-year-old opponent could stop Stewart Cink from winning the 138th British Open on Sunday.

Nick Pearce in the Telegraph goes with a Shrek reference:

Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson in a play-off to win the 138th Open at Turnberry and complete his maiden major victory.

Like the giant ogre in a children's scare story Cink stomped all over this Open Championship and crushed our dreams. The big American beat the heroic Watson in a play-off on a day when three different Englishmen had led at various times in the afternoon. Poor Cink, a more than decent American golfer, has just become the biggest villain in Open history.

But my favorite, from Karl MacGinty in the Belfast Telegraph:

It has to be the biggest anti-climax in golfing history — like Neil Armstrong falling down the steps of the lunar module and breaking his leg.

 

Interviews And Stats

Tom Watson

Stewart Cink

The hole-by-hole scoring averages the week, minus the final scoring average because who would want to know that?


Stewart Cink, Champion Golfer Of The Year

Damon Hack at golf.com:

Cink realized quickly that he would not be the crowd favorite in the playoff. Afterward, he said he was familiar with the role.

"I've played plenty of times with Tiger and hear the Tiger roars and Mickelson," said Cink, who closed with a final-round 69. "I'm usually the guy that the crowd [appreciates], but they're not behind me 100 percent of the way.

"I feel like whether Tom was 59 or 29, he was one of the field, and I had to play against everybody in the field, and the course, to come out on top."

Bob Harig opens with how Cink's win will always be linked more with Watson than anything else:

One of golf's truly great guys turned out to be the bad guy.

John Hopkins in The Times:

Even in victory, Cink seemed to be the loser. Even when he cradles the famous old trophy he will know that he won it from under the nose of the one man whom almost everyone here wanted to win.

“That’s all right” he said later. “I knew what to expect. I had played with Lee on Saturday and the crowds cheered for him, quite rightly. I am often the guy the crowds appreciate but are not 100 per cent behind.”

Lynne Truss wrote in Saturday's edition of the Times (thanks to reader Cardinal for catching this):

but I tell you, until Tom Watson started his charge late on Friday afternoon, I had never been less moved by the golf in a major championship.

At one point I was so desperate that, like an old cracked record, I resorted to drawing my colleagues’ attention to the presence of Stewart Cink on the leaderboard. “See?” I said. Well, I got what I deserved.

“You’re not going on about Cink again?” they said, in disbelief. “We know he’s good, but he’s never going to win. Not now. Not ever. Never.”

I'm guessing that colleague has heard a thing or two from her since.


Our Dear Watson

Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail:

In the packed grandstands, people who never go to church from one year to the next clasped their hands in fervent prayer. Then he woke up. We woke up.

His first putt travelled eight feet past. In the scoring area, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher forgot their own disappointment at failing to win to watch a television monitor.

'Get in!' they urged, but the putt never looked close to the line history intended. It dribbled miserably to the right, and the sense of deflation was overwhelming.

James Lawton for the Independent:

It was the privilege of being around Tom Watson when he not only played some of the most brilliant golf of his life but also defined himself.

It was how it is when you know you have touched something that will always shine like gold.

Long before the moment of decision came, with such awful finality, Watson's achievement was beyond any analysis of pro and con, any feeble attempt to measure the demands of one sports discipline against another.

It was simply to create the greatest, most compelling, and ultimately the most poignant story in the history of any sport you care to name.

Alan Pattullo in The Scotsman:

Just who was this man hirpling again down the 18th, roared to the rafters, though with head this time bowed? It was the kid from Kansas City, freeman of Turnberry, Maidens and every damn cluster of houses in Ayrshire. Forget Colin Montgomerie, Sandy Lyle and unseemly, petty spats. Here is Scotland's finest, here is her adopted son. The fans saluted him in the way he deserved, but Watson, ever alert to golf's etiquette, hung back, allowing Cink his moment in the sun. "We love you Tom!" someone blurted. Before long, more had joined in with their declarations of affection. A terrace favourite was then struck up. All were living in a Watson Wonderland.

Thomas Bonk for GolfDigest.com:

In the end, the numbers were simply too highly stacked against him. If Watson wasn't the longest of shots, he was close. The day before the tournament began, the local odds makers listed him at 250-1.

But Watson evidently changed some minds ... his odds went down to 100-1 after Thursday, then 40-1 after Friday and 7-1 after Saturday.

What do bookmakers know anyway?

After all, Watson was ranked 1,274th last Monday. He would have been ranked 45th on Monday if he had won.

Alan Fraser for the Daily Mail:

But the thing about this past week has been the number of young people who have been rooting for Tom Watson. At times, it was like Tom Jones at Glastonbury. The young ones were rocking with Watson, all of them not even born when he was in his pomp.

They did not throw their underwear at him yesterday but they stuck their hands out hoping for a high five as the walked through the funnel on to the first tee to the first of many ovations.

Steve Elling shares this from Tony Jacklin:

"Nobody said it, but in my opinion, had he won, it would have been the greatest single feat in golf history," said Tony Jacklin, who like Watson is a Hall of Famer himself. "The greatest single feat for sure. I know accumulating 18 majors is a different kind of accomplishment, but for a 59-year-old veteran, had he won, there is nothing else.

"Trust me, 46 is a hell of a lot different that 59, and anybody over 50 knows that. I feel it every day. It was staggering the way he stood up right to the end."

Jeff Neuman wonders about the quality of players today.

The only player in contention on Sunday who looked like he knew how to win a major was Watson, right up until his 277th stroke of the tournament on the final green.

Cameron Morfit for golf.com (including confirmation that that was indeed Tom Lehman behind the ropes out on 13 tee watching Watson).

There were competing theories about the significance of a Watson victory. He would become the oldest to win a major by 11 years, which was amazing, but on the other hand it might reflect badly on the sport, or the rest of professional golf, that a man just two months shy of 60 could prevail.

"This will be the worst thing that could happen to golf," a scribe said.

"It'll be the best thing that could happen to golf," replied another.

John Hopkins addresses this point and notes the cerebral quality of golf is what makes it unique, especially when a geezer nearly wins.

And on that point, it pains me, but we do have to note a serious strategic mistake by Watson on 18 to play at the hole, as Alan Shipnuck notes in the SI Confidential:

Here in the Turnberry press room everyone is still buzzing about Watson's shot into 18 in regulation. He did pure it, but it took a hard bounce and trickled over the back. He later admitted he was between an 8-iron and a 9 and he chose the 8, even straight downwind and with all that adrenaline. I was standing next to the green for the last couple of groups and all the balls were taking big bounces. You'd think that after all these years Watson would've known to hit the 9. Better to be a little short with a 30 foot putt than long to a back flag. It was a rookie mistake that ultimately cost him the Open.

Finally, Graham Spiers on Watson's bagman, 58-year old Neil Oxman and the political discussions they have.


The Other Broken-Hearted

Marvin Collins on Lee Westwood's roller coaster ride finish.

His tee shot at 18 found the left fairway bunker but he still produced a remarkable recovery – "a great shot," said Westwood later – to the front right of the green to set up that unlikely long-range birdie attempt which he felt he had to make to keep his hopes alive.

Westwood admitted he thought he had hit a decent shot on 18 and had no idea his second shot would be from sand. "I thought it had gone down the fairway and missed the trap but it must have curled round and gone in," he said. "I hit a great shot out of the trap but didn't finish it off."

And this from the SI Confidential:

Hack: Lee Westwood is Stewart Cink, circa 2001.

Herre: Westwood blew it on 18 by rushing his final putt, thinking he was out of it, just like Cink did at Southern Hills.

Shipnuck: I was in the Winged Foot locker room with Phil and in the Augusta parking lot with Kenny Perry, and I've never seen anyone as gutted as Westwood was Sunday. He wandered around the locker room in a daze, at one point standing in front of a fridge for 15 seconds or so, staring at all the free drinks. Then he walked away without taking one. There were a half dozen players and caddies in there at the same time and it was dead silent and unbelievably awkward. When I left, Westwood was laying on a bench, rubbing his face over and over, trying to take deep breaths.

Kevin Ferrie on the dashed hopes of Oliver Fisher and Westwood:

Yet like Neil Coles and Tommy Horton, who always seemed to be in the running at some stage of Open Championships in the 70s, none but the unloved and unappreciated Faldo has managed to see it through.

While in this the home of golf, there is endless agonising over the lack of Scottish success on the world stage in some ways it seems even more curious that no other Major winner has emerged from among the ranks of so many gifted young millionaires.

Then again perhaps - as some suspected with Tim Henman in tennis - that such a comfortable existence can be had without the need for doing what is needed to bring home the biggest prizes is at least one part of the problem.

And Alan Pattullo on barely 16-year old Masseo Manassero's epic week


Turnberry Wins!

Mike Aitken says Turnberry presents "a model course," which seems a tad much.

Bearing in mind how Turnberry was burdened with a reputation as a bit of a soft touch, the fact only a handful of players were under par going into yesterday's final round and Tiger Woods, the world No1, missed the cut in the oldest major for the first time, said all that was required about the severity of the examination.

Oh joy, it was hard so it must be great!

Miscellany

Michael Hiestand isn't very high on ESPN on ABC via BBC's coverage.

Dick Friedman rates the broadcast team and says Alliss again stole the show in his limited time on air while Martin Kelner reviews Alliss' BBC work and wonders about his obsession with Pavarotti.

And this note from Paul Gallagher about the R&A faux lockers probably won't come as a shock:

All week the BBC has been telling us, “Let’s go over to the clubhouse locker-room where Hazel (Irvine) is with . . .”. But Auntie hasn’t exactly been straight with the viewers.

The BBC’s post-round interview area has the look of an upmarket locker-room, with rich, mahogany- like lockers and the RA logo visible on each of the locker doors.

We’ve since found out the supposed locker-room is a set in a portakabin just beyond the mixed zone behind the 18th grandstand.

Alan Fraser just loved the BBC's coverage and reports all sorts of fun stuff, including a drinking game that developed. His lede ought to hook you:

Joining the list of things you thought you would never hear on a prime-time BBC 1 sports programme, the following from Andrew Cotter.

‘It’s all about Matt Goggin.’

Just the sort of dramatic commentary destined to send an audience scurrying to The History Channel and an in-depth study of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95).

Mark Soltau compiles the quotes of the day while Johnson/Weinman pick out birdies and bogeys, including a thumbs for the R&A saying they may review their age 60 limit for past champions.

Though Ewan Murray talks to Peter Dawson about the rule and it's hard to be enthusiastic that it'll get bumped back to 65.

And this press room temperature gauge from Damon Hack at golf.com:

Damon Hack: I can honestly say that I've never seen a press corps undergo the mood swing it did from the moment Watson's ball was in the air on the 18th hole to when it landed. As writers, we root for the story, and a Watson win would have transcended golf and made for one joyride of a Sunday-night write. Who knows when this opportunity will ever come again.

Doug Ferguson with notes on Padraig, Chris Wood, exemptions and more.

And finally, my favorite from Jenkins' final day of Tweeting:

2009 Open Championship Clippings, 36-hole Edition

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The ledes sum up a wild and wacky day at Turnberry.

Mark Reason in the Telegraph:

Tom Watson was supposed to be a one-day wonder, an old vaudeville act with a limited run, but here he was on the 18th green high-kicking his way to a share of the lead of the Open Championship.

Lawrence Donegan in The Guardian:

The dream continues for Tom Watson but not for Tiger Woods – two giants of the game whose paths diverged on a dramatic day at Turnberry that saw the wind rise, the scores soar and the Ailsa course take revenge on her tormentors.

Doug Ferguson for the AP:

Tom Watson leading the British Open heading to the weekend?

Tiger Woods gassing up the plane and heading for home?

Treacherous Turnberry delivered a pair of shockers Friday.

Mark Lamport-Stokes filing for Reuters:

The British Open's renowned unpredictability with its vagaries of weather was sharply highlighted on Friday when Tom Watson, 59, tied for the lead and world number one Tiger Woods missed the cut.

Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail:

For two days this 138th Open Championship has resembled a reality television show, in which the two most famous men in the field who happen to share the same initials have agreed to swap roles.

James Corrigan in the Independent

It was the day Turnberry turned into a monster and did the unthinkable – it swallowed a Tiger.

Larry Dorman in the New York Times:

Time-worn themes and conventional wisdom about how to succeed in the 138th Open Championship shifted faster than the weather on the Ayrshire coast Friday, and the names on the leader board did the same.


Watson!

Graham Spiers on Watson's mid-round resurgence.

“Gaun yersel’, Tom!” a Scottish voice shouted as he strode briskly down a fairway. Watson, who thinks of himself as something of a mimic, often attempts a Scottish accent that comes out sounding Polish and he may not have understood that “gaun yersel’” is an Ayrshire cry of encouragement. But he smiled and accepted the acclaim in a way he has come to perfect over the past 35 years.

Bob Harig on Watson's round and his 18th hole celebratory leg kick:

Watson birdied the ninth and 11th holes, then added two long putts at the 16th and 18th holes that he estimated were each 60 feet in length, the last one getting a huge reaction from the chilled fans in the jammed bleachers and a celebratory hop and leg kick from Watson.

"That was my Scottish jig," he said.

Jay Coffin on the pep talk Sergio gave Watson mid-round. Yes, you read that right.

Marino!

Tim Rosaforte helps us get to know the man who had 22 putts, almost won at Colonial and will probably be off the radar by the end of Sunday's round. He also talks to Steve Sr. about how Steve Jr. got to this point.

Calc!

Cameron Morfit on the 1989 Champion:

Calcavacchia, whose wife, Brenda, is his caddie this week, has talked a lot about beer since he landed. After his first-round 67, when he hit 17 greens in regulation, he mentioned how much fun he's been having getting to know other players like Lucas Glover, Matt Kuchar and Boo Weekley in the Duel in the Sun Pub.

"The beer is very tasty," he said.

That's not something you hear much from today's robopros, but there's nothing like the almighty pint to ingratiate yourself with the locals. After his round Friday, Calcavecchia was asked if it's true he's been allowing himself the odd post-round libation. And how many is he allowing himself?

"Four seems to be a nice round figure," he said, eliciting laughter. "It's just enough, but it's not too many."


Tiger!

Bill Elliott in The Guardian:

Although he said later that he played "pretty bad at Winged Foot", the US Open of 2006, few who have marvelled at his play over the last decade and beyond could recall such a disastrous sortie across such an important arena.

Seven shots were dropped during this time, Woods's ball control suddenly absent in action, his usual focus also off somewhere. He looked alarmed during this dreary spell and no wonder for this was not just a big hiccup but may turn out to have been something more sinister.

What seems certain, given the perverse nature of this game, is that this run of bogey, bogey, double bogey, par, bogey, double bogey will have sown a small seed of doubt in even this player's mind.Wild swings, lost balls, fluffed pitches, disappointing putts are not this guy's usual ammunition but he showered this links with all this sort of stuff.

Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN.com:

Obligatory dumb post-round question: "What's next for you?"

Woods: "Well, go home, get something to eat. I'm really hungry right now."

He'll have plenty of time to chow down this weekend. Maybe even mow the yard. Play with the kids. Watch somebody else win the Open Championship, the same championship for which oddsmakers made him a 2-1 favorite.

There's no nice way of describing his first missed cut since the 2006 U.S. Open and only his sixth MC as a pro. Woods played semi-awful. Jimmy Fallon could have beaten him.

Nick Hoult in the Telegraph:

Having faltered in benign conditions on the Thursday, when his drives spilt left and right, Woods was conservative as he started his second round. It all felt rather flat as Woods played within himself on the first six holes. He didn't even lose his temper with the phalanx of photographers training their lenses on Woods' playing partner Ryo Ishikawa. Instead it was left to the spectators to vent their spleen on the snappers.

PGATour.com documents his missed cuts in PGA Tour events. It's not a long list.

Rex Hoggard imagines what kind of text Tiger will receive from Roger Federer and talks to a swing coach who chalks up the MC to the vagaries of links golf.

Matt Dickinson in The Times:

Another six followed at the 13th when Woods hit his approach over the back of the green. His chip bounded up the bank, but then rolled back down the slope. His next three shots were played with the resignation of a man who knew that, whatever he did in the next hour, he would not be adding to his tally of major titles.

He barely looked to see if his putts would roll left or right. For all he cared, they could trundle downhill all the way to the sea.

James Lawton following a similar theme in his Independent column:

The bewilderment re-doubled at the 12th when he bogeyed after finding a bunker from the tee and then there was another disaster at the 14th when he double-bogeyed again – this time after watching a chip from the right of the green slide back down the slope and then skitter further away from the hole.

It was at this point that a rare expression crossed the face of Tiger Woods. It wasn't anger, it wasn't concern, it wasn't even apprehension. It was disbelief. It was the sense that his world, all the certainties upon which he has built his fabulous reputation, were sliding away before his eyes.

And Steve Elling notes this:

With the breeze blowing, Woods put his 5-wood back in the bag before the round and ditched the 2-iron he used Thursday, but regardless of the ammo, he seemed to have trouble all week keeping the ball under the wind and hit several parachuting shots that sailed far afield. There were few, if any, trademark stingers, other than the slap in the face of going home early.


Others!

Oliver Brown on lurking Lee Westwood and Andy Farrell on Ross Fisher's chances along with the possibility of an early departure to be with his wife.

Thomas Bonk conducts a Q&A with Boo Weekley about life in Scotland.

Q: So it sounds like you're liking Scotland?

Boo: "Oh, yeah, Scotland's a pretty place. I mean, as long as it ain't raining."


Turnberry!

John Hopkins analyzes Friday's setup while defending the difficulty and he also quotes several players who felt there was an over reaction to Thursday's low scoring.

In that case, the aim was achieved yesterday. One player after another commented on the difficult positions in which the flagsticks were placed and suggested that perhaps the Royal and Ancient had determined that the low scoring of the first day would not be repeated.

“Every flag is in the toughest possible position,” Retief Goosen said. Padraig Harrington added: “No 14 was the first pin I thought was accessible. Every other one was pretty tough.”

John Daly said it was “brutal”, adding: “Pin placements were extremely tough. The way the wind was blowing, it was impossible to get at them.”

Justin Rose went farther. “Flag placements were bordering on the ridiculous,” he said. “I think they were trying to protect the golf course. The flags were opposite to where the wind was wanting to take the ball. I was fighting it all day. When the wind was from the left, the pins were cut on the left. When it was downwind, the pins were cut on the front, and when it was into the wind, the flags were at the back of the green.”


Sandy/Monty!

If you can't believe that Sandy rambled on about Monty even more as we noted here, I give you the video evidence courtesy of reader Lloyd.

In my favorite piece of the day, Brian Viner's effort is headlined: Monty overdoes the death stare as his game deserts him.

There is, in fact, more chance of Prince Charles designing a futuristic chrome office block with its plumbing on the outside. Photographers are a reviled species to Monty, who on the ninth tee took exception to a snapper lying prostrate and motionless in the official vantage point. Nobody else over the course of the first two days here had been troubled, as was intrepidly pointed out by a woman holding a "Quiet Please" sign. "It was all right for Tiger Woods yesterday," she dared to tell Monty. A scowl was her reward.

It remains one of the mysteries of golf that a man capable of such beguiling charm off the course can be so spectacularly charmless on it. Monty smashed his tee shot on the ninth into deep rough, so deep that at first neither he, his caddie, nor the marshals, could find it. The spectators watched the search sympathetically from the other side of the ropes.

Monty glared at them. "You can help if you'd like to," he said, the implication being that they didn't have to stand there being quite so useless. A few minutes later he galumphed off the green with a six on his card, and as he made his way to the next tee, a man called out, plainly in a spirit of encouragement rather than provocation, "Well done, Colin". Rather like a juggernaut, Montgomerie came to a juddering halt. His eyes bored into the hapless spectator. "I've just double-bogeyed the hole, mate," he snapped back. Rarely did anyone feel less like Monty's mate.


Attendance!

The poor attendance is festering into a story as a second day of empty stands caught Ewan Murray's eye. Ticket prices combined with Turnberry's location seem to be the issue.

There are, of course, a host of explanations for this year's poor turnout. The economic climate is widely blamed. Given an adult couple attending the Open for a day can expect little change out of £200 this will be a luxury many will simply choose to do without. Turnberry is also notoriously difficult to get to; even with new traffic measures in operation there were tales this morning of cars crawling 30 miles short of the course.

And based on these Forecaddie Tweets, it doesn't sound like the situation will be any better next year.

Notes!

Mark Soltau compiles the best quotes of the day while Sam Weinman and E. Michael Johnson tabulate the Birdies and Bogeys of the day, starting with a beauty involving bookie William Hill and Ian Poulter.

The Golfweek gang talks to Calc, James Driscoll, Padraig, Poulter and Josh Geary about their Open play.

Alan Shipnuck files random thoughts, including an announcement that he's off the Geoff Ogilvy bandwagon.

Doug Ferguson's AP notes include a look at the small crowds...outside the ropes and Aussie Daniel Gaunt (a Watson practice round playing partner).

Rich Lerner delivers Hooks and Cuts:

Watson was born in 1949. For context, other athletes born in 1949 include Mike Schmidt, Bill Buckner, Dusty Baker, hockey great Bobby Clarke, Joe Theisman, Ahmad Rashad and Dan Dierdorf. Imagine for a moment those guys still playing. And winning!

For two days this 138th Open Championship has resembled a reality television show, in which the two most famous men in the field who happen to share the same initials have agreed to swap roles.

And finally, I couldn't pick one of the Dan Jenkin's Tweets. It's a five-way tie in my view!