These Guys Really Want To Play The Open Championship

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Jeff Rude reporting on the amazing scoring by Harris English (-17, 123!), Greg Owen (afternoon 61) Stephen Ames (another afternoon 61) and other qualifiers in Plano, Texas while battling for eight spots into July's Open Championship.

“I kind of lost track of how many straight birdies I made,” said English, 22, who ranks 77th in Tour earnings and has a best finish of tied for eighth at the RBC Heritage.

The 60 gave him a four-stroke midway lead. It featured an eagle and eight birdies. He eagled his second hole of the day, No. 10, making a 4-footer.

“I was relaxed,” he said. “I had some fun. I was striking the ball really well. In fact, I was doing everything really well.”

So well that he missed only three greens in regulation over 36 holes. “I just never got out of position,” he said.

English, who got on Tour by tying for 13th at last year’s Q-School finals,

Oh...don't say that! Q-School bad, Q-School bad, Q-School bad...

says his bucket list includes skydiving, flying in an F16 and driving a NASCAR vehicle. Soon he can cross the Open off the list.

And I know you'll be shocked to learn that Rory Sabbatini was one of twelve WD's. Shocked!

Contrasted nicely by playoff qualifier Bob Estes:

Estes has played in 10 Opens, with a tie for eighth in 1995 his best finish. The four-time Tour winner long has called the Open his favorite event.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s THE tournament,” said Estes, who grew up in Abilene and starred at Texas. “It’s the one I want to win the most. Guys who don’t get it, I feel sorry for. Most of them are high-ball hitters who didn’t grow up in the wind like me.”

"Occupy" Comes To The Senior PGA!?

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John Strege reports on the Champions Tour geezers being greeted at this week's Senior PGA in Benton Harbor, Michigan with protestors demanding "partial compensation for stolen land and water" for the city.

The protest organizer, Rev. Edward Pinkney, said that his group does not plan to interrupt play. "We don't want to cause a tremendous disturbance," he said Friday, "we just want to make them sit down with us."

Pinkney said he expects only 300 to 400 protesters to show up on Wednesday, but on Saturday, "we're expecting thousands and thousands of people to show. The main thing we want to accomplish is that we want them to come to the table and sit down with us -- the PGA, along with Harbor Shores, Whirlpool and KitchenAid."

KitchenAid, which has headquarters in Benton Harbor, is the presenting sponsor. Whirlpool is KitchenAid's parent company.

"Benton Harbor is $5 million in the red," Pinkney said. "Our goal is that we can knock off some of that $5 million if they decide to come and help the city."

You may recall that Benton Harbor was the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover story earlier this year.