Old Course Play Suspended Due To Wind...

And greens too fast for their contours. Again. This happened at the 2010 Open Championship and now at the 2013 Ricoh Women's British Open.

The irony? Greens are sped up to offset modern driving distances and to prevent low scoring, yet whenever we've seen modern elite players on slow greens they don't make many putts.

The official announcement:

Third round play was suspended at 12.33pm on Saturday due to high winds gusting at 38 miles per hour.

Balls were moving on the greens, with the 10th green particularly affected.

Play has been suspended until at least 4.30pm and tournament officials will make a further announcement at 4pm local time.

Update on 2013-08-04 05:56 by Geoff

**Martin Dempster's account of the strange day at St. Andrews.

In case you were wondering about how the greens were prepared with the strong wind forecast, Alistair Tait has your answer.

The LGU had already prepared for the strong winds by not cutting the greens as close as the previous day. “The 11th green wasn’t cut,” she said. “The greens were 9.4 on the stimpmeter as opposed to 10 the day before. They were really quite sticky.”

The weather forecast for tomorrow calls for strong winds again, although not quite as strong as today. If the wind gets up and play is affected, then a Monday finish is an option.

Only nine players finished their third rounds. Those nine players were 56 over par. Rikako Morita was the worst of that bunch with a score of 86, 14 over. Cristie Kerr and amateur Lydia Ko had matching 3-over 75s.

Blayne Barber DQ's Himself Again

And while (maybe) not as dramatic as his second stage Q-School penalty from 2012, the Web.com player could not have picked a worse time as he vies for a PGA Tour card.

Jeff Shain reports on the 66 that would have put him in second place.

As it turned out, Barber realized the error as he was discussing the aftermath of last year’s DQ with reporters. He returned to the scoring area after finishing, asked for his card and saw the discrepancy.

Once a player leaves the scoring area, his card is deemed official.

“I looked [the card] over and didn’t see it,” Barber said, noting that he’d confirmed the proper total with his walking scorer but didn’t compare the hole-by-hole scores. “Somehow I missed that one on 16.”

Luck Of The Draw Does Inbee In?

Ron Sirak on Inbee Park's unlucky draw as Friday afternoon saw winds kick up, leaving the Grand Slam wannabe eight back heading into the weekend.

The change in conditions seemed unsettling for Park, and that is a rarity for the Korean who plays with a Zen-like calm. Her ball striking was not nearly as crisp as Thursday, when she opened with a 69, and her putting was not as precise as usual, although she did make several good six-foot par saves.
 
"[I was] a little bit unlucky with the draw, getting afternoon today, not playing in the morning when it's lovely, but that's the way it is," she said.

ESPN's highlight package and wrap up from Rinaldi and Pepper.

Analysts: Callaway A Bargain

Bloomberg's Brooke Sutherland talks to analysts about the relative "bargain" Callaway appears to be as CEO Chip Brewer attempts to turn the company around.

Thanks to reader cpmy for the tip.

The Callaway brand and the Carlsbad, California-based company’s foothold in golf equipment could lure Nike Inc. (NKE), said Grace & White Inc., which also sees Kering SA, owner of the Cobra brand, as a potential buyer. Private-equity firms also may be drawn by the chance to carry out Brewer’s turnaround plan on their own, said Gilford Securities Inc.

In golf, Callaway is “the biggest, best-known brand name out there available for an acquirer,” Casey Alexander, New York-based director of equity research and a special-situations analyst at Gilford, said in a phone interview. Even after the rally, it “can still be considered quite a bargain today.”

2013 Golf Magazine World Top 100

Of all the rankings Golf's panel seems to select the fewest courses that make you pause and say, "Really?" Yes it's very America-centric and Trump International Scotland landing in the top 50 when it's probably not in the top 50 Scottish links you'd enjoy playing, helps distract from the strange infatuation the list has with South Korea's Seven Bridges.

Nonetheless, Golf presents a timeless architecture-focused list presented with images in gallery form, starting with the world 1-25.

And 26-50.

And 51-75.

And 76-100.

They've also posted the top 25 U.S. courses.

Snead's Claret Jug Brings In $262K At Auction

For Immediate Release...

Sam Snead’s 1946 British Open Claret Jug brings $262,900 to lead The Sam Snead Collection, Aug. 1, at Heritage Auctions
 
Offered by Snead’s family; “Slammin’” Sam Snead’s 1954 Masters trophy draws spirited bidding to realize $191,200; 14 featured lots total $1,106,868 for rare memorabilia Heritage’s Platinum Night Sports event at the National in Chicago
 
DALLAS – The name of Sam Snead, one of the greatest golfers to have ever graced the links, inspired collectors to “Major” heights as his 1946 British Open Claret Jug brought $262,900 as the heart of The Sam Snead Collection, offered as the centerpiece of Heritage Auctions’ Aug. 1-2 Platinum Night Sports Auction in Rosemont, IL, taking place in conjunction with The National Sports Collector’s Convention.
 
The first 14 lots of the Snead Collection realized an impressive $1,106,868 altogether.
 
Snead’s 1954 Masters trophy also provided considerable fireworks in Chicago, as the trophy rose to $191,200, finally selling to an anonymous collector bidding online.
 
“One smart and determined collector actually won The British Open tonight, or at least the trophy,” joked Chris Ivy, Director of Sports at Heritage Auctions. “Collectors recognized that this was not only a chance to win one of the rarest prizes in golf, but that it’s also associated with one of the greatest names to ever play.”

Video: Phil's '13 Open Final Round Supercut Of Every Swing

As he's done with Adam Scott at the Masters, Michael David Murphy has put together a supercut of all available Phil Mickelson swings from the 2013 Open Championship final round 66.

Oh Boy: Irons With Nicknames Instead Of Numbers?

Alex Myers with the photo and details of Luke List's new irons lacking numbers but instead featuring his Tony Robbins inspired mantra's favorite nicknames.

Uh, "'Merica"? 

Kind of makes you long for the Mashie Niblick!

Inbee With Two Three Putts, Still Posts 69

Ron Sirak on Inbee Park's opening 69 at the Old Course in her quest to win a fourth straight major. The normally reliable putter had a few slip-ups on the way in.

"There were a couple of bad drives and a couple of bad putts on the back nine, but it's the first round and could have been much better," she said. "A little bit disappointing, but I'm glad that I've done that in the first round instead of the final round. I'm looking to improve the next three days."

Park blamed the back-to-back three putts on Nos. 16 and 17 -- something that happens for Park about as often as Yankees legend Mariano Rivera blows a save -- on the fact that she had faced no long lags putts until late in the round.

Park is, after all is said and done, perfectly positioned after 18 holes and perfectly prepared to deal with the mental challenge ahead.

The video highlights:

Bloomberg: As Golf Goes So Goes The Economy?

That's the premise of Bloomberg reporter Nikhil Hutheesing's story which says the economy is improving based on the numbers in golf.

Well, when people retire, some want a house on a golf course with open views and plenty of green, even if they aren't golfers. There’s your existing-home-sales data. When the economy is improving, golfers spend more on golf clothes, golf vacations, greens fees and the like (consumer spending). And as demand picks up, more golf courses, and homes, are built and old ones spruced up (housing starts).

Right now, golf is pointing to an economy that's out of the rough (click here for a closer look at the golf economy). Steven Ekovich, managing director of the National Golf & Resort Properties Group, a division of real estate investment firm Marcus & Millichap, says financing is returning to the industry. He estimates that the number of distressed assets has fallen by 65 percent since 2009 and says that investor sentiment is improving.

"As the economy heals, we expect to see course values go up this year for the first time in six years," he says.

One reason things are looking better: Lenders that were saddled with loads of distressed debt in golf courses when the housing market plummeted have unloaded much of that debt, in part by selling courses. The pace of sales of 18-hole championship-length golf courses slowed from 86 in the first half of 2012 to 55 in the first half of this year. That means the courses that made it through this period are financially healthier, Ekovich says.

LGU Sets Old Course Time Par At 4:30

Considering it took almost six hours the last time they played the Ricoh Women's Open at St. Andrews, this from Susan Simpson of the Ladies Golf Union seems optimistic.

Nick Rodger reports:

"This week is the only week we deal with the professionals and we've obviously got to deal with two other organising bodies too. But we have full support from the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour for our slow-play policies. The rules officials out there are under instruction to come down hard on any slow play. We've set four hours and 30 minutes and we think that's achievable."

Ok, So It's Not "Our Bobby Is Back" Enthusiasm In St Andrews...

Gene Wojciechowski showed Inbee Park's photo to the townspeople and Scots a couple of weeks ago and, well, she wasn't exactly well known or conjuring up the enthusiasm that Bobby Jones managed.

The first and last player to win four majors in a calendar year is Bobby Jones -- and that was in 1930. The first and last player to win four professional majors in a calendar year is nobody. So, yeah, this Inbee Park thing is a big deal. Plus, she could win No. 4 at the long-recognized home of golf, where everyone knows Park when they see her, right?

"Is it Nancy Lopez?" says a veteran Old Course caddie as I show him the photo of Park.
Uh, that would be a big negatory. Lopez won three majors in her entire career; Park has that many in the past three-plus months. But never mind that. The woman in the photo is clearly of Asian descent; Lopez is of Hispanic descent.

Regardless, Inbee's Grand Slam quest begins at 7:03 am Thursday.

Punters Note: Tiger Calls Oak Hill's Greens "Spotty"

The enthusiasm in his voice is pretty telling. Someone misses Muirfield!

Bob Harig reports:

"The greens are spotty, and it'll be interesting to see what they do because they were running just under 9 on the Stimp [Stimpmeter]," Woods said. "They don't have much thatch to them, so it'll be interesting to see what they do for the tournament and how much they're able to speed them up with kind of a lack of grass."

The video: