2022 British Open

[Don Wassall]

It's being played at venerable St. Andrews, the oldest and most famous golf course in the world.

Just turned on the boob tube now to see how the first round is going. After nine holes Tiger is already 13 shots out of the lead as he shot a 41, while the leader Cameron Young is at -8 after completing his round. When I turned the coverage on it was a shot of Woods, huge surprise there. He dropped a birdie putt at 9 to get to +5, and then there was the time-honored ritual of a close-up while he walked to the next tee. I hope so much he misses the cut so the championship coverage will be forced to focus on the contenders and not the system's idol from the past.

 

[Amren.com]

I don't mind if Woods plays and gets attention as long as he is doing badly like today.

 

[SneakyQuick]

It’s even more remarkable considering he is like 3/8ths black or something like that? And In all likelihood came from a solid middle class upbringing.

I never really cared too much one way or the other about the guy but the media fawning over him when his best play is behind him for the obvious reasons does get nauseating

 

[Don Wassall]

There's a great leaderboard already after just two rounds:

Cam Smith (Australia) -13 (won this year's Players Championship)
Cam Young (US) -11 (the most obscure of the leaders but playing very well of late)
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) -10
Dustin Johnson (US) -9
Viktor Hovland (Norway) -9
Scottie Scheffler (US) -8
Tyrell Hatton (England) -8

There's four players tied at -7 and six more at -6. Jordan Spieth is -4, tied for 24th and still in it but needs two excellent rounds this weekend. The course has played easy the first two days as the cut line was even par. But bad weather tomorrow or Sunday can quickly change that.

Tiger Woods finished at +9, way out of it obviously but when I was searching for an up to the minute leaderboard I found this headline at CBS Sports, accompanied by a video of you know who. If you watch the video, it's, believe it or not, CBS breaking into its normal coverage with a "breaking story" of Woods missing the cut, followed by an interview with some golfing "expert" who appears to be trying not to tear up. National Lampoon couldn't have done it any better back in the day:
2022 British Open leaderboard: Live coverage, Tiger Woods score, golf scores today in Round 2 at St. Andrews

https://www.cbssports.com/golf/news...f-scores-today-in-round-2-at-st-andrews/live/

 

[SneakyQuick]

Yeah. 22 strokes behind the leader. Amazing he missed the cut. Who would have thought?


Only to the ideological media could that be framed as surprising

 

[Don Wassall]

Rory and Viktor Hovland tied for the lead after three rounds at -16, four shots clear of the next contenders. Rory may never have a better chance to end his drought in the majors. He would be a hugely popular winner, akin to when Irishman Shane Lowry won the British Open at the Northern Ireland venue in 2019 and when the popular Northern Irishman Darren Clarke won in 2011 following the death of his wife from cancer several years previously.

 

[Freethinker]

Not the biggest Rory fan in recent years, especially with his pettiness over the LIV situation, but it would be cool for him to win for the reasons Don mentioned above.

 

[Don Wassall]

There's a great duel going on between McIlroy and Cam Smith. Smith is a sizzling 8 under on his round with three holes left to play. Rory has played very well but Smith has been lights out so far. Cam Young is also in the thick of it. Smith is -19, Rory is -18 and Young is -17.

 

[Sean89]

That two putt on 17 and the lag putt on 18. Amazing !

And beats Tigers score all those years ago.

Rory needs a two!!

 

[Sean89]

Delighted Rory is probably going to fall short. Cam bounces back after falling away at previous majors he was in contention

 

[Don Wassall]

Cam Smith has a magical putter. That and a lot of guts under pressure. He's now won The Players and The Open in the same year, quite a feat.

Too bad for Rory but he was right there in three of the four majors this year. His time will come again.

 

[Don Wassall]

It's always sad when the last golf major has been played. The 2023 Masters is still nine months away, oh well.

I'd like to see two more majors added, one rotating among different courses in Europe and one in Asia. Given how Europeans and Asians have reached parity with American golfers, or very nearly so, it's only fair to spread out the majors to recognize that fact rather than having three of the four in America.

 

[SneakyQuick]

Given the money involved it’s surprising it hasn’t happened already !

tremendous tournament for cam smith. Grace under pressure for a terrific win.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Funny how he calls Mike Tirico "mate" a couple of times. Cam seems like a humble and very genuine guy. Congrats to him.

 

[Don Wassall]

Funny how he calls Mike Tirico "mate" a couple of times. Cam seems like a humble and very genuine guy. Congrats to him.

The mullet's a giveaway that he's a real guy. Fun loving from what I know of him though he's toned it down the last year or so to concentrate on improving his game. But yeah no arrogance or entitlement or anything close to that coming from him. His final round today, especially the back nine, was the stuff of legends.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

On the 17th...Legendary...