A Visual Embrace of the Claret Jug

Darren Clarke’s masterful ball striking helped him close with a proficient even par 70 in very blustery conditions at Royal St. Georges on Sunday to win the Open Championship and reiterate the dominance of Northern Ireland in golf’s majors.  The mouse has roared again, this is the third Ulsterman to win a major in the last 13 months which means that stocks of Guiness will be tapped as celebration will continue for weeks across the northern part of the Emerald Isle.  The “Chubby Slam” for 2011 is still in tact as Clarke’s win along with McIlroy at the U.S. Open and Schwartzel at The Masters make it three in a row for the outgoing Chubby Chandler who represents all three.  There will be a whole lot of Englishman pulling for Lee Westwood to finish that job at the PGA next month.

The windy conditions were similar to Saturday-only six players broke par in the final round.  Darren’s formula was great ball striking, more than adequate putting, and a cerebral mastery of the tactics of links golf over the four days.  Clarke hit an average of 13 of 18 greens over the tournament-3 better than the field and had just under 30 putts a round-striking the ball beautifully in a two to three flap wind the last two days.  His putting at 29.75 per round was better than average but he made all the 5 to 10 footers that mattered on Sunday and just did not give his close pursuers much hope at all.  Most important, he avoided the high score all week-only one double bogey over the 72 holes-he was just masterful at managing his mistakes in course conditions that had blow up holes lurking around every corner.

Phil Mickelson applied the pressure early with a scintillating 6 under over the first 10 holes.  But Clarke had an answer for every surge and really made a statement when he rolled in an eagle putt on the 7^th hole to answer Mickelson’s eagle earlier on the same hole.  Dustin Johnson was playing with Clarke and he too mounted a charge on the middle holes but a wayward long iron into the course next door on the par 5 14^th  slammed the door on his chances and it was a dexterous cake walk the rest of the way home for the Irishman.

Much has been documented about Darren Clarke’s personal and golf tribulations over the last decade, so this first major for him is a very sweet moment indeed.  For those who think this comes from left field don’t forget that he has 14 European Tour wins and two World Golf Championships under his belt, including beating Tiger Woods in the Accenture Match Play final back in 2000.  This is a passionate guy who enjoys his golf and you could see the special delight in his face over the final four holes of the championship when victory was within reach.

They may be bottling fresh spring Portrush water for international sale shortly-it is clear that Ponce De Leon turned his ship the wrong way when he was looking for the fountain of youth, it is just off the northern most coast of Northern Ireland.

July, 2011

Reaching For The Claret Jug- Day Three

Darren, Dustin, and Rickie……..sounds like the three leads in a 50’s rockabilly band.  Actually two out of the three look the part.

Moving day was actually nudging day today, but these three were the only guys who shot in the 60’s when we had 20 to 30 guys breaking par on the first two days.  With these scores they jockeyed to the front of a tightly bunched leaderboard with 12 guys still within five shots of the lead.

When the players arrived at the golf course this morning the caddies knew they were in for a high maintenance Two-Gloves Gainey kind of day-umbrellas, rain gloves, winter mittens, rain suits, wool hats, the works were going to be in and out of the bags all day .  The temperature was 60’s and it was raining sideways with winds close to 30 miles an hour.  The early games took it on the chin from these conditions and, until Fowler managed to defy the weather of the same name and shoot 68, the 41 players before him had an average score of over 76.  Then the weather moderated considerably-at least the rain stopped-and then the singing began because the last 29 players after him shot an average score three and a half strokes better at just under 73.

But it was really the play of these three guys that stood out from the rest of the field.  Until Fowler posted a score in red numbers the best score of the day was the grisly Old Tom who had carded a two over 72 showing that he is still has it and is probably the best links player of the modern era.  Fowler’s round was instinctive creativity-he managed his trajectories like a wily old veteran-saving pars from everywhere and making three birdies in the last six holes when the rest of the field could not even tread water.  The patience he showed belied his age and he displayed a mastery of links shot strategy and execution that you would not expect from an American who probably has only played a couple of handful’s of competitive rounds in conditions like this.

Dustin Johnson showed once again that power and penetrating driving along with a good pitching game and a solid putter can be a huge advantage in managing a score in big winds.  John Daly showed that when he won the 1995 Open Championship in howling winds at  St. Andrews.  Through this day Johnson out drove Clarke by 20 yards and Rickie by 30 yards on average and took only 27 putts on route to his 68.

The 42-year-old Clarke was the most amazing story of all since he is playing strictly on guile and gumption-his ball striking was rock solid and his putting was mediocre.  He hit 16 greens on a day when the rest of the field could not hit the broad side of a barn but he took 34 putts on the way to a 69 that could have been a whole lot better.  What you could see is that pure ball striking in these kinds of conditions makes for low stress pars-he was one under over his last 10 holes.

The weather for tomorrow is calling for winds on the same level without the driving rain so you have to believe the formula for success will be the same as today.  The guys who hit it pure and control their trajectory will get a chance to putt for pars and birdies.  If it is anything like today those guys will be few and far between.

July, 2011

Reaching For The Claret Jug- Day Two

In what can only be described as an unseasonably nice day on the southeast coast of England, Royal St. Georges seemed primed for the taking by the field in the Open Championship on Day Two. Temperatures around 70, blue skies, and only a 2 flap wind (British commentator’s relative wind measurement based on the flapping of trouser legs). Given all that, we would have expected a number of people to go low and grab this championship by the collar. But that was not the case-best scores today were three guys at 67 and the leading score at the end of the day was one worse than Day One. There was no evidence of collar in hand.

I guess they did not count on the grounds crew at Royal St. Georges putting the pins in places that seemed to be surrounded by force fields. It was impossible for guys to manage the ball into the area of the cup and keep it there. Royal St. Georges has large greens but in many cases the actual part of the green where they can place the pin is only a third of the surface-the rest has such drastic slope it is unfit for putting. Links can demand ricochet golf especially when the green complexes are full of humps and hollows that redirect the ball once it is on the ground. What we saw to day is that it takes great experience and imagination to figure out where to bank it off the side cushions to get it towards the pocket.

So the result is old salty guys like Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Anders Hansen, Davis Love, and Tom Lehman are occupying half of the top spots on the leaderboard. There are some strong young players in this group-Glover, Campbell, Johnson, Kaymer, Larrazabal, Coetzee, and Schwartzel-but at least four of those are guys who have played links golf most of their careers.

It is clear at this point that Royal St. Georges favors the guys who understand ricochet golf and have the imagination to do it and the patience to accept the arbitrariness of the result. Right intention and good execution will not always end up with a good results. The guys who don’t take this personally will be the ones who succeed when this is all said and done.

Speaking of old dogs and new tricks, we have to shout out to Old Tom who had a Barney Adam’s moment when he holed his 4-iron on the Par 3 sixth hole this morning. Watson’s 15^th ace of his career was witnessed by thousands of spectators clinging to the dunes surrounding this hole and it sent them into a state of delirium. Unfortunately the resulting tumult caused Young Tom Lewis to pull hook his approach into the fur left of the green and make a double bogey that jarred him off the rails for the next eight holes.

(Click here to see video of Tom Watson’s hole-in-one from ViaSat Golf Live)

The weather forecast for the weekend is sketchy-no surprise in that-and this should continue to favor those with experience in the foibles of links golf. But with 31 guys within 4 shots of the lead picking a winner now is about as predictable as the roll out on the sixth green and we saw today how unexpected that result can be.

July, 2011