Open Championship Tap-Ins

A few stray shots on the recently concluded 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews ...

Tiger's Putter. I found the whole Tiger Woods putter drama fairly interesting. On one hand, it probably wasn't that big a deal, because his new Nike Method putter was very similar to his old Scotty Cameron Titleist model – which he'd use to win 13 of his 14 majors. The new one no doubt had been set up to feel as much like the old one as possible; the difference being the "hotter" face on the Nike to get the ball moving a little quicker on the slow St. Andrews greens. But to me the bigger surprise was not the switch but the switch back on Sunday. It made me wonder two things: 1) Had Nike been pressuring Tiger at all to switch to a Nike putter? As I understand it, Tiger's club contract allows him some flexibility with club choices. But it's not hard to imagine something like this coming from Nike, either stated of implied: "Tiger, we stuck with you through all of this, now it's your turn to do something for us." 2) Conversely, how did Nike feel about him abandoning it after three rounds? After all the ballyhoo, they could not have been too happy.

     More significantly, you have to wonder if Tiger's putting switcheroo is a sign of desperation. Could Tiger's putting stroke be starting to abandon him – for good? It's astonishing how many all-time great golfers had their putting strokes go south at some point – or at least not be what they once were. Palmer, Hogan, Watson, and Snead come immediately to mind. Lower on the list are guys like Singh and Langer, who try all kinds of different methods to regain their putting touch. It's been easy to think of Tiger as being immune to such "human" frailties. But, as Joe Posnanski (one of the most consistently thoughtful writers on all things Tiger) writes, Tiger may be closer to descending back to earth than a lot of people are willing to admit.

UPDATE: A little more on Tiger's putter saga from David Dusek at golf.com here (in which the author, among other things, briefly addresses the "conspiracy theory" posed above about Nike's role in the switch. In short: He doesn't buy it).

Rory's Roller-coaster. What to make of Rory McIlroy? For one, I just love the fact that he still has never shot in the 70s at the Old Course – it's just that one of those non-70s rounds is now an inglorious 80. His 63 on Thursday was very impressive. Yes, it was shot in extremely benign conditions, but you still have to hit the shots and make the putts. And he bested the field by two strokes with his major championship record-tying score. As impressive as he was on Thursday, he looked just as lost in the high winds on Friday. But he showed a lot by bouncing back with 69-68 on the weekend to finish tied for third. Makes you wonder if anyone has ever finished so high in a major with an 80 on the card.

     And speaking of benign conditions ...

St. Andrews without Wind. It really was amazing how easy the course looked on Thursday morning. It was tempting to think that maybe St. Andrews has been "outgrown" by the caliber of today's players and the level of today's technology. I don't think that's the case. It seems to me that it's really just a matter of the elements being an essential part of the Old Course experience. It played tough enough the rest of the week. And if they "tricked up" the course any more to guard against the windless onslaught, the course could get almost unplayable when the weather changes – which it can do at a moment's notice. It seems unfair that the guys who played Thursday morning had so much better scoring conditions than the afternoon group, but that really is just part of the game – especially in links golf. The ones who accept that – even embrace it – are the ones who will succeed (see: Watson, Tom). The ones who don't ...

Phil's Demeanor. I have to say I was disappointed in Phil Mickelson's performance. Not with his ball-striking so much as his attitude. He felt cheat by having to play in the bad afternoon weather on Thursday, but rather than shrug it off, do his best to look at it as an extra challenge instead of a tragedy, he seemed to pout his way around the golf course. He looked defeated before his was halfway through his first round. Again, see: Watson, Tom. Story goes (retelling from memory) that Watson's longtime caddie Bruce Edwards, who went to work for Greg Norman for a couple years later in his career, explained the difference between his two bosses this way: He said that if Norman would hit a perfect drive only to subsequently find his ball in divot, he would get upset and curse his luck. Watson, on the other hand, would say something like, "Watch what I can do with this shot!" It takes only looking at Norman's and Watson's respective records in majors to understand which approach is more effective. (Are you reading this, Phil?) Speaking of attitude ...

Louie Ooie. I'm not sure which was more impressive, Louis Oosthuizen's ball-striking (especially his driving) or his calm on-course demeanor. Everybody, myself included, seemed convinced that he was a "rabbit," one of those no-name early leaders who sets a torrid pace in the early going but then inevitably fades. But he surprised us all with an historic display of precision ball-striking and all-around good play. He won by SEVEN! That's huge. That's Tiger big. His win was no fluke (even though he did benefit from the benign conditions on Thursday morning). Only time will tell where he goes from here, but he's easy to like and easy to root for. And I love the little red dot that he has on his glove to think about when he's trying not to think about anything. You can bet you'll be seeing a few more red dots around the golf world in the near future.

Gary Player and the Claret Jug. Finally, I got a big kick out of a story told near the end of the ESPN telecast – I think by Mike Tirico – about the engraving of names on the legendary trophy. Back in the day, it was once the responsibility of the winner to have his own name engraved on the trophy (such as is the case with the legendary WLC traveling trophy). However, when Gary Player won it (likely either in 1974 or 1968, Tirico did not specify) he had his name engraved LARGER than the other names! Ever since, the R&A has taken the responsibility of engraving the names on the Claret jug. This story strikes me as one that could be apocryphal, but I want to believe it because it's so consistent with what I've written about Player previously: that even though by all accounts he's a warm, charming, gracious, and generous individual, his ego sometimes gets the better of him!