British Open Capsules: Woods going for more history at home of golf
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — From the middle of the ninth fairway, just to the right of a pot bunker that he managed to avoid, Tiger Woods considered two options from 85 yards into a gentle breeze and executed both of them perfectly.
He gave a hard rap with his new putter and sent the ball bouncing along the links of St. Andrews until it rolled onto the green and settled 12 feet left of the flag. Then with a sand wedge, Woods sent the ball into the air with just the right trajectory. It never left the flag and stopped about 6 feet away.
The sand wedge was the safer shot, and the right one for this day.
“But it depends on the wind,” Woods said later during his practice round at the British Open. “If the wind is blowing hard, you can’t hit it in the air. You have to putt it.”
For Woods, the key to the British Open always has been about control.
This year, that holds true on and off the golf course.
His biggest test Tuesday came not from the gorse bushes and pot bunkers that dot the landscape on the Old Course, but from a full house of reporters who wanted to know as much about his personal life as how he plans to play the Road Hole.
Unlike his last big press conference at a major, he didn’t lose his cool.
Asked about his marriage at the U.S. Open, he snapped back, “That’s none of your business.” Asked on Tuesday if his divorce is final, Woods calmly said, “I’m not going to go into that.”
He did reveal details of a breakup — with his putter. Woods is changing the flat stick for the first time in 12 years, going to a Nike model that he says will allow him to cope with greens that are on the slow side.
One reporter grilled him on his language, his spitting, throwing clubs and his tantrums on the golf course, then asked if he had any plans to be respectful at the home of golf.
“I’m trying to become a better player and a better person, yes,” Woods replied.
Of the 34 questions he fielded, only 16 of them were related to his game, the claret jug and St. Andrews. Then again, Woods already has answered plenty of questions about winning an Open at the home of golf.
The way he has played the last two times at St. Andrews, it looks as though he owns the place.
Woods captured his first claret jug in 2000 when he did not hit into a single bunker all week — talk about control — and won by eight shots with a record score to par of 19-under 269. He won by five shots when the Open returned to St. Andrews five years later.
Now, he has a chance at even more history in a gray old town dripping with it.
No one has ever won the claret jug three times at St. Andrews. Woods remains the betting favorite, and not even his biggest rivals dispute that he likely will be a factor.
“I think he’s going to play well here because he has a lot of heart, he’s got an incredible short game and he hits the ball a long ways,” Phil Mickelson said. “His irons are as good as anybody’s in the game, and I think the golf course ... he’s obviously won on it twice. He has gutted out two fourth-place finishes in majors when he probably didn’t have his best stuff, and this course sets up very well for him.
“So he will be in contention on Sunday,” Mickelson said. “I don’t know how anybody can question that.”
Yet there remain so many questions.
Woods caused a small stir last week when he flew to Ireland for a two-day charity event that ended Tuesday, and instead of sticking around to get adjusted to links golf, flew home to Florida to spend time with his children.
Five years ago when he last won the Open at St. Andrews, he had been married nine months. He now can barely escape a press conference without getting questions about the chaos in his personal life.
His image is not what it once was, although Woods doesn’t think that matters when he puts a tee in the ground.
“I’m here to play a championship, and this is the Open Championship at St. Andrews,” he said. “I mean, this is as good as it gets. It’s the home of golf. I’m just like every other player in this field. ... I would like to win no matter what.”
His game is about as predictable as the weather in these parts, and that could be anything.
Woods contended at the Masters and the U.S. Open, tying for fourth in both those majors. He hasn’t finished in the top 10 in the four regular PGA Tour events he has played, and didn’t even finish two of them.
And he has never gone this deep into a season without winning.
“I understand how to play this golf course,” Woods said. “It’s a matter of going out there and putting it together, and putting it together at the right time.”
The list of contenders is greater than ever, even at St. Andrews.
Mickelson has played the majors even better than Woods, winning the Masters and tying for fourth in the U.S. Open. He has yet another chance to move past Woods at No. 1 in the world.
“The great thing about St. Andrews is ... it doesn’t limit you as a player on ways you can win,” Mickelson said. “All players can win. But I do think there are distinct advantages to length out here.”
Ernie Els is not one to dismiss Woods. No matter what’s gone on in his life, or on the course the last few months, it is hard to consider him conquering these links as he did the last two Opens at St. Andrews.
“I think he’ll be a factor because of the width you have here,” Els said. “You’ve got room to play with. He knows how to play the course, obviously. And he knows the greens very well. When you’ve won tournaments on certain courses, you can putt those greens. And he can putt these greens here. So I think he’s going to have a very good week.”
The People’s Champ eyes an Open title
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Phil Mickelson rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole of practice — oh, how he’d love to be in that same position for a win at the British Open come Sunday — then headed off to take care of his other duties.
“Give me about 10 or 15 minutes,” the People’s Champion shouted toward the fans clamoring for his autograph. “I’ll be right over there, behind the stands, to sign for you.”
After collecting his valuables and taking a brief respite in the St. Andrews clubhouse, Mickelson popped out on cue behind a barrier along Golf Place.
He worked up and down the line, looking everyone in the eye as he signed. He bantered with the crowd. He put his signature on everything from visors to programs to flags. The only time he balked was when someone put forward a ball to sign — a no-no for Mickelson, who, like many athletes, knows that sort of keepsake will usually make its way straight to eBay.
“No balls. I don’t sign balls,” Mickelson said politely. “Anything else I can get for you?”
Some may believe this is all an act. Some may believe that Mickelson sets aside ample time for signing at every tournament merely to improve his image, not because he feels any genuine connection with the fans.
Just try telling that to those people who walked away with an autograph and a sense that he really cares about them. Just listen to the roars if Mickelson walks toward the 18th green with a chance to claim the claret jug and add a fifth major title to an already impressive resume.
“Did you get Phil?” a British woman shouted to her son, who’d snared a prime spot at the front of railing.
“Yes, I got him,” he replied.
“Ohhhh, brilliant,” she said, breaking into a relieved grin.
Mickelson said he feels a “spiritual” connection with St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf and a course that he feels gives him a real shot at winning his first British Open title, with its wide-open spaces that allow one to pull out the driver all around the course.
Indeed, there’s nothing he loves better than just gripping and ripping, even if it means throwing caution to that persistent wind sweeping in off St. Andrews Bay.
“I expect to play well here, I really do,” Mickelson said Tuesday. “I expect to be in contention.”
The chance to share triumphs with his fans — and, yes, even the foibles — are just as important, he added, even if some in the media and maybe even a fellow golfer or two might be skeptical of his motives.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have support from fans,” Mickelson said. “It’s meant a lot to me over the course of my career. It’s made it fun to go to the golf course, and it’s made it fun to interact with people, and it’s made it fun to spend time after rounds signing autographs and interacting.
“That interpersonal relationship that golf provides — the kind many other sports don’t, being in a stadium setting — is really one of our greatest assets in this sport. The ability to play pro-ams and interact with regular amateur golfers. The ability to have personal contact with fans after the round or beforehand. All that really makes the game of golf great.”
Of course, greatness inside the ropes is defined by major titles. For Mickelson, who has captured three green jackets at Augusta along with a PGA Championship, there would be no better place to win another than this place.
“A career just doesn’t feel complete unless you’ve won here at St. Andrews,” Mickelson said. “I think all the players feel the same way.”
It would be quite a feat to top what happened in April, when Lefty locked up another Masters titles and was greeted just off the 18th green by his wife Amy, who’s been battling breast cancer. Their touching embrace was a striking contrast to Tiger Woods’ sordid personal life, rocked by reports of affairs with numerous women.
Mickelson followed up with another strong showing at the U.S. Open, winding up three strokes behind Graeme McDowell.
Now, it’s on to St. Andrews, where Mickelson will get another shot at claiming the third leg of a career Grand Slam, an accomplishment that would truly push him into a class as one of the greats of the game. He’s also got a chance to snare the No. 1 spot in the world rankings, which has belonged to Woods for more than five years.
While Mickelson brushed off having any extra motivation to supplant his longtime rival in the top position, he did concede it would mean a lot to see his name at the head of the list for the first time in his career.
“Oh, no, I care,” he said. “If I were to accomplish that in my career — and I have some chances here — it would be something. Whether it was for one week or a month or a year, however long, just to be able to say you did it, especially in Tiger’s era, it would be incredible.”
Mickelson turned 40 last month, so he might have more prime years behind him than in front of him. He also knows that Woods’ inconsistent play since returning from five months off to deal with the sex scandal isn’t likely to last much longer.
“I know that my window of opportunity is small because Tiger is going to start playing some of his better golf here soon, so I’ve got to get my butt in gear,” he said. “I’m going to try hard to do that this week.”
No matter how he plays, though, Mickelson will set aside some time for his pen.
His fans are sure to be waiting.
-- Paul Newberry
Mickelson, Singh hopeful of missing link in career
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — For his sanity, Phil Mickelson would love nothing more than to win the U.S. Open.
For his legacy, he would be better off winning the British Open.
Ideally, he wants both trophies.
That only five players since the Masters was created in 1934 have won the career Grand Slam — Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods — is enough to consider it the ultimate lifetime achievement in golf.
“If you win all four majors, you’ve shown yourself to be a complete player,” Mickelson said Tuesday. “Because at Augusta it requires length, at the U.S. Open it requires patience and control, and the British Open requires a whole different shot pattern of run-up shots and bump-and-runs and lag putting and shots along the ground. And the PGA is kind of a mixture of the three at times.
“I think that’s the goal for all players.”
But what if he can only win one?
The U.S. Open is more meaningful to Mickelson, not only as an American, but from years of heartache. He already has been a runner-up five times at his national championship, and he was two shots away at Pebble Beach last month from making it six silver medals.
As for the British Open?
Mickelson answered that himself when he walked off the 18th green earlier this week and stopped to speak to a few British reporters. One of them, aware of his paltry record at golf’s oldest championship, asked if he felt his career would be lacking without a claret jug.
Lefty put a different spin on it.
“I don’t know about lacking,” Mickelson said. “But it would make my career more complete.”
No one can question that he is among the great players in golf history, with 40 victories and four majors in an era where titles are tougher to come by. Winning the British Open would show that he has a game for every occasion — for every turf.
It’s the one time golf can be compared with tennis. There are specialists on clay, grass and the hard court in tennis. In golf, there are American courses and links golf.
Links golf is the most limited brand in the world. It’s also how the game began.
“I just feel if you want to be a world-class player, I think you’ve got to do something on links golf,” Ernie Els said. “I mean, this is where the game started. This is the original way the game was played. Whether you like it or not, I think you need to be able to somehow masters links golf somewhere in your career.”
Todd Hamilton mastered it at Royal Troon in 2004, just as Ben Curtis did the year before at Royal St. George’s. Neither of them will ever be in the same conversation as Mickelson.
Yet there is something about having a British Open among multiple majors that set the great ones apart even more.
Dating to 1960, when Arnold Palmer came across to St. Andrews and thus renewed interest among Americans in the Royal & Ancient game, 17 players have won at least three major championships.
Eleven of them have their names on the claret jug — Palmer, Nicklaus, Woods, Els, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Nick Price, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Padraig Harrington.
The six without a British Open? Raymond Floyd, Larry Nelson, Hale Irwin, Payne Stewart, Vijay Singh and Mickelson.
It is hard to find fault with the careers of Mickelson or Singh, with 56 worldwide wins and three majors (two PGAs and a Masters). Yet they would be regarded a notch higher by winning a British Open.
Surprising, neither of them has come close very often.
During his spectacular run through the majors in 2004, when Mickelson came within six shots of a shot at the Grand Slam, he finished third at Royal Troon, missing the playoff by one shot. That was his only top 10 in the British Open. His best at St. Andrews was a tie for 11th in 2000, when he finished 12 shots behind.
Singh finished two shots behind in 1995 at St. Andrews (a tie for sixth), and had his best shot at Royal St. George’s in 2003, when he missed one birdie chance after another on the back nine and was runner-up by a single shot.
Harrington was thrilled when he won the PGA Championship in 2008 at Oakland Hills. Yes, he became the first European in history to win successive majors in the same year. But his first two majors were on links courses — Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale — and winning an American major showed the breadth of his game.
The Irishman, happy with any major, actually puts more stock in the U.S. variety.
Harrington said for a player to only win the British Open makes him more likely to be labeled a one-dimensional player, but he doesn’t believe that’s the case for a player who wins only American majors.
“But to win an Open and one other, I think guys are regarded differently,” he said.
Without mentioning Peter Thomson by name, he argued that a player winning five British Opens and nothing else would be known as a master of links golf.
“But if that same player were to win five Opens and one U.S. major, he would be known only for winning six majors,” Harrington said.
Mickelson arrived at St. Andrews mindful of a famous line that Nicklaus once borrowed from Bobby Jones.
“A career just doesn’t feel complete unless you’ve won here at St. Andrews,” he said. “I think all the players feel the same way.”
For Mickelson, a claret jug anywhere would be just fine.
US Open champ doesn’t want career to be single act
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Life sure has changed since Graeme McDowell’s surprise victory at the U.S. Open last month.
He can’t begin to count how many congratulatory e-mails, voice mails and text messages he’s gotten, and one of Greg Norman’s people just asked for his number so the Shark can give him a shout. He’s already shaken enough hands at the British Open to have a future career as a politician — and it’s only Tuesday.
But all this love can come at a price. While a few first-timers have gone on to quickly add another major title (see: Padraig Harrington), the list of those who’ve done little else of significance is much, much longer.
“I’m very aware of the pitfalls — complacency, expectation levels, really trying to change my game now that I’m a major champion, there’s all kinds of mistakes that guys have made in the past,” McDowell said. “I feel like I’ve got some good processes and some good work ethics going on, and it’s important that I do that.
“It’s difficult to put Pebble Beach behind me, and I don’t want to put it behind me because I’m enjoying every second of it and it’s been an amazing experience,” he added. “But I’ve got to look forward to the rest of the season. I’ve got some big goals I want to achieve.”
Pick which of the many young, talented Europeans would win a major, and McDowell’s name probably wouldn’t have been first on the list. The 30-year-old has spent most of his time on the European Tour since turning professional in 2002, and the closest he came to a win on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open was a tie for second at Bay Hill in 2005.
He just made it onto the automatic exemption list for Pebble Beach by cracking the top 50 in the world — No. 49, to be exact, after finishing tied for 28th at the BMW PGA Championship in England.
But McDowell played solidly at Pebble Beach, and was steely enough to hold off some of the world’s best; Ernie Els finished third, while Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods tied for fourth.
“His game is suited really well for the majors, anyway,” said Rory McIlroy, McDowell’s good friend and fellow Northern Irishman. “He doesn’t do anything wrong. He makes a lot of pars, gives himself lots of chances. And he’s got a great short game. ... I had sort of viewed winning majors as this higher level, and it just made me realize that it wasn’t. You just needed to play well in the right week, and have a few things go your way.”
If McDowell is to win another major, a British Open would seem to suit him best. He opened with a 66 to take the first-round lead at Royal Liverpool in 2006, and was two shots out of the lead going into the weekend at Royal Birkdale in 2008. (He then blew up with an 80 in the third round.) In his only British Open at St. Andrews, McDowell tied for 11th and shot par or better for all but one round.
At the 2004 Dunhill Links, he shot a 62 on the Old Course.
Oh, McDowell also happens to be from Portrush, a city on Northern Ireland’s northern coast where the weather is very similar to St. Andrews. The gorgeous, sun-kissed skies that have lingered above the Old Course the last few days were expected to give way to rain and wind later Tuesday, with the weather staying miserable through the weekend.
“When the wind blows and it starts raining, people always say to me, ‘Geez, you must love this.’ I hate it the same as everyone else does,” McDowell said. “But yeah, I grew up in it, and maybe I’ve got the kind of game that can deal with it a little bit more.”
McDowell got to brush up on his British Open game last weekend at the Scottish Open, where he tied for 21st.
“I was hitting balls in the rain last week at Loch Lomond thinking, this could stand me in good stead for next week,” he said. “Obviously the forecast is pretty changeable around here, you never know to expect on a day-to-day basis, but you’ve got to be prepared for anything this tournament can throw at you.
“I’ve got all kinds of wet gear and cashmere and woolly hats and mittens, and we’re ready for anything the course is going to throw at us this week.
Not to mention all those distractions that go along with his newfound celebrity.
“My preparation remains exactly the same,” McDowell said. “Obviously coming here as the U.S. Open champion is a special feeling. (But) I think it’s important that I remain the same guy.”
-- Nancy Armour
Fade at US Open teaches Ishikawa a few lessons
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Next time Ryo Ishikawa finds himself in contention at a major championship, he wants to be strong enough to handle it.
Surging into a four-way tie for second following the second round of the U.S. Open last month, the 18-year-old sensation from Japan faded to a tie for 33rd. While Ishikawa admits he felt more pressure than he expected at Pebble Beach, the bigger problem was his physical stamina. It was only the second time the teenager made the cut at a major championship; he tied for 56th at the PGA Championship last year.
“My pulse was moving a little bit fast, and it was kind of hard to breathe,” Ishikawa said Tuesday through a translator. “It’s like playing golf while running. When that happens, my mind is a little bit hard to understand, like everything that’s going around. ... Hopefully, in the future, if I finish in the top after the first and second rounds, I would like to have the physical strength to play all four days in (top shape).”
Better start hitting the gym then.
While his childhood friends were cramming for exams and worrying about getting their driver’s licenses, Ishikawa was hanging with golf’s big boys. He won his first event at 15, when he was still an amateur, and was the youngest player to crack the top 100 in the world rankings.
He’s won seven times on the Japan Tour since turning pro in 2007, and in May recorded the lowest score ever on a major tour with a 12-under 58 in the final round at The Crowns.
“It would be a lie if I said that I’m not satisfied with that score,” Ishikawa said. “But if I’m satisfied with playing golf so much, then there is no progress for me.”
It’s progress with his game that matters most, of course. But like any teenager, Ishikawa is also changing as a person.
The spiky hair that was once his trademark — even his Cabbage Patch Kid-like doll head cover sported the ‘do — is gone, replaced by a mop of curls. Once nicknamed “The Bashful Prince,” he grows more confident with every event, and is working hard on his English so he won’t have to use a translator.
There’s still some kid left in him, though. Asked about the Old Course, Ishikawa’s eyes grew wide and he couldn’t help smiling.
“Out of the four majors, the Open Championship has the longest history, and I feel the history of the course,” he said. “I also feel the home of golf playing here. That makes me feel so glad that I get to be a professional golfer.”
Ishikawa opened with a 68 at Turnberry last year, only to follow it with a 78 and miss the cut. The Old Course at St. Andrews is somewhat more forgiving with its wider fairways and bigger greens. But its devilish pot bunkers add a different dimension.
Should he find himself among the leaders going into the weekend, Ishikawa will need every bit of strength — mental and physical — he has. After that experience at the U.S. Open, though, he’s confident he’s in better shape.
“It’s always tough to win the major championships, and it goes for everyone that’s in the tournament,” Ishikawa said. “If winning a major championship is 100 meters away, after the U.S. Open, I’m a little bit closer, like five or six meters, to winning a major championship.”
-- Nancy Armour
After 12 years, Woods leaning toward putter switch
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — After 12 years using the same putter, Tiger Woods finally is switching to the swoosh.
Woods said Tuesday he will use a Nike Method putter at the British Open when he tries to become the first player to win the claret jug three times at St. Andrews.
In an era when some players switch putters during a tournament — Jesper Parnevik once carried two putters during a round — Woods has not changed the most important club in the bag since the 1999 Byron Nelson Classic. Over the next 12 years, he won 72 times around the world, including 13 majors.
He did bring his Scotty Cameron putter made by Titleist — a Newport 2 model — with him to St. Andrews. But as he made his way through a practice round, he said, “I think I’m going to stick with this one.”
It will be the first time that all 14 clubs in his bag were made by Nike.
Woods attributed the change to the greens, which are slower than usual on links courses, especially this week at St. Andrews on what has been a relatively green course because of rain leading up to the championship.
“It’s one of those things where I’ve always struggled on slower greens,” Woods said. “I’ve always putted well on faster greens. This putter does come off faster with the new groove technology. It rolls the ball better, and rolls it faster. So these greens, I’ve had to make very little adjustment in how hard I’m hitting it compared to if I had my older putter.”
The Old Course was so firm when he won with a record 19-under 269 in 2000 that the fairways were faster than the greens. The greens were also faster in 2005, when Woods won by five shots.
Woods is coming off one of his worst putting performances two weeks ago at Aronimink, where he tied for 46th in the AT&T National.
The putter is the second equipment change in as many tournaments. Woods also decided at Aronimink to play a different Nike ball with a slightly harder cover, giving him more distance and reducing the spin. He has the same ball in play at St. Andrews.
Even so, it was the putter that made news because of how long he has had it.
Woods signed with Titleist when he turned pro in 1996. He switched to the Nike ball in 2000, to the driver in 2002 and the irons that fall before the Ryder Cup. The wedges and 3-wood eventually had the Nike swoosh, but not the putter.
Until now.
It was not clear whether he would switch back to his old putter when he played faster greens later this summer.
Woods previously had used a Ping Anser 2 that once belonged to Mark O’Meara, who finished one shot ahead of Woods at the 1998 British Open at Royal Birkdale. O’Meara later joked with him, “Why do you think it was my backup?”
Woods has been tempted to change putters before, mainly on slower greens.
“My stroke has always been, even from when I was a junior golfer ... I always feel more comfortable when the greens get quick,” said Woods, who has won four times each at Augusta National and Muirfield Village. “Some of my best putting rounds were when the greens were running at 14 or something like that on the stimp like at Memorial. I feel so comfortable on those type of greens. But on slower greens, I’ve always had a hard time.
“I’ve always experimented with other putters throughout the years, but I’ve never put one in play until now.”
-- Doug Ferguson
Woods expects good reception from British fans
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods has won the British Open the last two times it was held at the birthplace of golf.
Still, he faced more grilling about his personal life than the state of his game Tuesday.
During a news conference looking ahead to the third major of the year, 18 of the 34 questions related to either Woods’ marital woes or, to a lesser degree, his links to a Canadian doctor accused of distributing a performance-enhancing drug.
Woods reiterated that he’s “just trying to become a better person,” but refused to address reports that he’s agreed to a divorce settlement with his wife, Elin. He also declined to go into any details about Dr. Anthony Galea, other than to confirm that he met with the FBI a couple of weeks ago.
“That’s an ongoing case, so I can’t comment,” said Woods, who was treated by Galea after knee surgery but has repeatedly said he took no banned substances such as human-growth hormone.
The world’s No. 1 golfer has been trying to rebuild his reputation after stunning reports that he cheated on his wife with numerous women. He entered rehab and took a five-month break from the PGA Tour before returning at the Masters.
Though he was in contention at both Augusta National and the U.S. Open, he has yet to win since the sex scandal broke last November. Now he’s back at St. Andrews, where he won his first Open title a decade ago in an eight-shot runaway and followed up five years later with another dominating victory.
“I wouldn’t say I have a specific advantage because there’s a lot of guys who can hit the ball as far as I do,” Woods said. “But this golf course requires placement. I mean, you really have to place the ball correctly.”
His putting also was a major factor in those two wins. Woods has decided to go with a new putter at this Open, switching to a Nike in hopes that he’ll improve some of the woes he’s had on the green since his comeback.
“You’re going to have some real long putts here no matter how you hit it, and you just have to get down in two,” he said.
As for his personal life, Woods spoke mostly in generalities.
“I’m trying to become a better player and a better person,” he said. “All that really matters is I have two beautiful kids, and I’m trying to be the best dad I can possibly be, and that’s the most important thing of all.”
Last week, Woods took a break from his Open preparations in Europe to return to the U.S. to spend time with his children, 3-year-old Sam and 1-year-old Charlie.
“That was an incredible experience, to hang out with my kids,” he said. “Normally I don’t come over here, play two days and then go back home. But the reason I did is obviously for my kids, and we had a great time.”
As for persistent reports that he’s agreed to a divorce from his wife, Woods was tightlipped.
“I’m not going to go into that,” he said.
-- Paul Newberry
Els feels like he’s in good shape for British Open
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Nothing like a trip to the Old Course to get Ernie Els out of his U.S. Open funk.
Els has been looking forward to coming to St. Andrews since he stormed out of Pebble Beach, enraged he’d let a chance at a third U.S. Open title slip away. Though he missed the cut at the next two events he played, Els arrived at the British Open filled with confidence and enthusiasm.
“I’m obviously not the big story here this week, but I feel I’m playing OK,” he said Tuesday. “I feel I’ve got a good chance this week. I’ve got a lot of experience, and I think it’ll help me.”
At 40, Els is having his best season in years — and one of the best of his career. He ended a two-year drought at the World Golf Championship at Doral, then became the tour’s first double winner of the year two weeks later with a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It was the first time the South African had won back-to-back tournaments in seven years.
He has six top-10 finishes in 13 starts on the PGA Tour. He’s also second on the European Tour’s money list, and is sixth in the world golf rankings.
And if not for a bad three-hole swing at Pebble Beach, he might have a fourth major title.
Els birdied three of his first six holes in the final round of the U.S. Open to move into a tie for the lead. But after a bogey on the ninth hole, he hit his drive into the long grass on the cliffside of the 10th. While folks on the beach watched from below, Els finally found his ball, only to hit his third shot into the long grass around the green.
His double bogey dropped him back to even par, and he followed with another bogey on No. 11.
“I have so much experience that I know what not to do, and to hit that shot I did on 10 near the ocean there and making double there, I just couldn’t forgive myself,” said Els, who finished third, two strokes behind Graeme McDowell. “I just felt very disappointed there because I had the perfect start and I just had to keep it alive and I probably would have been, at worst, in a playoff. But I just self-destructed a little bit.”
Hard to come by at any age, major titles are a rarity for players over 40. But Els said he wasn’t bothered so much by the ticking clock as he was letting an opportunity get away from him.
“I was so in contention there, and you’d like to finish something off,” he said. “I haven’t won (a major) in eight years, and I’ve been so close so many times. You feel you just want to win one. I don’t feel like I’m running out of time yet. I think I’ve still got at least five, six years. That’s quite a few majors, another 24 or so.”
And the next one starts Thursday.
Els has loved St. Andrews since he first played it at 17. This is his fourth British Open on the Old Course, where experience can be as big a factor as talent.
“I think I still have a decent chance of playing well here this week and maybe having a chance,” Els said. “If I can get into position like I was at the U.S. Open Championship, I’d like to finish it off.”
-- Nancy Armour
Cink, Watson play together again at British Open
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Stewart Cink and Tom Watson have played a practice round together, a year after Cink beat the five-time British Open champion at Turnberry.
Watson’s bid at 59 to become the oldest major champion was the feel-good story of the British Open last year until he missed an 8-foot putt for par on the final hole of regulation. Cink then pulled away from Watson in the four-hole playoff to win his first major title.
With the two forever linked, Watson suggested at the Masters that they play a practice round together at St. Andrews. Cink said he was all for it, and they teed off Tuesday morning with Matt Kuchar and Cameron Percy.
Croquet, anyone? K.J. Choi shakes up putting green
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — K.J. Choi has been getting more attention than anyone on the putting green.
He starts out like everyone else, lining up alongside the ball for what appears to be a normal swing. Then, he turns to face the hole, jutting out his right leg to the left of the ball, and spreads his hands far apart on a strange-looking club.
What comes next is something resembling a croquet swing. It’s all completely legal. And it just might set off a new craze if it helps Choi contend at the British Open.
“When I started out, I was not 100 percent comfortable with it,” the South Korean said through a translator. “But I believe in the theory and I believe in the principle behind it. I’ve worked hard and I’ve practiced hard. I’m convinced this is the right way to go. I’m not looking back.”
Choi’s radical change — even more noteworthy since he’s doing it at the British Open with a prototype club that he’s only had for a couple of weeks — is not unprecedented. Sam Snead tried putting with a croquet style, until the U.S. Golf Association passed a rule that a player couldn’t straddle the ball while swinging on the green.
Choi complies with that standard by standing beside the ball when he’s putting, facing the cup. And there’s no prohibition on swinging the putter between the legs from off the green, a shot that could come in handy at spacious St. Andrews. He plans on using the new club for shots up to 70 feet.
“Obviously, he has a lot of courage to do this coming into a major championship,” said Juan Elizondo, a longtime friend of Choi’s who designed the triangle-shaped putter and got it approved by the USGA. “But he’s relaxed. He thinks it helps his putting. He’s not worried what anyone thinks.”
Choi used the putter for the first time at last week’s John Deere Classic. Even though he missed the cut, he felt the new style could ultimately help his game — as much as a stroke per round, according to Elizondo.
The 2-pound putter weighs about twice as much as the normal club, which in theory will reduce the chance of taking an uneven swing. Plus, only the lower hand is used to guide the club — again, supposedly improving the probability of taking a level stroke.
“With a one-arm lever, you only have half as much chance to go wrong,” Elizondo insisted.
Facing the hole simply makes sense, he added, making it easier to stay focused on the line of the putt. So he designed a club to accommodate the new stroke, dubbing it the “JUANPUTT.”
“Does LeBron James stand sideways when he’s shooting free throws?” Elizondo said.
Choi, who missed the cut at Turnberry a year ago and has never finished higher than eighth at the British Open, figures the change will improve his chances of winning his first major title.
“People say I putted well with the old putter,” he said. “For me, there’s always room for improvement.”
TOGETHER AGAIN: No, Stewart Cink wasn’t giving Tom Watson a chance to win the claret jug back.
Cink and Watson played a practice round together Tuesday, repeating their pairing from last year’s playoff at the British Open. This time, though, it was all in good fun.
“Tom asked at the Masters if I wanted to play,” Cink said. “He said, ‘How’s 8 a.m. Tuesday?’ I said, ‘8 a.m. Tuesday, it is.”‘
Watson’s bid to become the oldest major champion at 59 was the feel-good story of the British Open at Turnberry last year. But the five-time British champion missed an 8-foot putt for par on the final hole of regulation, and Cink pulled away in the playoff to win his first major title, breaking the hearts of pretty much everybody outside his own family.
Watson, in fact, might have taken it the best, cracking, “This ain’t a funeral, you know,” when he walked in for his post-round interview.
Cink and Watson talked often during their round at the Old Course on Tuesday, and clearly enjoyed each other’s company. When Watson dropped his driver as he went to sign an autograph, Cink bent over to pick it up. When their group — Matt Kuchar and Cameron Percy — posed for pictures on the famed Swilcan Bridge, Cink and Watson stood next to each other.
The subject of last year’s British Open, Cink said, never came up.
“There’s no need to go over things. We both know how it went down,” Cink said. “And we’re friends.”
Still, the two will be forever linked because of Turnberry. And that’s just fine with Cink.
“He provided a unique aspect to that tournament,” Cink said. “It’s something for sure that’s going to make that tournament special. People will probably think Tom Watson almost won it, and they’ll have to think about who actually did. And that’s OK with me.
“It won’t take me too long to figure it out.”
BLOW THE VUVUZELA: Ernie Els was impressed by everything about the World Cup in South Africa.
Well, except for one thing. And his native country has no control over the officiating.
Els praised South Africa on Tuesday for staging a successful World Cup, the first to be held on the African continent. Pre-tournament fears about security, transportation issues and unfinished stadiums were unfounded, and South Africa has been widely praised by FIFA officials, players and spectators.
Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 in extra time to win its first title Sunday night.
“It was unbelievable,” said Els, who watched the tournament from afar. “I’ve just heard very positive things. I’ve obviously watched a lot of matches on television. I thought the stadiums looked incredible. I thought the whole tournament went very well.”
Now, about those referees ...
FIFA president Sepp Blatter grudgingly agreed to consider using video replay or technology after a series of bad calls at the World Cup, including England being robbed of a clear goal and Argentina being awarded one despite Carlos Tevez clearly being offside. The final was a foul fest, too, with English referee Howard Webb giving 14 yellow cards — a record for a World Cup final — and one red.
“I just think some of the referees lost the plot,” Els said. “But I think (overall) the tournament went very well.”
NO. 1 WATCH: Tiger Woods has been No. 1 in the world rankings for the last 266 weeks, giving him a total of 608 weeks in his career.
But Phil Mickelson has another chance to take the top spot this week. He would move to No. 1 by winning his first British Open title, and has a few backup options as well.
If Mickelson finishes all alone in second and Woods is lower than fourth, No. 1 goes to Lefty. Same if Mickelson claims third place all to himself and Woods is outside the top 14, or if he finishes at least fourth and Woods misses the cut — which happened last year at Turnberry.
-- Paul Newberry
