Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

QUOTE:
could quite happily have spent my life filing reports on Kenny Perry eagles

Well, you'd not be doing that in Lancashire...

Surely the total score is as "arbitrary" in its way as the score in relation to par?

Nicklaus, Woods, Janzen and Furyk all scored 272, but that doesn't take into account the length or difficulty of the courses they did it on, or the weather conditions in which they achieved it, the amount of pressure they were put under by other players or any number of variables that vary from one golf tournament to the next.

I'd say par is at least valuable a measure as the total score.

I'd agree wholeheartedly Hof, except for when the people who decide these things decree that a 499-yard hole into the prevailing wind with a hump-back green tightly protected by bunkers is a "par 4", just for the sake of it. I mean why not just call it a par 3, and laugh at all the twats taking triple bogeys?

Looking out of my duaghter's bedroom window (I can all but see Birkdale from here, on the horizon), the rain's easing right off and it's looking much brighter. This afternoon's main starters (Stricker, Cink, Jimenez, Garcia) might just have been handed four or five shots by God.

It's definitely brightening up. If you fancied Garcia before, get your money on him NOW, he's just pinged an iron straight down the middle of the first fairway. They're not even wearing wet weather gear any more.

Like I said, this bunch just starting out now could make 4 or 5 shots each on the early starters just because of the weather.

My money is on Garcia in a match bet with Els and after Ernie's +10 this morning there will be a stewards enquiry if I don't collect

QUOTE:
I'd agree wholeheartedly Hof, except for when the people who decide these things decree that a 499-yard hole into the prevailing wind with a hump-back green tightly protected by bunkers is a "par 4", just for the sake of it. I mean why not just call it a par 3, and laugh at all the twats taking triple bogeys?

Oh absolutely - I completely take your point on that. My point is that comparing the total number of strokes doesn't seem like any better a way of doing it for all the reasons stated above.

Nice to see Mickelson at 9 over.
Goosen and Weir clubhose leaders.

The early starters from today have been truly shafted. Usually your starting time mattered not, as a morning start on Thursday meant an afternoon start on Friday and vice versa. So the traditional benign conditions in the morning gave way to higher winds and fairways that wouldn't hold a ball. Today is one of those rare occasions in links golf where the afternoon starters enjoy better conditions. If the weather returns to normal tomorrow, they also get the best playing conditions then.

Well, funny old day. We saw absolutely nothing till about 12. The weather wasn't the problem as much as fucking umbrellas. Then it cleared, and we saw Harrington bogey the last. Then we walked around and always seemed to see the same people.

Back at the hotel without seeing a putt drop.

Must be getting easier, we've just had a sub-par round.

Tubby, I never had you as a golfer...

What's the weather like this morning? There's a few token sub-pars, but McDowell seems to have set off backwards.

Who the fuck is Camilo Villegas, and how has he got round in 65?

No idea, but apparently he birdied all of the last 5 holes. Sounds like one of those freak rounds where they should have handed him a goldfish in a plastic bag at the end of it.

Oh FUCKING HELL, Greg Norman is in the final pairing AGAIN. HOW MANY TIMES am I going to have to be dragged in the final couple of rounds of a Major cheering for this tosser before the inevitable final-hole collapse? He's 53, this year, for God's sake, it'll probably be his hip that gives out this year as he's walking up the 18th with a 3-shot lead.

No let-up in the weather today - it's brighter, but still very blustery. None of the early finishers have managed to break par. If none of those at the top of the current leaderboard fashion a low score today, there could still be anything up to 30 players within 5 shots of the lead tonight. If one of those near the top does fashion a round like Villegas did yesterday, however, they might find themselves 3 or 4 clear.