Golfing News

When I watched Louis Oosthuizen hit his tee shot on No. 1 at St. Andrews on Saturday, my first thought was, “Oh, so that’s what his swing looks like.” You realize that as an East Coast American, I hadn’t seen a single shot of his live until today?

Mark Calcavecchia — living off the dreams of Greg Norman or Tom Watson of the last two years, or luck of the draw with the weather? A little bit of both, actually. Should he finish near the lead today, he’ll have the rooting interesting of only the most avid American fans, as his name doesn’t have the ‘Q’ factor of Greg or Tom, even though all three have won The Open. (Update: Mark’s bogied the first 2 holes Saturday, so the point might be moot.)

If Oostehuizen can shoot par or better today, and keep his internal organs on the inside on Sunday, the Claret Jug is his. If he comes back to the field today and finishes with, say, a 2-shot lead or less, everybody within a couple strokes of him are right back in it. As the leaders play the 3rd hole on Saturday, that’s 14 golfers by my count.

Just when many were writing off Rory McIlroy after his 80 on Friday as “not major-championship ready”, he goes out and lights up St. Andrews on Saturday. Just another player with bad luck of the weather draw, it seems …

Figures that one of the few players who could appreciate the weather the past two days is a Swede. Henrik Stenson, despite missing a short birdie putt on the 15th hole, is shooting up the leaderboard and looks poised for the lead if Oosthuizen falters.

Three Scottish players made the cut — Colin Montgomerie, Andrew Coltart and Steven Gallacher, but Scotland appears on the leaderboard at Even par. An Englishman named (Zane) Scotland? Is that even legal?

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