British Open 2015 - Albert's Notes Round 1 Rd 1 was interesting, a tale of morning vs afternoon tee times, and front nine vs. back nine. Morning players had the best of it by far, and the pm players really struggled on the back side. Perhaps most shocking was seeing Tiger Woods with a super early tee time, totally benign conditions, his playing partners lighting up the scorebard, and he came in with +4 76, second highestr score of any of the morning players. He may really be done.... I touted Fox's team as the team to beat for this event, and they sure did come out blazing!!! Spieth and Oostie both posted 67's, and his best 4 was 11 under 275. Good enough to top all... except Gabes. Even without Rory, Gabes had DJ, Streb and Schwartzel post 65, 66 and 67 and took Day 1 honors 14 under 272. Note to Gabes who always likes to call Fox a lucky red-headed *** *****.... Had Jack and Andy had six men going in this event, u would have been sniffing that red **** of his after Day 1. Your boy Knox posted 72, Fox's Donald had 68, and that 4 stroke swing would have you eating Fox poop. Andy's boys had a great day at 278.... no money for third but well placed a big 4 strokes ahead of nearest competitors for third overall $$$ and close to the top spots. #4 thru #10 is tightly packed.... but Fri is all about the cut. Get 3 into the weekend, u have some kind of chance, maybe. Get 4 in and u can make up some ground, 5 is golden. With two... book yourself some early tee times, no need to watch. Other tidbits... "Sir" Nick Faldo shot a fat 83. Get back in the booth. Dufner went from -3 to +1 on the back. Ogilvy went from -6 to -1 in 4 holes on the back. Most of my team played early and sucked anyway... Phil played late and carded a gutsy -2, -1 on the tough back in the pm wind. But he'll have to [play in SHIT weather early tomorrow... bad break for the pm players today, who will get the worst of it both days. Rub o' the green, I guess. Round 2 Well, this second round has been a bit disjointed, with delays on both Fri and Sat, leading to scheduled Mon final round weather permitting. As Gabes went low on Day 1, we had another team run and hide on Day 2. But did anyone suspect that it would be Sobo's boys, 1 stroke out of the cellar on Day 1, and with Woods still lost on Day 2 (+3 and long gone at +7 overall, much closer to last than making the cut.) But Henley and Matsuyama posted 66's and Sobo bested the field on Day 2 by 7 strokes! Wow! Andy stays solid, and this team picks up a few sheckles in the process, as his 8 under 280 is good enough for second place today, besting Gabes and mags by 2. So things tighten up overall, Gabes stays in front, but Andy within 4, Fox 5, Sobo 8. Hans has 4 guys going on the weekend... but with 3 on the cut number, and 1 just 1 under, he has a lot of ground to make up. Mags, Gabes and Sobo also have 4 players going on the weekend. But Fox and Andy have their entire 5 man teams under the cut line and that helps big time over the last 36 holes. Once again, I am relegated to keeping track of all scores without a snowball's chance in hell. Round 3 Wow, what a day at St. Andrews. I guess DJ decided that his meltdowns are a Sunday thing, not necessarily a final round thing, and his 75 tied Paul Casey for highest score of the day. So on a day when everyone was in red numbers, his +3 puts him 5 shots off the lead with some impressive names ahead of him. Forget Paul Dunne... nice 54 hole story but he cannot win on Monday. Oosthuizen and Day tied at the top -12, Spieth's 66 puts him one back in an amazing quest for the third leg of the Grand Slam. And names like Zach Johnson, Harrington, Goosen, Garcia and Adam Scott all within 3 of the lead. Should be an amazing final round.... hopefully weather cooperates. As for our pool..... Fox had 4 of his 5 active players in the 60's, and he did not even need Westwood's 69 to post a best of the day -16 200. Hans' and Mags' teams had great days as well, and they tie for second at -13 203. Fox's great day puts him on top for the tourney... but Gabes and Andy had solid days (206), keeping both in the hunt for top honors, 1 and 5 back respectively.Mags made up a little ground on both of them.... and sits 8 back of second, 4 back of third. Will take huge effort for any other team to crack top 3... but anything is possible. Enjoy the final round, should be great theater after a disjointed first three days. Round 4 Wow, that was riveting stuff!!! There was a time when about 8 golfers...mostly great names... were within 1 of the lead. But Adam Scott and Sergio could not keep pace after getting to -15 and -14, respectively. Scott gave back 5 strokes in the last 5 holes, Sergio 3 in the last 6. But Leishman, Oosthuizen, Zach, Day and Spieth were all in it to the very... and in some cases bitter... end. Zach was super all day, and his 30 footer for birdie on 18 to post -15 in the clubhouse was huge. Spieth's bounce back after a 4 putt on 8 to drop to -12 was inspirational.... and when he birdied 16 from 50 feet to pull even at -15, I was pumped. But he missed his up and down on 17, and failed to make birdie on 18 to miss the playoff by 1, what a shame! Same for Jason Day... made clutch pars on 16 and 17, gave himself a great look for bridie and a playoff on 18.... and leaves it short!!!!! He has been terrific in majors but just can't break thru. Leishman was the only one to hit -16, but after slipping back to -15, could not seal the deal missing the winning birdie putt on 18. Oostie makes clutch par putts on 16 and 17, then nails his birdie on 17 to make it a three way, w/ Spieth and Day dreaming of what might have been. Playoff was fun, with 17 and and 18 really tense. With Zach up one after 2 opening birdies, 17 looks like it could be a 2 shot swing for Oostie. But Oostie misses a shortish par putt, and Zach makes a beautiful up and down from the rough above the hole. Zach hits a good shot into 18, Oostie hits a better one. Zach can close it out with a 12-15 foot birdie put... but misses. Oostie can go into Sudden Death playoff.... but plays too much break on his 8 footer. Great story lines all around.... Leishman's near miss after his wife's near death. Spieth's attempt to run the table on the Majors this year. Day finally winning his first. And Oostie and Zach looking to add to their Major championships. Really cool..... OK... as for our Tourney.... Hey, Gabes, how are those tire tracks up and down your back right about now? Gabes led after the first two days and was but a stroke back after 3.... but his team flailed away to a Day 4 worst by 5 strokes behind my team which only had 2 players going! Yikes! Gabes slides from near the top to sixth. And how about Jack's team coming out of nowhere to claim Day 4 honors! With only three players alive, his out of the running players of Todd and Horschel posted 66 and 67, and Jack pockets $24.50 as a result. Sobo and Ikey had great days as well, tying one stroke back. Ikey passed Gabes and caught and tied Mags overall... but Sobo finishes 1 little stroke better and claims third overall. Andy was solid throughout, taking second. And my pre-tourney favorite, Fox, coasts home with the winning team.... and that was WITHOUT Lesihman, Donald and Goosen active on his 5 man team. And they finished 2nd, 12th and 20th!!!! Holy Crap! So Fox had 2 in the playoff and one other 1 stroke back. And while some may have been rooting for Leishman so that a double major skin would ride on the PGA, I know that I am happy that Zach, the American, won. And there was perfect symmetry to the Zach win, in that 8 of 10 players cashed money in the pool. And Willo takes the Major Skin. Leaving me the only schmuck doing all the work and not earning a penny in the process. $$$ posted for Gary to track See u at the PGA Ranked by Score 1 Fox 275 284 200 209 968 2 Andy 278 280 206 210 974 3 Sobo 289 273 211 207 980 4 Mags 283 282 203 213 981 5 Ikey 282 284 208 207 981 6 Gabes 272 282 206 225 985 7 Willo 282 284 210 210 986 8 Jack 289 286 206 206 987 9 Hans 290 284 203 211 988 10 Albert 286 290 212 220 1008 #1 Daily Gabes Fox #2 Daily Sobo Andy # 3 Daily Fox Hans/Mags # 4 Daily Jack Sobo/Ikey Gabes Fox Sobo Andy Hans Mags Jack Ikey Day 1 $24.50 $10.50 Day 2 $24.50 $10.50 Day 3 $24.50 $5.25 $5.25 Day 4 $5.25 $24.50 $5.25 Overall $126.00 $31.50 $52.50 Total $24.50 $161.00 $61.25 $63.00 $5.25 $5.25 $24.50 $5.25