Golf-Saltman suffers hackers' curse as first hole bares its teeth

Golf-Saltman suffers hackers' curse as first hole bares its teeth

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July 18, 2013 6:41 AM


(Adds quotes)

By Martyn Herman

GULLANE, Scotland, July 18 (Reuters) - Sunday morning hackers know the feeling well. You step on the first tee and duff your first shot out of bounds, then take another ball and do exactly the same.

Scotland's Lloyd Saltman did just that at Muirfield on Thursday when he began his British Open challenge with a first-hole horror show which ended with an ugly quadruple-bogey eight.

Saltman, who came though qualifying at nearby Musselburgh, rallied briefly but ended up carding an eight-over 79.

"Once it starts moving on the wind here it's gone," Saltman told reporters. "It was always going to be tough after that start because it's not how you want to start the Open.

"I once hit three tee shots on the 17th at St Andrews but never started a round with three so it wasn't great.

"The only positive was I shot a 79 and not an 80."

Saltman, who grew up just down the road in Edinburgh and knows the local links courses well, was part of the first group to tee off in almost perfect conditions.


However, the 447-yard par four hole, with its tight fairway flanked by knee-high rough and guarded by deep bunkers, proved too much for the 27-year-old who took three tee shots to get a ball in play.

His first effort cleared a 20-foot high screen bordering the tented village and his second was heard to "hit an object".

Neither ball was found and Saltman's third tee shot landed just right of the fairway, after which he played the hole in exemplary fashion, finding the green with his approach and two-putting before glumly striding to the second tee.

While winds, as predicted were light, the course was proving precarious on the opening morning as the narrow fairways, thick rough and steep-sided bunkers took their toll.

The opening hole, rated as one of the toughest of all the Scottish links courses, was particularly brutal and Saltman was not alone in coming a cropper.

American Brooks Koepka, making his Open debut, also took an eight and Britain's Chris Wood andAmericans Bud Cauley and Luke Guthrie began with triple-bogey sevens.

Australia's Jason Day, strongly fancied to win the title after finishing third at the Masters and second at the U.S. Open, also came to grief with a six, although he repaired the damage with a couple of birdies before the turn.

After 60 of the 156 starters had passed through only four birdies had been seen on the first, one of which was sunk by early leader Miguel Angel Jimenez.

British title hope Ian Poulter, wearing a pair of tartan trousers, did locate the first fairway but still began his challenge with a bogey on a hole averaging 4.5 early on.

"You're asking how the rough is at Muirfield. I thought it was hay. Big tip for week: Hit it on the mowed stuff," Poulter said on his Twitter page on the eve of the tournament. (Editing by Ed Osmond)

Rory McIlroy shrugs off advice from Nick Faldo

Rory McIlroy shrugs off advice from Nick Faldo

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PGA.COM July 18, 2013 8:35 AM

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Heading into the Open Championship, some have speculated that off-the-course activities have cut into …


By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP National Writer

GULLANE, Scotland (AP) -- Rory McIlroy hasn't become too worked up about his struggles this year.

He certainly doesn't need any advice from Nick Faldo.

McIlroy shrugged off a suggestion from the six-time major champion to spend more time concentrating on golf, saying on Wednesday that Faldo "should know how hard this game is at times."

McIlroy won his second major title last summer with a runaway win at the U.S. PGA Championship, but he has been off his game this season after changing equipment. Heading into the British Open, some have also speculated that off-the-course activities have cut into his preparation time and mental sharpness.

This week, Faldo seemed to join that group when he urgedMcIlroy to spend the next two decades focused solely on his golf, calling it his "window of opportunity," before savoring all the benefits of being a multiple major champion.

"What's the big deal?" McIlroy said. "I haven't had the best six months, but it's OK. I'm fine. I've got a good life. So, you know, it doesn't bother me. I'm in a good place. And as I said, I'm working hard. I feel like I'm working on the right things. And sooner or later it will turn around and I'll be back lifting trophies."

Faldo said he believes McIlroy's struggles are mainly mental.


"The most ideal thing is to go to the club, 9 in the morning, hit balls all day long, and you leave at 5," Faldo said. "Concentrate on golf, nothing else. Hopefully when you retire, in your 40s or 50s, hopefully you have another 40 years to enjoy it. So just concentrate on golf."

McIlroy said he intends to play 108 practice holes at Muirfield leading up to the Open, and he took a jab at Faldo's proposed schedule.

"I actually was on the range at 6:15 (a.m.), and got out of the gym at 6:15 (p.m.) -- actually a 12-hour day compared to his eight-hour day," McIlroy said. "Nick should know how hard this game is at times. He's been in our position before. He should know how much work that we all put into it."

McIlroy said he doesn't feel as though his game is that far off.

Certainly, there's no need to panic.

"It's like life," he said. "You're going to go through highs and you're going to go through lows. It's just about trying to work your way out of the lows. Yeah, I haven't played my best golf this year, but I've showed signs that it is there. It's just a matter of trying to do that more often. But, yeah, it's been difficult to try, I guess, to explain why I'm not playing well or why I haven't had the results that I've wanted over the past six months."

McIlroy said he does his best to avoid what others are saying, though it was clear Faldo's words got back to him.

"Obviously it's hard to avoid at times," he said. "You just have to have the confidence and the self-belief in yourself that you're doing the right things and know that what you're doing is ultimately going to get you to the place that you want to be."

©2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.

Criticism of Muirfield for not allowing female members doesn't make the cut

Criticism of Muirfield for not allowing female members doesn't make the cut

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Jay Hart July 18, 2013 8:41 AMYahoo Sports


GULLANE, Scotland – In the lead up to Thursday's British Open, the big stink here was that Muirfield, host of the 142nd edition of the Open Championship, doesn't allow female members.

Predictably, cue the media outrage. Never mind that this is an issue that has no impact on any of our lives – Muirfield isn't in the cards on a journalist's salary – nor the lives of 99.9999999 (I could keep going) percent of the women on this planet. When there's low-hanging fruit to be picked, well, we'll pick it.

As you said, Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, was asked in a news conference Wednesday, single-sex clubs are legal, but morally, what's the difference between men only and whites only?




Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, addresses the media regarding Muirfield's 'controversial' policy. (Getty …"Oh goodness me, I think that's a ridiculous question, if I may say so," Dawson responded. "There's a massive difference between racial discrimination, anti-Semitism, where sectors of society are downtrodden and treated very, very badly, indeed. And to compare that with a men's golf club I think is frankly absurd. There's no comparison whatsoever."



Moral equivalency is a little trick they don't teach in journalism school, but it certainly comes in handy. When it comes to issues like this, it's always made out to be about the exclusion of someone or some group rather than something much more innocuous: a bunch of guys who want a man cave – in this case, a golf course – to themselves.

(It should be noted that while Muirfield doesn't allow female members, females are welcome to play the course.)

Of course, on our side of the pond we've already dealt with the issue of men's only clubs at Augusta National, home of the Masters. Thanks to Martha Burk's protests and a relentless line of questioning, Augusta finally allowed female members 11 months ago, and, oh, how the world is a better place.

Has the R&A become a hostage to fortune on this issue? Dawson was asked.

You bet your ass the R&A has become a hostage on this issue, because the media gets to set the agenda as we see fit. And so we ignore the exclusive clubs we deem acceptable – and there are plenty of women's-only clubs, just ask Justice Sonia Sotomayor – and pick on the ones we don't.

Wednesday, Dawson was asked if he could "explain to the 10 women in the room why racism is unacceptable and sexism clearly is?"

"I don't think in doing that they're intending to do … others harm," he responded. "It's just a way of life that some of these people like. And realistically, that's all it is.

"You can dress it up to be a lot more, if you want, but on the Saturday morning when the guy gets up or the lady gets up and out of the marital bed, if you like, and goes off and plays golf with his chums and comes back in the afternoon, that's not on any kind of par with racial discrimination or anti-Semitism or any of these things."

The nature of the "question" meant that no answer other than total agreement would be acceptable nor will dissent ever be acceptable. Like a kid hungry for ice cream, we won't stop screaming until we get what we want.

So this is how it's going to go: We're going to keep hammering away with questions and in the process we'll marginalize the opposition, all in the pursuit of making this world a better place, in our vision of course. Then, one day soon, the folks at Muirfield will get sick of dealing with the pressure and relent, just as Augusta National did. When they do, we'll criticize them for taking too long.

And for 99.9999999 percent of women, the world will have changed not one bit.