Round 3 Reflections

Sports Illustrated golf writer Alan Shipnuck checks in daily from Royal Birkdale

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Posted: Saturday July 18, 1998 05:16 PM

ROYAL BIRKDALE -- Another brutal day out there. All you need to know is that Phil Mickelson shot 85, Justin Leonard and Nick Price shot 82, and Dudley Hart took a 47 on the back nine, with a birdie. In all, 23 players failed to break 80. The course has gotten so fast, balls are running through the fairways, and it's practically impossible to hold the greens. Putting is also a chore, as it's blowing hard enough to knock balls off their line.

One of the things that makes Royal Birkdale so tough in the wind is the course's routing. The wind is rarely straight into the players' face, or directly behind them. All the crosswind shots are wreaking havoc. Universally, the players have complained that they never feel quite confident in their club selection, or how much to allow for the wind. Bob Tway called it a "heavy" wind, meaning it affects the balls' flight more than it feels like it should. It's been 12 years since the Open Championsip was won with a score of par or higher, but that's a given at this point. Fred Daly's 293 in 1947 was the last time a champion's score exceeded 290 but that also looms as a possibility now.

Well, I'm sure many of you are wondering what happened to Tiger, what with his 77 and all. The answer can be found in Mark O'Meara's garage. The day before Woods crossed the Atlantic he was rummaging around in O'Meara's garage and took a shine to one of O'Meara's old putters. That afternoon he shot a 62 (to take some jing from O'Meara, who shot a disappointing 63) and decided to bring the blade over here for the Open. After putting beautifully during Thursday's 65, he has been shaky on the greens, and today he was downright atrocious. He's not out of it by any means, but I didn't see anything today to make me think he's got a knockout round left in him.

I'm so exhausted from having to do all of this prognosticating that I almost copped out for tomorrow. But I couldn't let down you, the faithful reader, so here goes: I love Jim Furyk's short game, dependable driving and all-around scrappiness, but the guy hasn't won in almost two and a half years, so why start now? I'm not sure how many of you saw my SI story in May, but Thomas Bjorn is legit, and I expect him to make a run. But he faded on the back nine today when he had a chance to take control of the tournament, and he's never been in this position before in a major. See ya. O'Meara is lurking, just as he did at Augusta, but I don't know if he has the titanium cajones it would take to win two majors in a season. Brad Faxon is the best putter in golf, but he's crooked even in ideal conditions. In this wind, forget it.

So, let us now introduce your 1998 British Open champ, Jesper Parnevik. He could have won in 1994 and again last year, and claims to have grown from the experience. More important, he's a genius around the greens and a splendid wind player. If he takes it, I'll buy everyone a round of volcanic sand.

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