Round of Golf

Lots and lots of interesting developments over the weekend in the world of golf. A quick recap, in no particular order of importance.

1. Congratulations to Padraig Harrington for winning his second consecutive British Open at Royal Birkdale this weekend. Harrington shot a final round 1 under par 69 to win by 4 shots over Englishman Ian Poulter. Poulter's hair finished a distant 30th.

1a. A stunning 5th place finish for English amateur Chris Wood, with a composite 10 over par. It nevertheless must have been a bit disappointing as he finished only a single stroke from automatically qualifying for the 2009 Masters. It was the best finish by an amateur since Justin Rose burst onto the scene with his (tied for) 4th place finish in 1998.

1b. A dramatic comeback for Ernie Els, who missed a gimme on 18 on Friday that put him one shot out of the cut. However, the rest of the field came back to Els allowing him to survive through the weekend. His 74/69 finish left him in a tie for 7th.

1c. Jim Furyk was the highest finishing American in a tie for 5th place, leading Steve Stricker, Anthony Kim and Ben Curtis to top 10 finishes.

1d. Greg Norman shot a 7 over 77 to finish in a tie for 3rd with Sweden's Henrik Stenson. Although Norman was a great story at age 53, his finish was typical, as he has now led 8 times after 3 rounds in major events, with only one title to his credit.

2. Over on the LPGA Tour at the State Farm Classic at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, Ji Young Oh was victorious, but not the story. Michelle Wie was disqualified after failing to sign her scorecard following the second round. However, the story is interesting due to the fact that she wasn't disqualified until after she completed the third round, and was in second place at 17 under par. (Oh and Yani Tseng finished tied for first at 18 under par). Apparently Wie left the scoring tent without signing her score card. A rules official noticed the missing signature and ran out of the tent to catch up to Wie, who then signed the card. On Saturday this was deemed improper, and Wie was disqualified for violation of Rule 6-6b and Decision 6-6c/1. It is unfortunate for Wie since she was playing so well, and likely would have earned enough money for her tour card for 2009, if not actually win outright.

3. On the PGA Tour, the men played the U.S. Bank Championship, which was won by Richard S. Johnson. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Dick Johnson was victorious.