Shark shows his appetite while Monty goes hungry
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Your support makes all the difference.SHOT OF THE DAY: Greg Norman's second shot on the par-five fourth. After driving off the tee, the Great White Shark punched a four-iron under the wind to six inches and holed the putt for an eagle three.
HEARTBREAK OF THE DAY: Colin Montgom-erie's realisation that his hand injury would cost him the one thing he wanted most dearly. No, not a decent round. His coach, Denis Pugh, said he was most upset that he could not hold his cutlery properly, costing him his breakfast. Poor lamb.
SARTORIAL NOTE OF THE DAY: At the Association of Golf Writers' dinner on Tuesday Lee Westwood wore cufflinks emblazoned with the cross of St George. Appropriately he spent much of yesterday as the leading Englishman.
"It may be far from your best, but that's all you've got. Harden your heart and make the best of it." So said the great Walter Hagen, four-times Open champion in the 1920s, on the vagaries of form.
There was no lack of hard hearts among the fans yesterday. As Colin Montgomerie's hopes disintegrated, this exchange was overheard at the sixth green, where he had just carded a double-bogey five. Fan 1: "That's it, he's gone, I'm not wasting any more time following him around." Fan 2: "Some friend you are." Fan 1: "If you want a friend, buy a dog. This is the Open Championship."
Much has been made of the Pfizer plant near Royal St George's, a course that always provides a stiff challenge. The factory churns out more Viagra than anywhere in Europe. It is located in a place called Great Stonar, causing great mirth among journalists from north of the border. Look up "stauner" in a Scottish dictionary and you'll see why.
An aviation company offers fans the chance to beat the traffic around Sandwich by flying in by helicopter from Manston Airport, about 10 miles away. But the roads around the airport are so busy that punters have struggled to make their jam-busting flights on time.
When David Duval, the former Open champion, launched his drive down the 18th, he did not expect to find his ball in the midst of a five-star hospitality luncheon. There are obvious blind shots here, and this is one of them. Duval didn't find his ball, despite hundreds of people enjoying lunch at the MMC complex assisting him in his search. It proved fruitless (unlike the dessert) and Duval had to walk back to the tee, unlike his old pal Tiger Woods, who had a lift in a buggy back to the first tee after hitting his opening drive of the Championship out of bounds.
Tiger might have had some preferential buggy treatment but his day was no easy ride, as the bookies' odds showed. Woods started as 3-1 favourite to win the tournament. After his first hole he went out to 9-1 and at one stage slipped to 20-1 before ending his round at 5-1.
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