First round is under way. Still very early as the first groups are only through 4 holes and the early leaders are at -1. Tiger, Phil, and Bubba are off. Tiger and Bubba both with a par and Mickelson at +1 after losing his ball on the tee shot. Tiger has to be the favorite but not like in the past where it was him vs. the field. There are many others capable of winning this year (14 different winners in the last 14 majors).
16 is going to tear the players apart. Impressed to see Bubba go driver/driver. Should be a fun hole to watch down the stretch on Sunday
Tiger finishes -1 on the day, 3 off the lead (Michael Thompson @ -4). Currently has him in a tie for 3rd with a lot of the field not on the course, yet. Mickelson was horrid, finishing a +6 for the day...continuing his craptastic play of the last couple months. Bubba Watson was worse, finishing +8. Tiger might be the only one to make the cut out of what was supposed to be the marquee group.
Very little movement. Thompson still holds the lead. He tees off in about an hour. Tiger at about 3:18. So far, only Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk have moved up. Currently only 11 out of 156 players at or below par...8 of which haven't begun their rounds, yet.
I have gotten into watching golf only in the past few years and boy what a joy it is to watch a major. 4 days all day and every few minutes you see something fascinating.
Especially the Open. The courses are so incredibly difficult, it makes it a little more enjoyable to see the best players in the world struggle a bit.
^No McDowell thrives in similar situations (ala courses with a similar atmosphere as ol Ireland where the thick bay breeze air is very heavy to get the golf ball through-quite opposite of say if it was not right on the water.). He said he felt comfortable with Pebble bc of that, and obviously this course is as well an atmosphere where it's near the ocean etc.-he thrives for a golf course like this, while he is a steady striker of the ball he is streaky like any golfer. I think Tiger will win it, but Jim Furjck and GMcdowell look like the ones to watch out for as well.
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Great tournament. It's so much more about the ability to grind and make as few unforced errors as possible. The course itself will force high scores. Even with Tiger out of the picture on Sunday, it was fun to watch the drama at the end. I was pulling for Furyk. I've always liked his game and, at his age, doesn't have many shots left to win another major. Unfortunately, he just choked down the stretch, especially on 18.
