Miscellaneous Mishegoss

Spanning the globe to bring you the news from all over the golf world...except when I'm on the course myself.

Royal Aberdeen - Caught the NBC coverage when I got home from the course, and the guys seemed to

be mostly treading water.  Scot Marc Warren is tied for the lead with Justin Rose, the latter of whom shot 66,so we know which member of the final group will be favored.  Elsie writes to tell us that the weather forecast for tomorrow is quite dreadful, bot of course their definition of dreadful weather differs from ours.

Russell Know seems to have over-corrected after yesterday's colorful round.  Yesterday he made all of six pars, today he made that many by the turn, finishing with fourteen (and a 69).  

Young Rory took a whopping ten strokes off his Friday score, not that he's feeling all that chipper about it.  Might need to check in on the ex's twitter photo again, as it's all gone pear-shaped for the lad since then.  Maybe Friday will get rained out at Hoylake, which seems to be his best play.

Royal Birkdale - Unfortunately I saw none of the ladies' action from Birkdale today, but boy was that Track living up to its reputation.  The ladies have been really struggling, especially with the opening sequence of holes.

But Inbee Park has herself back to relevance, per Beth Ann Nichols:

“I think I’m a little more mature player than I (was) last year,” said Park, who holds a one-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen, Sun Ju Ahn and and Shanshan Feng. Lurking three back are a couple other major threats in So Yeon Ryu and Lewis as well as Amy Yang, the young Korean who played alongside Wie in the last group at Pinehurst. And let’s not forget home-crowd hero Charley Hull, who posted a 6-under 66, the day’s low round.

We'll ignore Nichols' comment about this giving Inbee a career slam, as her win at the Evian was before it was considered a major.  But Park, who was the best putter on the planet last year, has a new putter in the bag and will be paired with Pettersen in the final round.  That might be worth a look courtesy of Tivo...

Korea's Sun-Ju Ahn appeared to walk off the 18th green with a one-shot lead over Inbee, but not so fast, as per Alistair Tait:

Korea’s Sun-Ju Ahn got a harsh lesson in the intricacies of Rule 13-3, Building Stance, in the

third round of the $3 million Ricoh Women’s British Open. 

It could cost her a chance to win her first major championship. 

Ahn had a one-shot lead over Inbee Park when she stepped into a greenside bunker on Royal Birkdale’s 18th hole. By the time she left the 18th green, she was one behind Park. 

The 26-year-old Ahn violated Rule 13-3, in particularly Decision 13-3/3, Knocking Down Side of Bunker to Get Level Stance. She spent a lot of time trying to get a level footing in the bunker, raking back too much sand with her left foot.

Gotta say, that's a pretty obvious no-no, and one expects professional golfers to know the rules. 

Royal Oak Tree - I'm catching my first look at this Oklahoma venue, the most distinctive feature of which

are bunkers that meld into the water (as per the example on the right).  Monty's pact with the devil seems to have lapsed, and he's fallen out of the lead currently held by Gene Sauers.

It's more than 100 degrees there, and seeing Monty in that kind of heat is reminiscent of the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, which he lost in an 18-hole playoff to Ernie Else.  His rather corpulent frame simply couldn't withstand that heat and he wilted in the playoff.  he's a bit slimmer these days, methinks, but he's also a bit older.

Royal Quad Cities - Who am I kidding, you don't care and I really don't care about this one.  Zach or Stricker will win, because they always do.  I know Zach plays it out of home town loyalty, which I credit, but he really should be over the pond preparing for the major.

Babe Bids Bye-Bye - Martin Kaufmann informs us that the babelicious Holly Sonders has left Golf Channel:

Holly Sonders, star of Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” and other shows, left the channel July 10 after turning down a new contract offer, according to sources.

Sonders is expected to take a job with Fox Sports covering golf and serving as a sideline reporter on NFL games, according to several sources. A Fox spokesman said his network has not yet hired Sonders. Other sources said it is a done deal.

She will reportedly work on the Fox golf coverage as well as their NFL pregame shows.  My understanding is that Sonders wanted to be reunited with husband Erik Kuselias, who has been living in Connecticut and recently resigned from NBC Sports.  

Golf Channel will obviously need another babe to provide eye candy for Morning Drive, but there's no shortage of those in Orlando.

 A Links Golf Tip - I had meant to post this links golf tip by Top 100 teacher Brady Riggs earlier in the week, but it slipped through the cracks.  It's the video format that I'm unable to embed, so you'll have to click through.

It's pretty much links 101, bump and run the ball as opposed to opening the sand wedge and bring the bounce into play, but is that a dead rodent scotch-taped to his chin?  Really not a good look.

Links Photos - By now you're no doubt weary of my constant harping on the pleasures of links golf, but it's

simply the best and purest form of golf to be found.  You may think otherwise, but I'm always surprised by how many fellow golfers haven't treated themselves to a trip to Scotland or Ireland (or both).  In any event, for some beautiful professional photos of the great links of the world, I'll refer you to this Golf.com slideshow.  For what it's worth, that's an aerial photo of Waterville in southwestern Ireland..

Look at the bright side, only two weeks left in my links sermonizing.