Official British Open Thread

[Clarkmeister]

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I'm rooting for a two-man playoff pitting Garcia vs Harrington.

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Only if Garcia loses.

[thedarknight]

I don't want Sergio to win.

[ntnBO]

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I'm glad the mystery of what network this is on has finally been solved.

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FWIW, while ABC has indeed broadcast The Open for many years in the U.S., the actual video is shot and controlled by the BBC. The ABC commentators watch the BBC feed while doing their jobs.

This bit of info is mentioned several times each year during The Open. Of course things change on occasion.

BO

[trying2learn]

i've actually got to go out on the course & am going to miss the end of this & wait for tivo...however...

(& hopefully this hasn't been mentioned already)

for those rooting against Sergio, this week was the retirement of Seve Ballesteros. if there is EVER going to be a week where it would be great for golf in general for Garcia to win...it's this tournament.

f'n great story.

cheers & enjoy the rest of a great round!

[tuq]

I've never gotten the Sergio hate. Whatever. This entire Sunday has been crazy delicious.

[thedarknight]

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This is not true you really have no idea what you're talking about.

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Just what part is not true?

BO

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I believe you're EXAGGERATING quite a bit. I don't recall one tournament in which he was totally out of contention and they show his every fart. They might show one of his birdies down the stretch and the finishing hole, that's about it (which is what they showed today). Is the coverage really by the BBC? Because I'm watching it on ABC. If you watched it on the BBC and they still showed Tiger, well they showed bits of Tiger on ABC as well. And they showed just about as much as they would show when he's out of contention and in a major. Regardless, I believe there are as many Europeans fans as American fans of Tiger.

If you're merely talking about how they showed his every shot a couple weeks back at the AT&T it was because he was the host. He was pretty much the main attraction. I can also take an example when they will selectively not show Tiger, and then show him when he's putting himself back into contention. In the 2005 U.S. Open, he was at one point something like 5-6 shots back from the leaders. He was pretty much forgotten, then Tiger put up 2 birdies and Retief blew up. Sooner or later he was right there, so of course they're going to show him.

To say the cameras are incredibly biased toward him giving him way too much coverage than warranted is wrong. Yes, they're not going to show Mike Weir finish up. But everyone wants to see freaking Tiger, it's how the market works. He deserves to be shown because he's earned it with how great he is. In addition, his coverage still helps everyone-the tour, television ratings, etc.

[westhoff]

Yeah, I'm definitely rooting for Sergio. Either way, a European will finally win a major.

[Bill Murphy]

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I'm glad the mystery of what network this is on has finally been solved.

[/ QUOTE ]
FWIW, while ABC has indeed broadcast The Open for many years in the U.S., the actual video is shot and controlled by the BBC. The ABC commentators watch the BBC feed while doing their jobs.

This bit of info is mentioned several times each year during The Open. Of course things change on occasion.

BO

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I know, I was leveling; the ABC logo was covering the hole so we couldn't see the putt drop. I can't imagine why they haven't replayed it.

After all the nonsense, we're down to two top-ten players looking for their first major tied going into the final four holes. Whew, whatta last 90 minutes!

Playoff FTW. May the best Euro win.

[ZeTurd]

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I've never gotten the Sergio hate. Whatever. This entire Sunday has been crazy delicious.

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For sure. I like both Padraig and Sergio so it's all gravy to me now.

Possibly interesting tidbits:

- Padraig Harrington is the cousin of, you guessed it, Dan Harrington.
- Playoffs are 4 holes in The Open.
- Romero scored 16 consecutive pars on his first round. On today's round he only had 4 pars and no pars after the 7th hole. Two double bogeys, two bogeys and ten birdies. Pretty sick.

[tuq]

Yeah funny the Harrington connection hasn't been mentioned yet; I guess it's implied.

Special Sklansky question: prior to today, who is more well known in the US, Dan or Padraig? I'm guessing the latter by a ways but he doesn't sell books or end up at the ME final table two years in a row.

EDIT: LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL at his drive. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! And it happened right in front of Sergio coming the other way on 17.