I heard that Tom W has been quoted as saying they are the toughest greens on the Open rota & I think I heard that Westwood hit 29/36 greens & he missed the cut. Nothing quite like those links greens in the wind to test your nerve 
Hoping for a grand finale to a good Open - be really happy for either Clarke or Fowler to win it (two nice guys) - can the fella in the bright orange lift the Claret Jug ?
Thank you for bringing us your enjoyable, detailed Saturday report Arnie. Good to read your thoughts.
I didn’t catch the first two rounds, but taped Sat… then watched it this morning followed by the Sunday final.
I suppose this is the only event left on the major rotation that holds much interest to me. With the difficult weather in the play early on Sat, again a hat’s off to Tom Watson shooting a 72 on Saturday when the average score apparently was 76 for the guys teeing off early. Had the weather stayed poor or worked into an even worsening situation in the afternoon… he would have picked up ground and positioned himself
for a run at it on Sunday. Just for perspective, Tom Watson has played in PGA Tour events with Sam Snead. At almost 62… (72 70 72 72) just fantastic… and this represents how golf should be both presented and executed.
I love Darren Clarke’s golf swing. Always have, and it to me demonstrates the core principles of how a player should work the club. It’s firm, aggressive, compact, no wasted motions, no limbs flying aimlessly around… just great rotation, control, and he can play all the shots it takes to win an event like The Open which he did today. Hitting 16 greens on Saturday, with the two misses still having a putter in his hand under very windy and difficult conditions is what I want to see as a professional watching an event. I was impressed, and I don’t say that often. What I don’t want to see is top ranking touring pros spraying the ball all over the lot, hitting irons out of bounds, and so forth. This week reminded me of how a major championship should be presented. We had a great historic golf course, maybe not set up extremely difficult, but the weather came to the rescue to make it a real test of golf… and when you have a real test, you have a chance for a fine ball striker like Clarke to come out on top with precision play, smart tactful play, prior experience put to use, and someone that feels to me well deserving of being called a major championship winner. He should feel proud of winning this event because it really required major championship experience and execution. Clarke drove the ball well, hit his irons solid away from the big trouble, and putted solid. He won without over powering the golf course, but instead played the course to fit his game, showcased a vast variety of shot making techniques and came out on top as he should have.
Excellent job.
It was fun to see Sergio putting some of his shotmaking skills in the wind to use. One shot he hit impressed me that he punched down with a tight hold off release and just stuck it. Great stuff.
This week didn’t feel like it was just a driver- wedge- putting contest. There was weather, wind, rain and you get the feeling that the winner is going to have to do something special other than what you would typically see at most tour events.
Good job Darren!
That was the best major I’ve watched live in a while. Lots of good ballstriking out there, and it really separated the pure strikers from the bomb and gougers for the most part. Clarke played great, Sergio played well, and Phil really got it going on the front, playing some quality shots in the wind, even though he unraveled on the back. Before really understanding how much today’s game is lacking in terms of shotmaking, I never paid as much attention to the Open championship. I now understand why its winner is crowned “Champion golfer of the year”. It is by far my favorite to watch now, even if I had to get up at 6 am to see the last group tee off…
A bit disappointing to hear this quote from a Northern Irishman whom you would think would thoroughly embrace these kind of situations. Maybe he is expecting to win every tournament now. You sure wouldn’t hear Tom Watson say that.
I saw Rory being interviewed about this, he said that he just had to wait until one year when the weather was good to win the Open. This is a most bizarre comment from someone who was brought up in N.Ireland where one usually experiences all 4 seasons in any given day.
I suspect that it was just an off guard and inexperienced comment but it did have an element of sour grapes about it.
Nothing wrong with an expectation to win I guess, but perhaps he needs a little more Lieutenant Dan in him.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzpmbvXjzsg[/youtube]
Here’s a vid of Darren’s swing at the open this year.
[youtube]DARREN CLARKE OPEN CHAMPION 2011 ROYAL ST GEORGE'S.wmv - YouTube
That’s real nice stuff from Darren…no loosey-goosey slack in that action. 
No “slack” and no “Stack” either!
He was fun to watch, an easy guy to root for. And the tournament seemed like real golf for a nice change. I’m not a sadist, but I liked seeing so many balls roll …over bumps in the fairway…and off the back off those greens rather than grab and back-up.
I could not have picked a more worthy Open Champion than Big D…His attitude, demeanor, swing, putting stroke… everything… is much the same as 20 years or so ago when we first met and played together.
What he went through makes this one of the better feel good stories, and a fitting “Champion Golfer of The Year”
I thought he would be more emotional about the win, but I am sure he will be holding that in and letting those emotions loose in his own private time. I am not a Guinness fan, but happy to toast one to Clarkey.
What a class act: He sent champagne to the press tent for the writers who were working there last night. 
Tony ‘Champagne’ Lema would have been proud
I love that guys game.
Hitting it solid is his MO…I wanna be there myself!
So delighted to see Big D clinch the deal…sometimes u can’t help feel there is a greater force taking an interest.
In terms of Rory’s post round comments, yes a little disappointing but to him, at his age, it must seem almost a logical reaction. I’ll give him a pass (not that he needs one from me 
as Tom Watson himself was apparently not a links golf fan at a similar age. I think with a bit of maturity he will embrace the challenge. Full credit to those from Fowler to Mickleson who did exactly that over the 4 days…
An excellent championship…now off to the Seniors at Walton Heath for me Great looking entry sheet: http://www.europeantour.com/mm/document/tournament/tournaments/14/01/14/140114_pdf.pdf
Cheers, Arnie
Walton Heath- what a great old course. I played the European Open there way back in 1989 or 1990?..You’ll remember this guy I played with Arnie— Brian Barnes!!!
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts about how it shapes up with all this new equipment because it was a great old track in the persimmon days… I think they may have played a Ryder Cup there back in the 70’s also if not mistaken
Wow Brian Barnes…there’s a name…he was the Darren Clarke of his day as I remember, great player and not scared of anyone. Famously beat Jack Nicklaus twice in a day in the Ryder Cup, on US soil!! Would I be right that his swing mimicked big D in some ways (compact / powerful) though I can’t find any footage. Was a big man, loved a drink and a smoke though sadly his battle with arthritis and the bottle wasn’t a happy one.
Walton Heath will be interesting. I have played the Old Course but not the New. From memory quite tight from the tee with an awful lot of heather not far from many of the fairways! They use one or both of the courses for international qualifying for the US Open and I think the scoring was pretty low, so we will see. The Ryder Cup was there in 1981 where the US gave Europe a hiding 18½ to 9½ points. Mind you look at this for a US team!
Lee Trevino
Tom Kite
Bill Rogers
Larry Nelson
Ben Crenshaw
Bruce Lietzke
Jerry Pate
Hale Irwin
Johnny Miller
Tom Watson
Raymond Floyd
Jack Nicklaus
Revisiting this page and first catching a glance of that list of names, I thought you were listing some of the starters for the Seniors Open and I’m thinking Wow!!!
A wonderful silhouette of DC from the weekend (late Saturday I think). Not many players finishing in this position with the modern lightweight titanium driver.
Nice article by Iain Carter the BBC’s golf correspondent on the wider reasons to celebrate DC’s victory.
That would have been nice Steb though there should be some fun groups to follow:
09:00 FARRY Marc JOHNSTONE Tony PATE Jerry
09:20 MIZE Larry ROMERO Eduardo MASON Carl
09:30 LANGER Bernhard BRAND JNR Gordon COOK John
09:50 KITE Tom PAVIN Corey WOOSNAM Ian
10:00 TORRANCE Sam SLUMAN Jeff FUNK Fred
10:10 MCNULTY Mark WIEBE Mark CHAPMAN Roger
10:20 HARWOOD Mike TWAY Bob SPITTLE Rod
13:40 DAVIS Rodger RUANGKIT Boonchu HAAS Jay
13:50 LEHMAN Tom SMYTH Des FROST David
14:00 LYLE Sandy FOWLER Peter O’MEARA Mark
14:20 PRICE Nick LANE Barry WATSON Tom
14:30 SENIOR Peter JAMES Mark CALCAVECCHIA Mark
15:00 PATE Steve GILDER Bob DARCY Eamonn