Friday, July 18, 2014

British Open; Rest in Peace, Casey Kasem (1932-2014)

This is just like when Bob Costas got pink-eye at the Olympics

Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars, Go Heath; this thread on the British Open is a long-distance dedication to you!

Tiger tees off his second round in about half an hour, and here are the current scores:

1. Rory "Rors" McIlroy, age 25, of Hollywood, County Down, Northern Island, 6-under through 18 holes 

T2. George "The Bionic Hand" Coetzee, 28, Pretoria, South Africa, -5 through 36
T2. Matteo "Manny" Manassero, 21, Negrar, Italy, -5 through 18

T4. Jim "West Chester Jim" Furyk, 44, West Chester, Pa., United States of America (USA), -4 through 18
T4. Sergio "El Niño" Garcia, 34, Borriol, Castellón, Spain, -4 through 18
T4. Brooks "Brooksy" Koepka, 24, Wellington, Fla., USA, -4 through 21
T4. Edoardo "Dodo" Molinari, 33, Turin, Italy, -4 through 21

T8. Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods, 38, Cypress, Calif., and a bunch of other guys, -3


Comments flow!

84 comments:

  1. Mike Tirico appears to be in charge of the whole proceedings at the British Open now. I wonder if he has to sign off before they dump another order of fish and chips in the fryers.

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  2. Tirico gives his go-ahead, and Tiger steps to the tee and swats his first drive way left. That's just what Sergio did a few minutes ago, but, take heart, Tiger--Sergio just followed up his bogey on No. 1 with an EAGLE on No. 2. El Niño is now 5-under and tied for second, a stroke behind Rors.

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  3. Well, this is the kind of dropoff you've got to expect when you go to the bench. I got distracted and missed most of the action over the last couple of hours. I don't know what happened to whom, but we now have a four-way tie for the lead at 5-under: Coetzee, Furyk, Garcia and McIlroy. Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama have joined Kopeka, Molinari and Mansassero at 4-under and T5.

    Tiger has played today in 3-over, so he's back to even for the tournament, tied with Phil Mickelson and a bunch of other people for 30th place.

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  4. And that's Francesco Molinari in the T5; Dodo is 3-under.

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  5. And per TheOpen.com video feed, Rors has just birdied Nos. 5 and 6 to move out to 7-under and two ahead of the pack! Well, well, well ...

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  6. McIlroy finishes his front nine par-birdie-par, so now he's 8-under and two out in front of Garcia and one of the Molinaris (not sure if it's Peyton or Eli).

    ESPN's Tiger cam is now throwing up occasional reminders on the screen crawls of where the cut is likely to fall, so you know things aren't going so great for ol' Eldrick. He is laboring mightily and hanging on at even for the tournament through 10 holes today.

    That cut is projected to fall at 2-over, which means J.B. Holmes might as well hop on the plane and get home in time to enjoy some of this unseasonably temperate summer weather we've been enjoying in Kentucky. Our man from Campbellsville played his second round in the British morning, and he's 7-over for the tournament.

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  7. Well, well, well, indeed ... Rors comes out with a birdie on the par-5 10th, and now he's 9-under and three up on the field. He might be starting to run away with this thing, as he did at the 2012 PGA Championship.

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  8. Tom Watson birdies No. 14, and he's down to 2-over!

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  9. Watson is a five-time winner at The Open Championship (1975, '77, '80, '82 and '83), but the 64-year-old from Kansas City qualified for this 143rd edition of the world's oldest major golf tournament by being a former champion who finished among the top 10 in one of the last five British Opens. In the last British Open of the pre-HP era, Watson led the 2009 tournament through 71 holes, only to bogey No. 18 and then lose a four-hole playoff with Stewart Cink by six strokes.

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  10. On the par-4 No. 12, having just missed a short birdie attempt that would've dropped him to 10-under, McIlroy drives into the rough. But he rips his club through the tall amber grass and sails his ball to within about 10 feet of the cup. That birdie try misses by no more than a couple of inches. But it should be noted that Rors is officially not running away from everyone now. In fact, the TheOpen.com video guys say that the top of the tournament has taken a defensive posture, with no one really urgently pursuing birdies. They did, though, just hail "battling Tiger," who remains even for the tournament through 13 holes today.

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  11. Forty-one-year-old Stewart Cink of Huntsville, Ala., who has never won another major after the 2009 British Open, is 3-over for the tournament through 15 holes today.

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  12. The 2010 winner was Lodewicus Theodorus "Louis" Oosthuizen. He has never won another major, but we've definitely heard from him again. And, indeed, we might yet hear more about him this weekend--Oosthuizen is 5-under for the tournament, tied for sixth, through 10 holes today.

    Current leaderboard:

    1. Rory McIlroy, -9 through 30
    T2. Jim Furyk, -6 through 34
    T2. Dustin Johnson, -6 through 29
    T2. Francesco Molinari, -6 through 35
    T2. Ryan Moore, -6 through 36
    T6. George Coetzee, -5 through 36
    T6. Sergio Garcia, -5 through 33
    T6. Louis Oosthuizen, -5 through 28
    T6. Charl Schwartzel, -5 through 30

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  13. "Old, reliable Jim" is what the gravely voiced TheOpen.com "International View" feed commentator calls Furyk, who won the 2003 U.S. Open and has a trio of fourth places as his personal-best shows in the British version.

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  14. Another dude in the TheOpen.com video booth isn't so enamored with Tiger's battling. "Didn't hit it ... feeble ... might be getting a tad crusty in this heat ...," he says as Tiger settles for his 13th consecutive par. Like yesterday, Tiger struggled on Nos. 1 and 2; unlike yesterday, he has failed to get on a roll with the remainder of his round. Since his bogey-double start today, Woods has parred his way around the course.

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  15. I like it that TheOpen.com video people call each group of three golfers a "game." So, at the moment, we have Game 38 finishing up on No. 18:

    -- Tom Watson, who looks fantastic in a lime-sherbet-green shirt;

    -- old, reliable West Chester Jim, who is 5-under for the tournament and T6, and

    -- Darren Clarke, a 45-year-old from Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, who won the 2010 British Open as Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson faded and is 1-over through 35 holes this weekend.

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  16. I am significantly grayer but softer in every way than Clarke, who is 12 days younger than me. He rolls in a birdie on No. 18 to head to the weekend at even for the tournament; I, meanwhile, finished 64th in the 64-player KHSAA First Region golf tournament of spring 1986.

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  17. Birdie at No. 15, and McIlroy is now 10-under and four up on the field.

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  18. Rickie Fowler, age 25 and originally of Murrieta, Calif., which has been the site of all kinds of fun the last few weeks, has joined the T2 party at 6-under, and he of Game 39 just made a fantastic approach shot on No. 18 that leaves him with an opportunity for a closing birdie putt and leader alone in the clubhouse.

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  19. No birdie on 18 for Rickie, but he certainly looks happie to join Francesco Molinari (age 31 of Turin, Italy) and Ryan Moore (31 of Tacoma, Wash.) in the line for fish and chips at 6-under.

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  20. Tiger takes out driver on No. 17, and it goes out of bounds--except Tiger doesn't know until he walks a substantial amount of the way to the ball. So then Tiger walks all the way back, restarts and plunks his way to a triple-bogey seven! Forget about being in contention for his 15th major championship and fourth British Open (he won this tournament in 2000, 2005 and '06), Tiger now probably needs birdie on No. 18 just to keep playing the remainder of this weekend.

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  21. Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen have now joined Fowler, Molinari and Moore at T2, 6-under.

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  22. Incidentally, this report is coming to you from my backyard in Madisonville, and I just want to say that I can hear two teen-aged boys a couple of houses away playing basketball in their front driveway. Literally, I just heard one of them calling out before picking up his dribble for the shot, "THREE! ... TWO! ... ONE! ..." Safe travels home, J.B., in case you're following the tournament on the HP's mobile app on your phone in the airport.

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  23. A roar lifts from the grandstands as Tiger walks toward his ball on the other side of a bunker from the green on the par-four 18th. Tiger is now propped on his putter, with legs crossed and one arm on his hip, waiting for the rest of his game to make way so he can take his second shot.

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  24. OK, I, of course, got some of that wrong. No. 18 is a par-5, and Tiger was getting ready to take his third shot over the bunker, which ended up about six feet past the cup. Then he came back and made that.

    As he stood over the putt, the gravely voiced dude on TheTour.com video who had hailed Tiger's battling earlier in the day asked the dude who had called Tiger's birdie try feeble, "What do you think?"

    "I think no. What do you think?"

    "He always makes these, doesn't he?"

    And, this time, he did!

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  25. Also, I need to go back and look back at all the AP style on numbers less than 10 around par and strokes to par.

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  26. Oh, man ... NFL ... so near now.

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  27. Jimmy Walker, a 35-year-old from Oklahoma City who followers of the HP's fledgling majors-interim golf coverage know has won three times on the PGA Tour this 2013-14 season, birdies No. 16 to get to 4-under for the tournament. DY-NO-MITE!!!

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  28. This just in: Rors is running away with it. McIlroy: Birdie 17, 11-under and five out on the field.

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  29. So here comes McIlroy up the 18th fairway, and everybody's excited. He won the 2011 U.S. Open and the 2012 PGA Championship, and now he looks strong to claim his first British Open title (he finished T3 in 2010). TheTour.com video dudes say McIlroy's jaunty, bouncy gait remind them a bit of Ian Mosey, English two-time winner on the European Tour in the early 1980s and son of a famous cricket writer.

    Actually, 25-year-old Rory McIlroy of Hollywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, reminds me a little of 25-year-old Donny Osmond of Provo, Weber County, Utah.

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  30. Mcilroy's closest challenger is now 30-year-old Dustin Johnson of Columbia, S.C., who birdies No. 17 to get to 7-under. The tie at 6-under is now Fowler, Garcia, F. Molinari, Moore, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel, and only Oosthuizen (among those) is still out on the course. He's through 16 holes.

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  31. Good morning. Rory McIlroy is not running away with it.

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  32. So, Dustin Johnson came in with a birdie on No. 18, too, yesterday to pull within four strokes of McIlroy's lead after two rounds.

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  33. And then the weather got rattier overnight at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, so the British Open dudes went to a "two-tee start," in which the golfers were started off on the course in groups of three at both the first and 10th, for today's third round. ESPN.co.uk notes this is the first-ever two-tee start for the British Open.

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  34. ESPN.co.uk's standing drop-down tabs along the top of its page, incidentally, are football, cricket, rugby, F1, boxing, tennis and then "more sports," video, games and TV. ESPN.go.com's are NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAAF, NCAAM, NASCAR, World Cup and then "more sports" and the other stuff.

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  35. So J.B. Holmes, Don Criqui and I are perking our first pots of coffee at 6 a.m. Central over here in the ol' U.S. of A., looking forward to a sleepy start with Mike Tirico in the morning, but instead we are jolted to learn that the party has already started on the Irish Sea. D.J. birdied No. 1, and Rors bogeyed; the lead was already down to two strokes when ESPN came on the air with its live coverage.

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  36. McIlroy has steadied: par, par, par and birdie on his next four houles. He's 12-under.

    But he's still only two up. Rickie Fowler, who stood in a tie for third, six strokes off the lead, after two rounds, has opened thusly:

    -- birdie 3,
    -- birdie 3,
    -- par 4,
    -- par 4,
    -- birdie 4 and
    -- birdie 2!

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  37. I think I am now rooting for Fowler (originally) of Murietta. I just started following a church in Murietta on Facebook earlier this week, so--yes, officially--I am rooting for Fowler this weekend.

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  38. Now Fowler bogeys No. 7, so he's back to 9-under--and McIlroy is ahead of the field by three.

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  39. Here's our current leaderboard:

    1. Rory McIlroy, age 25, of Holywood (not "Hollywood," as I kept mistakenly saying yesterday), County Down, Northern Island, 12-under for the tournament (through seven holes today)

    T2. Rickie Fowler, 25, Murietta, Calif., -9 (7)
    T2. Dustin Johnson, 30, Columbia, S.C., -9 (6)

    4. Charl Schwartzel, 29, Johannesburg, South Africa, -8 (8)

    T5. Victor Dubuisson, 24, Cannes, France, -7 (9)
    T5. Old, Reliable Jim Furyk, 44, West Chester, Pa., USA, -7 (8)
    T5. Sergio Garcia, 34, Borriol, Castellón, Spain, -7 (8)

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  40. And as for 38-year-old Eldrick Tont Woods of Cypress, Calif.? Well, they made Tiger go out and start on No. 10 this morning? (Hey, Enberg is doing Padres games on Fox Sports San Diego now.) He has played seven holes today, and he has three birdies and a bogey. He's back to even for the tournament, and he has climbed 17 spots in the standings today to T39. Go, Tiger!

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  41. Dustin Johnson takes a bogey at No. 7, and he's back to where he started today, 8-under.

    Meanwhile, Sergio's getting serious. He bogeyed No. 1 today, but he just completed his third birdie among the seven holes since. He is now T3 with Johnson and Schwartzel, behind McIlroy (-12) and Fowler (-9).

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  42. No word yet from J.B. Holmes as to whether he made it back home to Campbellsville last night. (The banner picture of his Twitter feed is of him near a lake holding a fish he presumably had just caught.) Holmes's most recent Tweet, from Thursday:

    J.B. Holmes ‏@JBHolmesgolf
    My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those on the Malaysian flight that crashed. #PrayersForMalaysia
    4:01 PM - 17 Jul 2014


    Amen.

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  43. Birdie on No. 10, and Fowler is back within two of McIroy, who is still 12-under through 10 holes today.

    Sergio's next at 9-under. Old, Reliable Jim is now 8-under and alone in fourth.

    D.J. has faded. He finishes his front nine bogey-bogey-bogey, and he's all the way back to 6-under and T7.

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  44. Fowler birdies No. 11, and he's within one strokes of Rors!

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  45. And then McIlroy comes back and rolls in a 10- or 12-footer for his own birdie at No. 11! Rors is 13-under for the tournament and two in the lead.

    "Nice little tussle developing between McIlroy and Fowler," remarks today's TheOpen.com play-by-play guy.

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  46. BUT FOWLER BIDIES 12! The lead is back to one stroke. Man, this is quite a tussle.

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  47. And now McIlroy comes back with a very nice pitch onto the No. 12 green, and he'll have a shot for another birdie, too.

    Let's hear it for the 25-year-old boys!

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  48. Check that--I, of course, got something wrong--McIlroy's good pitch set him up for a decent par attempt. But he missed! He and Fowler are now tied for the British Open lead at 12-under.

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  49. T1. Fowler -12 (13)
    T1. McIlroy -12 (12)
    3. Garcia -9 (13)
    T4. Dubuisson -7 (15)
    T4. Furyk -7 (14)

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  50. Rickie Fowler is a 25-year-old man, I know. But he wears these oversized, flat-billed caps and pants that are baggy and long at the cuffs. I can't help it. He still looks like a boy who is tromping around his backyard in his dad's clothes, pretending to go out to the public course for a round of nine after work on Thursday evening. He's as cute as a button!

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  51. With Little Mister Fowler and Donny Osmond tussling it out at the top on Saturday morning, this is the most adorable British Open I can remember!

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  52. On No. 14, Fowler gets in trouble off the tee and then scrambles all the way back in a bid to save par. He almost makes it but misses his putt barely, slips back to 11-under and now trails McIlroy by one strokes for the British Open lead.

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  53. RORS! What a putt ... no idea how long ... maybe 40, 50 feet? Oh, man, what a putt!

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  54. Birdie at 14, and McIlroy is 13-under and now two strokes up on Fowler.

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  55. "Come on, Ric-KEEEEEE!" squeals a female voice as Fowler walks up the No. 16 fairway, toward his tee shot that might well be in trouble.

    "Oh, to be young," sighs the gravely voiced TheTour.com announcer.

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  56. How long does Adam Scott get to keep using this stupid putter?

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  57. The Tiger-hating TheTour.com video guy wishes his sister good luck in her wedding today, and the gravelly voiced guy who doesn't seem to hate Tiger says, "I hope you gave her a decent present--not a set of saucepans ... or Pyrex dishes ... or fish knives and forks."

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  58. Fowler narrowly misses another par saver at 16, and we're headed back to (at least) a three-stroke lead for Rors.

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  59. Sergio ... he's had all sorts of muffs and missed opportunities today, but here he is all the way down to 10-under after a birdie on 16. He's now tied with Fowler for second place, three back of McIlroy.

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  60. Jason Sobel ‏@JasonSobelGC
    Eagle for Rory McIlroy to extend his lead to five. When the book on this one is written, it may just refer to that as the defining moment.
    9:12 AM - 19 Jul 2014

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  61. I, of course, missed it. I was making Saturday-morning pancakes for the 5-year-old daughter and let the power go out on my laptop. I get everything rebooted and find that, suddenly, Rory McIlroy is running away with it.

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  62. 1. McIlroy -15 (16)
    T2. Fowler -10 (16)
    T2. Garcia -10 (16)
    T4. Dubuisson -8 (18)
    T4. Johnson -8 (16)

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  63. And now Fowler and Garcia both bogey 17, which expands McIlroy's lead back to six strokes.

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  64. I'll bet Don Criqui makes great pancakes, though.

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  65. Of course, I tune back in to see Rors bogey 17. Lead back to five strokes.

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  66. Fowler closes with a birdie; Sergio just misses on the par-five 18th. Rickie closes to within four of Rors for now.

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  67. Tiger comes in with a birdie on the par-three ninth, and he cards a 1-over round. He's 3-over for the tournament at T58.

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  68. McIlroy roasts his approach on the par-five 18th, and it trickles to within just a few feet of the hole. You can imagine the grandstand roar as he walks toward the green.

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  69. "Well, well, well," says the TheTour.com studio guy, obviously an HP reader.

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  70. After three rounds:

    1. Rory McIlroy -16
    2. Rickie Fowler -10
    T3. Sergio Garcia -9
    T3. Dustin Johnson -9
    5. Victor Dubuisson -8
    6. Edoardo Molinari -7
    T7. Matteo Manassero -6
    T7. Adam Scott -6
    T7. Robert Karlsson -6
    T7. Jim Furyk -6
    T7. Charl Schwartzel -6

    And, hey, Darren Clarke shot 5-under today, and he's now part of the T12 at the same 5-under for the tournament.

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  71. i'm loving this!!! golf doesn't get any better than this. do i sound like a commercial?

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  72. I'm totally with you, Anonymous. It's a fantastic tournament.

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