Golf Magazine Interview: Drew Brees

What do you like best about golf?
I love just how hard a game it is. It's something you can never master. You can get close, but it's one of those games that keep you coming back for more. As frustrating as it can be at times, that one great shot or one great hole keeps you coming back. It's relaxing. As crazy as I feel my life is at times, to step out on a golf course is therapeutic. Just to be outside, be in nature, enjoy the beauty of a golf course and be able to play a game that's still competitive. You're still working toward something: you're trying to birdie every hole, you're trying to play better than your handicap. And you play golf with people you like. There are so many great elements to it.

Standing under center, do you ever find yourself daydreaming about golf?
No. Never. If I thought of golf while I was under center, I would get my head knocked off [Laughs]. I try not to think about football when I play golf and I definitely don't think about golf when I'm playing football.

What was your best moment on the golf course?
I had my first hole-in-one last year at a course called Applebrook near Philadelphia. That was a pretty exciting experience. It was 199-yard par 3, but it was playing 205. I hit a pure 5-iron that was tracking to the hole the entire time. It's the only time I've actually hit one that the minute it left my club I was thinking, "This ball's going in the hole." I just knew it.

How does the exhilaration of a hole-in-one compare to throwing a touchdown pass?
Well, getting a hole-in-one is much more rare so that was a pretty good feeling. But the moment when the timing and everything has come together, whether it's the perfect pass or the perfect shot, it's a similar feeling.

Why are so many quarterbacks good at golf?
There are a lot of similarities between the quarterback's throwing motion and the motion of hitting a golf ball. Your hips, shoulders, and everything coming around in an efficient way and the timing element and the hand-eye coordination, it's all very similar. Plus, for quarterbacks, completing a third-down pass or fourth-down pass into tight coverage is like making an 8-foot putt to win on 18. There are a lot of parallels you can draw there.

If you, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre played a skins game, who'd take home the most money?
I don't know. That's a good question. Someone should organize that and we'll see.

If you got hurt and had to choose a pro golfer to quarterback the Saints, who would it be?
I'd say Bubba Watson. He's got some good height to him, he's about 6'2 or 6'3. I know he went to Georgia so he's used to a pretty good football tradition. He's exactly my age (31) and I think he's got the mindset for it. You watch him hit a golf ball and there's no doubt this guy could throw a football.

Are there any other pro golfers who might make gpd football players?
Ricky Barnes. His dad played professional football and he's built like a tight end so I'm saying Ricky Barnes could play tight end if he wanted to.

Who are the best and worst NFL golfers you've played with?
Trent Dilfer is pretty good. Tony Romo is a good player. Carson Palmer, Chris Chandler are good players. John Elway. I don't know any bad players, most of the guys I've played with are pretty good.

In March you played in the Honda Classic pro-am with Jack Nicklaus. What about Jack most surprised you?
He doesn't get to play a lot of golf because of his course-design business and other stuff, but he's still so consistent with his game. He gave me a lot of tips as we were playing. It was a really windy day when we played so he gave me tips on hitting shots into the wind -- choke down on the club, take an extra club, make a more compact swing, keep the ball a little lower. I was pulling my head up while putting so he gave me a little trick to keep my head down while I'm putting. I'm been working on those things and they've really helped my game. It's pretty cool when Jack Nicklaus is giving you advice.

Jerry Rice flamed out in his bid to join the Nationwide Tour. Do you feel that some football players — and pro athletes in general — underestimate the difficulty of succeeding in pro golf?
Yes, I think they do a little bit. I just got done playing in the Pebble Beach U.S. Open Challenge. I didn't play very well, but that course was so hard. The rough was so thick you couldn't hit anything more than an 8-iron out of it. Typically, you're just grabbing a wedge and trying to hack it 90 degrees back into the fairway. You're not advancing it at all. The wind was blowing, the fairways are tight, the greens are fast. You combine all those things together and it's like the perfect storm. You cannot make a mistake or it will cost you two or three strokes. I played terribly but it made me appreciate just how difficult a U.S. Open course is and the difficulty of tournament courses in general. To play that sport where you grind for four days straight and have to play really good golf in order to win a tournament is tough work and I have a lot of respect for those guys and what they're able to do.

When you hang up your cleats, could you see yourself making a run at pro golf?
I would love to. I feel like if I could dedicate the time to it, I could be a good player. Whether I'll have the time to do that, I don't know, but I definitely love the game of golf and I'm always going to play it.

Many QBs excel at the two-minute drill, maybe because they're not think over-thinking every play. Would golfers be better off if they took only two minutes to play every hole?
Maybe not two minutes, but the faster you play the hole, the better, because you don't have time to think. You don't think about all the problems on the shot, you don't over-think your club selection, you just grab your club and grip and rip. With the slow play you have to maintain your focus for so long. It can be mentally draining. That's why you've got to be mentally tough to play that sport. If you speed it up, it makes it a little easier. But if you did speed golf on the PGA Tour, I don't know if many of them would make it, because I'm not sure how great shape they're all in [Laughs].

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Langer shoots 68, leads U.S. Senior Open

SAMMAMISH, Wash. (AP) — Bernhard Langer waited much of Friday morning for the soupy fog on the Sammamish Plateau to finally lift. He spent the evening waiting for someone to make a charge up the leaderboard.

In between, Langer put himself in position for a second consecutive major championship.

Langer overcame a shaky front nine with an eagle and birdie on the inward half to take the lead at 3 under in the second round of the U.S. Senior Open as many of the other contenders simply tried to stay close entering the weekend.

After a fog delay of more than two hours brought play to a halt just before 8 a.m., Langer shot a 2-under 68 making a number of key putts on the back nine when his round easily could have slipped away.

"You never quite know. It's the type of golf course that any hole can get to you," said Langer, coming off a victory last week in the Senior British Open at Carnoustie. "You just got to be careful and hit good shots."

Langer was careful, not to mention a little fortunate with the putter Friday. He's the only player with two rounds in the 60s on the par-70 layout at Sahalee Country Club, and will take a two-shot lead into the third round.

If successful this week, Langer would be the first player on the Champions Tour to win consecutive majors since Tom Watson in 2003 in the Senior British Open and Tradition.

But Watson didn't win those titles in back-to-back weeks with eight time zones in between.

"This is a big enough event to pick yourself up and get motivated and get moving," Langer said. "I don't have a lot of problems with that."

While Langer managed to tame the ball-hawking tree limbs of Sahalee, others were far less successful. Only four players finished the second round under par, with another four sitting at even. First-round leader Bruce Vaughan gave back all of his 66 from Thursday before he made the turn. He shot 82.

Little known J.R. Roth had a 66, the best round of the day. He curled in a 25-foot bender on the 18th to finish at 1 under for the tournament. John Cook (68) and Tommy Armour III (68) also were 1 under.

"I think the way USGA sets up the golf course it really is good for me, because I'm just one of those guys that grinds it out," said Roth, playing in his first USGA event in 35 years.

Hometown favorite Fred Couples and Watson led the group at even par. Constantly trying to stretch out his always stiff back, Couples sent a wave of roars echoing between the cedars and firs of Sahalee when he dropped in a tricky 35-foot bender on the par-3 ninth that got Couples back to 1 under. A pair of bogeys early in his back nine pushed Couples to 1 over, but a birdie at No. 16 and pars on the last two holes left Couples right where he started.

"I didn't realize last year that they shot so many under, wherever they played," Couples said about Fred Funk's winning score of 20 under last year at Crooked Stick. "But I think that kind of killed us here because there may not be anyone under par when the tournament is over; it's that hard."

After a bogey at No. 1 and birdie at No. 2, Watson made 14 straight pars before a bogey at the 17th when his tee shot imbedded in the bank near the water hazard in front of the green. Watson took a drop, but chunked his chip and made bogey.

He rebounded with a birdie on the uphill par-4 18th, the second-toughest hole on the course.

Scott Simpson and Tom Kite were 1 over, four shots back.

They're all still chasing Langer.

He was 1 over on the front nine after missing a short par putt on the ninth, then jump-started his round with an eagle on the long par 5 11th hole, sinking a 40-foot putt for the first eagle on the hole this week. Langer made long par saving putts on Nos. 12 and 15, then birdied the par-3 17th, knocking a 6 iron to six feet. Langer delicately two-putted on the 18th to finish his round.

"I hit it straight and made some putts. It's always the same, isn't it?" Langer said. "Just different venues, different conditions, but it's always same idea, hit it where you're looking and try and play smart."

While scores were generally closer to par than Thursday's first round when just eight players broke par, low scores were still tough to find. Larry Mize was 3 under on his round with two holes to play before a double bogey on his 17th hole. Roberts seemed poised to join Langer at 3 under before a double bogey at the 15th. Cook also made a pair of bogeys on his final three holes.

"Here there's no mystery, you just have to put the ball in the fairway and then you have to hit quality iron shots with the right trajectory and distance," Cook said. "Otherwise, you might as well just pack up and go, because it will eat you alive."

The second round had barely started when fog brought play to a halt. The low cloud deck engulfed the course and made it nearly impossible to see the end of the driving range. Play was stopped at 7:48 a.m. and the delay of 2 hours, 12 minutes pushed the afternoon starting times back. The final groups finished just after 9 p.m.

England squeak past Slovenia and into 2nd round; Slovenia out.Langer wins his 1st senior major title

Questions with ... George 'Buddy' Marucci

George "Buddy" Marucci has been many things in his amateur golfing career: the U.S. Senior Amateur winner in 2008 and a Walker Cup player and captain, but he's most remembered for his thrilling loss to Tiger Woods in the final match of the 1995 U.S. Amateur. Marucci, 58, is playing the U.S. Senior Open this week in Seattle.

Tell me about the course that you're playing this week for the U.S. Senior Open, the Sahalee Country Club in Seattle.
It's in excellent condition. The weather has been perfect. It's a difficult driving course because the fairways are so narrow. It's a pretty demanding old-style golf course with some smallish, firm and undulating greens, with some fair but tough rough.

What are some of the key holes?
There are some pretty difficult par 4s on the front nine: the sixth and eighth. On the back nine the 18th is really difficult. They are the longest holes on the golf course. The 17th is a great par 3 down the hill over water. There are a lot of good holes out there.

You're 58 years old. You've been on the world stage of amateur golf for 30 years. You've played on two Walker Cups — in 1995 and 1997 — and you were captain for the last two — 2007 and 2009. In 2008, you finally won your first USGA championship at the Senior Amateur at Shady Oaks in Fort Worth. How much longer can you do this?
I played with Vinny Giles [1972 U.S. Amateur winner] this week in a practice round and he's 67 and I'm 58, and he won the U.S. Senior Amateur last year. So I guess there is still some time for me if I can stay healthy. I don't hit it very far but I certainly hit it as far as I ever have. I haven't gotten to the point where I can't play most of the golf courses. Chambers Bay is 7,500 yards this year for the U.S. Amateur. That's getting a little challenging for me. But still, it's not all about the length. I still chip and putt pretty well.

This week you took a tour of Chambers Bay, a links-style Robert Trent Jones II course off the Puget Sound. What did you think?
It's a big, beautiful golf course. There is nothing like it in the States.

How do you like your chances there in a few weeks at the U.S. Amateur?
I don't think I have much of chance. These players are just too good. But if I can get to match play anything can happen. I don't have any aspirations of winning. I just want to stay competitive at certain levels and enjoy it.

In 2013 Merion will host the U.S. Open. You've been playing there since you were a kid. Will you try to qualify for the championship?
I will probably try to qualify. Merion is one of the few U.S. Open courses that I could play because it's relatively short.

How hard was it to run a very successful car business and play competitive golf at the same time?
I had the same business partner for 24 years. I couldn't have done it without him. I was able to get away and play tournaments because I had someone I trusted and had a lot of confidence in. But it's hard to balance all that stuff. There were times when I was out and I had to come back. I kept my priorities in order, but I was certainly able to play. We sold our business three years ago and I spent a lot of time after that running two Walker Cup teams. This is the first year that I have relaxed and kind of taken it easy. I have to get back to work at some point. But I haven't figured out what I'd like to do yet.

How did you prepare for a tournament?
Basically what I try to do now is stay healthy. There's not so much I can do at this point to get better. I don't try necessarily to be a physical fitness nut. I just try to stay healthy enough to play. I don't beat a lot of balls on the range anymore. In the old days I hit balls every day. Now the body can't take it as much. But I do practice chipping and putting.

With all the money on the PGA Tour today, do you think there will be another strong generation of top gentlemen golfers like yourself and a handful of others who never turn pro?
I can't really answer that except to tell you that there aren't a lot of older mid-amateur players who play anymore. It seems like many of the top amateurs were players who were reinstated as amateurs because they weren't successful as professionals. But the guys who have never turned professional are few and far between. The game is just offering more today. There is nothing wrong with that. It's just a sign of the times.

When you graduated from the University of Maryland in 1974, why did you decide to go into business instead of turning pro?
First of all, the game wasn't what it is today. I didn't think I was good enough. I played with Ben Crenshaw this week in a practice round and we had a great time reminiscing about the paths that we had each taken. I had played with him in junior and college tournaments. He did what he did and I did what I did and here we are both playing together. He's certainly been enormously successful and was always a far better player than I was. I had a great career in business and I still like business. I think I probably made the right decision.

Have you done a lot of business on the golf course?
There is no question that golf will open doors for you. But at the end of the day business is business and someone is going to do business with you because you're good at what you do. The golf course is a good place to meet people and from there people can decide if they want to do business. I don't think I've ever done business on the golf course where I've discussed a deal, but I have made contacts on the course that lead to deals.

What was the experience like as the captain of two winning Walker Cup teams in '07 and '09?
It was the culmination of everything that I have done in golf. It's the nicest thing that's ever happened to me. I would never be able to give back to the game what the captaincy gave to me. The kids were phenomenal. We were fortunate to win but that's not what it's all about. The most difficult part of the job is the selection process. Once the team is selected, as the captain you have to just get out of the way and let the players do what they do. My job was to make sure that they didn't have to worry about anything except playing golf. I never tried to micromanage any of them.

How often do you go back to look at video of your epic duel with Tiger Woods at the '95 U.S. Amateur at Newport Country Club, where he beat you 2-up? That certainly put you on the map.
I don't have to go back and look at it. The thing is on TV all the time. It's kind of fun to watch. But I lose every time it's on. I can't figure that out.

When you were out there in the heat of the thing, did you have any idea that you were becoming a character in one of the greatest golf narratives in history?
We certainly knew that he was special. But I don't think anyone anticipated that he would be able to dominate the sport the way he has. My experience with him was fabulous. But I don't think you ever know what's going to happen with a 19-year-old kid. People walk up to me all the time. But what Tiger has done for me, he's done for the game. The game has always been big. But when guys like Palmer, Nicklaus and Tiger come into their own, they have a way of polarizing the game. If you happen to be in the storm, you become someone associated with losing to one of the greats. It's notoriety that you wouldn't have ordinarily gotten for losing.

Have you kept in touch with Tiger?
If I see him I'll talk to him. But I don't call him on the phone or anything. I've probably seen him four or five times since our match.

Word on the street is that if I want to play at Seminole, Merion or Pine Valley — to name a few great golf clubs you belong to — you're the man to talk to. How many club memberships do you have?
I don't like to talk about that. I don't count them. All I will say is that I get to play at some really nice places.

Where will you play after this week's Senior Open and the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay?
I'll play the Mid-Amateur and the Senior Amateur. So I have plenty of golf.

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Nearly all football players struggle when jumping from gridiron to golf. Just ask Jerry Rice

Jerry Rice stood awkwardly on the steep, fescue-covered face of a greenside bunker. He hesitantly placed his left foot below the ball and his right foot above it, struggling to maintain his balance as he prepared to hit his next shot. This offered a striking contrast to Rice’s customary sporting pose -- standing gracefully at the line, leaning forward ever so slightly, in complete command of his next move.

Rice caught 1,549 passes and scored 208 touchdowns in his incomparable NFL career, more than any player in league history. Those achievements earned him a landslide induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, but they mattered not a lick on the sixth hole of his inaugural Nationwide Tour start in April. His approach shot had sailed over the green at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, Calif., leading him to this uncomfortable stance. He took a big swing, trying to pull off a feathery, Mickelsonian flop shot -- and the ball popped up meekly without moving forward.

Rice scraped it onto the green on his next attempt, made double bogey and trudged away, the magnitude of his new quest suddenly and disconcertingly clear. “That hole right there,” Rice said later, “pretty much brought into reality that, hey, this is a whole different ballgame for me.”

It’s a new game on many levels for pro football players who carry their passion for golf into another realm. Rice’s two-tournament flameout on the Nationwide Tour stirred splashy headlines, mostly because of his NFL-fueled celebrity, but it merely provided the latest example of a football player wandering way, way, way out of his element.

Not one player this side of John Brodie has remotely threatened to make the cut on a major pro tour. Former quarterback Mark Rypien shot 80-91 in the PGA Tour’s Kemper Open in 1992, then 78-87 in the Nationwide Tour’s Tri-Cities Open in 2000. Former placekicker Al Del Greco similarly sputtered in his two Nationwide starts, in 2001 (76-79) and 2003 (75-78).

Or consider this year’s U.S. Open qualifying bids of several active and former NFL players. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (69) reached sectionals, but Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell (83), Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee (81) and former quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver (81) all stumbled in local qualifying. (Those were their scores, by the way, not their jersey numbers.)

The overriding lesson: Golf is hard, man. The game seduces these elite athletes with low scores on resplendent, country-club layouts, full of wide fairways, modest rough, tame greens and friendly hole locations. Then comes tournament time and the courses lash back with narrow fairways, menacing rough, slick greens and wicked hole locations.

Rice’s implosion made the point most powerfully. He shot 83-76 to miss the cut at the Fresh Express Classic, the Bay Area tournament he hosted, and then posted 92-82 in another Nationwide event, the BMW Charity Pro-Am in the Carolinas in May. Rice made an inglorious exit from that tournament, when he was disqualified because his caddie used a range finder in the second round.

Even before then, Rice chuckled and half-jokingly called his transition from football to golf a “nightmare.” His famously soft hands occasionally helped him around the greens (he holed one bunker shot), but his impatience, stiff swing and lack of tournament rounds doomed him to early elimination, just like so many other football players with grand golfing dreams.

“I have so much respect for the pros,” Rice, 47, says. “Until you go out there and compete professionally... it’s just unbelievable. This is something they’ve been doing all their lives. They’re way up here” -- he raises his extended palm above his head -- “and you’re just trying to take little tiny steps to get there.”

Tolliver was hardly surprised by Rice’s woes. He totes a plus-3 handicap index, even better than Rice’s plus-1, and he’s twice won the American Century Championship, the annual celebrity tournament at Lake Tahoe. Rice has improved in each of his last five starts in Tahoe, topped by his 10th-place finish last year.

“I have a lot of respect for Jerry and everything he’s done in his career,” Tolliver says. “But I think he’ll come back in the NFL before he makes the PGA Tour or the Champions Tour. He’s got to beat us in Tahoe first!

“If you’re not beating the best players in your club every day,” he adds, “and you’re not shooting 68 or better every single day, don’t waste your time. The average person out there has no idea how good Nationwide Tour players are.”

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Greenbrier Classic provides glimmer of hope for PGA Tour facing economic uncertainty

At first glance, this week's inaugural Greenbrier Classic at the Old White Course in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., would seem to be an entirely positive sign for the PGA Tour.

In year one without Buick as a title sponsor, the Tour found corporate backing for its tournament at San Diego's Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance) and replaced the old Buick Open in Flint, Mich., with the Greenbrier.

Given the state of the economy, that's no small feat, and it protects the livelihoods of the Tour's rank-and-file types who don't get into the majors and the World Golf Championship events. (Jim Furyk, fifth in the World Ranking, and Matt Kuchar, 24th, are the highest-ranked players in the Greenbrier field.)

But with so much economic uncertainty, with Tiger Woods a shell of his former self, and with the Tour set to begin negotiations on its new TV contract with CBS and NBC in 2011, you have to wonder if Commissioner Tim Finchem hasn't simply postponed an inevitable contraction of both prize money and schedule.

"I just don't think golf will ever get back to where it was," journeyman Jay Williamson said in a New York Times Magazine story, "The Tiger Bubble," in late March. "I think we've worn some of our sponsors out, and I just don't think in this kind of economic environment we're going to attract the kind of money we did in the glory days. I hope I'm wrong, but I just feel it."

The article was not well received by Tour brass, but the fact remains that having plugged the holes in late January (Torrey) and July (Greenbrier), Finchem still has much to do. There are as yet no 2011 title sponsors for the Bob Hope, Hilton Head, St. Jude, Reno-Tahoe and up to a half dozen other tournaments.

The economy doesn't help, nor does the fact that we are adrift in "a tour season that has lacked much pizzazz," as Larry Bohannan of the (Palm Springs) Desert Sun put it recently. Aside from Phil Mickelson's 6-iron through the goal posts at Augusta, is there another shot from 2010 that we will remember? (Rory McIlroy's 62nd shot Sunday at Quail Hollow, perhaps.)

With the exception of the Masters, Mickelson has not been himself on the course, most likely owing to distractions related to wife Amy's ongoing battle with breast cancer.

For different but equally obvious reasons, Tiger Woods has totally lost his game. His three-shot victory at last year's Buick Open, one of his six victories in 2009, gave the tournament a 167-percent boost in the ratings over 2008. This year he's failed to win at all, juicing the TV ratings only with an acutely painful speech in front of the blue velvet curtains in February.

Without Woods in contention, the British Open earlier this month wound up with the lowest-rated final round in history, an inauspicious beginning for golf's first network-free major.

Other problems persist. Since Jason Bohn won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on April 25, Americans have won just four of 14 events on the PGA Tour. (Zach Johnson, Colonial; Bubba Watson, Travelers; Steve Stricker, John Deere; Matt Bettencourt, Reno-Tahoe.)

America's most exciting young player, Anthony Kim, 25, has missed much of this year with a thumb injury and said Tuesday he will return to the Tour at next week's WGC-Bridgestone.

America's second most exciting player, Rickie Fowler, 21, leads the Kodak Challenge but is 15th in Ryder Cup points. He needs at least a top 10 or two to justify a pick from U.S. Ryder Cup majordomo Corey Pavin, who at this stage of the game must be searching the bylaws to see if he can select Alexis Thompson.(Thompson is, technically, a 15-year-old girl. More on her later.)

With a playoff loss in Hartford and another runner-up at the British Senior Open last weekend, Pavin himself is playing better than most of the young pros one would expect to be on his team.

That doesn't mean he'll be a playing captain, but it does shed more light on the Champions Tour as the over-50 circuit continues to benefit from the PGA Tour's sudden lack of sizzle.

• Seattle-native Fred Couples has featured prominently in both the oldies' revival and the marketing and promotion for this week's U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee C.C. in Sammamish, Wash.

Honorary chairman Couples, who last week was passed by Bernhard Langer atop the 2010 Schwab Cup points list, finished T13 at the '98 PGA Championship at Sahalee.

Mark O'Meara, who turned 50 more than three years ago but is still without a victory as a senior, tied for fourth at Sahalee in '98.

It is perhaps not a huge stretch to expect another good week from "Fairway" Fred Funk, who would become the first player to successfully defend his U.S. Senior Open title since Allen Doyle in 2006. Sahalee's fairways were so narrow and tree-lined for the '98 PGA, Lee Janzen quipped, "I think the best way to prepare for this course would have been to go to a big city, like New York, and maybe play down Fifth Avenue."

• The LPGA Tour moves from France to Britain for the Ricoh Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

Jeong Jang went wire-to-wire to win the Open the last time it was held at Birkdale, in 2005, but a better pick this week might be Sophie Gustafson, who won the 2000 Birkdale Open and finished second to Jang in '05.

Michelle Wie tied for third place, six back, in '05.

In the kind of move that has plagued the women's game in recent years, the Ladies Golf Union refused to give budding U.S. star Thompson — T2 at the Evian Masters — an exemption into Monday's final qualifying round.

Thompson could not attend pre-qualifying because it was the day after the U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont, where she finished T10 and so impressed Suzann Pettersen that the Norwegian gushed, "She's the best 15-year-old I ever saw."

• Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Padraig Harrington lead a strong field at the European tour's 3 Irish Open at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club.

European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will be hoping for some clarity atop the points standings, where he has an embarrassment of riches — quite the opposite of Pavin's dilemma.

• With a dozen tournaments remaining before the Nationwide Tour Championship, aspiring PGA Tour pros head to Nebraska for the Cox Classic Presented by Lexus of Omaha.

Among the lore at Champions Run was Chip Beck's 2003 hole-in-one — on a par-4, the 315-yard ninth hole.

Jamie Lovemark, 22, took over the top spot on the money list with a runner-up at last week's Children's Hospital Invitational.

PGA Confidential: Looking ahead to U.S. Open, St. Jude Classic recapNew England to use Cruzeiro match as opportunity to improve

Tiger Woods's swing tempo is back to perfect, and his putter is only a beat away

Dear Tiger:

You don't know me, but I know you. Or rather, I know your golf swing.

For nearly a decade I have timed the swings of tour players using tournament video to explore the once mysterious subject of tempo. That faint beeping you hear when you practice? Those are the tones leaking from the earbuds of other players using my tempo training method.

Anyway, I thought you'd like some good news: Your swing is coming around. Granted, you were never in contention at St. Andrews and you finished 13 strokes back, but when you took a full cut, you looked more like the Tiger of old. I clocked you at a perfect 21/7 in the second round, when you nearly aced the par-4 18th. I had you at 24/8 on several other shots, which is how you swung a decade ago when you were winning tournaments by Oosthuizen-like margins.

Not following me? A quick tutorial. My research (and a subsequent study by Yale scientists) proved that virtually all tour golfers have the same tempo: a 3-to-1 elapsed-time ratio of backswing to forward swing, measured to impact. This ratio is expressed in frames of broadcast-standard video — e.g., 27 frames to the top of the backswing and nine frames down to impact for a relatively slow, Bobby Jones-type swing (a "27/9" in Tour Tempo parlance). Ernie Els in his prime was a 24/8. Jack Nicklaus was a brisk 21/7.

You used to be a consistent 24/8, but when you switched coaches, your swing speed increased dramatically and your tempo got ragged. At this year's Masters, you were four frames quicker on the backswing and two frames faster back to impact. That may sound trivial, but the clubhead can travel three feet in one frame of downswing. Your British Open numbers weren't perfect — you had a few six-frame downswings, which is ridiculously quick — but you hit the desired 3-to-1 tempo most of the time. Your swing was smoother, and you hit the ball long and straight again.

With the short stick, sad to say, you were the post­scandal Tiger. Two-to-one is the Tour-standard putting tempo, but your practice-green five-footers varied from 16/7 to 17/9. That left you frustrated and grumpy. You even changed putters between rounds.

Fortunately, for a player of your caliber, tempo is easy to fix. All it takes is a video camera or a stopwatch (or my earbuds). A little work should restore your stroke, leaving you in position to win your 15th major at Whistling Straits. But whatever happens, remember — I'll be counting on you.

Sincerely,

John Novosel

John Novosel's book, Tour Tempo: Golf's Last Secret Finally Revealed, is in its 11th printing.

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Pettersson rallies to win Canadian Open

TORONTO (AP) — Carl Pettersson thought he had missed the weekend cut moments after finishing the second round of the Canadian Open at 1 under. Two days later, he was celebrating his fourth PGA Tour title.

"I walked in the locker room and (fellow player) Jay Williamson had all the scenarios written out, and he's like, 'Grab a beer.'" Pettersson said. "Before you know it, I'd had seven beers. Made the cut. And my caddie had to drive me home. I wasn't in that bad of shape, but I didn't want to drive. I can usually handle seven beers."

Pettersson moved into contention Saturday with a tournament-record 60, then closed with a 3-under 67 on Sunday to beat playing partner Dean Wilson by a stroke.

"I know it's difficult to shoot another low one after a round like that, so I tried to kind of downplay it," said Pettersson, six strokes behind Wilson with 11 holes to play and four back with seven to go. "I was just like, 'I'll go out and play.' I tried to stay calm, and just (said), 'Whatever happens today happens.'"

He finished at 14-under 266 on the hilly, tree-lined course.

"I still can't believe I won the tournament," said Pettersson, the 32-year-old Swede who went to high school and college in North Carolina.

The 40-year-old Wilson, playing on a sponsor exemption, finished with a 72 after opening with three straight 65s to take a four-stroke lead.

"If you would have told me before the week that I could be second alone, I would have been tickled," Wilson said. "Being in the position that I was, I'm a little disappointed. But still, lots of positives."

Pettersson made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th to pull within one, then took the lead on the 480-yard, par-4 14th, holing a 25-footer from the fringe - moments before Wilson missed his par putt en route to a bogey.

"I played very aggressive coming in," Pettersson said. "And that was fun. That helped me. And all of a sudden I had the lead when I birdied 14."

Wilson hit into the thick rough to the right of the green, chipping through the putting surface to the opposite fringe and missing from 15 feet.

"That was my bad swing of the day," Wilson said. "I had a good yardage, good mindset on what I was going to do and I just didn't execute. I caught that ball a little thin and it rolled through the green. And I paid the price in that rough."

Pettersson pulled away on the par-5 15th with his third straight birdie and fourth in five holes, hitting a wedge to 4 1/2 feet. Wilson's approach trickled into the back fringe and his birdie try came up 2 1/2 feet short.

"My other wins I've led starting the day and led the whole back nine, so this is the first win I've had coming from behind," Pettersson said. "It was a different feeling, and it was very enjoyable."

Pettersson parred 16 and 17 and, with a shot to spare, bogeyed the 18th, missing a 5-foot par putt after Wilson putted out for his fourth straight par.

"I felt like I handled it well coming in," Pettersson said. "I know I bogeyed the last, but after Dean didn't make birdie, I sort of ginched that putt up there."

Pettersson bogeyed the par-4 seventh to fall six strokes behind Wilson, then birdied Nos. 8 and 9 to cut the margin to four before seizing control on the back nine.

"I was just the sideshow on the front nine," Pettersson said. "I just love that back nine. It sets up great for me."

The former North Carolina State player earned $918,000 for his first victory since the 2008 Wyndham Championship near his home in Greensboro. He also won the 2005 Chrysler Championship and 2006 Memorial.

Luke Donald (66) was third at 12 under.

DIVOTS: Adam Hadwin, the 22-year-old former Louisville player making his first PGA Tour start, was the top Canadian, closing with a 71 to tie for 37th at 5 under. Jon Mills (72) was 4 under, and Stephen Ames (70), a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago, was 2 under. ... Glen Day had a hole-in-one on the 211-yard eighth, hitting a 3-iron. He shot a 69 to finish at 5 under.

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Langer wins his 1st senior major title

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Bernhard Langer won his first senior major title on Sunday, holding off a final-round challenge from Corey Pavin for a one-stroke win in the Senior British Open.

The German shot a 1-over 72 at Carnoustie to finish at 5-under 279. Pavin ended with a 1-under 70.

"I have always wanted to win the British Open," Langer said. "I didn't. Now this is the next best thing."

Pavin, the American Ryder Cup captain, trailed by three shots at the start of the fourth round but cut the gap to two when he birdied his second hole of the day.

Langer survived three-putting both the 8th and 9th greens. After making birdie at 15, he parred his way to his 11th win in three years on the Champions Tour.

"This victory ranks very high and it's pretty close to my two U.S. Masters titles and some of my Ryder Cup stuff," Langer said.

Pavin finished three strokes ahead of Americans Fred Funk, Jay Don Blake and Russ Cochran and Australian Peter Senior.

"It's tough when you almost win," Pavin said. "Bernhard didn't play his best golf today but he did what he needed to do and that's what it's all about."

Tom Watson finished with 74 for a 6-over 290. The 60-year-old American said he would return next year to play in both the British Open and Senior British Open.

"Sometime I can see in the future when my level of play might not be good enough to come over here and play," Watson said. "That's when you have to make a decision but I am not quite there yet."

Langer opens 3-shot lead at Senior British OpenDynamo head coach Kinnear pleased with team's performance

Langer opens 3-shot lead at Senior British Open

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Bernhard Langer took a three-shot lead in the Senior British Open after shooting a 2-under 69 in the third round at Carnoustie on Saturday.

The German has yet to win on the U.S. Champions Tour but is in position to change that after outplaying his nearest rival, Corey Pavin.

The pair set out as co-leaders at 4 under, but three bogeys dropped the American Ryder Cup team captain to a 1-over 72.

Despite his lead, Langer was wary of Carnoustie's fearsome reputation.

"I am aware that this golf course is one of the toughest links you will ever play," he said. "And I am aware that a three-shot lead is nothing if very little around here. I am going to have to play very solidly again in the final round if I am going to lift the trophy."

Langer's lead would have been even greater but he drove into a bunker on the final hole and was forced to lay up short of the infamous Barry Burn with his recovery shot.

He then hit a wedge to five feet but missed the putt to save his par and had to settle for the three-shot lead with a 6-under 207.

After his round, Langer said he wished he had used a different club off the 18th tee to take the bunker out of play.

"I hit a 3-wood," he said. "But my caddy and I also discussed hitting one less - a hybrid. I should have listened but I am a stubborn German."

Despite falling out of the lead, Pavin was upbeat about his performance.

"I played fairly well, and a lot of putts just missed. Sometimes you have days like that," Pavin said. "Bernhard played really solidly and I can't really expect him to come back and then again I can't be aggressive on Carnoustie and try to kill it, because it will kill you if you try to do that."

A group of six players go into the final round at 2 under, one shot behind Pavin and four off the lead.

Five of them are Americans, reflecting three days of domination at the top of the leaderboard.

Joining Larry Mize, Jay Haas, Russ Cochran, Jay Don Blake and Fred Funk is Welshman Ian Woosnam.

Funk climbed more than 15 places after a bogey-free 4-under 67, the lowest round of the day.

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Dean Wilson leads Canadian Open

TORONTO (AP) — Dean Wilson is taking full advantage of a sponsor exemption - and his long friendship with Canadian star Mike Weir.

Relying on his past champion status to get into tournaments after finishing 152nd last year on the PGA Tour money list, the 40-year-old Wilson - Weir's teammate at BYU - received a sponsor exemption into the Canadian Open.

"I really appreciate that," Wilson said Saturday after shooting his third straight 5-under 65 to take a four-stroke lead over record-setting Carl Pettersson, Tim Clark and Bob Estes at rainy St. George's.

"Last year didn't turn out so good, and I'm a little more appreciative of getting in tournaments and playing and being out here and fighting and being in the battle. That time away, makes you think about what you don't have."

Before Wilson and Clark teed off, Pettersson shot a 10-under 60 in calm and dry morning conditions to break the tournament record, missing a 59 when his 30-foot birdie putt from the fringe grazed the left edge on the par-4 18th.

"I hit a pretty good 6-iron in there, but the wind sort of got it," Pettersson said. "And you can't go past the hole because then you got no chance. And it was actually a difficult putt to get to the hole because it was very steep uphill.

"I hit a good putt. I told myself, 'You cannot leave this short. You got to give this a chance.' And I hit a solid putt and it was just hovering right on the left side. ... With 6 inches less pace it probably would have gone in."

Estes had a 66, and Clark shot a 69 to match Pettersson at 11 under. Bryce Molder (63), Kevin Sutherland (65), Trevor Immelman (65) and Brock Mackenzie (68) were 10 under, and Jeff Quinney (64) and Cliff Kresge (66) were another stroke back.

Wilson, a six-time winner in Japan who won the 2006 International for his lone PGA Tour title, made his move midway through the round in the rain, birdieing Nos. 9-11. He holed a 5-footer on the par-5 ninth, an 8-footer on the par-4 10th and another 5-foot putt on the par-5 11th to open a three-stroke lead.

"Another day in Hawaii," said Wilson, from Kaneohe. "You just can't fight (the rain). You know that it's going to be there. You can't complain about it, and you just got to be a little tougher than the rain."

Wilson birdied the par-5 15th, making a downhill 6-footer, then gave the stroke back with a bogey on the par-3 16th. He closed with a 5-foot birdie putt on 18 to match Arnold Palmer at 195 for the tournament 54-hole record. Palmer set the mark at nearby Weston in 1955 en route to his first tour victory.

"This golf course is a great test," Wilson said. "I haven't heard one bad thing about it."

Pettersson was trying to become the second player this month and fifth overall to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour. Paul Goydos did it July 8 in the John Deere Classic and Al Geiberger (1977 Memphis Classic), Chip Beck (1991 Las Vegas Invitational) and David Duval (1999 Bob Hope Classic) also have accomplished the feat. In May on the Japan Tour, Ryo Ishikawa shot a 58 - the lowest score ever on a major tour.

"Obviously, I'm happy with the round, but I would have loved to have seen that putt go in," said Pettersson, a three-time PGA Tour winner.

Playing in the third group of the day after making the cut by a stroke with opening rounds of 71 and 68, the 32-year-old former North Carolina State player from Sweden had two eagles, seven birdies and a bogey.

"I thought I was going to miss the cut yesterday," Pettersson said. "We got finished with the round and it was right on the borderline. Me and Jay Williamson were actually watching the computer to see if we were going to make the cut, and had a few Canadian beers in there. That settled me down, I think. Maybe that's what did it."

Pettersson broke the tournament record of 62 set by Leonard Thompson in 1981 at Glen Abbey and matched by five others, including Brent Delahoussaye on Thursday and Sutherland on Friday. Pettersson tied the tournament record for relation to par of 10 under set by Greg Norman in 1986 when Glen Abbey played to a par of 72.

The Swede hit all 13 fairways in regulation, 14 of 18 greens and was 18 for 18 on putts inside 15 feet.

"I'm reading some of the stuff in the media about St. George's getting slayed and stuff like that," Immelman said. "I mean, that's fair enough, but the players are getting good, too. For Carl to shoot a 60 this morning, that's unbelievable golf."

John Mills and Adam Hadwin, the former Louisville player making his first PGA Tour start, were the top Canadians at 6 under. Mills had a 66, and Hadwin shot a 70.

DIVOTS: Only three of the 18 Canadians in the starting field made the cut. Stephen Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago, was 2 under after a 73. ... Clark played 42 bogey-free holes before dropping a stroke on No. 7.

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Clark, Wilson share Canadian Open lead

TORONTO (AP) — With major championship-worthy rough its only real defense, rain-softened St. George's was no match for players able to consistently hit the narrow fairways.

"If you drive the ball in the fairway, with the greens being soft, it's not that hard," Kevin Sutherland said Friday after tying the Canadian Open record with an 8-under 62. "If you get in the rough, this golf course can really beat you up. And I did a pretty good job of keeping the ball in the fairway."

So did Tim Clark, the South African who shot a bogey-free 64 for a share of the second-round lead with Dean Wilson at 10 under.

"Driving the fairway is a huge key on the course and I've done that," said Clark, The Players Championship winner in May. "I certainly didn't expect to be scoring like that around this course. I felt like it was going to be pretty tough."

Wilson had his second straight 65 on the hilly, tree-lined course, closing with a 20-foot par putt on the par-4 18th after missing the fairway.

"That was a nice way to finish off the day," said Wilson, the 2006 International champion. "It's nice to get in contention and get in the mix."

Brent Delahoussaye and Steve Wheatcroft were a stroke back. Delahoussaye had a 69 one day after matching the tournament record with a 62.

"It's tough to follow up an 8-under-par round," Delahoussaye said. "So, I figured anything under par today would be great for me. I'm pleased with the round."

Wheatcroft shot a 66. J.J. Henry (65), Rob Grube (66), Hunter Mahan (67) and Brock Mackenzie (68) were 8 under, and Tim Herron (63) and defending champion Nathan Green (65) topped a five-player group at 7 under.

Sutherland, tied for 21st at 5 under after the lowest round of his PGA Tour career, took advantage of the soft, receptive greens after rain delayed the start for two hours. Because of the wet conditions, players were allowed to use preferred lies in the fairways, another big advantage.

"It's a little easier out there with lift, clean and place," Sutherland said. "The greens are soft. When we played, the wind wasn't blowing."

After opening with a 73, Sutherland was 5 under on his first four holes Friday, making an eagle on the par-5 11th. The 2002 Match Play Championship winner played the front nine - his first and last eight holes - in 5-under 29.

"It got kind of silly," Sutherland said. "The hole just got so big for me. I was just making putts from everywhere. I made a putt on the last hole that I don't even know how far it was. Seventy feet? I'm guessing, 60 feet."

Canadian star Mike Weir, fighting tendinitis in his right arm, missed the cut for the 12th time in 20 Canadian Open starts, following his opening 72 with a 74. He finished ahead of only eight of the 154 players who completed two rounds.

"If you're driving the ball on the fairway, you can score," Weir said. "If you're hitting it where I was, you can't. You can't score from the rough."

Adam Hadwin, a 22-year-old former Louisville player from British Columbia, shot a 66 - holing a 15-foot par putt on 18 - to top the 18 Canadians at 6 under. Stephen Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago, was 5 under after a 68.

"That's pretty exciting for me," said Hadwin, making his first PGA Tour start. "Coming up to that putt on 18, I looked at the scoreboard and I saw Ames at 5, and I knew I was at 6, so I wanted to make that putt to stay low Canadian. That was a huge momentum boost for me."

DIVOTS: Pat Fletcher, born in England, was the last Canadian winner, taking the 1954 event at Point Grey in Vancouver. Carl Keffer is the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. Albert Murray, a Canadian also born in England, won in 1908 and 1913. ... Because of logistical problems, the players started on Nos. 1 and 9 instead of the usual first and 10th.

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Questions for ... Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey

In the last month you have earned your first two wins on the Nationwide Tour — the Melwood Prince George's County Open and the Chiquita Open. One more win gets you a promotion on to the PGA Tour. How do you account for the good play?
I've been working a lot harder on my game, especially the short game. At the beginning of the year I got with my caddie, Marvin King, and we started working on this part of my game. Now two wins later that work has paid off tremendously.

Since you've basically locked up your PGA Tour card for next year, will you try to play in some of the Fall Series events?
My main goal right now is to get that third win and get the Nationwide Tour money title, which will get me into the Memorial and the Players next year and most of the tournaments that come after the reshuffle that occurs after the West Coast swing. So my decision to play in regular tour events late this season will come down to where I'm at on the Nationwide money list.

You played on the PGA Tour in the previous two years. What's the biggest difference between it and the Nationwide Tour?
You have to make birdies on the Nationwide Tour because pars just don't get it done. Out here it's like batting practice. Everybody is just going after every flag.

In 2008 at Disney you had a chance to win on the PGA Tour, but in the end Davis Love III beat you by a shot. I shot 64 on the last day and 30 on the back nine, but Davis Love is a Hall of Famer. He got it up and down on 17 and 18 from some tough places. I have to give credit where credit is due.

How did you start wearing two gloves?
My dad got me started in the two gloves when I played baseball. I just liked the way it felt. I can just feel the club so much better with the gloves on, and if I take them off it feels like the club is going to slip out of my hands. I feel like I can play with anybody with them on, but if I take them off I might not break 80.

You grew up Bishopville, South Carolina, where you were a good baseball player for most of your childhood. How did you get into golf?
I played some on the weekend when I wasn't playing baseball. At 15 or 16 I started taking it seriously because I was shooting some low numbers and making a lot of birdies. All of my friends started telling me that I had a lot of game. But I never thought about it because I always wanted to go to work.

Why did you decide to go to Central Carolina Technical College to get a degree in industrial maintenance?
When I looked in the job postings every week in the newspaper there were 10 or 12 jobs in that field. Plus the pay back in '94 and '95 was like $12 an hour, which has to be now like $20 an hour. I got my certificate in industrial maintenance after a year and half and went to work at A.O. Smith, where I eventually worked on the assembly line wrapping insulation around water heaters. Starting out it paid $8.25 per hour and it got up to $9.50. That was pretty good money.

What does it take to perform that job well?
You need good hand-eye coordination because that supervisor wants to keep that line running unless it breaks. We were doing anywhere from 850 to 1800 water heaters a day.

When did you get a chance to play golf?
I played mostly on the weekends. I worked the first and second shifts during my time at the plant.

It sounds like you miss the plant a little bit.
I don't miss the work. I miss the people. Back then I had to do what I had to do. That's just the way it was and I'm pretty sure that's the way it is now because good jobs these days are hard to come by.

Does your blue-collar background help you keep things in perspective in a game where a lot of the players grew up very privileged and never had to work a day in their lives?
No question about it. A lot of these guys have never had to worry about going to a factory or anything like it. I was brought up to work by my parents. That's all I know. I will never let how much money I make change me as a person. The money might change what I drive and where I live, but it won't change me.

Where did you get the first money to turn pro?
In '96 I was working six days a week at Smith. I played in a TearDrop mini tour event in Columbia, South Carolina, and I won it with $600 dollars from my first sponsor from Bishopville, who didn't make me pay him back a dime. I took that $15,000 check and played off it for two years. Then I lived and worked down at Dunes West in Charleston for three years, where a number of the members there got behind me to play the mini tours.

You got your big break through Golf Channel's "Big Break." The name Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey entered our golfing vocabulary through that reality show.
Being on the show has given more fans than I would have thought possible for a guy from my background. I got a ton of great publicity from the show. I owe the Golf Channel a lot for giving me the opportunity. It pretty much got me on the map.

Have you ever had a golf lesson?
No, I don't do lessons. If I'm struggling with something, I'll talk to my brother or my caddie, Marvin King, who can help me on the range. But I've always been a feel player, and that's never going to change. But my short game has to continue to improve for me to win golf tournaments.

The Scarlet Course at the Ohio State University, host of this week's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, has been one of the tougher layouts this year on the Nationwide Tour. You made the cut by one shot with a two-day total of even-par 142. Where are the teeth in this course?
The rough is tough. Prior to the groove rule change this season, I could just hit my wedge past the hole and spin it. Now you can't spin it out of the rough unless the greens are really saturated. But I think it's good for the game.

What are your overall thoughts on technology in the game?
The equipment has gotten so advanced that it's hard to work the ball. When I was growing up you could work that golf ball, and you could see everybody else work that golf ball. The wind doesn't affect the ball as much as it used to. The only way the wind affects the ball is if you mis-hit it.

What's in your bag?
I have a bunch of different stuff. I have a Cobra driver, a Callaway 3-wood, Adams irons and hybrids, Cleveland wedges, an Odyssey putter and a Callaway ball.

You're getting married in December. Starting your marriage out on the PGA Tour is a great way to start.
There is no better job in the world than playing on the PGA Tour.

What have you learned about yourself that will hopefully keep you out there this time?
Winning on the Nationwide Tour tells me that I can win on the PGA Tour because future major champions and steady regular tour winners had success out here first.

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Search on for 1904 Olympic golf gold medal

TORONTO (AP) — Hoping to locate Canadian George S. Lyon's long-lost gold medal from the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame is helping produce a documentary chronicling the victory in the sport's only Olympic tournament.

"This is one of the most important golf artifacts in the world," museum director Karen Howison said Thursday at the Canadian Open.

The hall and Early Renaissance Productions hope to complete the film in 2014, two years before golf returns to the Olympics in the Rio de Janeiro Games.

In 1904, the 46-year-old Lyon beat favored American Chandler Eagan in the 12-round, six-day competition. Eagan's silver medal also has been lost.

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Langer, Blake, Mason share lead at Senior British

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Jay Don Blake shot a 4-under 67 to lead a strong American showing in the opening round of the British Seniors Open at Carnoustie on Thursday.

Blake is in a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard alongside Germany's Bernhard Langer and England's Carl Mason.

Below that trio the only non-American in the next 17 places was Scotsman Sam Torrance, who shot a 69.

Carnoustie, widely rated as the toughest links layout on the British Open championship rotation, is vastly different from most of the courses on the Champions Tour.

"It's a golf course where you can't be aggressive because you can't fly the ball at flags like we are used to over in the courses we play in America," said Blake, who had six birdies and two bogeys. "I have had to learn a whole new game, which is fun. It's exciting, but it's tough.

"I just tried to stay out of the death bunkers, as I call them, because it's a certain one-shot penalty getting in them."

Mason, playing in the afternoon after wind had subsided, was the only player to get to 5 under after a run of five birdies in six holes. However, his chances of an outright lead were ruined when his 3-iron approach to the 10th hole ended with his ball plugged in the steep face of a greenside bunker.

"It was so bad, there was no way I could get the ball out at the first attempt," he said after taking a double-bogey 6.

Among the Americans chasing the leaders were U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (69) and former captain Tom Lehman (71).

Of the three former European captains in the field, only Torrance emerged from the first round under par. He's hoping to complete a golfing double for his 78-year-old father.

Bob Torrance was the coach who built Padraig Harrington's swing before his 2007 victory at Carnoustie in the British Open.

With his game in poor shape, Sam went home this week to seek some fatherly advice.

"He's a great coach," Sam Torrance said. "He sees things that nobody else sees. He gave me a great swing thought and it worked. I would love to win here now at Carnoustie, but there is a long way to go."

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Watson looking to bounce back at Carnoustie

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Tom Watson is using the disappointment of missing the cut at St. Andrews as motivation in his preparation for the British Seniors Open.

The veteran failed to play the weekend on his last appearance at the British Open after shooting 73 and 75 in his opening two rounds.

The British Seniors Open begins at Carnoustie on Thursday and the competition will be strong - 13 players in the field have a total of 22 major titles.

The blow to his pride overshadowed many private celebrations last weekend, including being presented with a Doctorate of Law at St. Andrews University along with Arnold Palmer.

"It's just always a disappointment when you are putting your game to the test and you don't make the last 36 holes," he said. "It still eats me. But I was fooled on the golf course with the way the wind blew."

Watson won the Senior British Open in 2005 for the first time when he beat Ireland's Des Smyth in a playoff.

Among his fellow Americans who have made the trip to Scotland's Angus coastline are Tom Lehman, who finished 14th at St. Andrews, and Mark Calcavecchia, who was second behind eventual winner Louis Oosthuizen at the end of the second round on Friday.

The 60-year-old Watson hopes to put on a better show this week.

"I still play for competition. I like to compete and beat people," Watson said. "That's what I like to do. It just so happens that I do it with sticks and balls, and I hope I can do it again this week here in Carnoustie."

United States Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin is also making an appearance, two months ahead of the match against Europe at Celtic Manor, Wales.

With wife Lisa working hard on many of his team's arrangements for the Ryder Cup, Pavin said he could still take time off to concentrate on his golf. Pavin was looking forward to playing Carnoustie again in more benign conditions than when he last visited the course - in 1999 for the British Open.

"All I remember from that is the heavy rough," he said. "I don't think they had any fairways then. If they had, I didn't find them."

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Spieth wins 1st round match at US juniors

ADA, Mich. (AP) — Defending champion Jordan Spieth of Dallas beat Chelso Barrett of Keene, N.H., 7 and 5 in the first round of the U.S. Junior national championship on Wednesday at the Classic Course at Egypt Valley Country Club.

The opening round didn't go as smoothly for 17-year-old medalist Curtis Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla.

Thompson, who finished the championship's two qualifying rounds at 10 under, trailed Scottie Scheffler of Dallas by two holes with eight to play before he rallied for a 3 and 1 victory. Thompson's younger sister, Alexis, won the 2008 U.S. Girls junior championship.

Spieth will play Robby Shelton of Wilmer, Ala., in the second round on Thursday. Thompson will take on Denny McCarthy of Burtonsville, Md.

Gavin Hall, 15, who shot a tournament record 62 Tuesday to finish the qualifying rounds tied with Spieth, one shot behind Thompson, also won his first-round match. Hall, a high-school sophomore from Pittsford, N.Y., beat Brandon Ng of Toronto 3 and 2.

Wilson Bateman, another Canadian from Alberta, was the highest seeded player to lose on Wednesday. Bateman, who like Spieth is 16, entered match play as the No. 4 seed but he was beaten by Aaron Kunitomo of Lahaina, Hawaii, in 20 holes.

Second- and third-round matches are scheduled for Thursday, and the quarterfinals and semifinals are slated for Friday. The 36-hole championship match is scheduled for Saturday.

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Ryder Cup players could be missing from PGA

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — For years, one of the perks of making the Ryder Cup team was an automatic spot in the PGA Championship, as both are run by the PGA of America.

Starting last year, the PGA changed its criteria so that Ryder Cup members of the most recent team must be within the top 100 in the world ranking. And with a change in the Ryder Cup selection process to allow for four captain's picks, that could have ramifications this year for as many as four American players.

Boo Weekley, last seen galloping down the fairway at Valhalla in the Ryder Cup, has plunged to No. 166 in the world with only three top 10s in the last two years. He has not played a major this year.

Justin Leonard is No. 98 in the world, while Ben Curtis is No. 97 and Chad Campbell, who did not qualify for St. Andrews, is No. 93.

"As the process of the Ryder Cup team has changed - the captain now has four picks - there's more of a chance the players picked are not highly ranked," said Kerry Haigh, championship director of the PGA. "So those four players had no trouble getting into the PGA Championship last year."

This year is a different story.

Leonard has yet to finish in the top 10, with his best result a tie for 14th in the U.S. Open. He lost in a playoff the last time the PGA Championship was held at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2004. Curtis, a runner-up in the PGA Championship two years ago, has only one top-10 this year. Campbell started the year with a tie for eighth in the Sony Open, and didn't have another top 10 until Hartford.

The deadline for being inside the top 100 in the world is Aug. 2, after two more PGA Tour events.

Even if those players fall out of the top 100, that doesn't mean they will be shut out of the PGA Championship. The top 70 in PGA points automatically get in, and Leonard is 76th. The points are based on money earned on the PGA Tour since the last PGA Championship.

Plus, the PGA retains the right to invite whoever it wants.

"It depends on how they're playing, but they'll get all due consideration," Haigh said. Asked if a player from the most recent Ryder Cup team would get more consideration for an invitation, he replied, "Absolutely."

SUCCESSFUL 17th: The Royal & Ancient was criticized for adding 40 yards to the famous 17th hole at St. Andrews, although chief executive Peter Dawson said the intent was to bring the road back.

It would be hard to describe the change to the Road Hole as anything but a success.

Among the signature moments from the British Open was Miguel Angel Jimenez going across the road next to the wall, and banging his shot off the wall and back onto the green.

"I think the 17th tee has been a great success in terms of stiffening the test of that hole," Dawson said. "I said at the beginning of the week, we were hoping that the road might come more back into play, and by gosh, it did. We had far more people on the road this year through the back of the hole than I've seen at previous Opens in recent times. To that degree we are very pleased with the hole."

Only 38 percent of the players hit the 17th green in two.

And while the road got plenty of attention, there wasn't too much trouble in the Road Hole bunker at the front of the green. There might be an explanation for that. Dawson said the front of the sodden wall was not as vertical as in previous years.

Dawson said the incline was at 67 degrees, which was about 3 or 4 degrees less severe than previous years.

"We wanted to give the players some kind of change of getting out, rather than no chance," Dawson said.

The 18th hole has to rank among the easiest closing holes in championship golf. Perhaps it's prudent to look at the 17th and 18th as a package finish of par 4s. The 495-yard 17th had an average score 4.665, while the 357-yard 18th had an average score of 3.629. So for a "par 8" of the two holes combined, the average score was 8.294.

EURO POWER: Justin Rose won two strong PGA Tour events in a span of three starts, putting him at No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings. But it's still not enough for him to qualify outright for Europe's Ryder Cup team.

Such is the strength of European golf at the moment.

Four of the top five players on the world points list have won in America this year - Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter. Then there's Paul Casey, who played in the final group at St. Andrews, yet is still not eligible. Neither is three-time major champion Padraig Harrington or Henrik Stenson, who tied for third in the British Open.

"I've got some headaches, but I've got some good headaches," European captain Colin Montgomerie said Sunday. "I can pick two teams here that can beat each other on any given day. That's the strength and that's the depth of European golf, especially this year."

SOUTH AFRICAN PRIDE: Gary Player, one of five men to have completed the career Grand Slam, looked beyond Louis Oosthuizen's victory at St. Andrews to all of South Africa. And his plaudits went a lot farther back then the last couple of years.

Oosthuizen was the sixth South African to win a major, and the fourth in the last 10 years.

"Isn't it incredible?" he said Sunday evening. "And one of the most amazing things is that South Africa, a small country, has won more majors than any country besides the United States post-World War II."

Player didn't just pull that number out of the air.

The South Africans - Player, Oosthuizen, Bobby Locke, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman - have won 20 majors dating to the first of Locke's first British Open titles in 1949.

Next on the list is Australia with 15 (Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, David Graham, Kel Nagle, Jim Ferrier, Wayne Grady, Steve Elkington, Ian Baker-Finch, Geoff Ogilvy), followed by Britain with 14 (Nick Faldo, Tony Jacklin, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Paul Lawrie, Henry Cotton, Max Faulkner).

Player also claims Nick Price of Zimbabwe and his three majors, giving "Southern Africa" a total of 23.

DIVOTS: Louis Oosthuizen became the first player born after 1980 to have won a major. ... Most of the 50-and-over players at St. Andrews headed up the coast to Carnoustie for the Senior British Open. Tom Pernice Jr. got on the charter to Toronto for the Canadian Open. "I'm playing the regular tour the rest of the way," Pernice said. He has an exemption to The Greenbrier Classic, and is hopeful of making enough money the next two weeks to qualify for the PGA Championship. ... The best measure of Phil Mickelson's struggles in the British Open? Only once in 16 tries has he finished closer than nine shots of the winner.

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Spieth, Behr, Womble share lead at US Juniors

ADA, Mich. (AP) — Defending champion Jordan Spieth of Dallas shot a 5-under 67 on Monday to share the first-round lead with Stephen Behr of Florence, S.C., and Davis Womble of High Point, N.C. at the U.S. Junior National Championship.

Wyndham Clark of Greenwood Village, Colo., Curtis Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla., Bobby Wyatt of Mobile, Ala., and Shugo Imahira of Bradenton, Fla., were one stroke back on the Classic Course at Egypt Valley Country Club.

The field of 156 players will be cut to 64 following Tuesday's second round of stroke play. The championship's 18-hole match play segment is scheduled to begin Wednesday with first-round matches. Second- and third-round matches are scheduled for Thursday while the quarterfinals and semifinals are slated for Friday. The 36-hole final match is scheduled for Saturday.

The 16-year-old Spieth, who won last year at Trump National in New Jersey and has committed to the University of Texas, is seeking to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win multiple U.S. Juniors titles. Woods won three straight from 1991-93.

Spieth finished tied for 16th at the PGA's Byron Nelson Championship in May, six strokes behind winner Jason Day.

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Forget the official ranking -- here's the real list of 10 best players in the world

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — I don't know about you, but the 2010 British Open championship at the storied Old Course went just about as I expected:

• Tiger Woods very nearly managed a top-20 finish. (He was tied for 23rd.)

• Phil Mickelson posted at least one nine-hole score in the 40s. (A 41 coming in Sunday really hurt his chances. A 23 was all he needed.)

• Play stopped Friday when the sun was out. Well, it was kinda windy.

• Paul Casey and Lee Westwood came close but didn't win. No, I'm not kidding!

• Tom Watson kissed the Swilcan Bridge at a quarter to 10 Friday night, and he was still playing. Can't wait to see that on a future Royal Bank of Scotland five-pound note.

• The dawn of The Louis Oosthuizen Era. (Sorry, Tiger.)

Yep, exactly as I called it. I saw this one coming — except for all of the above.

It was a topsy-turvy Open in many ways. In the past, the Old Course has identified great champions, some of the best players of their eras: Sam Snead, Peter Thomson, Tony Lema, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, John Daly. (Long John did have a certain kind of genius that didn't involve Jim Beam.) And, of course, Tiger Woods.

Now Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa is on the list. Nothing against Louis — he won by an almost-record margin, has a fantastic swing, and he chipped and putted like a maestro — but it's definitely too early to crown him the best player of his era, or even of this year. So, after three major championships in 2010, who is the best player in the game right now?

The Official World Golf Ranking covers a two-year period. We all know Tiger is still No. 1, and Phil is still No. 2. Westwood, with his second-place finish here, is still No. 3.

But are they really? Tiger is 0-for-2010 and hasn't won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open. Phil won the Masters and then evaporated. Westwood won in Memphis, but only because Robert Garrigus couldn't manage a clinching double bogey on the 72nd hole.

Face it, the world ranking is too slow to react to current events. With two years worth of events in the calculations, it's like trying to swerve the Titanic to avoid that pesky iceberg. Tiger Woods is no more the real-life No. 1 player in the world at this exact moment than Louis Oosthuizen.

Therefore, after the momentous events we have witnessed at the Old Course last week, I have devised a new, more relevant world ranking. I won't bore you with details of the heavy math — which involve a Level 4 calculator and an old copy of The Sporting News Book of Batting Averages — but this is your new top 10:

10. Tiger Woods The sympathy factor at work. He has dominated the top spot for the last 13 years. You can't just boot him to the curb unceremoniously.

9. Rory McIlroy Got his first PGA Tour win in Charlotte. Followed his 63 with an 80 and still finished tied for third in the British Open. The kid's got it.

8. Jim Furyk Wins this year at Innisbrook and Harbour Town, and has two other top 10s. Missed cuts in the Masters and the British — oops.

7. Graeme McDowell Two Open wins — the U.S. and Wales — and a good British Open showing if not for that third-round 76.

6. Justin Rose Wins at Memorial (with an impressive closing 66) and Aronimink, plus a blown chance in Hartford, and a third at Honda. Blooming at last, as the cliche-prone headline writers keep saying.

5. Louis Oosthuizen The son of a South African dairy farmer, Louis crushed the Old Course field like so many bugs. Sixteen under par? Wow. Plus a win in Andalucia. Shrek rules. He's No. 5 with a bullet.

4. Steve Stricker The hottest golfer on the planet for a while, with five wins in the last two years, including back-to-back John Deere titles.

3. Phil Mickelson He had an answer for the Brit questioner who was implying that Europeans were dominating the majors. "April went pretty well," joked the Masters champ. Since then? Fifth at Memorial, a disappointing fourth at the U.S. Open, and a Scottish fade.

2. Ernie Els Back-to-back wins at Doral and Bay Hill (a million years ago in March), and a pair of recent third-place finishes at the Valero Texas Open and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Missed the cut at Old Course, though. Ouch.

1. Intentionally left blank Will be awarded again when somebody, anybody, earns it.

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Swingin' St. Andrews: The town comes alive during the British Open

"I've never been in a cemetery at night," Brian Gay said, his eyes as big as full moons. "This is some freaky s---."

Gay had just hopped an old stone wall and was now traipsing through the St. Andrews graveyard with his wife, Kimberly, plus a giddy crew of friends and friends of friends. The weathered headstones were scattered among the old bones of the Cathedral of St. Andrew, which was built in the 12th century and looted during the Reformation in 1560. The stone walls were left to decay in the elements, leaving behind spooky ruins. Gay — the down-home Southern boy who won twice on the PGA Tour last year — had other reasons to be suffering the heebie-jeebies. The dank, foggy air was right out of a slasher flick, and the night sky was alive with the nerve-jangling screams of seagulls. A lone bell rang out in the gloaming. It was one o'clock in the morning on Sunday, 6 1/2 hours before the final round of the 139th Open Championship would commence.

This sojourn had been fueled by alcohol — Gay was toting a pint of ale in a glass — and a shared desire to experience all that St. Andrews has to offer, including the chance to commune with the ghosts of golf's past. First stop was the grave of Allan Robertson, who was considered the first great professional golfer before his passing in 1859. Gay mused on the cause of death: "He stabbed himself after missing a cut."

The gallows humor was self-referential. Gay had the weekend off after shooting 72–83 in his first Open at the Old Course. Navigating by the dim illumination of cellphones and a tiny flashlight, the interlopers eventually arrived at the final resting place of the Morris family. Old Tom's grave was satisfyingly no-frills, while Young Tom was memorialized in a life-sized bust. A volunteer was needed to read the inscription celebrating Young Tom, and luckily, Jim Nantz was on hand, as the voice of golf for CBS was enjoying a busman's holiday working an hour a day for the BBC telecast. The crowd hushed, and Nantz's magisterial baritone suddenly brought Young Tom to life:

Deeply regretted by numerous friends and all golfers

He thrice in succession won the champion's belt

And held it without rivalry and yet without envy

His many amiable qualities

Being no less acknowledged

Than his golfing achievements.

Gay spat some chaw onto the ancient earth and mused, "How cool is that?"

The Open Championship at the Old Course is much more than just a golf tournament. It is equal parts history lesson, board meeting, holy pilgrimage and frat party. The game's oldest event visits the home of golf only once every five years, and nobody wants to miss this gathering of the tribes. The special feeling of the week derives from the majesty of the course and the intimacy of the town that surrounds it. The players stay at the Old Course Hotel, on the 17th fairway, or in rented houses nearby, so rather than being hermetically sealed in courtesy cars and remote resorts, they are out and about on foot every morning and evening, mingling with the masses.

Before visiting the graveyard, the Gays had spent three hours hanging at the Dunvegan, the celebrated pub around the corner from the Old Course that is the unofficial headquarters for caddies, reporters, fans and the occasional wayward player. Seeing Gay in jeans and sneakers was just one of an endless number of glimpses of off-duty players. Angel Cabrera was a regular at Morrisons supermarket, pushing around a shopping cart piled high with Scottish beef, while Phil Mickelson made a pit stop almost every morning at the Starbucks on Market Street. Rickie Fowler was seen window-shopping at a few of the many golf stores that dot the town. On Monday night of Open week Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle chatted with 2004 Open champ Scott Hamilton, who was eating his dinner on the sidewalk — a basket of fish and chips precariously balanced atop a trash receptacle. The next night at the Dunvegan, Hamilton bought a round of drinks for a group of scribes. On Saturday evening, while the Gays were chatting on the clogged sidewalk — it was five deep in some spots — 1996 Open champ Tom Lehman was holding court in the Dunvegan dining room along with Loren Roberts and the two men's families. Why do the players feel so comfortable mingling with the townsfolk? Says Fowler, 21, who finished 14th in his first Open, "They don't want an ­autograph or to take a picture, which I don't mind, they simply want to talk golf or about the golf course. There's a level of respect here for what we do, but it's not about celebrity, it's about golf. You feel kind of honored to get to play here for these fans."

Erick Rasco/SI

Golf may be Scotland's national game, but drinking is a favorite pastime. Bollinger, the champagne label, pitched a tent adjacent to the 16th fairway, and during the second round alone sold more than 1,200 bottles, including dozens of jeroboams (a double magnum) that each went for 250 quid ($380). One pub in the heart of town, the Rule, offered a fixed price lunch that included a pint and a free lesson on a simulator in the backyard beer garden. Once the sun went down, the simulator was where sodden, rowdy lads gathered to be humiliated in closest-to-the-pin contests versus Sophie Horn (right), who writes a column for the sassy U.K. magazine GolfPunk under the pen name Golf Nurse. Horn is a 10 and a 4 — the former on the Bo Derek scale of hotness, the latter her handicap.

Thomas Bjorn's caddie, Dominic Bott, was so besotted with Horn that he practically rubbed the sequins off her gold mini-dress while trying to dance with her to a Queen tune, but Horn is a no-nonsense young woman who spent Open week trying to further her career in the golf industry. "For me this is a wonderful opportunity to network," she said. After chatting up members of Justin Rose's entourage, Horn snagged an invitation to play in a fund-raising pro-am that Rose hosts.

Plenty of other business was conducted during the Open, including powwows by the International Federation of PGA Tours, the World Ranking board of directors and the executive committee of the International Golf Federation. These ponderous meetings convened at the Old Course Hotel, while more discreet power lunches were conducted within golf's ultimate inner sanctum, the very private clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

The R&A building is part of St. Andrews's timeless iconography, and even the competitors get swept up in the magic of the place. "As somebody who loves the game of golf," says Mickelson, "you can't help but feel emotion and this sense of spirituality come over you as you play this course, knowing that this is where the game began."

Mickelson's palpable passion for St. Andrews registered at the Ladbrokes betting parlor a few blocks from the Old Course. One of the most popular early-week bets was picking Phil to win, at 16 to 1. Having a punt is one of the Open's most cherished traditions, and this lone Ladbrokes outpost took about 14,000 bets from Wednesday to Sunday, including one from a bloke who put down £10,000 on Friday for Tiger Woods to win at 5 to 1 — ouch! — and another 10,000 quid for Woods to beat his Saturday playing partner, Darren Clarke, at 1 to 2. (That at least covered some of the losses.) The bylaws of the various tours forbid players from betting, but that doesn't stop them from having a little fun. "They have their caddies go place the bets at our other shop about five minutes down the road, where there are fewer tourists," says Paul Whitters, a Ladbrokes spokesman.

The shared enthusiasm among the ­bettors — "I'm rooting for McIlroy too because I have five pounds on him" — is one of St. Andrews's many communal experiences. The Links road runs alongside the 18th fairway, and last week the R&A made the magnanimous decision to allow fans to congregate there without having to buy a ticket. On Sunday thousands of people gathered to share a final glimpse of the tournament. One floor above them, on the balcony of the Rusacks Hotel, a posher crowd paid £195 ($297) apiece for a more rarefied view, but all the fun was at street level. The smack of the drives from the 18th tee was audible above the din, and then for a couple of pregnant seconds everyone would wait for the ball to materialize, cheering lustily when a player drove the green and booing any ball that detoured into the Valley of Sin. Finally, Louis Oosthuizen made the champion's triumphant walk down the Old Course's final fairway, just as Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Peter Thomson, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods have before him. On the Links a couple of St. Andrews University students clinked glasses and shouted, "To Louie!"

Then a couple of people standing nearby spoke for the rest of us: "And cheers to St. Andrews!" Merrily, the crowd began filing toward the town center, and to the pubs. Golf's greatest tournament was over, but the party was just beginning.

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Putting dooms Tiger at St. Andrews

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods began his week fielding questions about the consequences of cheating on his wife of five years. He ended the week answering questions about the consequences of cheating on his putter of 11 years.

In another desperate attempt to find a quick fix for the putting stroke that has brought him 14 major titles — including two on the Old Course — Woods ditched the Nike putter he used for the first three rounds of the 139th Open Championship and replaced it with his one-time old faithful, the Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2 that has had a home in his bag since 1999 — well, up until this week. Confused? So was Woods. "I just didn't feel comfortable with my speed, so I went back to my old putter," he said after an untidy final-round 72 that left him at 3-under-par for the championship and in a tie for 23rd.

So the Newport is back for good? "I don't know," Woods said.

Throughout his career Woods has frequently struggled with his driver, but rarely has he battled so mightily with his flatstick. "I feel satisfaction in the sense that I drove the ball well all week and hit my irons pretty good, but other than the first day I did not putt well at all," Woods said. "You just can't expect to win golf tournaments if you have nine or 10 three-putts for a week. No one can win doing that."

It's also difficult to win when you enter the final round of a tournament a dozen strokes off the lead, which is where Woods stood when he went off the first tee with Lucas Glover at 12:20 p.m. Woods actually started well, birdieing the first and third holes, both par 4s, which suggested that perhaps Tiger's decision to retrieve his Titleist putter from the naughty corner had paid off. But then came a lip-out that led to a double-bogey at the par-4 fourth and another double at the par-4 seventh that featured yet another three-putt (not to mention a tee shot that forced Woods to pitch out backward from a fairway bunker). "If I got something going," Woods said. "I would somehow find a way to stop the momentum."

Woods has work to do to avoid getting blanked in the majors for the second consecutive season (his last major win was the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines). His next and final opportunity is in four weeks at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, a wild and windy links on the shore of Lake Michigan where Woods finished T24 when the PGA last visited there in 2004. He said he's not concerned about the state of his game, that it's just a matter of time before everything clicks. "Last year, early in the year, I was struggling pretty good," Woods said. "But I put it back together again. All it is is practice and getting the reps in, and I'm going to go do that."

Of course last year — until Nov. 27, that is — his life was not as complicated as it today, at least not in the sense that he now has the National Enquirer tracking his every move, FBI investigators interrogating him, and a sticky divorce reportedly in the works. Questions about his gimpy left knee also linger, all of which has the sports media — with every passing major that Woods doesn't win — questioning whether he will indeed break Jack Nicklaus's vaunted record of 18 major titles.

After meeting the press this afternoon, Woods made his way to the rear of the R&A clubhouse, where courtesy cars drop off and pick up the players. Responding to screams of "Tiger! Tiger!" the golfer walked over to a hoard of autograph-seekers penned in behind a guardrail and signed a few hats and programs before retreating to a cluster of his confidants: his agent Mark Steinberg, his publicist Glenn Greenspan and his caddie Steve Williams. As Woods pecked away on his PDA, the crowds parted to make way for a black Lexus SUV. Williams loaded his boss's clubs into the trunk — presumably the Nike putter was still in the bag — then clambered into the back seat next to Woods. Tiger's fans, still hopeful for a signature, an apple core, anything, were still yelling Tiger's name as he rolled away behind tinted windows.

Peter Muir, a computer programmer from Dundee, Scotland, was one of the lucky few to get a scribble from Woods. "Right here," he said, pointing to the brim of a white 2010 Open golf cap. Muir, who plans to give the hat to his son, said that he was at St. Andrews in 2000 when Woods won his first Open. "He might not be as good as he was then," Muir mused, "but he still draws a crowd."

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