Louis Oosthuizen did not look as assured on day three of the Open Championship but still finished the day with a one shot lead. Oosthuizen who started the day with a two shot advantage was joined in the lead late on by both Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa but a birdie at the 17th saw him grab a slender heading into Sunday.
How Louis Oosthuizen hasn't won more majors is beyond us. The man from South Africa who has a swing to die for made his way effortlessly around a tough Royal St George's on Thursday to lead the 149th Open Championship.
England's Lee Westwood rolled back the years to take the halfway lead at TPC Sawgrass following a flawless six-under round of 66. It will be the third time Westwood has led the field going into the weekend at The Players Championship, the prior occasions being when he was a much younger man.
We have had a great response to our survey of club members, but the results so far do not paint many golf clubs in a great light. Over half of the respondents told us that their club had not offered any form of reduction or deferral during the COVID-19 crisis.
As previously reported, the Golf Hall of Fame recently amended the qualification criteria moving the minimum age for both male and females to 45 from 50. So, it was hardly a ‘dropped my bacon sandwich’ moment when we learned that Tiger was on the list of finalists.
Ok as nobody else seems to be doing it, I am going to come out and defend the seemingly indefensible, or at the very worst add a bit of perspective. Hank Hainey made a pretty unwise statement and was clearly mistaken in taking what might be described as ‘locker room humour’ to the airways. But, was he being ‘racist, xenophobic, and sexist’ as stated by the PGA Tour’s lawyers?
Eddie Pepperell must have mixed memories of Portugal Masters after missing the cut and losing his card in 2016. However, this year he appears to have found an innovative way to motivate himself, wagering Martin Kaymer about appearing on the Television Show First Dates.
One of golf´s great masterpieces, severe, fascinating, beautiful and without weakness...... Continuing the theme of everything Ireland, GolfPunk looks back to one of its favourite courses south of the border, Waterville Golf Club - You Little Beauty!
The fairy tale has slowly unwound. Local boy, Darren Clarke, who led the field off on Thursday in the 148th Open Championship, took seven at the last to miss the cut. Rory McIlroy, who famously shot 61 around Royal Portrush at the age of 16, shot 65, equalling best score of the day, but agonisingly missed the cut by one. And our man, Gmac, held firm just making it through on the cut line, nine back from the leader.
I just placed a bet on the US Open. I got odds of just shy of 6/1 on one Mr Brooks Koepka. My heart is with Justin Rose and, if his amazing short game continues, he may well win but my head says that Koepka will come through to make history.
Justin Rose shot a third round 68 to close the gap on leader Gary Woodland to just one shot, with the field a further three shots back. Looming ominously in the pair’s rear-view mirror is one Brooks Koepka who shot a bogey free round of 68 to continue his slow, but continuous, move up the leaderboard.
The Open is coming back to Northern Ireland after a break of 68 years. When Max Faulkner, one of the most flamboyant golfers of his generation, won the Open Championship in 1951 at Royal Portrush it would be 18 years until a Brit, Tony Jacklin in 1969, was to do so again.
