Open Championship 2013 blog: out on the course

Jeremy Ellwood ventures out for his most prolonged spell of live golf action so far, and catches up with three Major champions and one would-be one...

Sergio

After shooting a Friday round-up video on the beach first thing at North Berwick this morning, I headed up to the course determined to follow one of the more intriguing mid-morning pairings - Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington - partly to see how frosty their relationship was these days. I believe things are supposed to be okay between them now, but there was certainly little in the way of chat for the three or four holes I was with them. I then hung back for a while to take in the double Major champ pairing behind them - YE Yang, decked out in the most fluorescent slacks I've ever seen, and Sandy Lyle.

I found a great spot behind the 7th green and watched Yang's weak tee-shot drift right into a cavernous bunker while Sandy struck a decent blow to about 25ft. Yang's head disappeared completely as he ventured in to play his shot, and he was the only one who didn't then see his ball pop gently out before landing and rolling right into the heart of the cup... though the loudest roar I've heard so far this week probably gave the outcome away! The beaming South Korean emerged from the bunker encouraging the crowd to prolong the applause, before Sandy, using the largest putter in world golf, just about managed to two-putt.

En route back to the media centre I passed Jamie Donaldson in the practice bunker, deliberately practising impossible shots with one leg in and one leg out, with very mixed results. He then reverted to a standard lie from where he promptly knifed the second one 40 yards through the green. Fingers crossed if he goes in any bunkers he'll find some impossible lies!

I stumbled across Harrington and Garcia again as I crossed the 9th with Sergio outscoring his Major nemesis by about 5 shots at that point, before taking in a spot of lunch and a meeting with a former Ryder Cup player and captain in the café. Now, I'm settling down to watch the main attraction, torn between wanting Lee to finally deliver and Miguel to keep the fairytale alive for at least another day...

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response