The British Open may be done and dusted for another year but this year as always there were some memorable moments that were not necessarily seen or heard by those watching on television.
The Bogey – Graham DeLaet waited 54 hours for his clubs and had almost given up all hope of them arriving when Aer Lingus delivered them on Tuesday afternoon.
“54hours later …my babies have arrived! Time to get to work!” the 33 year old tweeted. Then he opened the travel cover and found the clubs and bag had been thickly coated from a burst protein powder container. “You can’t make this stuff up.” He tweeted with a follow up photo. DeLaet finished tied in 68th.
The Par – Or Grand Par – Sir Nick Faldo aged 57 played what was his last competitive tour match on the Old Course, even though he is eligible to play other tournaments until he is 60.
He has always claimed his victory at St Andrews in 1990 was the highlight of his career.
Now part of the television commentary team he was quoted as saying “Fall out of the TV tower and try to be a golfer for as many days as possible, that’s my goal.” Before adding that “even the rust was rusty” in relation to how prepared he was.
Faldo had eight bogeys and a triple bogey on his scorecard on day one. “I blame it on the conditions,” he said with a laugh. “Luckily, I’ve got a bottle of Glenmorangie at home, so I’ll be right for tomorrow, I’ll be fueled.”
The Birdie – Henrik Stenson is renowned for his humour on the tour and at one of the press conferences was asked if he minded answering a question is Swedish. He agreed to do so. As soon as he had give his answer he was asked if he minded answering a question in Scottish. “Aye” was his response. Stenson tied in 40th position.
The Eagle – Another man playing his final British Open was 65 year old Tom Watson. He received generous applause wherever he went but was a little upset by one group of fans sporting masks of his face.
“Those are ugly masks,” Watson said. “I told them there’s way too many wrinkles in those masks. It kind of scared me looking at those, like: ‘Jeez, look at those things. That guy is ugly.” Sadly so too was his golf as he missed the cut at 12 over par.
The Albatross – Well meat of some kind. Beef jerky isn’t usually what you expect to see on a golf course however Billy Horschel’s caddie made sure he was stocked up with a big bag of Kingmade Jerky, which believe it or not is made by another caddie – Jeff King.
Apparently this particular beef jerky is very popular with the Tour players! Billy Horschel tied in 30th position.
