The Open Is Here! First Day Preview & Comment Thread

The Open at Muirfield has arrived and early Thursday is surprisingly breezy out of the west, meaning the first hole is directly into the wind. Combine that with the firmness, the narrowness, the severity of the rough, and it will be long tough day. And as I note in Golf World Daily, the driver will be seldom used all week.

That said, Miguel Angel Jimenez is 4-under through 5!

Your starting times here.

Scoring here.

For Americans, the ESPN broadcast schedule is here.

As for my viewing, I'll likely take in an oddball group for some fun, the McIlroy-Mickelson-Matsuyama 9:44 grouping and then it'll be time for afternoon tea. Cheers!

Comments

[M]

omg, does ESPN really think we want to see all this garbage? SHOW GOLF.

[Peter Norrie]

Peter Alliss and the BBC - it doesn't get any better!

[Bodenheimer's Boil]

Amern, my brother. It's five o'clock in the morning on the East Coast and the middle of the night on the West Coast. ONLY dedicated golf fans are watching this. Staggering ineptitude from ESPN thus far. At this point, just go ahead and fly in Berman and torpedo the entire experience. Good Lord.

[Bodenheimer's Boil]

I can't believe I got up early for this. Unwatchable. Shot, shot, talk, commercial. Repeat.

[Scot]

Yip, gotta love the BBC Open coverage, 11 hours of continuous golf!! To the Americans, go in search of a UK VPN and watch the BBC!!!

[T.Mayes]

Does anyone have the link to BBC coverage, please? Trapped at work and rather not watch if espn is only option.

[Jim S]

For Americans, there are online sources for watching--try theopen.com or googling other options.

Rory's looking like he should have spent a little more time prepping...

[Garth Pancake]

It would seem that Rory's back yard practice area has been of great help to his competitors.....

[Media maven]

ESPN seems to have taken the commercial load to a new level....does the R&A care about this at all? Has anyone counted?? Must be setting new records.

[The Pro from Dover]

Rory +5 thru 12 -- appears Sir Nick's advice might be accurate. Tennis anyone?

[F. X. Flinn]

Thanks for the tip about DirecTV. It's not the BBC announcers though -- it's Curtis Strange and Frank Noblio and ? -- but it certainly has very few commercial breaks and plenty of golf.

[GolfFan]

Most of the early groups used driver on Hole #1

[RickABQ]

Well, at this point in time (~6 am on the West coast of the US) it looks like young Rory is getting the last laugh on Sir Nick in their spat - Rory is kicking Nick's a$$ +6 to +8! Take that, you geezer! (/sarcasm)

[Chris from DE]

Fred Couples just dressed someone down on the 18th hole but unfortunately I didn't catch it all because Peter Allis was talking over him. It did include "I know where my ball is. This isn't my first time on a golf course." You don't normally see that from Freddy.

[Joe Bausch]

Who was Freddie talking to after his bunker shot on the 18th?

[highside]

Dear ESPN,

I cannot simultaneously watch golf and listen to Paul Azinger speak. Please stuff two of those thick woolen socks the bagpipers wear in his enormous mouth.

Regards,

highside

[Spiegs]

Has ESPN shown a shot since 6AM West Coast time?

[Chris from DE]

No more featurettes or SVP. Please.

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

I saw the Freddie thing, only one mention on Twitter asking if he was barking at a cameraman. Even the coolest guy can get irritated when things are not going well on the golf course.

Was surprised that I couldn't find any opinions on the ESPN coverage here this morning:)

[Spiegs]

But at least we have a timer counting down the seconds until Tiger's start time!

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

Early call on Freddie, there is speculation on Twitter now that he was barking at Watson, a volunteer, etc.....we were not the only ones to see it. It would be a story if he was chewing on Watson.

[Tim]

The International feed is also on ESPN's site

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/_/id/995835/

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

I love watching Tiger walking between shots, clearly nothing happening on the golf course could be more interesting than Tiger walking between shots.

[Tighthead]

How the heck does the Couples thing happen on TV and nobody mention it?

Up at 3:50 this morning on the west coast. Really doesn't help the rest of the day.

Rick - maybe Faldo will drop on shinebox reference on Rory in the locker room.

[M]

Wow, figjam dissin the R&A on the setup.. nice job Phil!

[mehstg]

McIroy's presser...he states he's making 'mental errors'. You mean picking the wrong club off of the tee, not putting like you mean it, not thinking about the shot. Grinning your way around the course with your clown looper, who only appears to be there to give a yardage and take the weight of the bag. That's great on a wet course, I guess, but on one that requires guile and subtlety.

Ya know, there was an Irish footballer called George Best...

[RickABQ]

@Tighthead -

Not sure they are Goodfellas fans (!), but a 79 from both the world's #2 ranked player and the world's #5 or so ranked announcer isn't good for Rory. Whoever was announcing on the ESPN3 hole 1/18 coverage made the comment "I hope Rory hasn't thrown away his old clubs". That's gotta hurt... Nike.

[Ivan Morris]

That George Best reference could yet turn out to be 'on the money' but George wasn't a has been until he was 27 or 28.

[RickABQ]

Amazing how many announcers/former golf professionals don't realize what the penalty is for hitting yourself with your own ball and that it has changed from 2 strokes to 1. But, it has only been since 2008 so I guess they didn't get the memo. Or their Rules book from the USGA.

[Cheeks]

How does Rory's first season with Nike gear compare to some others that made the switch? Anthony Kim, Paul Casey, David Duval...were they this different after spending time in the Oven?

[Marky Mark]

Rory is about to set NIKE equipment back a decade.

Err, I mean ANOTHER decade.

[Clive Holden]

Does Nike listen to players' feedback, especially with respect to their drivers?

What players wanted a massive cavity gouged out of the back of the soul? I don't say this lightly, but it looks stupid. Kind of like when Ping went off the reservation in the early 1990's with the original Ping Zings. Ugg.

[PGT]

I don't get ESPN3. Is there ANY other streaming option available to the public? Is there a generic login to ESPN3?

[Richie Rich]

I believe that Couples was speaking with one of the volunteers (rake guy, sign guy, etc) walking with his group, probably a hapless soul trying to be helpful in letting him know where his ball ended up after ricocheting off the top of the fairway bunker.

And is it just me or was Tiger's unplayable drop on the 1st hole not quite directly in a line back from the flag??

[Ghillie]

I hope DTF is reading this thread and noticing the complaints about ESPN, all from Americans as far as I can see. I cannot reach their international feed -- it is only availablein the US. I'm watching on TSN.ca, which is tolerable but is similarly only for Canadian service. Oh, for the BBC...too much Tom Weiskopf on this thing.

[vwgolfer]

Or why the heck does Nike make a RED driver? And its not even Tiger Sunday Red. Plus that driver sounds like crap.

[mehstg]

Whatever ESPN throw at you, it'll never be as bad as the BBC. Either talentless, snide or befuddled. Take your pick.

[Hilltop]

Normally I am all over the BBC and loving their coverage. This morning I turned on the International coverage at 8:15 eastern to see a putt and then a camera shot of someone's golf shoes, a putt and then a water fountain, a putt and then a camera shot of the clubhouse....Ugh, had to change it to ESPN to see some actual golf shots. That's pretty sad.

[johnnnycz]

How about Darren Clarke and Calc's decent 1st rounds. GO Double F's GO!!!

Yup...Rory is lost. He even said as much. Ditch that cheap and tinny sounding "shot glass" masquerading as a driver...ASAP.

Shiv Kapur...keeping all of India up all night???

[Scot]

Well you guys can complain about the BBC coverage but at least we get to see more than 5 - 10 guys playing golf... 11 hours off commercial free sport, its every mans dream!! I got my 6am round in and have sat by the TV since 9