Another major, another championship full of surprising storylines. This is no different, so here's the countdown of the Top 10 surprises:
10. Lucas Glover. All year in 2011 up to the British Open week he played poorly with the exception of Quail Hollow, and now he gets out there and ties for the lead at the British Open after 36 holes. He would fall back on the weekend though, but still finishes a respectable T12.
9. Martin Kaymer. The surprising part was not the fact that he contended, but rather, the fact that he fell back after being 1 back thru 36 holes, despite being a potential big-time player. Shot back-to-back 73s over the weekend to finish T12.
8. Rory McIlroy. The surprising part was the fact that he acted like a sore loser after the week despite showing so much class after the Masters loss. He said that he didn't like tournaments with weather that much of a factor, when in reality, it was mostly sour grapes for him who was clearly unpreprared due to not playing any tournaments since the US Open.
7. Anthony Kim. Another one of these guys who hasn't done much all year, and gets in the field with no expectations and ends up with a tie for fifth. A guy whom everybody thought he was going to be a superstar to challenge Tiger Woods, but apparently his poor work ethics have held him back. This week he showed exactly how much talent he has but he couldn't keep it consistent week in and week out without good work ethics.
6. Tom Lewis. Another showing that the young guys just get younger and younger. A 20-year-old tying for the lead after 18 holes at the British Open? Just more and more young guys are playing well at an early age. Still finished the tournament with a very respectable T30.
5. Thomas Bjorn. Not a lot of people have been talking about Bjorn, the guy that squandered the 2003 British Open at the same venue, whose game wasn't in good form coming into the tournament. But he goes out and shoots 65 and ties for the lead after one round, and would finish with a tie for fourth at the end. An interesting note about Bjorn is that after the first round, the British media asked Bjorn how his (passed away) father would have felt if he saw Bjorn in the lead, and Bjorn broke down in tears. Just another indication about how harsh the British media could be.
4. Chad Campbell. He is probably THE biggest underdog story of the week. I can almost guarantee that NOBODY, absolutely NOBODY, talked about Campbell being a potential contender or winner. At least some people still talked about Anthony Kim having no expectations and having a potential to do well. Or Lucas Glover who played well early in last year's Open, or Thomas Bjorn who had a good track record. But NOBODY talked about Chad Campbell. And he goes out there are notches a Top 5 finish.
3. The guys who missed the cut. The fact that Donald, Westwood, Kuchar, and Watney, which were guys who were heavily hyped coming into the tournament, and the arguably most consistent guys on Tour, MISSED THE CUT. That was something VERY hard to believe, because throughout the season they have been almost regularly cashing in on Top 20 finishes, and now they ALL MISS THE CUT??? Especially Donald and Westwood who were #1 and #2 in the world coming into the tournament. Besides, Donald won the Scottish Open the week prior to this week and Kuchar had another high finish at the Scottish Open.
2. Phil Mickelson's week. There were MANY aspects of Phil's week that were surprising. First of all, nobody took him seriously and expected him to be a contender because of his poor track record, only 1 Top 10 in first 17 starts. Yet he was lurking after each round thru 54 holes. And that was WITHOUT his best golf. He missed numerous short putts the first three days and still was only 5 back coming into the final round. Secondly, then in the final round, through the first 7 holes, he made EVERYTHING. Made some long birdie putts and an eagle bomb at the 7th. And lastly, the last surprise was the fact that he had a total meltdown after his great front nine charge. On 11, he three-putted from 35 feet after lipping out a 2-footer. After a perfect drive on 13 he yanks his approach way right and makes bogey. He misses a 6 footer on 14 for birdie. He drives it into a fairway bunker on 15 and makes bogey. And then he three-putts again on 16 when he desperately needed a birdie and was overly aggressive with his 30-footer and rammed it 6 feet past.
1. Darren Clarke's week. Him winning wasn't really a HUGE surprise, but the huge surprise was the WAY he won. He was tied for the lead thru 36 holes. Then on Saturday, he had a VERY nice ball striking day, but he couldn't make any putt. He missed numerous 5 footers which could have got him shooting a 65 instead of a 69. Then on Sunday, he did NOT have as good a ball striking as he did Saturday, and a lot of people expected him to falter judging by his mediocre putting on Saturday, but he did not falter. He putted much better than he did Saturday and made clutch putt after clutch putt to keep his momentum going and he never faltered. He aslo caught many great breaks which he took advantage of, such as his approach on 9 carrying the fairway bunkers by a yard.
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