Not long ago, I wrote a short piece about how it seemed that, finally, the fuss around Michelle Wie had died down. After two dreadful performances on the LPGA Tour – dead last at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, then another withdrawal at the U.S. Women’s Open – and that controversial pull-out from the Ginn Tribute, it seemed – thankfully – that Wie decided to go into hiding and re-evaluate her game, her priorities and her future. The entire golfing world – the media, the players, the LPGA – would benefit from a “time-out.” Personally, I believed – and still do – that ...

Going into the British Open this year, I would have said that Sergio Garcia would never win a major golf tournament in his career. He was just that overrated. It was as irrefutable a fact to me as gravity. Now I say this: He will win a major. Why the change in heart, especially following yet another monumental Garcia choke? It was something, easy to overlook, that Nick Faldo said on the eve of the tournament. Asked why Europeans are able to perform so magnificently during Ryder Cups, but not during major golf championships, Faldo said it had to do with putting ...

He’s got a lot of golfers breathing down his neck, but Sergio Garcia is holding strong, firing an even-par second round of 71 today to remain at 6-under for the tournament. The clubhouse leader is facing some charges from Boo Weekly and Jim Furyk. Paul McGinley of Ireland, at 4-under, has just teed off. Tiger Woods is not off to a rocky start. He’s at 1-under following a double-bogey on his opening hole, and a birdie on No. 2. Garcia was solid today: Two bogeys, two birdies. No real scares (but also, no real success at distancing himself from the field). The cut right ...

BONN, Germany - Here I am, in this pretty, former Cold War capital, not too far from the edge of Europe, and probably a two hour flight from Carnoustie. Can I get any coverage on television? Nope. It’s almost like a badge of honor that Germans will tell you they give not a crap about the British Open. On Germany’s two main sports channels, it’s all afternoon coverage of the Tour de France. During the “shoulder” periods during the day - i.e. morning and night - it’s soccer. This morning I futility tried to find some British Open coverage, ...

So it looks like amateur Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland will be around on the weekend. He’s slipped well off the lead and is at 2-over after a second round 76. But the cut right now is projected at 5-over, so he’s safe. But man, it’d be fun if he was still up there, nibbling at the lead. I mean, come on: Rory McIlroy Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy? They’re from different worlds, but both had a go at a major championship. As Tin Cup once said - and McIlroy will no doubt realize this some day - “Greatness courts failure.”

Almost as ridiculous as the site of Boo Weekly wearing camouflage under his golf shirt is TravelGolf.com blogger T.R. Massey’s comments about British Open weather. Why would they host a major tournament in such an inhospitable (read: cold) climate? Your first reaction would be to say: Well about 150-years of tradition probably has something to do with it. Massey anticipates this and says that just because golf was invented here doesn’t mean it’s the best place to play the tournament. Uh, it’s the British Open. The weather all around Britain - be it Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, southwestern England - is ...

Sergio Garcia Thursday opened the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie with a round of 65 to lead the tournament at 6-under par. Garcia, equipped with a new belly-putter meant, he said, to bring more consistency to his putting, had seven birdies on the day and one bogey. Five of his birdies came on the back nine. A wet and windy day kept the course soft, and players scored reasonably well - especially the Europeans in the field. Irishman Paul McGinley shot a 4-under 67 to claim sole share of second place in the clubhouse. There is a logjam at 3-under par, including Austrian Markus ...

I suppose that if a European is going to win the British Open at Carnoustie, it would be fitting if it was Sergio Garcia - who leads the tournament through the first round at 6-under-par. No player has borne the weight of a golf continent’s collective expectation more than Garcia in the last 10 years, and no player has missed as many opportunities to meet those expectations. Ever since he burst on the scene and gave Tiger Woods a scare at the 1999 PGA Championship, Garcia has been labeled the future of European golf (not to mention the heir-apparent ...

Well, my initial instinct was right: John Daly couldn’t really be leading the British Open. I mean, come on! Thus, I kept refreshing my computer, wondering when the jig would be up. And there he is, at 2-over-par through 17, having given seven strokes back to the field in five holes. That’s a run that would make Michelle Wie proud. I’m guessing he ran out of cigarettes after holing out on the par-4 11th for eagle, which gave him the tournament lead at 5-under-par. Dump Truck followed that up with: *A double bogey 6 on No. 12 *A par 3 on No. 13 *A ...

I had to refresh my computer several times, just to see if it was really true: John Daly is at the top of the leaderboard midway through the first round of the British Open, at 5-under-par. Mr. Trailer Park himself. The man more comfortable with a cold one in his hand than a golf club. Not today, it seems. He’s lighting the course up through 11 holes: Birdies on Nos. 5,6 and 10 and he has just holed out on the par-4 11th for an eagle 2. Daly has done well to become one of golf’s laughingstocks - so well, in ...

It’s early during Round 1 at the British Open at Carnoustie, but already golfers are scoring. K.J. Choi has the early lead at 4-under-par through 13 holes, one stroke ahead of a surging Tiger Woods. Choi, who won the inaugural AT&T National a few weeks ago, got off to a hot start with birdies on four of his first six holes before dropping a stroke with a bogey at the par-4 seventh. Woods has shot up the leaderboard and is at 3-under par, along with Irishman Paul McGinley. Woods is through six holes so far. He started his round par-par before a birdie on ...

TravelGolf.com’s Chris Baldwin recently said he was awaiting - though I’m sure not anxiously, or even actively - my pick for the British Open that kicks off tomorrow at Carnoustie. He’s made it clear that he thinks a European does not have a chance at the title. And while I do follow European golf to the point that I feel bad whenever I don’t pick a European to win, I’m hard pressed to argue against him. I wish I could float out all kinds of unusual yet - upon closer inspection - solid and interesting picks to hoist the ...

The PR flacks - em, writers - over at Europeantour.com give Nick Faldo a big, wet happy-brithday kiss, as the best golfer Europe has ever produced turns 50. I suppose it is a milestone (beyond the obvious reasons why), since the logical follow-up will now be to wonder whether Good St. Nick will join, if not to say dominate, the dreadful Champions Tour. His teeing it up Thursday at Carnoustie suggests that he might not be ready to go to that graveyard of golfing glory just yet. Even by the standards of PR writing, the European Tour’s love letter to Faldo teeters ...

I just wrote a short piece on the retirement of Seve Ballesteros, who’s hanging it up after trying to stage a comeback earlier this year (a rather unfortunate decision, in hindsight). Seems like the passionate Spaniard just doesn’t have it in him anymore, and he will only tee ‘em up with his kids from now on. What this means for European golf isn’t that much since, as I write, Ballesteros belonged to an era that has long since ended: A time, long ago, when European golfers actually contended in - and, gasp, won - major golf tournaments. Think of that ...

Monty’s back. Colin Montgomerie finally was able to put something together at a European PGA Tour event, winning the European Open this weekend at Ireland’s K-Club. He finished with a Sunday round of 65, 11-under for the tournament. It’s not been lost on the media that Monty’s having a tough year. Actually, it’s been a 19th month drought since the last time he hoisted a trophy (which made my pick for him to win the U.S. Open last month all the more bold - and, as it turned out, stupid). I felt Monty was due going into the Open, and realize now that ...

In what must have been an easy call, the European PGA Tour just named Angel Cabrera the tour’s Golfer of the Month for June, following his win at the U.S. Open at Oakmont. “I am very happy with all this recognition which gives me strength to keep playing at the highest level,” said Cabrera. “This win was very important, especially as it had been 40 years since another Argentine won a Major so hopefully my US Open win will be a big boost for golf in Argentina. “The Golfer of the Month award is very important to me. The European Tour ...