The Open

[First]

Anyone else think that Immelman is worth a few quid to win this.

[hoops1]

Something in the Gut says Monty after watching him implode
at the US open I think the crowd will lift him
Immelman has just pulled out

[Clifford]

I'm on Donald, Mike Campbell and Padraig. Wide open Open as usual, very tricky course. Played it last winter, but it's a different proposition now with the heat etc....

[First]

Something in the Gut says Monty after watching him implode
at the US open I think the crowd will lift him
Immelman has just pulled out


Howell it is so:)

[DmanDmythDledge]

I think Howell will win this. I don't fancy Woods for some reason and think that Mickelson's luck will have run out. Howell also has home advantage.

[finlma]

Immelman is out cause his wife is due at the weekend.

Paddy Power are paying out 6 places for e/w bets. My money is going on Paul Casey.

[Aberdonian Stu]

I find golf is one of the hardest sports to call and Tiger's comments this week only make it more so.

He made comments on the speed of the course and the difficulty players will have getting on target. The way he put it the tournament sounds like it will be a tough as hell four days.

[joeSoap]

Just put €50 on Tigger at 5/1. He's gonna come out of that slump soon, and he's got the temperament for the big ones that most of the rest of them don't.

[Clifford]

Tiger slump? Sheesh, tough crowd....I've not backed him this time, but would love him to win...

Key Stats
Events Played 9
Wins 2
Second 1
Third 1
Cuts made 8
Top 10 5
Tiop 25 7

[joeSoap]

Disastrous round by Harrington.....75:( :(

[osarusan]

Just put €50 on Tigger at 5/1. He's gonna come out of that slump soon, and he's got the temperament for the big ones that most of the rest of them don't.

Seems like you found something to back since you gave up on the horses!!

[Clifford]

So that's that then, Tiger blows the field apart and unless something special happens in the afternoon with Els, Phil or Vijay (Or Sergio maybe??) I can't see him being stopped.

[Clifford]

Looks like Ernie it is then to make the challange. Vijay may not make cut at this point and Phil needs a big finish today to bridge an 8 shot gap at the moment.

Hmmmm....interesting.

[Soko]

Just put €50 on Tigger at 5/1. He's gonna come out of that slump soon, and he's got the temperament for the big ones that most of the rest of them don't.



Liekwise, just missed the 6/1 in Ladbrokes so had €100 at 5s.


Backed Tim Clark too and he had a triple bogey yesterday on 17, he'd be -6 otherwise :rolleyes: Just needs to be in the top 6

[The Stars]

Tiger is looking good for ye lads....good round again today.
Big Ernie is mounting an attack though so its too hard to call.

[bennocelt]

putting a 100 on tiger woods isnt smart gambling,.........esp if the price was 4/5/6/to 1
anyway i backed Mickleson who is playing aweful
but today the bookies had ernie to beat tiger with +3 in the 2 balls, what a slip up there!!!
i bet garca wont win anyway, di marco might be worth a punt!

[Soko]

putting a 100 on tiger woods isnt smart gambling,.........esp if the price was 4/5/6/to 1
anyway i backed Mickleson who is playing aweful
but today the bookies had ernie to beat tiger with +3 in the 2 balls, what a slip up there!!!
i bet garca wont win anyway, di marco might be worth a punt!




Oh really? You seem to be quite the expert, I'll remember that tomorrow when I'm collecting my €600. Clown

[The Stars]

dont like tiger but he is an amazing sports man.his victory was expected today after yesterdays lead.
Well done to everyone who back him.know someone who had €45 on him at 9-2 early in the tournament.

[Clifford]

dont like tiger but he is an amazing sports man.his victory was expected today after yesterdays lead.
Well done to everyone who back him.know someone who had €45 on him at 9-2 early in the tournament.

Just curious about why you don't like him? Any real reason or just the immense success?

I'm not being argumentative and will obviously accept your thoughts, but I can't see anything not to like in the guy.

I wept openly with him today, what a legend he is.

RIP Earl.

[Soko]

I'm a huge fan of Tiger as golfer but as a person, not so much. He can really be a ***** towards his fans and is very secluded. I was at Shinnicock 2 years ago and watched him ignore kids just looking for is autograph just because he had a bad round. When you get what he gets paid thats part and parcel of the game. Dont act like a dick. You can be sure as hell Mickelson, Els etc... wouldn't do that.

[The Stars]

what soko said.
A cousin of mine saw him play a few years ago and said he is arogant(which you can expect being the best golfer in the world) but not one bit friendly.

Dont get me wrong the man is a legend on the golf course but a different person off it.

[Clifford]

Fair enough, I met him at a clinic in Hyde Park about 6 years ago (I won a prize with American Express) and far from being rude he was exceptional in the time he spent chatting, signing, joking with people etc. Also was close to him in Adare Manor last year and he signed stuff for 10-13 mins despite huge numbers.

I wouldn't expect him to stop and sign during a major tournament week, but there you go.

[Soko]

Thats what he's meant to do at a clinic to be honest.


Nearly every other player manages to do it at a major tournament so why should Tiger be any different. Now I know McGinley is not competing at Tigers level but he is a class act in every department. Had a great laugh with him on the putting green while then 4 days later watching Tiger storm off the 18th and be taken away through a back door with a huge crowd of adoring fans waiting gfor just a moment of his time. Time which he is very, very well paid for. Not much to ask.

[bennocelt]

Oh really? You seem to be quite the expert, I'll remember that tomorrow when I'm collecting my €600. Clown


fair enouff, but i did write that when Tiger was 4/5 shots ahead, so i knew he would win but my point is....saying Tiger woods is a a good bet or tip isnt the best bet in the long run.........dont believe me....well then back him with your winnings in the next 6 tournaments....then tell me if its good tipping.......most golf tipsters go for each way long shots......

i suppose you had brazil and tyrone and george washington all to win this year too, backing favourites sometimes you get caught out

i also won with safe bets, els and furyk to be in the top ten, didnt win much but didnt gamble much either, mickleson was also a bet i did, but if you are going to tell me a bet at least qualify it

you won, well done, but i bet you Tiger wont have it so easy in america, where there will be much more of a challenge
so i will give you this one........for now:)

[Clifford]

Thats what he's meant to do at a clinic to be honest.


Nearly every other player manages to do it at a major tournament so why should Tiger be any different. Now I know McGinley is not competing at Tigers level but he is a class act in every department. Had a great laugh with him on the putting green while then 4 days later watching Tiger storm off the 18th and be taken away through a back door with a huge crowd of adoring fans waiting gfor just a moment of his time. Time which he is very, very well paid for. Not much to ask.

As I said above, fair enough, maybe that's why he's streets ahead - focused when needs to, relaxed when needs to.

Monty come into your every other player bracket? LOL..

[Soko]

fair enouff, but i did write that when Tiger was 4/5 shots ahead, so i knew he would win but my point is....saying Tiger woods is a a good bet or tip isnt the best bet in the long run.........dont believe me....well then back him with your winnings in the next 6 tournaments....then tell me if its good tipping.......most golf tipsters go for each way long shots......

i suppose you had brazil and tyrone and george washington all to win this year too, backing favourites sometimes you get caught out

i also won with safe bets, els and furyk to be in the top ten, didnt win much but didnt gamble much either, mickleson was also a bet i did, but if you are going to tell me a bet at least qualify it

you won, well done, but i bet you Tiger wont have it so easy in america, where there will be much more of a challenge
so i will give you this one........for now:)


You are a clairvoyant as well, just how do you know so much about me?


I reiterate - you are a clown. I backed Tiger at 5/1, would have been ecstatic to get 6. Reason why - he's a machine. 12 majors from 39 tournaments and he's been as short as 5/2 in some of them. 6/1 is huge as illustrated by the couple of £50,000 punts Ladbrokes took on him but I suppose that was not good betting either and those heavy hitters are fools because they backed the favourite.

Never did I say I have backed or will back Tiger in America. You are letting your imagination run wild. Why the **** do you think you can come on here and try and be so condesending to people who backed Tiger and give a warning about "how backing favourites will get you caught". FFS its hardly as if its the first bet people have ever done. Incredible how you spotted the Brazil, GW and Tyrone bets :rolleyes:

Just reading it again points out what an ape you are

[Soko]

Monty come into your every other player bracket? LOL..


Montys had a stick up his arse for way too long, remember him losing the plot at Mount Juliet a few years ago for very little at all. That US Open is going to haunt him forever

[Clifford]

From James Lawton from whatever paper he writes for.....sorry no link...

You have to think Tiger will be equal to anything put before him
Published: 25 July 2006
Tiger Woods has invaded history so completely, that it is impossible to imagine he could improve upon his performance

Some will say that the proposition is outrageous, others that it is an irrefutable reality of the sporting ages. Here, the debate is just about over. Yes, surely it is true: at the age of 30, Tiger Woods has proved himself the greatest competitor the games-playing world has ever seen.

Of course the assertion can be assailed by doubts and caveats in the aftermath of Tiger's third Open and 11th major title - three more than Jack Nicklaus at the same age. Yes, it is true, nobody ever tried to tear off his head, as so many did when fighting Muhammad Ali. His talent never brought an old empire to breaking point, as Sir Donald Bradman's did when England decided to bowl systematically at his body rather than the wickets. The Tiger never had to withstand mass assault, as the crippled Pele did in the 1966 World Cup. Nor has he ever had to stick old newspapers down his vest to soak up the sweat and protect his lungs in the fashion of the great Eddy Merckx after climbing to a peak in the Pyrenees before plunging into the valley below.

None of that is the Tiger's game but then if we search for the holder of the mythic title, if we ask ourselves who most completely burned off his opposition, who exerted such a psychological hold over his rivals that you could see their spirits dwindle the moment they were asked to play in his shadow, how can we look beyond the still young man who wept for his dead father on Sunday and at the same time gloried in all that he had been taught and all those points where he had been strengthened?

Saying this about the Tiger does not dishonour any of the great men of sport. It doesn't lessen the achievement of Jesse Owens leaving the squalid theories of Nazism in his wake beneath the gaze of Adolf Hitler in Berlin 70 years ago. It doesn't coarsen the sublime touch of a Rod Laver or Peter Sampras or Roger Federer. It doesn't quieten the stirring of memory when you think of Carl Lewis striding beyond the homophobic rednecks of his own country at the Los Angeles Olympics. All it really says, in an age when obscene amounts of money and celebrity are poured upon so many sportsmen who for one reason or another wilt under the resulting pressure, is that Tiger Woods has invaded history so completely, and with such superb bearing and fastidious regard and knowledge of his sport, that it is impossible to imagine he could, in any respect, improve upon his performance.

When the idea that Woods was indeed a unique golfer, and maybe sportsman, was first mooted, it received the most substantial support. Before that time, six years ago when the Tiger won a play-off for the USPGA title and his third successive major, Jack Nicklaus had been without a rival in golf and perhaps in the wider world of sport. When consulted, Nicklaus said: "Tiger is playing so well it is impossible to believe that he could be doing anything better. He has done everything right. He is in control of everything. Conditions change ... and I have to say that so far Tiger has yet to be seriously challenged. But then you see him play, you spend a little time in his company, and you have to think he will be equal to anything put before him. He is an amazing young man."

Six years on, Tiger is still running ahead of the Golden Bear. At 30, Nicklaus had eight major titles, three less than Woods now. In the subsequent 16 years he won 10 more. Given the extent of Woods' control at Hoylake the implication is unavoidable. Granted freedom from serious injury or ill health, the Tiger will not beat Nicklaus' record mark of 18 majors. He will engulf it.

Here in these islands the message left by Woods' triumphant visits could scarcely be more valuable. At its heart it is quite a simple one, though its implications must be vast for a nation which recently believed that in such as Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard they had football stars about to conquer the world rather than beginning the task of proving themselves.

The Tiger makes a bonfire of such ill-considered vanities. He says that success in sport is not a random visitor. It is something you fashion from the deepest and longest of commitments. You do not become - and stay - a world-beater on the light airs of fleeting talent. You do it in a gale of conviction that refuses to blow itself out.

Consider the factors that Woods has dealt with in his pursuit of unprecedented success. When he became a pro he had a $40m sponsorship which made him secure for life. In his first year he won the Masters by the devastating margin of 12 strokes. It was said that he had changed the nature of golf.

Certainly he had smashed through one of its sturdiest barriers when he became the first American major golf winner of colour. It provoked the most bitter of bar-room jokes, one that went like this: What were you looking at 40 years ago when a bunch of white men were chasing a single black? The Ku Klux Klan. What are you looking at today? A major golf tournament." The regard with which the Tiger was plainly held in the galleries of Hoylake - which were clearly filled by many for whom a day at their local golf club would be a journey to another planet - was a more innocent tribute to the achievements of the young man of stunning concentration.

It brought to mind some shocking British reaction to the Tiger's brilliant annexation of the 2000 Open at St Andrews. A BBC radio programme asked the fatuous question: Is Tiger Woods boring? Is he too good, is he making golf tedious? Lending weight to this theory was the editor of a national newspaper - not this one, if it needs to be said - who offered the astonishing, ultimately depressing belief that Woods would never be a role model for young Englishmen with immigrant roots. He was too squeaky clean, too intent on what he was doing; no, someone much more attractive, someone they could relate to much more easily, would be Ian Wright, the Arsenal goalscorer with a disciplinary record from hell.

Now we can only tremble at any suggestion that this might be so. For a nation where any sporting success is treated as some amazing achievement which makes necessary a visit to Downing Street and the closing of the capital for normal affairs, the story of Woods is surely one of evangelical force. Woods wept at Hoylake, but who could not but compare his tears with those of the captain of the England football team, Beckham, at the end of their embarrassing failure to make any impact on the recent World Cup.

Woods wept at the end of a glorious triumph. He cried for a man he loved and respected and to whom he would always be grateful. He didn't cry for himself.

No one is saying Tiger Woods is a perfect human being. If you cut him, he bleeds, sometimes with venom and always with slow-running forgiveness. He is not a natural adventurer despite the underpinning of so many dazzling gifts. Like Nicklaus before him, he plays a percentage game, and never more strictly than in Hoylake. But we are not talking here about the sweetness of his nature, his affability or his willingness occasionally to take those risks which can bring a sudden, fine edge to our sporting entertainment. The subject is not any of that. It is the scale of his greatness as a sportsman. It is his ability to meet any challenge and control events. It is his capacity to produce his best under pressure, to take the wounds of defeat, and then grow stronger, more determined to win.

In that last vast area Woods is the nonpareil. He claims it as the ground he has made his own over the years. No one has done this more relentlessly. It has made him the champion of champions and it is why, whenever he visits, there is a charge in the air.

[bennocelt]

You are a clairvoyant as well, just how do you know so much about me?


I reiterate - you are a clown. I backed Tiger at 5/1, would have been ecstatic to get 6. Reason why - he's a machine. 12 majors from 39 tournaments and he's been as short as 5/2 in some of them. 6/1 is huge as illustrated by the couple of £50,000 punts Ladbrokes took on him but I suppose that was not good betting either and those heavy hitters are fools because they backed the favourite.

Never did I say I have backed or will back Tiger in America. You are letting your imagination run wild. Why the **** do you think you can come on here and try and be so condesending to people who backed Tiger and give a warning about "how backing favourites will get you caught". FFS its hardly as if its the first bet people have ever done. Incredible how you spotted the Brazil, GW and Tyrone bets :rolleyes:

Just reading it again points out what an ape you are

take it easy man
good luck, you won!
i would be interested to hear you ideas for future golf champs, assuming you are not going to back tiger woods for them all!!:rolleyes: