Tiger Woods takes 40 for outward half, 

Lingmerth only 29, Paul Lawrie 31

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM

By JIM McCABE

ST. ANDREWS – True, it’s early, and there’s much more golf to be played, but . . .
Well, you could take this early view of Tiger Woods: Different major, same old story — he’s a cellar-dweller.
Shocking and sloppy at Chambers Bay, where he shot 80-76 and beat only three competitors who played 36 holes at the U.S. Open, Woods was perhaps even more speechlessly sloppy on his first nine in the 144th Open.
From his opening tee shot, which he trapped and hit a bit fat, to his second shot, which he inexplicably dumped into the burn, to his ninth hole, which he failed to birdie for the first time since Round 2 of the 2005 Open, Woods’ outward trip was unlike any other first nine he’s ever experienced at the Old Course.
Remember, he was considered to have owned this links, having played to the tunes of 19 under in 2000 and 14 under in 2005 in Claret Jug-winning campaigns.
But in this summer of disturbing play, Woods started his round bogey-bogey for the first time in 17 competitive trips around the Old Course. Going to the turn in 4-over 40, he was in 82nd place, ahead of only two golfers and it wasn’t so much that he was already 10 strokes off the lead, but that he had chopped up the easier of the two nines. Want proof? In essentially the same wave that Woods went out in 40, David Lingmerth had 29, while Robert Streb , Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, and Paul Lawrie had 31, and Luke Donald, among others, had 32.
The indicators that the game is still a struggle were plenty:
• Woods has played four previous British Opens at St. Andrews, so this was his 17th round here in the oldest championship. It was just his second bogey at the first.
• You have to go back to his amateur days, the 1995 British Open, for an outward nine that was worse. He shot 41 in the final round that year. But as a professional, Woods had never gone out in worse than 37; nine out of 12 times he broke par, and twice he shot par.
• At the ninth, Woods made par, halting his streak of consecutive birdies at six. It’s just the third time he’s made par in 13 trips in his pro career.
• As he turned to go to the ninth, Woods was the only one of 57 players to have played nine holes who had not made a birdie.

---

Arnold Palmer bids graceful goodbye

 to St. Andrews and the  Open

Arnold Palmer waves farewell to St Andrews and the Open ( Getty Images )

 

By Jim McCabe

ST. ANDREWS — For so much of Wednesday the atmosphere at the 144th Open, so festive, had been overmatched by the weather, so cruel.

---

---

Cold and raw, rain pelting down, then subsiding to a steady mist, only to stream down again. Gray one moment, even more gray the next, it was a day devoid of color, any semblance of enthusiasm, and certainly thrills. To hold out any hope for a change of mood, one needed a strong core of faith, the sort that Bill Rogers embodies and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he paid witness to a magical transformation of nature right there on an iconic stage known as the Old Course.
Miserable and uncomfortable was the weather, but after Arnold Palmer walked gingerly to the first tee, it was if from above the command came to turn on the warmth. Take it not from these eyes, but from a witness who has a spiritual soul.
“First and foremost,” Bill Rogers said, “I’d like to say that it’s probably no accident that the Lord kind of changed favour on the day we just had when Arnold Palmer decided he was going to play and hit a shot. Then, the sun shined through.
“It was special.”
Special, it was, and emotional, too, because while it was widely known that Palmer was in St. Andrews, whispers started circulating Wednesday morning that The King would not play in the Champion Golfers’ Challenge.
 At 85, Palmer is clearly having trouble walking, bothered by a painful hip, and when he hit the ceremonial opening tee shot at the Masters in April, he conceded that it was the first golf ball he had hit in months.
But this was to be his farewell to St. Andrews, a place that in many ways is as crucial to his legend as is Augusta National. In 1960, Palmer had won the Masters and U.S. Open and deemed it important to go to St. Andrews and win the  Open. He created talk of a “Grand Slam” for the first time and oh, how he came agonizingly close to a third straight major. He lost by one to Kel Nagle, but remained smitten with the challenge. 
When he won the Claret Jug in 1961 and 1962, he brought this championship back into prominence in the thoughts of players on the US PGA Tour and never has the British golf citizenry forgotten.
He is of America, but they love their royalty here, so Palmer is a king to them, too.
“My, God, look at this. Isn’t that great?” Gary Player said as he stood near the 18th green of the Old Course and watched his friend take his final bow on the most hallowed golf turf we know. Packed grandstands behind the 18th green roared, as did packed grandstands to the right of the first tee. 
Just as fans had cheered along the second hole, out at the 17th green, and from along Links Way to the right of 18 fairway.
“And he loves it. He really loves it,” Player said with a brilliant smile.
Palmer, Player, Rogers and 25 other winners of the Claret Jug had just taken part in a four-hole Champion Golfers’ Challenge. It’s a special part of every Open at the Old Course, but this was ratcheted up 10 degrees; it was likely Palmer’s final appearance here and while it may not have matched the fervour which resonated that October day in 1958 when Bobby Jones was honoured as a Freeman of the City of St. Andrews, it surely was emotional and heartfelt.
“I was in tears going down the first fairway,” said Cori Britt, who as he always is, was by Palmer’s side. He works within the business empire that revolves around being Arnold Palmer, but Britt will carry the golf bag whenever the boss asks. These ceremonial days included, and so there was Britt on the first tee setting the bag down, then watching Palmer safely negotiate a drive smack in the middle of the fairway.
How far? Forever, it ran, thanks to that patented right-to-left sling. How’s that? And if you were to be told that Palmer followed with a crisp iron to 6 feet and a center-cut birdie putt, you would want to believe it with every ounce of your heart. You know you would.
“It’s amazing to see a great champion like that,” Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open Champion, said. “You don’t really expect them to grow old. You always can envision them the way they played the game, which makes it more special for him to come back and do this. That’s why he stands out to everyone else.”
Off in the last of the seven pairings, Palmer walked some of the way after taking just two shots and rode in a buggy at other stretches. Rogers, Darren Clarke, and Paul Lawrie were also in the pairing and three groups ahead, Ernie Els felt blessed to be alongside another legend, Peter Thomson, five times an Open Champion.
Thompson will turn 86 Aug. 23, nearly three weeks later Palmer will reach that same birthday. Els cherishes the relationship he has had with both icons.
“Peter was my captain on the Presidents Cup in the mid-1990s, but he was a lot different today,” Els said. “He even said it. He’s had a pacemaker put in, he’s had some surgery. He even said to me, he can feel now he’s running out of time.
“That gives you chills, doesn’t it? These legends who have done so much for the game. But you can’t stop time.”
Chills, yes. Stopping time, no. That’s why the reality — cold as it may seem — surfaces whenever players are in the company of Palmer. He told reporters later that he only wishes it were 1960 all over again. Players said they only wish to make every moment in Palmer’s company count.
So Justin Leonard and David Duval talked eloquently about Palmer when their participation in the team exhibition was over, and Rogers gave thanks over and over again. In another lifetime, Rogers was a world-class golfer who shot 72-66-67-71 to win the 1981 Open at Royal St. George’s. But the grind of Tour life never agreed with him, so he stopped and settled down and lived a club pro’s life.
But what has always been at the heart of the man has been his gentle spirit, an inner faith. So after Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, announced to the thousands still in attendance that there had been a four-way tie in the Champion Golfers’ Challenge “but Team Palmer is declared the winner,” roars erupted once again and Rogers smiled.
He had seen a cold and raw day turn warm and sunny and Rogers didn’t care if it sounded hokey. In is mind, The King’s farewell to the Old Course, to the Home of Golf, had prompted the powers above to envelope the stage in a relentless beauty.
“I’ll never forget this day and just knowing the idea that he may not be here in 2021 (when next the 150th  Open will be held St. Andrews),” Rogers said. “I don’t take anything for granted. It’s a happy day.”

---

---