John Hawkins of Golf Digest has what may be the final word on the 2008 Open Championship. An excerpt:

Harrington did what great players do, something that couldn’t be said of his playoff victory over Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie last July. Trailing Norman by one on the 10th tee last Sunday, Paddy played the best golf of his life with everything on the line, and thus, left behind a 53-year-old man who supposedly had nothing to lose. “Very impressive,” said the Shark, whose one-stroke lead turned into a three-shot deficit in a four-hole span. “He hit everything solid, played the way a true champion is supposed to play down the stretch.”

Read the whole article.

Congratulations to Padraig Harrington. Starting out the week with a wrist so badly hurt he thought he might not play, Harrington now has won back to back Open Championships—something only sixteen other men have done in the tournament’s 137 years.

That’s a pretty exclusive group:

Old Tom Morris (1861 - 62)
Young Tom Morris (1867, 1868, 1869)
Jamie Anderson (1877, 1878, 1879)
Bob Ferguson (1880, 1881, 1882)
J.H. Taylor (1894, 1895)
Harry Vardon (1898, 1899)
James Braid (1905, 1906)
Bobby Jones (1926, 1927)
Walter Hagen (1928, 1929)
Bobby Locke (1949, 1950)
Peter Thomson (1954, 1955, 1956)
Arnold Palmer (1961, 1962)
Lee Trevino (1971, 1972)
Tom Watson (1982, 1983)
Tiger Woods (2005, 2006)

And now, Padraig Harrington. He’s shown that he’s a great champion, digging deep to play a superb round despite the weather conditions.

I wonder if anyone will continue the injury-to-victory theme in the PGA Championship in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, the fairy tale that was Greg Norman’s ride came crashing to an end with a 77.  It will be said that Norman was just reliving some of his past bad finishes, but I really don’t see it that way. This was a triumph for Norman, not a disaster. At age 53, when he has no right to be in contention, Norman finished third at the Open Championship, ahead of notable younger players like Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Trevor Immelman, Retief Goosen and so on.

In all, it was an exciting Championship—especially when Norman pulled ahead again at the turn. I was anticipating a back and forth there over the last round. It wasn’t to be, but it still was fun nonetheless.

For his part, Norman apparently has absolutely no intention of expanding his playing schedule:

“I’m going to play the next two weeks, the Senior British Open and the Senior U.S. Open, and that’s it. I don’t plan on playing any more golf after that for a while. I have a lot of other work to do.”

Interestingly, this finish qualifies Norman for next year’s Masters. Stay tuned.

Holy Smokes! Greg Norman leads the Open Championship. His two-over-par 72 has him in first by two strokes.

If he somehow manages to win this, it would be an even bigger event that Nicklaus’ 1986 Masters win. It’ll make everybody forget about what’s his name with the leg injury. It’ll also go a long way toward getting people to forget the 1996 Masters debacle.

Of course, Norman has a long history of final day major meltdowns, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him tumble back to earth. There was the 1996 Masters collapse; the 1986 final round 76 in the PGA Championship that gave the tournament to Bob Tway; the 1987 Masters he lost on the second playoff hole, and the 1989 Open Championship in which he lost a four hole playoff after carding an X on the final hole.

Norman is 1-for-7 when he has the lead, or a share of the lead on the final day of a Major.

Still, on Sunday, Norman could continue his fine play and replace Julius Boros as the oldest winner of a Major. Boros won the PGA Championship at age 48. Incidentally, Boros also had the 54 hole lead in the US Open in 1973, when he was the same age as Norman. Johnny Miller won that tournament at Oakmont.

Mrs. GolfBlogger couldn’t be more thrilled. She thinks Norman is the best looking guy on the course. So does Mrs. GolfBlogger’s mother.

I don’t see any reason why he won’t win.

It’s funny that Norman was actually playing in the Open Championship as a sort of practice round for the Senior Open next week.

More about Norman’s 72. Tom Watson said that given Saturday’s conditions, 75 was a reasonable par. So Norman’s 72 was a terrific score.

But Ben Curtis’ 70 in those 40-mph winds was absolutely astounding. That moved him from 38th to a tie for fifth with Anthony Kim and Alexander Noren. I have to admit that in 1983 when Curtis won the Open on his first try at a Major, I thought it was one of those Jack Fleck moments, and that we’d never hear from him again. But he’s turned out to be a good player.

Curtis’ playing partner, Phil Mickelson, shot a 76, and fell to 13 over.

If Sergio Garcia thinks he has bad luck, he should have watched Jim Furyk today.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed on Norman, but there’s also an outside chance of an even bigger story: 20-year-old amateur Chris Wood has an outside chance to win. He’s six back, but given the weather, he may have a chance.

Justin Rose comments on Greg Norman’s surprising spot near the top of the 2008 Open Championship Leaderboard:

He’s got a 23 year old body and a 53 year old mind.

Weather again was a huge factor in the 2008 Open Championship. In the rain and wind and cold, a surprising leaderboard has emerged: Leading the Open Championship is 37-year-old KJ Choi, at -1. He’s followed by 53-year-old Greg Norman at even par. Camillo Villegas is in third.

Then there’s a huge logjam at four over: Rocco Mediate, Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, Robert Allenby, Noren Alexander, Padraig Harrington and—of all people—David Duval.

This is shaping up to be one of the most interesting Saturdays of all time. Imagine a Sunday that features David Duval and Greg Norman in one of the final two pairs. It’ll make everybody forget what’s his name with the bum leg.

Sergio missed an 18 inch putt, and then promptly made another of his now-famous excuses. This time, he apparently was concentrating on not stepping on another player’s line. He’ll tell you he’s the unluckiest player in the world. If so, it’s karma for some of the dumb things he’s done, like spitting in a cup.

Defending Champion Padraig Harrington—whose wrist injury made it doubtful he would even compete—managed to finish birdie-par-eagle-birdie and end up in that pile for fourth place. Maybe he’ll win playing with one arm; that would make a nice set of matched bookends with the US Open winner.

John Daly carded a 38-over-par. Stick a fork in him. He’s done as a golfer. I just hope he’s not completely finished as a human being.

Other notables who missed the cut: Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, and Tom Watson. Mark O’Meara is out in spite of getting an inspiring text message from the guy with the bum leg; he won’t repeat his 1998 triumph.

I thought that the ESPN coverage was terribly confused. They jumped around so much, I found it hard to keep track of who was doing what. I liked it best when they picked a player, and then showed quick highlights of what they had done over the last few holes.

I love watching Greg Norman’s swing. Mike Weir has gone to that stack-and-tilt thing; it looked very strange in the side view shots they used.

Phil Mickelson really gutted it out today, showing real mental toughness. It would have been very easy for him to just mail it in. I wouldn’t say that he’s got a chance to win, but he could get in the top ten.

Here’s hoping for more bad weather on Saturday.