A few comments:

The early guys REALLY had an advantage. So many of them scored low, but its hard to say if they actually were playing better than the guys who teed off the second half of the day. On the second half, I think par was a good score.

But the early guys are SO low—witness McIlroy at an astonishing -9—that it’s going to be hard for the second half players to catch up tomorrow. I actually felt sorry for the late starters who, on the first tee, realized that they were nine shots behind and the weather had turned against them.

I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if McIlroy isn’t the coast to coast leader.

Here’s how bad it is. Els was -3 and is tied for 31st as of this writing.

I got really excited early this morning as John Daly surged into the lead. He’s still just three off the pace. It was interesting to watch him in his post round interview. He was sober, respectful.

Tiger looked pretty good. But I can’t help thinking that the Old Tiger would have shot a 60 in the favorable conditions today. We’ll see how it looks for him tomorrow when he has to play like a mudder.

No magic for Watson. The +1 in those conditions was truly an opportunity missed.

Phil has shown once again why he won’t win an Open Championship. There’s just something about his game that’s not conducive to this sort of golf. He might not even make the cut.

Stricker is even, and tied for 74th as of this writing.

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The San Francisco Chronicle has a nice summary of 150 years of the British Open.

Here’s you chance to make predictions about the outcome of the 2010 British Open. Just answer a few questions:

1) Who does logic tell you is most likely to win?
2) Who does your gut tell you will win?
3) Who would you most like to see win?
4) Who would you least like to see win?

I’ll start:

1) It’ll be someone outside the Top 10 (which are Woods, Mickelson, Westwood, Stricker, Furyk, Els, Donald, Poulter, McIlroy and Casey), so I’ll go with McDowell.

2) My gut says Stricker. He’s got some real mojo going right now. And in his last three appearances, he’s T7, T8 and T52. However, in the last two Old Course appearances, he had a missed cut and a no-show.

3) The guy I most want to see win is Phi. I can’t help it. I like the guy, warts and all.

4) The one I least want to see win is Tiger. Part of it is Tiger; the other half of that is the inevitable ensuing media orgasm over his victory.

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There’s an absolutely heartbreaking story about Seve in the Telegraph. Here’s the last line, a quote from Seve: “You know, for everything in life, there is always a beginning and there is always an end. This is the tough part, the most difficult thing, when you see that it’s coming: the end.”

Astonishingly—and in spite of his barely making the cut at the AT&T and then dropping a 7-over dud at a pro-am—Tiger Woods is the favorite to win the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews. And in that sentence is exactly the reason why: It’s at St. Andrews, a course he has absolutely owned over his career. Odds makers have him at 7/1. He won’t win.

Phil Mickelson is the betters’ second favorite, at 12/1. He won’t win either. Nor will Lee Westwood, who’s in at 14/1.

If the oddsmakers have it right, I think a winner is more likely to appear from the next bunch: Padraig Harrington (16/1), Ernie Els (16/1),  Justin Rose (20/1), Ian Poulter (25/1) or maybe even Jim Furyk or Paul Casey at 33/1.

The Royal & Ancient has decided to lengthen St. Andrews’ famous “Road Hole” for the 2010 Open Championship.

Nothing like fixing something that ain’t broke.

The R&A says they want to make it more challenging. But in fact, by lengthening the hole, I wonder if they won’t make it somewhat easier. As it stands now, it seems as though you would have to hit it straight, or fade the ball to hit the fairway, requiring a stick other than the driver. Moving the tee back 35 yards further back from the restrictions on the right hand side could have the geometric effect of making it less tight, and thus actually easier for the big hitters who draw the ball.

But does it matter for the Championship? Only for second place. Tiger owns this course.

In the wake of Y.E. Yang’s victory at the 2009 PGA Championship, a GolfBlogger reader asked if one Major Championship had produced more “one-hit wonders” than another. That depends, I think upon your definition of a one-hitter—and that’s a very subjective mark. Still, I looked at the last twenty years of major winners, and came up with a list of winners that could fall in that category.

PGA
Shaun Micheel
Rich Beem
Wayne Grady

The Masters
Zach Johnson

US Open
Michael Campbell
Steve Jones

Open Championship
Todd Hamilton
Ben Curtis
Paul Lawrie
Ian Baker Finch

I’m sure I’ll get a lot of arguments about this. All of these men are fine players, and all have more than one tour victory. Still, I’d have to say that the ones on this list didn’t (or have not yet) lived up to the stature of a major championship winner.