Serial Streaker Mark Roberts—who ran onto the 18th fairway with a golf ball between the cheeks and a plastic squirrel over his crotch—says that the paint throwers on the 18th green went too far.

The paint throwers were protesters from Real Fathers 4 Justice, a group which is pushing for more gender equity in the British domestic courts. They delivered their payload via duck eggs packed with the purple paint.

Roberts was arrested and charged with causing “public alarm” (what a great charge). Two paint throwers also were arrested and charged with five counts of public damage.

I spent the day on the road and just finished watching the final round of the Open Championship. Here are some random thoughts.

Why—when Tiger gets a lead—do so many other players just seem to lay down? Are they intimidated? I can’t imagine that’s the case. They’re professionals, after all. And many of them (especially Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk) have the same level of talent as Tiger.

Chris DiMarco is a real fighter. There’s no give up in that guy. I don’t think that his talent is up to Tiger’s, but he has just as much mental toughness.

Sergio choked on his putter. Someone needs to tell him that on his first shot he needs to make sure that it at least gets to the hole. And he needs to lose the banana suit he was wearing today. I can’t ever forsee the day when someone says “Yellow is the color of champions” (except in the Tour de France—but that’s France.)

I’m disappointed with the round. Not because Tiger won, but because no one challenged him.

Furyk apparently was psyched out by Tiger on the practice tee. After he bogeyed the first two holes, he was done.

Who is this Andreas Romero guy?

GOTTA HAVE IT GOLF Arnold Palmer at the 1961 British Open 16 x20

I’m in an Open Championship mood and I fouund this great framed photo of Arnold at the 1961 British Open. Played at Royal Birkdale, it was the first of Palmer’s two Open Championship victories.

In 1961, Palmer was playing in just his second Open Championship and it was significant because at that time, many Amerian pros had decided that making the trip to the Isles just wasn’t worth their time.

The Open Championship started relatively well for Palmer. With a 70, he was just two shots behind leaders Harold Henning, Dai Rees and defending champion Kel Nagle. That tied him for third with five others. Palmer continued his steady play in the second round, too, scoring a 73 in spite of high winds that eventually forced the cancellation of the next day’s rounds.

When play resumed on Saturday, Palmer shot a 73, in spite of taking a seven on the 16th. That was still good enough to move him into a tie for second with Nagle. The day’s scoring was led by Peter Thompson, who had a 72.

The third round saw Palmer card an impressive 69.  That put him in first place—one ahead of Dai Rees. Rees shot a 71—even after taking a seven on the first hole. The round of the day, though, belonged to Christy O’Connor, who shot a 67, putting himself into third.

At the start of the final round, it was a four way race between Palmer, Rees, Nagle and O’Connor. Nagle and O’Connor were out of it by the ninth, though.  Palmer, playing ahead of Rees, came in with a 72. Rees, though four strokes back at the 14th, managed to close within one, taking second.

Tiger had one of those sneaky good days. If I wasn’t keeping track of the scores on the internet, I would have been surprised at the end of his round.

I was impressed with the way that Tiger stuck to his game plan. He started off a little rocky, but didn’t alter it. No flash there, just patience.

I felt sorry for Nick Faldo. He’s over-the-hill, was paired with the world’s most-watched golfer and after his experience as a television commentator, had to know what they were saying about him in the booth.

Phil Mickelson didn’t look like he was suffering from post US Open blues.

I’m amazed at how tight it is on the leaderboard. There are 32 players at -3 or better; the leader, McDowell is at -6. Heck, there are 13 players tied at -4. It’s anyone’s round right now. But, I think, look for Fukabori, Owen, Wall, Crane, Fraser, Ho, Ilonen and a couple of other second-tier players to fall off tomorrow.

At the Open Championships, I am always impressed with how different that style of course is from the ones we play here in the States. Watching them play simply steels my resolve to get over there sooner rather than later.

Its interesting to see a course where the primary colors are shades of brown and not green.

From what they showed, David Duval looked pretty good. So did Ernie Els and Fred Couples.

The Brits are in a good position to get their trophy back.

I’m sticking with Jim Furyk as my pick for this major.

Christopher Clarey of the International Herald Tribune posits an interesting premise: that Tiger will be the sentimental favorite at the Open Championship at Hoylake this year.

... whatever happens in Hoylake from Thursday to Sunday, he will find that his swollen galleries - both here and in the world’s living rooms - will include a greater percentage than usual of those who are truly pulling for him instead of simply gawking at him.
Loss, as any great golfer understands, is part of the game, but loss, as Woods now understands, is an even bigger part of life

It’s an interesting premise, for I think that Tiger, while he is respected and perhaps even feared, has never been liked or loved by fans and competitors. His stony faced visiage, his singular focus on the game and the careful walls that he has constructed between himself and the world have, I thinked, worked to his long-term detriment.

No matter how poorly Arnold Palmer plays, I still would pay to see him. I loved following Gary Player and Chi Chi Rodriguez in the recent Senior Players Championship. And there are a number of guys on the regular Tour that I’d like to see play because I sense that they love the game as much as I do.

But other than to later be able to say that I saw him live, I don’t have any desire to see Tiger play.

And in spite of the premise that he’s now a sentimental favorite, I won’t be rooting for him at the Open. For me, the sentimental favorite will be Colin Montgomerie. The guy deserves a championship before all is said and done.

First Sports Illustrated’s Bob Casper says that Phil Mickelson won’t win the Open Championship. Now ESPN’s Jason Sobel chimes in to say that Tiger won’t win it either.

I think it’s got to be easier to predict who WON’T win than who will.

As his number one reason, Sobel says that Tiger’s lack of familiarity with the course will work against him. At first, that seems like a d’uh kind of line, but it holds doubly true with Tiger. As I’ve pointed out here in the past, SIX of his ten majors have come on either Augusta or St. Andrews. Once he learns a course, he owns it. But he’s no more effective than any other golfer the first time through.

Sobel also fingers the rust factor and Tiger’s continued short game slide. Open Championships tend to favor those with excellent and imaginative short games, and good putting. Tiger currently is 135th on tour in putting. Not good enough for a win.

But the reason I like the most is that the level of competition has caught up to Tiger. Its not only the big three, or the five. I’d guess that it’s now the Big Dozen. There are probably twelve players who have the level of talent to win this one.

And that’s why it’s easier to predict who won’t than who will.

Sam Snead once advised that you should never bet on a professional golfer unless you get at least 8-1 odds. He reasoned that there was so much talent on tour that any one of the top twenty players has as good a chance to win as any other. Snead was a crafty guy and his logic is just as pertinent today as it was when he wrote that in early 1960s.

So I’ll go out on a limb and say that we WON’T see a victory from Woods, Mickelson, Singh, Goosen or Scott.

You notice that I’ve left out Jim Furyk from that list of the top six players in the world rankings.

I think he’s got a chance.

Reader Gary points out that the Official Carnoustie 2007 Blog has opened for business.