Friday 30 July 2010

Women's British Open 2010 - Friday July 30th - Round 2

Arrived at Royal Birkdale at 8.45am and found the first group of the day of Janice Moodie, Amy Yang and Iben Tinning teeing off on the 10th. Next up was Karen Stupples' group. Wondered where she had got to as only 2 players and three caddies made their way past me. Turned round and Karen was stood on the tee already, stony faced. A double bogey, bogey run will do that to you. In the next group Sophie Gustafson also mooched her way onto the tee by herself looking less than chuffed. She too had just bogeyed nine. She hit a nice tee shot on 10. Xtina immediately shouted "Oh God, Get left" and then "Sit" when hitting her tee shot.

Tutta also appeared on her lonesome on the 10th tee but she had at least made par on nine. Wie looked miffed as she walked on the tee. She had just made bogey. She stared very hard after her tee shot. The marshalls were signalling it was going leftish. She was mad with herself. She threw an imaginary something to the floor and stood off to the side of the tee with her hands on her hips. It turned out she was in the fairway bunker. She could only advance it out a tad. Cue another bogey.

Kerr, BamBam and Alfie were next. Alfie's trudge to the tee gave away the fact she had just bogeyed nine. After they had teed off I followed the usual plan and wandered over to the 14th hole. Ken Brown was rolling balls on the green and making notes. He got a right ribbing from the crowd when he failed to hole the one he aimed at the flag. Took a bit of time before Janice Moodie's group appeared on the tee. The crowd then increaed significantly as the local Birkdale lot were out supporting Kelly Tidy in Karen Stupples' group.

Sophie's group was next to play. She and Kitada had both putted out before Xtina arrived even though she was away. This was because Xtina was using the portaloo up at the 14th tee and seemed to be taking ages to get all her layers sorted out. Tutta was hitting first in her group being 4 under for the day. She liked her tee shot but it came up short but leaving a downhill putt. Wie was hitting last being 5 over for the day. Tutta really thought she'd made her birdie putt but it just slipped by.

A change of plan saw me move over to the side of the 15th tee once Tutta had putted out to follow them out towards 16. There was no great cheer from the 14th green so Wie had obviously missed her 6 footer for birdie. Tutta and Wie hit lovely teeshots. Kitada got into trouble and had to hack out up the fairway. Tutta obviously wasn't going for the green in 2 but came up just short and left of the green. Wie went for the green but ended up in the left hand front greenside bunker close to the big front wall. Her reaction when she saw the ball says it all. "Ooh Ugly". She couldn't go for the flag and did well to get out where she did, aiming to the lower level of the green away from the flag. Tutta hit a nice chip up onto the green but the birdie putt just missed. All three got their par.

It's a long trog back to the 16th tee so I hung around at 15 to watch the group behind come through. Alfie completely duffed her third shot and made bogey. Kerr and Bam Bam both birdied. Crossed the 16th fairway below the green and watched Wie and Tutta putt out. Both missed what looked like makeable birdie putts. Headed off towards the landing zone on the 17th fairway.

The first ball I saw land was just on the left of the fairway. Tutta was hitting first so Kitada would be next. However, the next ball went bounding down the fairway to Wie length. Turns out I hadn't seen Tutta's ball land because she had hit it left into some nasty stuff on the side of the huge mound on the LHS of the fairway. All she could do was lash it up the fairway. Hit it nicely and left herself a birdie putt but it just missed.

The 18th is a hell of a hole to walk so I stayed put as Cristie Kerr was also in trouble having hit it onto the top of the large mound ending up behind one of the TV's antennae things. A rules official had to be called. Worth, her caddy and a technician had to carry the antennae away and we in the crowd had to stand well back as she hacked it out well into the fairway. Left them to it and wandered round to see the results of the Wie/Tutta teeshots. Both were in the fairway. Both hated their approach shots. Wie ran across the fairway after hitting hers and practiced the shot she should have hit. Tutta slammed her club into the ground in frustration. Tutta ended up in the right greenside bunker with a horrible stance one foot in the bunker one bracing herself against the back. She got up and down.

Went for a beer and sat in front of the leaderboard. It started to rain. Was OK sat on my seat under my brolly. Eventually put my waterproof trousers on and with the rain stopped, sat in front of the big screen to watch TV coverage. Headed down for a bacon roll and whilst sat undercover eating it the rain got heavier. In full waterproof gear, stood by the 10th tee to see the big names got through but play was very slow and the rain was horrible so decided to go home and catch the rest of the 2nd round on the Beeb at home.

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