The 2008 British Open

The Open as it is known by all golfers was a great spectacle this past week. We all know that there was one person missing from all of the hoopla, but he's at home mending from surgery. With respect to the other golfers, we'll keep our mentions of him to a minimum. The highlight of the Open was the fact that a 53 year old newlywed, who just happened to be on his honeymoon, was the leader after 54 holes. Greg 'Shark' Norman. Looking a spry 53, Norman shot a 70 on the first day and followed up with another 70 on day 2, while all the other people who stood poised to win the first major in years sans Tiger (Phil, Ernie, Vijay, Sergio, etc.) shot higher and higher. For those who haven't been accustomed to seeing Greg Norman playing golf, he's always been a wrangler (think of our friend Brett Favre on a golf course), he's always gone for the flag in an aggressive manner. Even after his 72 on Saturday, Norman looked like he was in line to close this one out. The only sad part is that he had been in this situation 7 times previously and only closed out 1 for a victory, the British Open 1986. On Sunday it just looked like Father Time caught up with Norman and took it's toll. Norman shot a reasonable 77 with wind gust up to 40mph that day, but failed to shut the door on Pedraig Harrington. He has ended up being the guy that everyone has been talking about, even though he didn't win (ala Josh Hamilton in the MLB Homerun Derby). It was good seeing the Shark play and make me remember seeing him play back in the early 90's as opposed to my recollection of him being the maker of golf apparel. So, here's a cheer to Greg Norman, a belated congrats on the wedding, and enjoy that $500K check for finishing tied 3rd in the British. Hey, at least you get to play in the Masters this year. Since we're congratulating people, Pedraig Harrington, congrats on your back to back win of the Briitish Open as you truly stepped up, unlike those other guys.