Thursday, July 17, 2008 Chiongbian: The British Open Championships tees off By Edgar R. Chiongbian Teetime
THE (British) Open Championships, the third PGA major tournament of the year, tees off today at the Royal Birkdale GC in Lanchester, UK. The last and fourth major will be next month at the Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield, Michigan for the PGA Championships.
The defending Open champion is Padraig Harrington, the first Irishman to win the British Open in 60 years and the first European golfer to win the PGA major in eight years. Coincidentally both wins were at the very difficult Carnoustie golf course. The Carnoustie golf course has become very famous as the site of the greatest collapse by a golfer who was leading three strokes going into the final hole of the tournament. He is, of course the Frenchman Jean Van de Velde, who made a triple bogey on the 18th hole to lose to Paul Lawrie.
Last year was also another thriller and almost like déjà vu watching Harrington play the 18th and final hole, where he hit the water twice just as Van de Velde did eight years prior. Padraig, however, was able to regain his composure and went up and down for a double bogey, leaving him one stroke behind Sergio Garcia.
Then, the best golfer without a major, Sergio Garcia decided to play safe, laid up short of the Barry Burn canal, missed a 10-footer putt and the rest is history. Garcia would later say that Harrington won the open rather than him losing it. In Spanish or in English, we know the truth!
Maybe this time, there won’t be any special excitement on the final hole at the Royal Birkdale, except for who will win the tournament. I know I predicted that without Tiger Woods, the winner would not be from the US, but it’s almost like saying that world No. 2 Phil Mickelson is not capable. Of course he is, but is he cope-able.
The best thing I like about the British Open, just like the Wimbledon, is we get to watch it live in the afternoon and early evening, so we still get a good night’s sleep afterwards.
ROTARIANS. Well, most of our Rotary Clubs in Cebu have had their induction of officers and now, the work begins for the new presidents to lead their clubs. By the time you read this column I shall be at Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia to accompany our new club president, Dr. Ted Gonzales Jr., on a club visit to our sister club there and to another one in Tawau city, which is an hour away by plane south of KK that we will visit this weekend.
The last time we were at KK and Tawau, we had the chance to play golf. The golf courses there are not only beautiful, they are lush with green grass because their weather and rainfall are perfect for golf courses. Another thing I remember was that their yardages are very long because they have so much land to spare and their government encourages them to build golf courses with lots of acreages, as long as they develop them with lots of trees and greeneries. One golf course in Tawau has the up and down climbs that make Alta Vista look like a flat course. They have trees inside the golf course that are twenty stories high. Unbelievable!
Another thing that I’m looking forward to is the food because they have delicious Chinese-style cooking in KK. And if you have not discovered it yet, my favorite and some golfers from Cebu Country Club’s is the KK restaurant located at the IT Park in Asia Town. Their fried noodles, which are at P85, are out of this world, tasty.
GOLF TIP. You can use any club from 5-iron through pitching wedge for your chip and run shots to the green. The trick is to use the same technique on all the shots. Take a narrow stance, ball off your back foot, hands ahead of the ball and your weight on the left side to promote a descending blow. And just like putting, you don’t want any wrist action, just arms and shoulders to swing the club back and through.
Practice to gain experience on how the ball will fly and how far the ball will roll on each club selection. Once you already have your chipping technique down, you can experiment by changing the ball placement to the middle or forward in your stance for more options on your shots. Moving the ball forward will give you a higher shot and softer landing.
