Honourable manDavid Toms didn't get much sleep on Thursday night as the thought continuously recurred that his ball might have moved on the 17th green after he had addressed it. Yesterday morning, Toms went to the R&A offices and told officials of the incident where he had hit his approach over the back of the Road Hole green and was eventually left with a short putt for a double-bogey six. This putt was holed quickly without much thought, he explained.
Overnight Toms became increasingly concerned that his ball might have moved, though nobody else had noticed, and the player decided to disqualify himself from the championship. Rule 6-6d reads: "The competitor is responsible for the correctness of the score recorded for each hole on his score card. If he returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken, he is disqualified."
Rayo switches codes
Ray Houghton has made the switch from the football pitch to behind a broadcasting microphone with some dexterity. The former Irish international presents a twice-weekly programme on golf on Talksport Radio in Britain and was on hand at St Andrews throughout this week's Open.
Dawn breaks for Duffy
A few years ago, Christy O'Connor jnr was given such a late start in one round of the Open that he remarked afterwards that the only company he had around the course were the bin trucks following behind the last match and noisily filling their loads.
As the reigning British Masters champion at the time, he had some justification to be peeved at his tee-time.
In a way, Duffy Waldorf could have empathised. For yesterday's second round, the American was placed in the first group of the day that necessitated a very early start. "It seems like I had an alarm call at 1am with the garbage and then again at 2am with some late revellers. I eventually got up at 4.45am," said Waldorf, who wasn't too upset by his nocturnal disturbances and shot a 68 to be on 142.
Not so Green anymore
Aussie left-hander Richard Green is getting a reputation as one of the most consistent players on tour. In 11 tournaments on the PGA European Tour and four on the US Tour this season, he has made the cut in every one of them. His best finishes were tied-third in the New Zealand Open and the Qatar Masters.
"It's been a progressive time for me for a few years and I'm now playing the game I want to play," said the 34-year-old.
Ironically, yesterday's 68 for 140 enabled him to make the cut in the British Open for only the second time in five attempts.
