Golf-British Opens at Muirfield

Golf-British Opens at Muirfield

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July 17, 2013 10:00 PM



GULLANE, Scotland, July 18 (Reuters) - Muirfield will stage the 142nd British Open from Thursday to Sunday.

Here is a factbox about Opens at the famous Scottish links course.

* Muirfield is staging the British Open this year for the 16th time. The last six champions were Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo (twice) and Ernie Els. * Those six players have won 51 major titles and 18 British Opens between them. * The course is now 7,192 yards long and is a par-71. There are four par-3's and three par-5's. * South African Player won in 1959, the first of his eight major titles. * Nicklaus claimed the first of his three British Opens at Muirfield in 1966. * Nicklaus arrived at the 1972 Open having won the U.S. Masters and the U.S. Open but he finished second behind fellow American Trevino who fired rounds of 71, 70, 66 and 71. * Watson won his thirdBritish Open at Muirfield in 1980, finishing four shots ahead of runner-up Trevino. * Watson and Ben Crenshaw, who came third, went out on to the course in the evening after the final round and played a few holes with hickory-shafted clubs before being chased off by club secretary Paddy Hanmer. * Faldo made 18 consecutive pars in the last round to win the 1987 Open by one shot from American Paul Azinger and Australian Rodger Davis. * England's Faldo won again in 1992, overhauling American John Cook who missed a short birdie putt at the 17th before bogeying the final hole. * Tiger Woods won the U.S. Masters and U.S. Open in 2002 but his challenge at Muirfield ended with a third-round 81 in appalling weather conditions. * South African Els won a four-way playoff against Australians Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby and Frenchman Thomas Levet to win the 2002 Open. He beat Levet at the fifth extra hole.

(Compiled by Ed Osmond; edited by Tony Jimenez)

Golf-Teeoff times for first two rounds of British Open

Golf-Teeoff times for first two rounds of British Open

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July 17, 2013 10:00 PM


GULLANE, Scotland, July 18 (Reuters) - Teeoff times for the

first two rounds of the British Open at Muirfield on Thursday

and Friday (local times, A-denotes amateur).

Round 1 Round 2

6.32 11.33 Peter Senior Australia

Lloyd Saltman Scotland

Oliver Fisher England

6.43 11.44 Robert Karlsson Sweden

Todd Hamilton USA

Ben Stow (A) England

6.54 11.55 Thomas Aiken South Africa

Kiradech Aphibarnrat Thailand

Bud Cauley USA

7.05 12.06 Mikko Ilonen Finland

Brooks Koepka USA

Ashun Wu China

7.16 12.17 David Duval USA

Bernd Wiesberger Austria

Chris Wood England

7.27 12.28 Scott Stallings USA

Stewart Cink USA

Richard McEvoy England

7.38 12.39 KJ Choi South Korea

Miguel Angel Jimenez Spain

Jimmy Walker USA

7.49 12.50 Ben Curtis USA

Shane Lowry Ireland

Rafael Cabrera-Bello Spain

8.00 13.01 Jonas Blixt Sweden

Brian Davis England

Graham DeLaet Canada

8.11 13.12 Robert Garrigus USA

John Senden Australia

Marc Warren Scotland

8.22 13.23 Martin Kaymer Germany

Garrick Porteous (A) England

Jason Day Australia

8.33 13.34 Carl Pettersson Sweden

Jason Dufner USA

David Lynn England

8.44 13.45 Bubba Watson USA

Nicolas Colsaerts Belgium

Dustin Johnson USA

9.00 14.01 Nick Faldo England

Tom Watson USA

Fred Couples USA

9.11 14.12 Justin Rose England

Ernie Els South Africa

Brandt Snedeker USA

9.22 14.23 Ian Poulter England

Keegan Bradley USA

Billy Horschel USA

9.33 14.34 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano Spain

Richard Sterne South Africa

Nick Watney USA

9.44 14.45 Rory McIlroy Northern Ireland

Hideki Matsuyama Japan

Phil Mickelson USA

9.55 14.56 Scott Piercy USA

Tim Clark South Africa

Kevin Streelman USA

10.06 15.07 Zach Johnson USA

Shingo Katayama Japan

Thomas Bjorn Denmark

10.17 15.18 Angel Cabrera Argentina

Camilo Villegas Colombia

Estanislao Goya Argentina

10.28 15.29 George Coetzee South Africa

Ken Duke USA

Mark Calcavecchia USA

10.39 15.40 John Huh USA

Brendan Jones Australia

Hyung-Sung Kim South Korea

10.50 15.51 Josh Teater USA

Steven Tiley England

Jimmy Mullen (A) England

11.01 16.02 KT Kim South Korea

Steven Jeffress Australia

Luke Guthrie USA

11.12 16.13 John Wade Australia


Gareth Wright Wales

Makoto Inoue Japan

11.33 6.32 Danny Willett England

YE Yang South Korea

Johnson Wagner USA

11.44 6.43 Thaworn Wiratchant Thailand

Lucas Glover USA

Oscar Floren Sweden

11.55 6.54 Boo Weekley USA

Sandy Lyle Scotland

Niclas Fasth Sweden

12.06 7.05 Marcus Fraser Australia

Grant Forrest (A) Scotland

Mark O'Meara USA

12.17 7.16 Tom Lehman USA

Thongchai Jaidee Thailand

Freddie Jacobson Sweden

12.28 7.27 Justin Leonard USA

Rhys Pugh (A) Wales

Marc Leishman Australia

12.39 7.38 Alvaro Quiros Spain

Kyle Stanley USA

Alexander Noren Sweden

12.50 7.49 Russell Henley USA

Jordan Spieth USA

Matthew Fitzpatrick (A) England

13.01 8.00 Padraig Harrington Ireland

Michael Thompson USA

Richie Ramsay Scotland

13.12 8.11 Vijay Singh Fiji

Darren Clarke Northern Ireland

Martin Laird Scotland

13.23 8.22 Ryan Moore USA

Henrik Stenson Sweden

Steven Fox (A) USA

13.34 8.33 Thorbjorn Olesen Denmark

Jim Furyk USA

Paul Lawrie Scotland

13.45 8.44 Geoff Ogilvy Australia

Harris English USA

Stephen Gallacher Scotland

14.01 9.00 Lee Westwood England

Charl Schwartzel South Africa

Sergio Garcia Spain

14.12 9.11 Adam Scott Australia

Matt Kuchar USA

Luke Donald England

14.23 9.22 Rickie Fowler USA

Matteo Manassero Italy

Hunter Mahan USA

14.34 9.33 Peter Hanson Sweden

Hiroyuki Fujita Japan

Bill Haas USA

14.45 9.44 Tiger Woods USA

Graeme McDowell Northern Ireland

Louis Oosthuizen South Africa

14.56 9.55 Webb Simpson USA

Branden Grace South Africa

Jamie Donaldson Wales

15.07 10.06 Francesco Molinari Italy

Toru Taniguchi Japan

Bo Van Pelt USA

15.18 10.17 DA Points USA

Brett Rumford Australia

Marcel Siem Germany

15.29 10.28 George Murray Scotland

Mark Brown New Zealand

Justin Harding South Africa

15.40 10.39 Gregory Bourdy France

Scott Jamieson Scotland

Shiv Kapur India

15.51 10.50 Scott Brown USA

Satoshi Kodaira Japan

Gareth Maybin Northern Ireland

16.02 11.01 Tyrrell Hatton England

Eduardo De La Riva Spain

Kenichi Kuboya Japan

16.13 11.12 Stephen Dartnall Australia

Darryn Lloyd South Africa

Daisuke Maruyama Japan

(Compiled by Tony Jimenez)

Saltman suffers hackers' curse as first hole bares its teeth

Saltman suffers hackers' curse as first hole bares its teeth

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Martyn Herman July 18, 2013 6:05 AM


By Martyn Herman

GULLANE, Scotland (Reuters) - Sunday morning hackers know the feeling well. You step on the first tee and duff your first tee shot out of bounds, then take another ball and do exactly the same.

Scotland's Lloyd Saltman did just that at Muirfield on Thursday when he began his British Open challenge with a first-hole horror show which ended with an ugly quadruple-bogey eight.

Saltman, who grew up just down the road in Edinburgh and knows the local links courses well, was part of the first group to tee off in almost perfect conditions.

However, the 447-yard par four hole, with its tight fairway flanked by knee-high rough, proved too much for the 27-year-old who took three tee shots to get a ball in play.

His first effort cleared a 20-foot high screen bordering the tented village and his second was heard to "hit an object".

Neither ball was found and Saltman's third tee shot landed just right of the fairway, after which he played the hole in exemplary fashion, finding the green with his approach and two-putting before glumly striding to the second tee.


While winds, as predicted were light, the course was proving precarious on the opening morning as the narrow fairways, thick rough and steep-sided bunkers took their toll.

The opening hole, rated as one of the toughest of all the Scottish links courses, was particularly brutal and Saltman was not alone in coming a cropper.

American Brooks Koepka, making his Open debut, also took an eight and Britain's Chris Wood and American Bud Cauley began with triple-bogey sevens.

Australia's Jason Day, strongly fancied to win the title after finishing third at the Masters and second at the U.S. Open, also came to grief with a six, although he repaired the damage with a couple of birdies before the turn.

After 60 of the 156 starters had passed through only four birdies had been seen on the first, one of which was sunk by early leader Miguel Angel Jimenez.

British title hope Ian Poulter, wearing a pair of tartan trousers, did locate the first fairway but still began his challenge with a bogey on a hole averaging 4.5 early on.

"You're asking how the rough is at Muirfield. I thought it was hay. Big tip for week: Hit it on the mowed stuff," Poulter said on his Twitter page on the eve of the tournament.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)