British Open Final Thoughts
Just last week I wrote quite a bit about Phil Mickelson and how despite his success on the P.G.A. Tour, his success in the British Open was nothing short of lackluster. And as if on cue, he plays 2 events in Scotland and comes away with 2 wins, one of them the British Open, his 5th major! There can be no question that he has figured out how to play links golf. Castle Stuart and Muirfield were presented in true links style with plenty of bounce and roll, fescue grass, wind, and pot bunkers everywhere. It was great to see the best players in the world dealing with the challenge of links style golf.

There can be no argument that golf at the highest level is won or lost on or around the greens. Phil poured in every important putt down the stretch and had a key up and down on the 16th hole of the final round.

Much of the buzz prior to the Open Championship was about the penal rough and the importance of keeping the ball in play. For those of you who like to analyze stats, here are a couple of interesting ones: Tiger Woods finished 2 over par - hit 42 out of 56 fairways and 50 greens in regulation. Phil Mickelson was 3 under par - hit only 34 fairways and 48 greens.

As usual, it all came down to putting.
Woods averaged 1.71 putts/green and Phil only 1.62.

Another myth buster is the same breakdown for Lee Westwood. Known for his great ball striking, but a bit shaky with the putter - really? Westwood finished 1 over par - only hit 30 out of the 56 fairways and 41 greens in regulation and 1.53 putts/green!

Want to check out more Open stats? They are available at www.theopen.com.

Club Championship Updates
Several players used round 2 to make a serious move up the leaderboard. Brett Douglass made the most of the ideal scoring conditions to fire low round of the day, a 1 under par 70. Combined with his opening round 80, he is your half way tournament leader at 150 (+8). Round 1 leader and defending champion Kurt Flionis stumbled a bit on the back nine, opening with 3 consecutive bogeys. However, he held on the shoot a 76 for a 2 day total of 151, good for 2nd place. Also making a big move up the leaderboard was Steve Geldart. His 1 over par 72 - 153 total was good for T3. Also at 153 was Rob Lynch (76-77).

Rounding out the top 10, we had Steve Keegan (154), Chris Barry (155), Dave Rubin (156), Kenny Collina (156), Jim Magliozzi (157), and Brian DelGreco (158).

In all, there are 12 players within 10 strokes of the leader. With the final 36 holes to be played this weekend, anything can happen. This years tournament may well prove to be the closest on in several years.

Ladies Club Championship
Last weekend, the Ladies Club Championship was contested. Laura Wilczewski came out on top in the 36 hole event. Laura successfully defended her title with rounds of 87-86=173. Runner up honors went to Trish Garner 90-91=181. Carolyn Murphy came in 3rd with rounds of 95-89=184, and Dianne Potter-Champagne rounded out the scoring finishing 4th scoring 97-98=195. Congratulations to Laura in winning the Championship.

July 27-28: Men’s Club Championship
Final 2 rounds of the Club Championship. Come on by to see LGC’s best battle it out for the Championship. First tee time is 7:24, with the leaders scheduled for 8:44.

August 3-4: A-B-C Championship
36 hole net Championship. Field is broken into 3 divisions by handicap. This is the Club Championship for the rest of us! Sign up on bulletin board.

Regards,
Kevin