British Open 2012: Adam Scott Grabs Lead, Tiger Woods Lurks

Here’s one we hadn’t heard before -- the head of the oh-so-proper Royal & Ancients laughing off an off-color remark from Tiger Woods, after the golfer hit a shot he was less than pleased with during Friday’s second round of the British Open.
“This is the first I have heard of it but our method is to... refer these [disciplinary matters] to the [PGA] Tour,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson told reporters on Monday. “I can certainly get hold of recordings. We shall have a look at it and see.”

Apparently no stranger to the frustrations of golf, Dawson sounded more entertained than riled by Woods’ reported obscenity, which, any follower of Tiger (as well as almost any other professional golfer]) knows was far from the first -- and surely won’t be the last -- naughty word uttered during a heated tourney.

With long putters of one variation or another dropping the winning shots in three of the last four major championships, Ernie Els and his fellow wielders of the belly bats have put their weapons of choice directly in the line of fire once again. And with Els and runner-up Adam Scott each anchoring his big stick in such dramatic fashion in Sunday’s British Open finale, the simmering muttering about banning the offending sticks is sure, as it has after each big victory that stars the dreaded invention, to become a deafening roar.

“The situation is that the R&A and the USGA do have this subject firmly back on the radar,” Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient, told reporters the day after Els jammed in a 15-foot birdie putt for a one-shot victory over Scott at Royal Lytham. “I think you’re going to see us saying something about it one way or the other in a few months rather than years.”

Ernie Els and his part-time caddie Dan Quinn both came from behind to win golf tournaments on Sunday, and the 2012 British Open champ and former NHL player will team up next week at the Canadian Open.

Els, who birdied four of his final nine holes to overtake a faltering Adam Scott and win his fourth major championship, will have newly crowned American Century Championship winner Quinn by his side instead of Ricci Roberts, his looper for the Royal Lytham contest. The two bagmen have shared caddying duties for Els for some time.

Tiger Woods may have to ditch his conservative British Open game plan if he hopes to do something he’s never done before and win a major by coming from behind after 54 holes.

Woods did not play himself out of the tourney on Saturday as he did in the third round at the U.S. Open in June. In fact, he gathered himself to finish his front nine at 1-under 33 after a shaky start. And shaky it certainly was, as Woods bogeyed the first and third holes.

The 2012 Open Championship in Lancashire is nearly at an end. On Sunday, the fourth and final round will get under way. Adam Scott is hoping to hold on to his lead in the tournament, while Brandt Snedeker, Graeme McDowell and Tiger Woods are all in the hunt. The event will start very early for those of us who hope to watch live in the U.S.

While the round of play begins teeing off at around 2 a.m. ET, the television coverage will begin at 6 a.m. ET on ESPN. Early live coverage will be shown on ESPN until 1:30 p.m. ET.

If you go into the final day of a major championship with a four-shot advantage, then you’re liable to be the betting favorite. And if you were Adam Scott, who takes a four-shot lead into Sunday at the 2012 British Open, you would be the overwhelming betting favorite to take home your first major championship.

Scott’s 11-under performance through his first 54 holes has made him a -175 favorite to finish on top at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, which would give the Aussie his first major in his 11th year of playing all four in a season.

The 2012 British Open rolls into its final day of play on Sunday. Who will be crowned the champion at the end of the fourth round in Lancashire?

As the final round begins, the overall leader is Adam Scott, sitting alone at the top of the leaderboard with a cumulative score of 11-under. American player Brandt Snedeker and Graeme McDowell are tied for second place, both at 7-under, and Tiger Woods, never to be counted out, is alone in fourth place at 6-under.

Tiger Woods was poised to threaten the top of the leaderboard after jarring his bunker shot on the 18th hole on Friday, but whatever momentum he had disappeared overnight. The result was a third-round 70, which was even-par for the day and left him with a five-shot deficit headed into the final round.

And the man on top of that distinct yellow leaderboard at the British Open? That’s Adam Scott. He’s been hovering around all week, turning in consistently good round after consistently good round. He’ll have a nice cushion on Sunday after taming the course over the first three ways while playing some wonderful golf.

On what turned out to be a rather disappointing day during his third round of the 2012 British Open, Tiger Woods managed an even-par round of 70 to stay at 6-under for the tournament and alone in fourth place.

Woods’ round started off on a shaky note, recording bogies on his first and third holes of the day to quickly fall to 4-under on the leaderboard. After making a huge putt for birdie on his sixth hole, Tiger battled back with birdies on No. 7 and No. 9 to go out in 33 and very much in contention for the title. Tiger’s struggles continued on the back nine at Royal Lytham, however, once again shooting 1-over par to fall back to even on the day.

While most of the day’s attention has been on Adam Scott and Tiger Woods, former major winner Graeme McDowell has slipped into second place on the leaderboard after firing a third-round 67 at the 2012 British Open.

McDowell, who seems to always play well at the majors and was in the final pairing of the US Open last month, likely finds himself in the final group of this major as well for Sunday. His round of 67 included five birdies to go along with two bogies on the day to reach 7-under par for the tournament. McDowell has also been rather accurate throughout the week, hitting 68 percent of the greens and 74 percent of fairways in his first three rounds.

As mentioned earlier, Ian Poulter turned to Twitter to discuss his displeasure about his third round at the 2012 British Open. After complaining a bit about his current standing in the tournament, he then turned his attention to a few Twitter fans who gave him some grief about playing slowly today.

Fortunately for us, fellow competitor Lee Westwood wasn’t about to let Poults off easy.

The final pairing has made the turn during their third round at Royal Lytham on Saturday, and there’s been a dramatic shake-up. Brandt Snedeker played the first 40 holes this week without making a bogey, but his third round went off the tracks a bit as he went out in 37 in his first nine holes. Snedeker carded three bogeys in a four-hole stretch. It was slightly mitigated by a birdie at the par-5 7th, but his playing partner, Adam Scott, had already made his move.

The Aussie lit up Lytham on Thursday with a 64 to take the first round lead, and he’s now making a bid to head into Sunday with a multi-shot cushion. Scott had a steady front nine, going out with a bogey-free 32. At 11-under, he now has a four-shot lead over Snedeker and Tiger Woods. A Sunday final pairing of Woods and Scott (and his caddie Steve Williams) would certainly generate plenty of storylines for the British press.

Ian Poulter is definitely known to be one of the more outspoken PGA Tour players, and he sometimes gets into trouble for making some of his opinions public. More often than not, he becomes more talkative after not playing very well.

He also likes to tweet his thoughts, much to the benefit of us all!

Just when you think that Tiger was going to disappoint fans with another major breakdown on the weekend, he makes an amazing birdie putt and pulls us all back in. Woods dropped a 40-foot putt for birdie to pull back to contention and improve his round, and he is now only three shots behind leader Adam Scott, sitting comfortably at 9-under.

Brandt Snedeker was leading the tournament to start his third round at 10-under par, but two bogies in his round have now dropped him to 8-under for the tournament.

Things have started to go downhill for Tiger Woods during his third round at the 2012 British Open. Starting the day in third position (6-under par) and four shots behind leader Brandt Snedeker, Woods started his round with a bogey on the par-3 opening hole.

After a par on No. 2, Tiger then bogied his third hole of the day to fall to 4-under for the tournament and 2-over on his round . TV analyst Curtis Strange commented that he believes Tiger is “swinging harder today,” which might account for a few wayward shots early. Woods is currently playing his fifth hole of the day and hopes to right this ship before he falls too far behind Snedeker.

The red numbers are few and far between at Royal Lytham on Saturday as the field tries to chase down Brandt Snedeker and Adam Scott. Fewer than 20 players are under par during third round action, with most stalling out around 1-under and failing to make any sort of move.

One player trying to give himself a chance on Sunday is Zach Johnson, who’s looking for back-to-back wins after capturing the John Deere last week. Johnson currently has the low number of the day at 4-under through his first 13 holes. He’s moved to 5-under for the championship, five shots back of leader Snedeker who is working his way through the front side.

The third round of the 2012 British Open has begun for Tiger Woods, and no one is more excited than his playing partner Thorbjorn Olesen.

Hailing from the golf mecca otherwise known as Denmark (cough), Olesen grew up idolizing Tiger Woods and couldn’t be more happy having the chance to play with his idol.

If Adam Scott manages to come from behind and win the British Open on Sunday, he can thank an attitude adjustment, his unsightly chin putter, and, of course, Tiger Woods for his first major title.

“I think why I’ve played good this week is it’s kind of a culmination of everything I’ve done over the last couple of years,” Scott told reporters after firing a 3-under-par 67 on Friday, which, combined with Thursday’s 64, moved him just one stroke off the 10-under lead of Brandt Snedeker.

Heading into Round 3 of the 2012 British Open, the betting odds have changed quite a bit since the opening of the tournament. Heading into Round 2, Tiger Woods was the betting favorite with 5/1 odds, but the line on Woods has now moved to 3/1, and he and Adam Scott are tied for favorite status.

Brandt Snedeker, who sits on the top of the leaderboard at 10-under heading into Round 3, began the week with 150/1 odds, but now finds himself at 9/2 after two rounds of play.

The 2012 British Open gets started on Saturday morning with Round 3 teeing off at 3:10 a.m. ET in England. The TV coverage will be bright and early for American viewers at 7 a.m. ET joining the round live in progress. The R&A sends out the entire field all at once, rather than staggering the golfers on the front and back nine, providing a long day of coverage.

The third round will also be available online through multiple live streaming options. ESPN3 will show footage from Round 3 beginning at 5 a.m. ET and then mirror the live coverage on ESPN at 7 a.m. ET. ESPN3 will show holes No. 1 through No. 18 in their entirety beginning at 7 a.m. ET.

The third round of the 2012 Open Championship will once again tee off in the middle of the night for those hoping to catch the action live stateside. The first group, Dutch golfer Joost Luiten by his lonesome, is set to tee off 3:10 a.m. ET, with pairings going off in 10 minute spreads over the next seven hours through 10:20 a.m. ET.

Brandt Snedeker is the current leader at 10-under overall. Tiger Woods is in the second-to-last pairing to tee off on the day at four strokes off the lead.