I got my stitches out of my elbow and my bandages removed and I am ready to play golf again. Prior to the operation the doctor told me there may be some fluid in the elbow that may have to be drained once or twice but that is normal. Instead, the fluid in my elbow has congealed and could not be drained (that is not a pretty picture). I should absorb the fluid over a few weeks. My elbow is pretty sore but the doctor said that I can do whatever I want.
I wanted to watch the end of the Open Championship from St. Andrews so the Gardener and I made plans to play at high noon. The temperatures in Phoenix have been running between 110 degrees and 115 degrees this week with some humidity to really make it miserable. We figured there would be no other idiots on the golf course at noon. We were wrong!
The Open Championship turned into a run-a-way for the journeyman South African, gap-toothed Lauren Hutton look-a-like, Louis Oosthuizen. Although Louis missed the cut in 7 out of the last 8 majors and most golf fans (including me) had never heard of him, Louis is currently ranked 5th on the European Tour (after the results of the Open Championship ). He does have one other win and one second place finish on the European Tour this year. He is 5' 10" tall and only about 160 lbs. (72 kgs.) but he hits the ball a mile and, at least this week, straight!
On Saturday morning the announcers were asked if Louis would be leading at the end of the day. One of the announcers (I cannot remember whom) unequivocally said no way. He is eating his words now. Not only did he remain in the lead, but he increased the lead over all of the field except Paul Casey (an ASU golfer) who shot a 67. On Sunday, it looked like a match play championship between Oosthuizen and Casey and I had the feeling that Oosthuizen would crack and Casey would win his first major. When Casey hit his approach shot to about 7 feet on No. 1 I thought that it was game on, but Paul missed the putt and just never got it going. The wheels fell off on No. 12 when Casey tripled bogeyed and Oosthuizen birdied the hole. From there it was a walk in the park (a very windy park) for Oosthuizen.
What surprised me the most about Oosthuizen was that Paul Casey is one of the longest hitters off of the tees in professional golf and little Louis out-drove him by a lot on almost every hole and hit the ball right down the middle of the fairway. It would not have mattered if the fairways were 20 yards wide (rather than 100 yards wide). Also, Louis was so calm out there. On Saturday, he bogeyed the first hole and went on to have 13 pars and 4 birdies on the last 17 holes. On Sunday, he had seven straight pars and then bogeyed 8 and came back to eagle the par-4 9th hole to stop any momentum that Casey was trying to generate.
After watching Louis tame St. Andrews I was ready to hit the links at Orange Tree Golf Resort.
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