Star’s front row seat for sporting history
- Local newspaper week
Early starters hit by weather blow
Saturday 19th July 2008, 1:05PM BST.
The chances of an early starter charging back into contention for the Open Championship looked to have been blown away today at Royal Birkdale.
Strong, gusting winds were already buffeting the course when Phillip Archer teed off at 7.30am and the forecast did not look good for the rest of the day.
Scattered showers and winds blowing to almost 50mph were predicted, with the worst of it around the time leader KJ Choi and Greg Norman were scheduled to begin their third rounds.
That raised the possibility of play being suspended if balls began moving on the greens, the exposed sixth and 16th the most likely problem areas.
The conditions had already claimed some notable casualties, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood – who made the cut right on the mark of nine over par – both taking a double-bogey six on the opening hole.
In view of the conditions, tees on the sixth, 11th and 16th were moved forward, reducing the length of the course by 159 yards.
Westwood then dropped further shots at the second and fifth to be 13 over par.
Sponsored Links
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
LIVE traffic updates
Road, rail and airport - latest
Our new, live traffic and travel updates service - check before you set out.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
