Live from the Open at Turnberry: Third Round, July 18

Golf writer Andy Reistetter is on site at the Open at Turnberry and is providing daily reports covering both inside and outside the ropes. Here are his notes from Saturday 7/18/09.

Well is there anything that this Open is missing?

Okay so there is no Tiger Woods playing on the weekend.

But does it matter?

In his absence there are a million different reasons why this Open is and will be long remembered as a special one.

I hope to share some of those reasons right here right now at least from my perspective.

Today makes five days in a row that I can't seem to catch a ride on the bus to get to the golf course. The bus was running late so I put out my thumb.

An official Open Lexus vehicle with a clubhouse parking pass on the dashboard came screaming by. I thought maybe it was Stevie Williams driving Tiger Woods to Turnberry. Not! Remember they missed the cut.

A very nice couple coming across from Edinburgh to see the Open stopped and picked me up.

I try to give back something to the nice people I meet along the way when and where I can. This couple did not have a parking pass so I used the one I from yesterday to find us a spot in the car park. At 35 pounds a pop there was a considerable amount of unadvertised savings to the couple for stopping and picking me up.

That's what I like to think at least. There are unadvertised benefits to being my friend!

Gosh where do I start?

My report time was one hour later today so that meant an extra hour of sleep. That is relative though since I don't think I finished yesterday's article until about 1 a.m. With seven hours of sleep the bounce was back in my step when I hit the fairways of Turnberry.

Judy Rankin was navigating her way through a bunch of us guys waiting for our assignments on her way to the toilet (gosh I am writing like a Euro now). I said please make way for the next Commissioner of the LPGA Tour. She laughed and said "No, no not for me!" See I am working always trying to break a story. Officially though I think that would be a "no comment."

I finally asked the lady who wanted the "inside the ropes" arm badge with the number "69." Sorry I could not resist. Evidently she wants to score a "69" in golf. Her best so far is an 80 so she has a ways to go. I told her visualization is the key. No, no, no I am not a dirty American. Just trying to help!

I watched some of the BBC broadcast while eating my standard breakfast of bacon roll, scrambled eggs, and potato cheese scone. The fairways are so hard you see a puff of dusty dirt upon impact of the club.

Another neat thing is how the player signals to the gallery to come help look for a lost ball. One minute you are outside the ropes and the next you are inside milling around with Tiger Woods trying to find his ball.

Oh yeah right you never did find that ball on the ninth hole yesterday. Now Tiger is back in Florida watching the "other TW" win this Open.

My assignment was an early game—No. 22 off the first tee at 12:20 p.m. almost two-and-a-half hours before the leaders tee off at 3 p.m. That is good since that means there is two-and-a half hours of golf to watch after my group is done.

I followed 2007 Masters Champion and two-time winner this year Zach Johnson and the Italian Francesco Molinari for 18 holes. They are both really classy guys who came over to introduce themselves and shake my hand on the first tee.

Neither player started the third round the way they wanted. Both golfers bogeyed the first hole after poor drives. Zach was in the hay left and Francesco was in the first fairway bunker on the left side. Both spots different cells in the same jail requiring a simple but short recovery shot. No heroic iron approach third shot and bogey is the result.

The "Bunker equals Bogey" rule is hereby updated to the "Bunker equals Bogey and the Hay means Hey say Goodbye to Par."

Once I walked out past the grandstand on the first tee I could feel the wind coming directly off the Irish Sea out of the west. I heard later that Tom Watson walked out past the first tee prior to teeing off to gauge the strength of the wind. Wise Old Tom Morris doesn't have anything over wise young Tom Watson.

Maybe it is the little things that win you Open Championships.

By the time we reached the fourth tee down by the sea the wind was howling and gusting to 20-25 mph. With the next eight holes heading to the north along the sea there was a cross wind left-to-right. Any sort of cut or fade spin and the ball would go far right. For a right-hander a low draw into the wind was the play of the day.

Molinari bogeyed three of the first five holes and made a good par on the par-five seventh hole after bunkering his ball two times. Another bogey on No. 8 and no offsetting birdies, he was four-over for the day at the turn.

Johnson did a little better but not much as he missed a short birdie putt on No. 3 and bogeyed No. 5. With no birdies he was two-over at the turn.

With a three-putt bogey on No. 10 the high wind condition seemed to wear him down. He did get a respite on No. 12, recording the first birdie of the day for the twosome with a six-foot putt on the downwind 12th hole.

Molinari recorded his first birdie on the difficult par-three 15th hole with a six-iron to 30 feet, then drainined the putt. Johnson bunkered back left and failed to get it up-and-down.

Zack's real problems started on the scenic but difficult par-four dog-leg-right 16th hole. His approach iron did not carry a sufficient distance and released back down the bank into the burn. After a chip he three-putted for a triple bogey seven.

Molinari salvaged his round with a great second shot on No. 17 and converted the 30-foot eagle putt. With a 3-under back nine he shot one-over 71 for the day, and stands at two-over for the tournament.

Johnson bogeyed No. 18 to shoot a seven-over 77 and virtually eliminated his chances to win the Claret Jug standing at eight-over par for three rounds.

I have always wanted to sit in one of the large grandstands at a British Open. They look so massive on TV and in person really are massive!

I decided to head out to the 15th hole and see if I could find myself a seat. I did at the very top of the grandstand, the largest one on the golf course. Not that I was as high as the aerial crane they use over here instead of a blimp, but I was very high up.

The view all around was spectacular. The Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Arran directly in front and the Ailsa Craig with the Irish Sea beyond to the left. The Turnberry Lighthouse looked almost miniature in size while the Turnberry Hotel didn't look so big in the distance behind. The golf holes in the links land were perfectly outlined from this lofty perch.

From this vantage point you could literally see all 18 holes with binoculars and Hole Nos. seven, eight, 14, 15, and 16 easily without. I enjoyed the view and the golf as the final eight twosomes paraded themselves through on the way to the clubhouse.

No. 15 played difficultly. Though the green was large with punchbowl contours, it was extremely hard. Golf balls without the proper spin and impact into an inclining part of the green bounded through right into the back left bunker.

The hole was cut middle of the green to the right side bringing the tall grass and steep side hill into play.

No. 15 played most difficult for contender Steve Marino who had battled back from a disastrous start going five-over par on holes two-five. His six-iron stayed right and he found himself down the slope and needing the help of the gallery to find his ball. He needed the help of an unplayable lie penalty shot to be able to pitch it up from the eighth fairway. Failing to get up-and-down resulted in a triple bogey six in the blink of a second.

I followed the lead group into the clubhouse watching Tom Watson continue to make history as a 59-year old competing for his sixth Open Championship. After bogeying No. 15 from the back bunker he made a bomb of 40-feet for birdie on No. 16. He nearly eagled No. 17 from 15 feet. After a routine par on No.18 he posted a one-over 71 to remain the leader by one stroke going into Sunday's final round.

The question will be the same tomorrow as it was for Norman at last year's Open. Does he have the stamina to compete and finish the win off on the fourth day? Senior golfers are used to competing in three day events with option of riding in golf carts on the Champions Tour.

Tom Watson and 12 other players can win the Open tomorrow.

One stroke behind Watson is Aussie Mathew Goggin and Englishman Ross Fisher whose wife is expecting a baby at any moment.

Two strokes back is another Englishman Lee Westwood and South African Retief Goosen.

Three strokes back are Americans Jim Furyk and Stewart Cink.

At even par, four strokes back are American Bryce Molder and Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee.

The four players five strokes back are Sweden's Richard S. Johnson who won at Milwaukee opposite the Open last year and is unable to defend his title there this year; reigning Masters Champion and fierce competitor Angel Cabrera and Americans Boo Weekley, and second round co-leader Steve Marino.,

Don't count Steve Marino out. After the triple bogey on No. 15 he double bogeyed the 16th but finished birdie-birdie.

Old Tom Morris Sr. is the oldest winner of the Open Championship when he won in 1867 at age 46.

Maybe it is time again for young Tom Watson to win the Open.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]