2010 British Open: A Shocking Friday at The Home of Golf

Louis Oosthuizen leading the Open Championship is by no means the most shocking thing that happened yesterday at St. Andrews.

Granted, 99.9 percent of golf fans had never heard of Oosthuizen until yesterday afternoon, and most news outlets are still scrambling to figure out exactly how to pronounce his name.

But Oosthuizen leading the Open Championship is not that much of a surprise.  Louis Oosthuizens pop up during the first 36 holes of almost every major championship, and it happens even more often at the Open Championship, where wild weather changes can occur between the morning and afternoon waves.

Most of the time they fade away over the next 36 holes.  On rare occasions they stick around for Sunday afternoon and on even rarer occasions they may just win golf’s oldest major championship.

It’s happened before and it will undoubtedly happen again.

No big deal.

The most shocking part of the 139th Open Championship was Jason Dufner all but refusing to play the seventh hole due to the wind.

It was Phil Mickelson basically giving up on his round due to the terrible weather he was forced to play in, which was long before the really rough stuff had even descended upon St. Andrews.

It was also Rory McIlroy complaining about being sent out to the course after the delay because the wind had not yet calmed down.  

And, the real kicker came when every single player was pulled off the golf course for a “wind delay”.

A wind delay at St. Andrews?

As the players and their caddies were walking back to the R&A clubhouse, Old Tom Morris must have spun in his grave several times in the cemetary just down the road from the Old Course.

The golf Gods, who most believe played a large role in creating St. Andrews, must have looked down from the sky in utter disgust with how these ungrateful earthy beings were treating their ultimate masterpiece.  

A wind delay at St. Andrews?

Golfers have been braving the elements at St. Andrews for more than 600 years.  

A wind delay at St. Andrews?

Wind is St. Andrews.  In case you don’t know, wind is as much a part of links golf as pot bunkers and the absence of trees.  

After 600 years of men, women, dogs and seagulls braving the elements at St. Andrews, all it took was a group of multi-millionaires and a team of R&A officials who did not want to anger those multi-millionaires to bring golf at St. Andrews to a complete halt.

You may not know who Oosthuizen is, where he comes from, or what’s on his golfing resume.  But in terms of pure shock factor, Oosthuizen leading the Open has nothing on breaking 600 years of tradition at the home of golf.

Yesterday afternoon we witnessed one of the most shocking moments in Open Championship history, and it had absolutely nothing to do with Louis Oosthuizen.