Open Championship


I think imploding is a pretty strong word for what happened to him.

He was playing steadier than almost everyone but not making the birdie chances he was creating over the first 12/13 holes.

The close in putt that lipped out was serious bad fortune. Finding the bunker on the 18th was 'par for the course' if you'll pardon the pun and he did exceptionally well to get back with a chance of par after that.

If you looked around G-Mac, Tiger & Snedeker (all top 5 finishers) were all enduring the same woes.

A 75 on a windy day when only 9 players break par is very different from an 80 in perfect conditions (McIlroy at Augusta last year) or a triple bogey on the last when you're 3 clear (Van De Velde in the 99 Open).
 

I think bogeying the final 4 holes when you are 4 shots clear comes under the heading of imploding.
 
Liamos said:
I think bogeying the final 4 holes when you are 4 shots clear comes under the heading of imploding.
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It obviously looks like it on paper, particularly beacuse they were the final holes, and all the reports are calling it an implosion.

The nature of the shots he dropped weren't hugely dramatic though, a lipped out putt and a fairway bunker for example. Conceding 5 shots to your nearest rival over the last 4 holes is obviously dramatic but there were no dramatic mistakes. Tiger (triple bogey) and G-Mac (topping a ball into the bushes during a similar run of bogeys to Scott) were far more dramatic mistakes.
 
Liamos said:
I think bogeying the final 4 holes when you are 4 shots clear comes under the heading of imploding.
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..especially when he had been playing so well for the previous 3 1/2 rounds. The early signs were on the first but he re-bounded with a nice birdie on the 2nd hole.
 
People love using dramatic terms to describe events like yesterday but I'm with Der Kaiser on this, there was no implosion or choking by Scott yesterday. As he said himself he just hit some bad shots on those holes and that golf course can be cruel when you make a mistake. I'm sure he'll take a much more pragmatic view of the weekend than to beat himself up over any "implosion". This wasn't a Jean van de Velde or Rory McIlroy scenario.
 

No, it certainly wasn't in the same league as Van de Velde. I think that was the worst collapse of all.

You say it wasn't a choke, that he just hit some bad shots. But you have to ask yourself why did he hit some bad shots?

The logical answer is he saw the finish line, he was about to win his first major, and he couldn't cope with the pressure.
 
The only case of nerves I saw from Scott was on 16 with those bad putts. The bogey on 15 was pretty normal yesterday (it was the hardest hole on the course all day) and 17 was the third hardest hole all day. 18 was probably a bad call off the tee but his third was gutsy and definitely not the shot of someone cracking under the pressure.
 
Els was due a decent birdie. He came close to a few during his round but they just didn't happen.
 
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