I remember wishing Darren Clarke wouldn't win the British Open. It's a memory that quickly took a 180, as I found myself pulling for the Irishman down the stretch last year. It wasn't that I had anything against Clarke, I just really wanted Phil Mickelson or Dustin Johnson to get a win for the U.S. I had a sliver of hope that Anthony Kim was making a career comeback at the right time or Rickie Fowler was making the leap in front of our eyes at such a young age. 

Clarke was resilient last year and his stellar play caught and emotion that Sunday afternoon just enough to drop my allegiance and realize the best story was for Clarke to raise the Claret Jug. It's a great, historic trophy and Clarke was the right man to take it home for the year. I was surprised - not disappointed - to hear Clarke, renowned for always being up to raise a pint, never put a drop of liquid to enjoy out the of the cup because he respected it to much. It made me happy that I pulled for him a year ago. It was funny to learn he got his replica of the trophy and filled that one up for a toast (you can get your own for a cool $129.99 here). I considered it for a long time before remembering I have a wedding to pay for in a couple months. 

Reflecting on the 2011 British Open has got me excited for this year's edition. As with every golf tournament, it's the questions that linger that drive the anticipation for the major championship...

Will Tiger be on a high or low at the right time to win? 

What is Phil Mickelson's game going to look like?

Is there a chance that Clarke can find magic again and repeat?

Can we really consider Tom Watson a contender?

Is it time for Sergio Garcia or Lee Westwood to get the proverbial major monkey off their back?

How many golfers are going to lose their opportunity for finding one of the 206 bunkers and not getting out in one try?

What is the state of Bubba Watson's mental golf game?

Is there any chance in the world John Daly makes some noise beyond the loud pants he'll be wearing?

I could go on forever, or worse, I could actually try to answer these questions and extend this column by thousands of words, but what's the point? All of those questions will be answered by the end of Sunday and another form in past tense will take there place. Golf is a game of questions in which all are not answered. That's why we pay attention. The intrigue never dies and this British Open is far from lacking intrigue. 

My Picks

1. Rory McIlroy

2. Tiger Woods

3. Zach Johnson

4. Graeme McDowell

5. Sergio Garcia

Round 1 Tee Times

Match Ups

Field

As the lights go down on 2011, there's still a little bit of time left to shine a spotlight on the golf world so the memorable events of this past year can be given their due one last time. It's a time for reflection right before we all look ahead to the 2012 PGA Tour season and what madness it will more than likely bring over a 12 month period. Most years - no matter what I'm writing about - I like to take the time to do a lot of research so that I don't miss anything important that happened throughout the year. But, this recap is going to be a little different. I'll be handing out random awards and recounting different tournaments or moments all from memory. The best memories don't need to be researched... they get implanted in your brain never to escape again because they were that impactful.

All of that is the say that if a few things here or there seem a bit off or without acute detail, it's because this isn't intended to be an encyclopedia of the 2011 golf season. It's a snap shot of what impressed me and found a small corner of my brain to occupy this year. Call it Occupy Tony's Golf Brain if you will... but let's get started.

Player of the Year Award: Luke Donald
No question here. He may not have won a major in 2011, but he seemed to have won everything else. He was the World No. 1 golfer, topped the money list on the PGA and European Tour and left 2011 with a pair of victories. If you looked back through my picks throughout the year, you'll find Donald's name in the Top 10 quite a bit. I expect an even bigger year in 2012.

Where Did You Go? Award: Anthony Kim, Phil Mickelson
Mickelson actually won in 2011, but he went missing for awhile after The Master's for reasons I believe to be injury related. Kim couldn't stay on the golf course as he battled back from a 2010 injury and simply couldn't make an impact on the golf course this year. After seeing Kim so fired up at the last Ryder Cup, it was disappointing for him to be pretty much nonexistent this year. Here's hoping he can get back to where he was... same for Phil.

I Thought That Was Going To Be A Really Big Deal Award: Rory Sabatini/Golf Media
My memory is telling me Sabatini got suspended for a couple weeks for verbally berating someone while on the course. I don't fully recall who it was, but what I do remember is that the golf media got all puffy chested and "holier than thou" about it, taking a hard stance against Sabatini's actions. Their plea was that major sanctions would come down upon him, but that never happened. Quite the mystery!

Young Gun Award: Keegan Bradley
Just because Tiger Woods played well at the Presidents Cup doesn't mean that Bradley didn't deserve that spot over him. Bradley was great in 2011 and even managed to win the PGA Championship. It was the only major he played in, making it even more remarkable that he won it. Big things in his future, I see.

Comeback Player of the Year Award: Tiger Woods
The PGA Tour didn't think anyone was worthy of getting the CBPOTY in 2011, but the way Woods was able to finish out 2011 makes me believe he should have that trophy sitting next to his major championship trophies.... or sitting in his garage which is most likely where it would end up. This isn't to say that Woods is back, but seeing any kind of promise out of Woods is great and he clinched the Presidents Cup for the USA this year. That has to mean something.... and not just to PGA Tour ratings.

Major Championship of the Year Award: The Masters
A tradition unlike any other... and this year was no exception. Charl Schwartzel was able to make the name "Charl" a favorite name in my house after my fiance watched The Masters with me this year. From that point forward, anytime golf was on - and that was often - she asked where Charl was. The fact that he went on such a birdie tear to close out and win the tournament just made it even better. 

Not every moment or every golfer made this list because I didn't want this end up being a 9k word column that you would never get through, so I'll just leave you with the kind of random stream of thought you've come to know well over here on the HurricaneGolf.com blog....

...Rory McIlroy winning then tweeting a photo of himself chugging Jager... Steve Stricker's neck... John Daly's solid tweets and poor compsure on the golf course... Steve Elkington dominating the Internet like only Elk can... Jason Sobel trying to be too funny on Twitter and rarely succeeding... Steve Williams being a sympathetic figure then a racist then hated then just confusing everyone who has ever heard of him... Adam Scott... my fiance wanting to leave me for Adam Scott... me now hating Adam Scott and wishing I had an Australian accent... Tiger folding in half at The PLAYERS... David Fehrety's awesome TV show... not being able to stand the hosts on Golf Channel's Morning Drive, but gutting through it anyway... and cut!

I would like to thank all of you readers out there for supporting this blog in 2011 and would be remiss if I didn't remind you to click some of the links above or to your left and go find yourself some nice new - discounted! - brand-name golf clubs and accessories from our site. Let Hurricane Golf cure your slice or at least make you look good while you slice in 2012. We're happy to help with both.

Happy New Year.

The weather went from awful to low-scoring-friendly Saturday at The Open Championship at Royal St. George Golf Club and plenty of golfers took advantage of their later start times.

The scoring average of the first six groups of the day (77.182) dropped 4.299 strokes to a 72.883 average for the last six groups of the day (Thank you @BWAvery for the great stat).

Darren Clarke and Dustin Johnson were the biggest beneficiaries of their afternoon starts. Clarke was able to shoot under-par for the third straight day, finishing -1 for the day and -5 overall for the tournament. He holds a one-shot lead over Johnson, who has finished 70, 68, 68, respectively, and is three shots of Thomas Bjorn and Rickie Fowler (-2).  Lucas Glover and Miguel Angel Jimenez are T5, -1.

No one in the Top 5 teed off before 12:35 p.m. BST.  The earliest start time for the group of players T7 at even par (Martin Kaymer, Davis Love III,  George Coetzee, Anders Jansen, Anthony Kim, Phil Mickelson) was 1:30 p.m. BST.

Safe to say, weather is going to play a huge factor (again) for the final round on Sunday. The current weather report shows a high of 17c with showers starting mid-morning and continuing through the afternoon. Light showers won't hurt the players quite as much as the 24-34kph wind gusts that will be swirling.

Playing conditions for Sunday won't be nearly as damaging for players starting at different times as Saturday - they should be consistently horrible for everyone - which is good news for golf fans. We'll be in for a treat Sunday.

Bashing my head against the wall… or, a review of my Open Championship picks going into the final round:

1. Bubba Watson - T33, +5; Out of contention, in need of a miracle
2. Phil Mickelson - T7, E; In contention, on the hunt
3.  Rory McIlroy - T25, +4; Out of contention, in need of a miracle
4. Adam Scott - T17, +2; In contention, could get to 4th
5. Sergio Garcia - T25, +4; In contention, could get to 5th
6. Zach Johnson - T13, +1; In contention, could place higher
7. Lee Westwood - CUT
8. Ernie Els - CUT
9. Matt Kuchar - CUT
10. Nick Watney - CUT

Note to self, stop making picks after 5.

Who I like Sunday (and no that doesn't mean I'm backing out of my picks): Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. I'll take any of the 6 American golfers in the Top 12, actually. USA! USA! USA!

Sunday Tee Times

Anthony Kim is making me feel a little better about my ability to make tournament predictions every week. Kim is one-stroke off the lead after shooting a 64 (one stroke off the course record) in the second round and finished up tied for second with Johnson Wagner at -8. There’s still a lot of tournament to play, but with Kim struggling to put the pieces of his game back together with a nagging thumb injury that kept him out most of 2010, it was risky to think he could pull it together quick enough to defend his Shell Houston Open title.

Kim had only 22 putts in his bogey-free round in which he made eight birdies. So far so good for Kim, and my prediction. Chris Kirk currently leads the tournament at -9. Kirk shot 66 in the first round and 69 Friday.

Even though I picked Kim to hold up the trophy, I’d happily be wrong if Steve Elkington can continue his solid play and win the tournament. He’s always had a beautifully flawless wing, but has struggled with consistency and on the green. Elkington is the best interview in the golf world and runs one of the most innovative golf websites at www.secretinthedirt.com. Check it out, and while you’re at it, check out some of his interviews on the Jim Rome Show - here - and you’ll understand why I’m always pulling for the guy.

The rest of the Top 15:

T4 - Josh Teater, Padraig Harrington, Jimmy Walker, -7

T7 - Tim Petrovic, Aaron Baddely, Scott Verplank, John Rollins, Ben Crane, -6

T12 - Bill Lunde, Steve Elkington, Michael Putnam, Ben Martin -5

Full Leaderboard    |    Saturday Tee Times    |    Highlights and more video

Personally I’m betting no. I happen to like a lot of the young players. Anthony Kim, Sean O’Hair, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Camilo Villegas, and there are more we could add to the list. All are really talented, all have won on tour, and all will win again. But can this group of players and others draw ratings and crowds the way Tiger used to? Highly unlikely. I have written Tiger off, and not for his transgressions off the course but for his seemingly lackluster performance when he's on it. That combined with my suspicion that his swing is in real trouble. Yes, I know he is still the best, he has accomplished more than the players I listed will combined. He has more talent and more will to succeed than any other player. But physically he's in trouble. I think the Tiger void is here, and as this season progresses I fear it will get infinitely worse. I am hopeful some player other than Phil can captivate the audience to follow the game. Stay tuned.

-Hurricane Dan