The Open begins tonight at Royal Troon in Scotland, home of the renowned par 3 called Postage Stamp. Ocala's Louis Oosthuizen will be right at home on the famed hole, he's been playing its replica for the past few years at his home course, Golden Ocala.

    Oostie is coming off a tie for third with Patrick Reed in the Andalucia Open, where both wound up at three under par, two strokes behind playoff winner Sergio Garcia and Anirban Lahiri. Oostie shot 70-71-69-210 on the par-71 course, and collected a cool $900,000.

    There is one Gator in the field playing for the major share ($3.1 million) of the $17 million purse - Billy Horschel - and one Seminole, Brooks Koepka, who tied for 27th at six over par in the Andalucia and earned $167,500. There's also a fella named Tiger, taking another shot at history if his tortured body allows him to get through 72 holes, and Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 who will be looking for his 7th victory of this season if he can keep driving (his car) in the proper lane. 

    The Open airs beginning at 4 a. m. on the USA network.  

    There's a satellite event in the U. S. for those who didn't qualify for The Open, the $4 million Barracuda Championship at the Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California. Gators Tyson Alexander and Camilo Villegas are aboard, as is Seminole Daniel Berger.  

comments powered by Disqus