Golf Central

Wakefield at last month's Ministry of Silly Walks Classic

 

Simon Wakefield remains at the top of the pile despite a double bogey at the third and two other bogeys which led him to a scrambled, hard-fought, even par round of 73. He joined the clubhouse leader and young Sven Goran Eriksson lookalike, Frederik Andersson Hed, who had carded an excellent five under round of 66 to take him to minus nine for the tournament.

 

Mark 'Rabbit' Warren is still in the hunt at eight under, despite a dog of a round in which he shot two double bogeys and a bogey. Thomas 'Chevy to the' Levet must have spent a vertigo inducing night at the top of Ben Nevis as he struggled to a 76, three shots behind the leaders.

 

Of the remaining IGWT tips, Alistair 'Bruce' Forsyth and Colin 'Field Marshall' Montgomerie are well placed to bolster the Paddy Power account which is currently looking about as healthy as Amy Winehouse. The Championship Chairman lies at five under while Brucie is tied fourth at seven under.

This is even more uncomfortable than it looks

 

Colombia's finest, Camilo 'Viva' Villegas, played like he had been sampling some of his country's famous crop, with a personal best, first round of 63, to take him to the top of the leaderboard at the end of day one. Despite carding an eight under score, he narrowly missed an eagle opportunity at the 17th and felt that one or two more putts might have dropped.

 

Canada's Mike 'Tyne and' Weir and Ryan 'Roger' Moore of the U.S of A both posted a very respectable 65 to take them to tied second. Heath 'Mrs' Slocum shot a five under score of 65 to take a share of third place along with several others whose names didn't lend themselves to funny nicknames.

 

The big three of Woods, Mickelson and Singh shot a combined three over par to which Tiger contributed plus one(double bogey fourth hole), Vijay plus three (four putt, double bogey on the first) with IGWT pick Phil slightly arresting the slide with a minus one.

 

Of the other InGolfWeTrust tips, Mark Calcavecchia was a disappointing one over, while Rory Sabbatini shot a more encouraging minus three 68, to place him at tied 17th but nothing to worry the bookies yet.

 

Some men achieve coolness, some men have it thrust upon them, some men are Chi Chi Rodriguez

 

On this day, in 1963, Chi Chi Rodriguez won the Denver Open, his first PGA title since turning pro in 1960. He would win seven more PGA Tour titles on his way to becoming the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

 

Juan Antonio "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez was born in 1935, in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. As a young child he learned how to play using a guava tree branch as a club and a metal can as a ball. By the age of 12, he had taught himself so well that the precocious little so-and-so scored an amazing 67. Chi Chi is best known for being one of the great showmen of golf, often celebrating birdies with a toreador dance, in which, using his putter as a sword, he would pretend to slay the birdie.

 

Also on this day, in 1985, a joint American-French expedition discovered the wreck of the Titanic. If they had known that their find would partly inspire James Cameron to make the film Titanic, they probably would have just left it alone.

 

Meanwhile, in 2001, the first orca-whale calf to be born through artificial insemination came into this world. Much to the dismay of the father, Tilikum, who knew nothing about it and now has to pay half of his squid rations in child support.

 

And it's Kasatka! As they say in Alaska, to; fleet-footed footballer Jose Antonio Reyes (24), worlds-apart retired footballers Ruud Gullit and Tony Cascarino, both (45) and Miami sound machine, Gloria Estefan (50). It would have been Rocky Marciano's 84th birthday today, had he not been KO'd by a plane crash in 1969.

Och aye the noo!: Sorry I have no idea what you're talking about...
Sorry, when in Scotland and all that..: When in Scotland and all that what?
Oh, just get on with it...: OK. So it's Day Two and the cohabitants of the leaders love shack are England's Simon Wakefield and the Frenchman Thomas 'Chevy to the' Levet.
OK, continue...: Levet birdied the last for a 68 to catch the early pace-setter Wakefield, who posted a 9-under total of 137 thanks to a tidy 69. The overnight leader, Marc 'Rabbit' Warren, bogeyed the last for a 73 and third place.
Seems like Levet's finally back in business?: He is. After his career was nearly ended by severe vertigo, Levet is getting somewhere back to near his best. "For the last two weeks I'm starting to reach the level of 2004," the Ryder Cup star said. "I'm just waiting for my putting to show up. In 2004 my bad putting days were decent but at the moment my bad putting days are bad."
So how have you been?: Oh you know...
No I don't and to be honest I don't care...: It was her fault you know...
The golf?: Oh yeah. Well, the title holder Paul Casey kept his chances of back-to-back victories in the event and a third Gleneagles win alive with a 71 that left him five shots away from the joint leaders.
Any major casualties?: No, it's just a golf tournament...
I mean who missed the cut?: Last week's winner Ross 'Carrie' Fisher, Graeme 'Malcolm' McDowell, Kenneth 'Roll ON Roll Off' Ferrie and Taichi Teshima...
Not Taichi Teshima?: Sorry, but yes.
Goddam. Why? I ask you, why?: I don't know. God moves in mysterious ways...

For full leaderboard visit www.europeantour.com

Which of the players in this week's field is not only the oldest ever winner of the Johnnie Walker Championship but is also the only wire-to-wire champion?