Blustery Birkdale ready to bite
- 19 Jul 08, 09:01 AM
"It's going to be a car crash out there today," said my esteemed colleague Rob Hodgetts as we arrived at Royal Birkdale early this morning.
High winds had buffeted our sea-front flat all night - it is not as glamorous as it sounds, by the way - and it was still blowing strong as we took our seats in the completely deserted media room.
It is amazing how much childish joy you can still get from being the first in, you know.
The conditions have been a massive talking point this week, leading to some players calling for certain holes to be shortened. "They must do it now," we thought, as the winds pulled at the massive roof that shelters the world's press.
And soon, we got confirmation that they have.
The long 6th has seen a minimal change, with the yardage going down from 499 to 486, but the 11th and 16th have been significantly reduced.
Hole 11 was 436 yards but is now 358, while 16 is 371 yards instead of 439.
And you can see why they took the decision. The winds have been gusting at the 35mph mark this morning but they are set to rise to a maximum of 46mph when the final pairing KJ Choi and Greg Norman start at 1420 BST.
The movement of the tee at 11 significantly reduces the massive carry into the wind that the players had before. Previously, there was around 200 yards seperating the back of the championship tee and the fairway.
Rob and I made our way to the first tee where a smattering of fans and numerous officials had gathered for the start of the third round.
There was erstwhile starter Ivor Robson, standing proud in his green jacket but without the large canvas umbrella that has shielded him for the past two days.
The chances of it flying off into the car park must have been just too great.
England's Phillip Archer began the day's play, the draw dictating that he would have to negotiate the conditions all on his lonesome.
After Ariel Canete and Simon Khan had teed off it was the turn of England's Paul Casey and Heath Slocum - who was a late call-up into the field on Thursday morning.
Casey's caddie Craig Connolly, who is otherwise known as Knuckles, then proceeded to serve up a superb comedy moment that led to Rob and I having to turn away so that he couldn't see us laughing.
Connolly tried to fix his charge a powdered drink but he soon realised that he really should have done it in the clubhouse as the wind started blowing the powder everywhere apart from in the bottle. Brilliant.
Slocum fired his shot down the fairway but Casey must have wondered why he even got out of bed as he pushed an iron out of bounds on the right, taking three off the tee.
So there we have it, moving day has started. We'll soon see how much of a difference those tee changes will have, so go on wind, do your worst.
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