By Matt Slater and Rob Hodgetts
BBC Sport at St Andrews |
Legend Watch (Part I)
 Are you looking at me? |
Stand still long enough in St Andrews this week and you're bound to get in the way of at least one member of the golf-ocracy.
In less than 24 hours yours truly has already ruined Jean
Van de Velde's roam in the gloaming down the first, been
caught pointing at Nick Faldo by Nick Faldo, and narrowly missed spilling a pint on Seve Ballesteros.
Seve, by the way, muttered "de nada" and strolled off purposefully towards supper.
The only thing that slowed his progress was a request for a picture from two young, blonde, female journalists - I think - from Golf Punk magazine.
Midnight joker
The first serious blows of the Open are still nearly two
days away but we already have our first major scandal.
The golfing fourth estate can handle most things that life
can throw at it, but being awoken by a fire alarm is not one
of them.
So there we were, outside our university lodgings at 0400 BST,
in our smalls, wondering who amongst us did the deed, in the bedroom, with a cigarette.
Breakfast was a frosty affair of recriminating looks and
moral indignation. We haven't heard the last of this.
We're all journalists now (Part I)
Another first instalment in what promises to be a regular this week - user-generated gags.
After the news that Jack Nicklaus is to be honoured with his own �5 note, can anybody help me with a Scots-and-their-money joke?
Sweaty socks
It's "scorchio" here - no, it really is. Hotter than
Lanzarote or Beirut, probably. But not everybody is happy.
The florists, for one, are fuming.
The R&A loves decorating the place with floral flourishes
and the fierce Fife sun is causing havoc.
June and her green-fingered team were up early this morning moving all the flower arrangements indoors.
Much more of this and the whole St Andrews in bloom theme
will have to be scrapped for cacti.
Tuesday prize-giving
Shot of the day: A tie between Tim Petrovic's 400-yard
rocket down the 14th and Tom Watson's eagle at the same
hole.
Most cheerful group: The all-Aussie four-ball of Stuart Appleby, Nick Flanagan, Mark Hensby and Craig Parry. They must have heard the cricket score.
Miss of the day: Flanagan's slice at the 16th that just
missed two fans who were having a sherry-fuelled row about a better-ball stableford at St Georges last month.
Loudest group: No contest, Brian Davis and caddie Vernon
Cook laughing like drains on the sixth fairway.
Golfin' dolphins
 BBC presenter Bill Oddie is always on the look out for the marvels of Mother Nature |
Can somebody get a message to Bill Oddie and Terry Nutkins
- false alarm, there is no wildlife in the bay behind the burger van at the 11th green.
Those dolphins/seals that everybody was taking pictures of early on Tuesday, turned out they were rocks. Sorry.
Hazy days
A gloom descended on St Andrews late on Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn't at the announcement of a 30-minute stand-up slot from Jimmy Tarbuck on the 18th green.
The previously sun-baked Old Course was blanketed by the infamous Fife "Haar", apparently pronounced with as many "r's" as you can muster.
This mist that rolls in from the sea (not a bad line for a song, that) signalled the end of the Scottish summer at 1655 BST.
Word was that if you were playing at Carnoustie, just down the coast, you couldn't see further than the end of your putter.
Good news for American Kenny Perry, though, who was bemoaning the fact that he had packed an entire wardrobe of cold-weather gear.
MMIX
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