British Open: Big names blow it

Updated: July 17, 2008, 6:32 PM EST 1 comment Royal Birkdale was supposed to provide a big opening for golf's bigger names this week. Instead, Birkdale was only a big jerk. As Tiger Woods stretched out on a couch in Florida Thursday morning, resting the left knee that figured to put a big hurt on interest at the third major of the year, some of his biggest challengers were being stretched to the limit by a course that seemed to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Rubbernecking, and not a plate of fish-and-chips, was the order of the day here in northwest England, at a golf course that more than a few players are now referring to as Jerk-Dale. Phil Mickelson, for example, lost a ball in the snarly Birkdale rough early in his round and shot 79. Vijay Singh and Ernie Els both ballooned to 80s, Big Easy firing a... [read full story]