Friday at the Open: Rory’s emotions, illegal drivers, Fore fights, and Westy’s rise

The Shotgun Start

This special Friday afternoon edition runs through some instant reactions to the first 36 holes at The Open. Andy cannot contain his Lee Westwood excitement with the hard-luck Englishman rising near the top of the leaderboard again. We run down Westy’s chances, as well as the entire top 10, and look for some names outside that group to make a longshot, given the history, run at the Claret Jug. We review the contrast in Brooksy’s and Spieth’s rounds, and who should be the favorite at the midpoint. With the Pace Car in the lead, Flashback Friday goes down the rabbit hole of that one time the R&A handed out a slow play penalty, which Andy attempts to argue greatly helped Phil Mickelson’s career. We spend a segment reviewing Rory’s push to make the cut and his emotional post-round interviews. Tiger’s decision to skip the WGC Swampass is praised but the grading of his week at Portrush is not kind. We wrap with some late breaking news on Xander Schaueffele failing a driver test and Bobby MacIntyre getting into it with Kyle Stanley over his failure to yell “Fore!” We conclude with some quick hitters on the Meth-head uprising in the heartland, Dru Love’s admirable work in Canada, and Carson Daly returning to our golf lives.