The weather held, sort of, and so did the expectations of fans for many of the current hot golfers in Thursday's first round of the British Open on the revered Old Course.
Among them are 33 current and former golfers, 14 working journalists, six biographers and seven relatives.
The U.S.G.A. is concerned that with the current grooves, elite golfers can control the ball nearly as well from the rough as they do from the fairway.
To stock the United States team with golfers whose current form was the best, Azinger reduced the time frame for accumulating points to one year from two.
That is, until Tuesday, when Garcia, answering a reporter's question about the current status of the golfers' relationship, said, "We'll have him 'round every night.
The current generation of U.S. golfers, according to the USGA, long ago fell in love with high shots to soft greens.
Of the top 108 golfers in the current world golf ranking, only two have won the Open -- No. 9 Ernie Els and No. 40 Lee Janzen, each twice.
This is because the alternative story lines are hard to sell in sound bites: we've had 12 different champions in the last 12 majors, and let's just say that not many of them are household names and the Nos. 1 and 2 golfers in the current world rankings (Luke Donald and Lee Westwood of England) haven't sniffed a major between them.
Golfer Luke Donald, the current world number one, was appointed MBE for "services to golf".
"Homeland" star Damian Lewis has said he will be there, as will the current world's number one rated golfer, Rory McIlroy, who hails from Northern Ireland.
