Sunday Semi Live Quail Hollow

5:55 pm: Brian Harman, with a long, clutch putt on the 72nd hole, seals the deal.  I think he was trying to put the ball to the left of the green with his second shot, but not that far left.

Brian Harman has long been a favorite of Lanny H Golf.  Here’s what we wrote three years ago:

Brian Harman reminds me of Jeff Tweedy. I saw Harman on Morning Drive earlier this year; he was laid-back and funny. Seems like he had on a pair clodhoppers of some sort, almost work boots, and MD wanted him to demonstrate one-leg squats. (He declined.) He’s another of the many Georgia alums on the Tour. Anyway, he’d make a good winner tomorrow.

For the unwashed, this is Jeff Tweedy of Wilco:

5:15 pm: DJ Chasing Byron!!!  Brian Harman and Rahm looking to, best case, close him out in regulation, or, at worst, add their names to the playoff hat.

2:10 pm: Can’t believe it.  Golf Channel just showed Graeme McDowell.  I believe that’s the first time he’s made American television all week.

1:45 pm:  Well, well, well.  Graeme off to another quick start.  He’s -2 after five holes and just two off the lead.  However…  lots of low scores today, so it looks like the course is playing easy.  I like a course playing to par, so you can tell more about who is leading.  DJ is actually one better, -3 for the day after six holes.  He’s going for four in a row, so the leaders will notice his name, that’s for sure.  Some big scores today, too, so maybe it’s a risk-reward day rather than all-around easy, though it appears to be leaning toward the easy side.  Maybe not, looks like 26 under par, 30 over par.  We’ll soon see.

5:00 am

Well, Graeme McDowell is not out of it, but he’s four back and T14.  There are 28 players within five shots of the lead, so he’ll need a scorcher of a round.  A top five or top three finish would help him make Top 50 by Firestone.

Don’t look now, but DJ tied Reed and Noh for low round of the day.  He’s tied with McDowell, so situation is the same: looks of players will need to be passed.  He appears healthy, which is certainly the most important DJ news this week.

Of those at the top, I’d like to see Reed win.  I think of him as the “anti-media candidate,” as I still well recall the media making a mountain out of the molehill of his “top five player” remark a few years back.

7:17 am: Letter to OWGR:

Your website is a treasure trove of useful golf information. It’s a shame to ruin it with a distracting scroll at the top of your pages.

(1) What’s the point of a scroll of the Top 50 when a person is already looking at a page showing the Top 100?

(2) What’s the purpose of scrolling something that only changes once a week? A scroll might (theoretically) be useful for dynamic information, but not static.

(3) It’s a terrible distraction which serves no purpose other than to annoy website visitors.

I would like to think you will read this message, slap your forehead, and immediately remove the scroll. Short of that, perhaps you could grace me with an explanation as to why anyone ever thought the scroll was a good idea in the first place

I notice your European address and grow even more despondent. The idiotic and purposeless scroll is such an American idea. Did one of my fellow citizens here in the U.S. design the website? (Although, in fairness, most American idiocy is done in the name of making a buck. I can’t imagine any realistic scenario where such a scroll brings income.)

Other than the scroll, you have the most useful website in golf. How can you not realize how horrible the scroll is? If you must leave it, could you not confine it to the main page only?

My readers and I await your response.

Lanny H
Editor, Lanny H Golf

6:30 am: One hour away from resumption of second round

• I’m not supposed to call this tourney Quail Hollow, I know, but what else can I call it?  So, even though it’s not being played at Quail Hollow, that’s what I’m calling it.
• Graeme McDowell played both nines similarly: a flourish of early birdies followed by a passel of bogies.  It was a tough day for everyone, though, so his 2-under after 36 leaves him three shots back at T23.  (Some players have not finished round 2, so those numbers might change a little bit this morning.)
• When Graeme was on the course yesterday, he was not shown at all.  He was sitting on the same score as Phil Mickelson, over whom Golf Channel obsessed.  We saw Mickelson taking drops.  We saw Mickelson’s hat blown off his head by the wind.  Then we saw Mickelson’s hat blown off his head by the wind in slow motion.
• Sir Nick and Gannon were a bit off their games, but they were still light years ahead of most other golf announcers.
• I have new equipment now, so I’m no longer running old software on old hardware.  Things are better, but there was not the quantum leap forward I expected.  I’m amazed at how software is no longer designed with user ease in mind, but rather user exploitation.  (AdBlock should get a Nobel Prize in some category or other, as Internet life without it would be unbearable.)  User frustration is no longer a consideration; it’s all about clicks and information gathering.
• A free five-year subscription to Lanny H Golf to anyone who can tell me a logical reason why OWGR has the scroll at the top.  Makes absolutely no sense.