I really can't have a go at poor old Peter Alliss again. How many years is it now? I think my biannual kickings, during the Open and the Masters, have been going on since Bobby Jones was winning the Junior Plate It feels like mugging the Queen. I always mentally associate the old duffer with his near namesake Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace (as in Gromit). With a delivery as comfy as a feather cushion and turns of phrase seemingly scriptwritten by Enid Blyton, Alliss has no rival as the Twee Musketeer.. Chris DiMarco, whose mother Norma died on 4 July, set an emotional course-record 65 yesterday to fire himself into contention and then said that Ryder Cup golf and his family were more important to him than winning a maiden major here. When he tees off among the final pairings today, at nine-under, just behind Ernie Els and Tiger Woods - whose own 65s were completed a little later than DiMarco's - the American will, he says, have "a great peace about me" following his decision to attend rather than stay at home after his bereavement..

Until Ernie Els relocated the keys to his majesty here yesterday evening, the Championship everyone had been calling the "open Open" had seemingly been shut with one almighty bang Tiger Woods into the cup from 212 yards with a four-iron... It is already written in golfing folklore, underlined in giant, flashing capitals. The leaderboard says the eagle on the 14th, which lit up his 65, sent Woods to 12-under, one clear of Els. But this narrow advantage does not appear to do the moment at 12.17pm its full justice That was more than a great golf shot in a great golf round. It was a statement that Tiger is back and that an 11th major is surely in the offing. Naturally, Ernie would doubtless disagree and he can present an awfully persuasive case after his own 65 that matched Woods' for both skill and control.

But what it did not have was the wow factor, the instant of genius, which, of course, provides a momentum all of its very own. And when it is considered that the South African has never overtaken Woods in a major in which he has been leading, then his task still looks mountainous, however high his talent.. By his own standards when under stress, Colin Montgomerie was chatty last night after crashing out of the Open here He said two sentences. At least that's all he said to a not particularly expectant media who had gathered to meet him off the 18th green.

He missed the cut with a two-round tally of four-over par after a hellish spell on the back nine resulted in him compiling a three-over 75. His exit, after his runners-up spot at the US Open, was the biggest shock on a day when a clutch of big-name Ryder Cup players from Britain and Ireland failed to make the weekend.. David Duval must laugh whenever anyone refers to him as "the forgotten champion" "If only," he might be tempted to comment. As the 34-year-old has undertaken the golfing version of the sinking of the Titanic since winning the Open Championship five years ago, he has become as infamous as the rusting old hulk. The difference for Duval is that there has been no ocean at the bottom of which to hide; only a half-decade of scoreboards where he has been there for all to see. He always swore to those with "disaster" on their agendas that he would rise again some day.