When India had its golden moment at St. Andrews (Open Diary)

St.ANDREWS - Long, long ago, it was at this very revered venue, the Old Course at St. Andrews, that Indian golf enjoyed one of its memorable moments and made the world sit up and take notice.

India, with just over 160 courses, was hardly a force to reckon with and Scotland was the Home of Golf, where every turn and street corner seemed to have a golf course.

They were pitted against each other in the 1996 Alfred Dunhill Cup - a team championship held from 1985 to 2000.

India with Jeev Milkha Singh, Gaurav Ghei and Ali Sher were expected to be pushovers for defending champions Scotland, for whom Colin Montgomerie, Andrew Coltart and Sam Torrance had won the title the previous year. The change in 1996 was Raymond Russell coming in for Torrance.

Then came the stunner. Ghei beat Monty with a 78 against a 79 as chilly winds blew across the Links. Jeev tied with Coltart with a 74 and beat him in the first extra hole.

India were 2-0 up and could afford Ali Sher’s loss to Russell and still win the match 2-1. The loss ended Scottish hopes in the Cup, which was won by American trio Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Mark O’Meara won.

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Calcavecchia leads charge of Golden Oldies

Day 2 at St. Andrews, the morning belonged to Mark Calcavecchia, who turned 50 in June. So, what’s so special about this 1989 Open Champion. Well, he is one of the many 50-year-olds in the fray this year at the 150th edition of the Open.

And then there is a 60-year-old, too in Tom Watson. There’s at least nine players above 50 years of age, who are qualified for Champions Tour.

As St. Andrews hosts the Open for the 28th time - no other venue has hosted more Open Championships - it is clear there is a raging romance between the British Open and 50-year-olds.

At the 2008 Open in Birkdale, a 53-year-old Greg Norman was the third-round leader and held on to the lead on the 10th tee of the final round but then fell apart. In 2009 at Turnberry, a 59-year-old Tom Watson birdied the 71st hole to take the lead, but bogeyed the 72nd hole when he was on the threshold of becoming the oldest major champion ever and also tying the record for most wins at the British Open. He then lost to Stewart Cink in the playoff.

The 50-plus in the field are Watson, Calcavecchia, Sir Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Tom Lehman, Mark O’Meara and Loren Roberts. The first six are former Open champions, while Roberts is the reigning Senior British Open champ. Add to them Tom Pernice Jr, who won a Champions Tour event on his debut, and Peter Senior.

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Tongue-twisting spotlight holders

Friday’s first sessions belonged to two golfers with tongue-twisting names, American Mark Calcavecchia and South African Louis Oosthuizen.

Calcavecchia is the winner at the Open in 1989 and he went past his 50th birthday last month. Both shot a creditable 67 each when the wind and weather conditions were at their nastiest best at the St. Andrews.

Oosthuizen, who had missed seven cut in eight Major appearances before this week, has had only one mention worthy achievement at a Major - a win at the par-3 contest preceding the main Championships at Augusta Masters this year.

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Fans’ motivational tweets on Cink’s bag

Defending British Open champion and Master Tweeter, Stewart Cink, has an unique bag, which in terms of a fashion accessory could rival John Daly’s colourful pants. Cink’s golf bag features dozens of tweets from his fans.

The bag though, as you can see in the photo gallery on Facebook, features dozens of messages from fans, creating a unique fashion accessory rivalled only perhaps by John Daly’s pants. Kudos to Cink for being such a personable guy, and to understand Cink’s popularity on twitter - he has 1.2 million followers - Nike came up with a fun social media marketing campaign.

They asked users to submit motivational messages on Twitter, asking Cink to select his favourite tweet and feature a few others, too.