Jeff Overton - loving his Open debut
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Former US Walker Cup player
Jeff Overton (25) is playing in his first Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, bringing his parents and his coach with him to share the experience. After a first round 72 and second round 75, the Mizuno staff player from Indiana made the half-way cut with two shots to spare. In this exclusive diary he continues his Open story.
Day Three
Another 75 today (Saturday) was still not a bad effort but it could have been a lot better, especially without my double on the sixth. It’s some par-4, though. They put the tee forward a bit but it was still well over 480 yards.
Twelve-over is ten behind Greg Norman but I can still make this a good British Open debut and remember, in similar conditions, Paul Lawrie was ten behind Jean Van de Velde in that controversial 1999 Open with 18 holes to play but eventually caught him and won in a play-off.
The wind was incredibly hard today. I’ve never played in this much wind in my life. It really ripped into your shots. I felt I coped with it as well as I could for someone not used to playing in these conditions.
I’ve set my target. I guess five or six-over could be winning this tournament. I really want to try and shoot a good score and get up the field. If I can shoot under par, you never know, I might have a chance of a good finishing position.
The best players in the world are here – well, with one notable exception of course - and they are struggling just as much and that’s what I’ve got to tell myself. And it’s on one of the most difficult courses in the world.
It was blowing so hard. I was having to hit big irons 146 yards-150 yards sometimes. It’s a totally different ball-game.
My putting didn’t help my scoring but I was getting almost blown over on some of my putts and I missed quite a few short ones. Everyone was missing them today, though, and that’s another thing I have to keep reminding myself.
To try to improve myself with my putting, I’ve tried to widen my stance, as they tell you to in high wind, and put my weight a little lower on the left side. When the wind’s really blowing it pushes you inside on the take away and it also affects you when you’re coming through. I just have to hope I can think it all through, hit a few more greens and knuckle down with my putting.
It was great playing with Kevin Stadler today. We get on well. He’s two years older than me so we have similar ambitions and stuff. He’s a good kid. He struggled with his long old putter, it was really blowing around today.
After a relaxing night with my family and my old coach I'm to go at 10.50, playing with Thomas Sherreard, the English amateur who's on a golf scholarship at George Tech.
