Leonard Toasts Himself After Shooting 82

Justin Leonard shot a 12-over-par 82 in Saturday’s gales, which made him more hungry than angry. He signed his scorecard and made his plans for the afternoon, which included toasted sandwiches and then watching the British Open on television.

“I’m probably going to have a dozen toasties and then laugh at the guys when I watch it on TV,” Leonard said.

What happened to the defending champion was no laughing matter, but Leonard accepted it gracefully, mainly because there wasn’t much he could do about it with the wind turning nearly every shot into a moment of extreme terror.

“It’s just impossible to prepare,” Leonard said. “I still feel like I hit some pretty good shots. I just wasn’t allowing enough for the winds.

“I played it and everybody else has to too. It’s disappointing, but I’m not putting too much stock in it. You’re not going to see me lose it today. It was just one of those days.”

Leonard called a one-shot penalty on himself on the second hole when the wind blew his ball when he was moving toward it in the bunker, but that was only the beginning.

He started the third round six over, reached 11 over after playing the front nine, then began the back with bogey, double bogey, bogey, bogey, bogey on his way to a 43.

Leonard wasn’t at all upset.

“There are a lot of tournaments, a lot of days, things like this happen and you can’t let it get to you. I’m going to turn this score in and get my handicap up.”

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It was the Case of the Missing Golf Ball, featuring Mark O’Meara, as he got a very unusual and fortunate bogey on the sixth hole.

With a five-minute time limit to find his ball after his drive, O’Meara couldn’t find it, so he began to walk back to hit another.

Then someone found the ball within the time limit--the spectator who picked it up. “I think he wanted a free ball,” O’Meara said.

Soon there was a long discussion among officials on whether O’Meara had exceeded the five-minute limit or whether he should be allowed even longer to identify his ball.

“The USGA was on the phone, the R & A was on the phone, it was like Watergate out there,” he said.

O’Meara was awarded a free drop.

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Nick Faldo celebrated his 41st birthday by shooting a 75 and was serenaded by a small group of fans singing “Happy Birthday.”

The three-time British Open champion was not impressed.

“I would have shot the cat if it sang as much out of tune as that,” Faldo said.

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While Leonard and most everyone else was struggling in the wind, Katsuyoshi Tomori of Japan managed his 70.

Tomori was asked the difference between the wind at Royal Birkdale and at his home in Okinawa.

“Wind is wind everywhere,” he said.

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For what it’s worth: The last time a 72-hole score of par won the British Open was in 1986 when Greg Norman’s total of 280 was good enough to win at Turnberry.

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After Saturday’s wind nearly blew Royal Birkdale into the Irish Sea, it’s clear that the British Open scoring records are safe.

Here are a few of them: Most under par, 18 by Faldo in 1990; lowest wining score, 267 by Norman in 1993; lowest round (since 1981), 63 by Norman in 1986, Paul Broadhurst in 1990, Jodie Mudd in 1991 and Faldo and Payne Stewart in 1993.

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Bravest person at the golf course? Had to be Faldo’s caddie Fanny Sunneson, who wore shorts.