British Open Waiting Game Begins

by Randy Roberts

As I write this the first players have teed off at the British Open.  It's been a wild and crazy day when it comes to the alternate list, as Robert Karlsson withdrew. As the 157th player entered into The Open, no replacement was added to the field which has a 156 player maximum.  One more Withdrawal from the tournament and 1st alternate Ben Crane would earn a spot.  Except for the fact that Ben Crane was still at his home in Oregon.  After much confusion, it was determined that Ben Crane should be removed (it's not clear whether it was voluntary or not) from the alternate list, thus promoting Michael Thompson to the position of first alternate.  Of course if no one else withdraws, Michael won't get a chance to play.

So at this hour Michael is at the tournament..... waiting.

So here's the summary of what happened:
Player #159 (Jason Day) withdrew - no replacement added
Player #158 (Webb Simpson) withdrew - no replacement added
Player #157 (Robert Karlsson) withdrew - no replacement added
if Player #156 withdraws - 1st alternate Ben Crane Michael Thompson is entered.

We're going to be hopeful here at the Thompson Tide.  In fact Roz says he added Michael to his fantasy golf team, part of his quest to have Michael on his team for every tournament he plays in.  We'll soon see if Roz is hopeful or crazy, or both.  You never know who might drop out at the last second.

Normally we would post links to Michael's scorecard and shot tracker, except in this case there is no scorecard and there is no shottracker. There is however, a leaderboard which can be found at the link below:

Leaderboard

For all the latest Open Championship news, you can follow their twitter page found here:
The Open on Twitter

To read more about the alternate list drama you can read the articles below:
Robert Karlsson Out of Open
Manassero Dashes to Lytham in hope of late Open call