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Jacobson's pee-off time disturbed by cameraman

Nick Harris
Saturday 19 July 2003 00:00 BST
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Fredrik Jacobson saw a succession of bogeys yesterday - six in a row - but nowhere near enough bogs. For a man in desperate need of a pee, that was bad enough but his discomfort was intensified when a television cameraman followed him as he looked for a spot of rough to irrigate. "He kept zooming in and I got a bit annoyed," said the Swede. "Because there was no toilet around I tried to find a bit of privacy down by a ditch. But it's not easy to find any good spots and then the cameraman came. I only counted five or six toilets all the way round and I would recommend more for the players."

Nick Faldo has been telling the current issue of Golf Magazine about the travails of the game and how they compare to the difficulties of relationships. "It is a massive and difficult job handling a woman," the thrice-married former Open champion said. "When they ask a question, you can't just answer it. You have to work out in a split-second what kind of answer they want. I'm getting better at it thanks to a fantastic guy, Kjell Enhager, who has become one of my truest and closest friends. He is a sports and corporate psychologist who has been working with me on the golf course for almost four years. We go off for a session on golf and the first half is really about how to handle the wives. It's much more complicated and exhausting than the golf."

A Delegation of senior Welshmen descended on Royal St George's yesterday on a fact-finding, glad-handing mission to land a future Open in an unspecified year for Royal Porthcawl. The party included Gareth Davies, the former Wales fly-half who is now the chairman of the Sports Council for Wales, and Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of the Principality. Although Wales has hosted the Walker Cup and the Amateur Championship and will host the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in 2010, it has never staged an Open. But then neither has a Welshman ever won one. Obviously down to lack of home advantage, that.

Which Bright spark thought it would be a sensible idea to stage a Jools Holland concert near here tomorrow night, just as all the Open traffic is clogging up the roads? It's enough of a squeeze already.

Shot of the day: Gary Wolstenholme had already taken four shots to reach the rough alongside the fairway on the par-four 12th when he used a wedge to try to reach the green from about 90 yards. He holed it.

Name clarification of the day: S K Ho, from South Korea, spent a good chunk of yesterday near the top of the leaderboard, but what does the S K stand for? Who knows? His full name is actually Hur Suk-ho. For the record, the 29-year-old has got form in pulling off big shots at crucial times, as he did with a brilliant albatross in September last year on the way to winning the Shinhan Donghae Open. Some knock, Ho?

Yesterday's man of kent: Ben Curtis, an American from Kent, Ohio, who is playing here in his first Open. "It's funny because with the weather we're having now, it feels just like being at home," he said. "All the locals ask me where I'm from and I've been saying 'I'm from Kent too'."

After Greg Norman bemoaned the lack of characters in the modern game earlier this week, The Famous Grouse - official booze suppliers to the Open for the 11th year - launched a search for the "Personality Player of 2003". Some 500 fans will be canvassed, with the result due tomorrow. Votes should be cast according to charisma, "personal panache" and "fashion flair", apparently. The leaders in the clubhouse, we can reveal, include Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia. But not Monty, it seems. Funny that.

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