Storm’s surge subsides on opening holes
Jul 21 2008 The Journal
GRAEME Storm’s hopes of being in the Open Championship mix at Royal Birkdale all but disappeared when he bogeyed the first two holes.
And, despite a birdie at the fifth, three more dropped shots around the turn ended his chances and turned the final round into a battle for a top-20 spot and a place in next year’s Championship at Turnberry.
It didn’t look good when he also bogeyed 14, 15 and 16 to slide to 15 over for the Championship and into a tie for 30th place, but on a day when the 30-year-old from Hartlepool got just about every bad break that was going, it wasn’t to be.
His last real chance was to birdie the par five 17th as he did on Saturday, but when his second shot caught the greenside bunker and the ball ended up under the lip, even Storm suspected it was all over.
But he doesn’t lack grit and he splashed out well only to shave the hole with his birdie putt and had to settle for par. You could sense the deflation as he bogeyed the last for 78 to end what he can still consider a successful week as it is his best finish in an Open Championship.
“I suppose that is a positive,” he said ruefully, “and it has been a good week – but today was so disappointing.’’
Rounds of 76, 70, 72 and 78 over a Birkdale course battered by 40-50 mile an hour winds is a big achievement and has whetted Storm’s appetite.
He said: “I will have to make it to Turnberry next year through the European Order of Merit or through qualifying, but I want to come back without a doubt. Playing in the last five groups in the Open in that sort of amphitheatre is what I want more of.
“It was fantastic to be in that position, but unfortunately I just didn’t play well today and didn’t control the ball like I wanted to, and I didn’t play like I did during the last three days.”
He added: “It’s a learning experience and I will learn from it – but I’m very disappointed with today.
“I’m not one for making excuses but I did get some awful lies and every time I made a mistake I paid for it. It was just one of those days when everything that could go wrong did go wrong.”
That was never more evident than the lies he had on the first two holes which led to bogeys, and at 15 where he caught the rough with his drive and could only move it a few yards before ending up with a six.
“I’m now having three weeks off so I can chill out and take stock of things. Then I’ll probably play in the Scandinavian Masters,” said Storm, who will be assessing the work he has put in with coach Peter Cowan.
“I felt good coming into the week. I missed the cut last week and I did a little bit of work with my coach Peter Cowan on Monday. We sort of found something and on Tuesday I played pretty good in practice.
“Each day things have felt better and better and it’s been the best I have played for months, apart from the final round.”
Storm has also been putting in fitness work with Stuart McGregor and he hopes to take that further with a view to making himself bigger and stronger for the challenges of winning a Major.
This was Storm’s sixth attempt, if you count the 2000 Masters he played in as British Amateur Champion.
He led the USPGA at one stage last year and this is the second time he has made the cut in the Open.
It is also his best finish and that is very much a positive for a player who once considered giving up the game because he could see no future for himself in it.
