The Mellow Yellow Open

The Claret Jug-2nd Finest Trophy in Sports

The Open Championship, or the British Open as we call it on this side of the pond, starts in a few minutes.  Here’s a few quick thoughts upon which I will expound at greater length in the next post.

The Open is being described in the British press as a “Yellow” Open.  This is so because the weather has been so dry that the grass will be yellow (perhaps a charitable euphemism for brown) and not a “Green” Open, the result of a wet summer.  When I read this, all I could think of was,  leave it to the Brits to describe their sporting events in horticultural terms.  I also was reminded of Mellow Yellow, a daffy tune from the Sixties by Donovan, a British folkie who sold tons of records as a member of the British Invasion, for no apparent reason, as far as I am concerned.  Check out these goofy lyrics:

I'm just mad about saffron
A-saffron's mad about me
I'm-a just mad about saffron
She's just mad about me

They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

I'm just mad about fourteen
Fourteen's mad about me
I'm-a just mad about a-fourteen
A-she's just mad about me

They call me mellow yellow
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

Born-a high forever to fly
A-wind-a velocity nil
Born-a high forever to fly
If you want, your cup I will fill

They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

So mellow yellow

Electrical banana
Is gonna be a sudden craze
Electrical banana
Is bound to be the very next phase

They call it mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

Yes, saffron, yeah
I'm just-a mad about her
I'm-a just-a mad about-a saffron
She's just mad about me

They call it mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

Oh, so yellow
Oh, so mellow

Wow! Like, Psychedelic, Man.  Like, pass the saffron!

Also, they don’t call it the Open championship for no reason.  Here are the categories for  exemptions to entry in the Open:

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 21 July 2013.

2. The Open Champions for 2003-2012.

3. The Open Champions finishing in the first 10 and tying for 10th place in The Open Championship 2008-2012.

4. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

5. The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21 2013.

6. First 30 in the Race to Dubai for 2012.

7. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2011-13.

8. First 5 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 5th place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai on completion of the 2013 Alstom Open de France

9. The Scottish Open Champion 2013

10. The US Open Champions for 2009-2013.

11. The Masters Tournament Champions for 2009-2013

12. The PGA Champions for 2008-2012.

13. The PLAYERS Champions for 2011-2013.

14. The leading 30 qualifiers for the 2012 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP.

15. First 5 PGA TOUR members and any PGA TOUR members tying for 5th place, not exempt in the top 20 of the PGA TOUR FedExCup Points List for 2013 on completion of the 2013 The Greenbrier Classic.

16. The John Deere Classic winner 2013.

17. Playing members of the 2012 Ryder Cup teams

18. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Asian Tour for 2012.

19. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Tour of Australasia for 2012

20. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Southern Africa PGA Sunshine Tour for 2012.

21. The Japan Open Champion for 2012.

22. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2012.

23. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2013 Mizuno Open.

24. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2013 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2013 Mizuno Open.

25. The Senior Open Champion for 2012.

26. The Amateur Champion for 2013.

27. The US Amateur Champion for 2012.

28. The European Amateur Champion for 2012.

29. The Mark H McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking) winner for 2012.

F (29) to F(32) are only applicable if the entrant concerned is still an amateur on 19 July 2012.

Plus, International Final Qualifying (IFQ) events for The Open Championship were introduced in 2004 and are held on five continents to give more players from around the world the chance to gain direct entry into golf’s oldest championship.

IFQ for The Open Championship 2013 at Muirfield is as follows. Australasia — Kingston Heath Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia, 29 & 30 January; Asia - Amata Spring Country Club, Bangkok , Thailand, 28 February & 1 March; Africa — Royal Johannesburg & Kensington, South Africa, 5 & 6 March; America — Gleneagles Country Club, Texas, USA, 20 May and Europe — Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, 24 June.

All I have to say is, How the hell did I miss making the Open this year?  Jeez.

My favorite exemption category was Category 3, "The Open Champions finishing in the first 10 and tying for 10th place in The Open Championship 2008-2012", or, as I call it, the Tom Watson Exemption.  Old Tom Watson (not to be confused with Old Tom Morris)  stood on the pinnacle of the history of sport’s greatest individual achievement at the Open at Turnberry in 2009.  Back at the scene of his greatest victory, Watson, just a few months shy of his 60^th birthday, held the lead going to the last hole.  I will address this at greater length in my next post after the Open concludes on Sunday with Watson hoisting the Claret Jug for a record sixth time (tying Harry Vardon).

AMDG

 

© 2012-21 R.E. Kelly