Everything But Snow

At least, that was the report at Royal St. Georges on Thursday. Wind, rain, hail, fire and brimstone, drought, even a little nuclear fallout...

Ok, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but the draw (as usual) turned out to be very important... unless your name was Thomas Bjorn, that is. Bjorn's 5-under 65 in the worst of the conditions was clearly the round of the day, even if amateur Tom Lewis did tie him playing late in the better weather.

The surprises, though expected at RSG, were many. Lucas Glover and Webb Simpson as low Americans? Check -- anybody could see that one coming, right? Darren Clark tied for 6th? Unexpected, but definitely unexpected in a pleasant way. You could have picked almost anybody in the under-par group and went "huh?"

Perhaps the most unexpected turn of events is that my picks are still viable after the first day:

• Steve Stricker: -1 (early)
• Sergio Garcia: E (late)
• Jason Day: +1 (early)
• Luke Donald: +1 (late)

After I regained consciousness, I checked their Friday tee times (in the parentheses after their scores). As I'm writing this, I'm hearing that the early tee times will have the best of the draw. If we don't get a sudden storm of fire and brimstone, those guys are probably the favorites among my picks.

Of course, sudden storms of fire and brimstone aren't out of the realm of possibility at RSG. Among the less destructive types of precipitation, I suspect most of the players might even welcome a little more rain to slow down those humpy lumpy fairways.

Except for Thomas Bjorn. I don't think he cares at all. He certainly didn't on Thursday.

The picture is from this newstimes.com article.