US Amateur Championship winner Gunn Yang, who has earned direct qualification for the US Masters, didn't have a happy outing in Sydney.
When he touched down at Sydney Airport a fortnight ago before the NSW Open, he asked a cab driver to take him out to Stonecutters Ridge Golf Course in Sydney's north-west.
Not realising how far the course was from the airport, and with only $100 in his wallet, Yang was forced to get out of the cab in the Bankstown area.
He caught a train to the station nearest to the golf course then walked five kilometres with his luggage and golf bag to Stonecutters Ridge. He deserved to make the cut at the Australian Open on that effort alone, but unfortunately 11 over wasn't good enough.
In the week leading into the Open, Yang stayed at Peter Lonard's luxurious home in the centre of Sydney.
Rodgers left holding the bag
No bag on the course had a cooler design than the one belonging to American Patrick Rodgers, a lifelong Indianapolis Colts fan. Rodgers has the the NFL franchise's logo emblazoned on his bag and is friends with Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
"[Indianapolis] is where I'm from and I went to school at Stanford [University], where there's a lot of Stanford players that play on the Colts," he said. "The owner of the Colts, Jim Irsay, is a big golfer and they had kind have been looking for an opportunity and it all came together."
Rodgers carded a one-under 70 in the opening round, but dropped four shots in the second round. He cost himself any chance of keeping up with the leaders when he double bogeyed two of the first three holes, followed by a birdie, bogey, par and bogey.
Thankfully the Colts are going a lot better than Rodgers, leading the AFC South with a 7-4 record this season.
Great Scott kept out of trouble
Adam Scott has had his own security guard following him around the course at the Australian Golf Club this week. Security to the stars, Daryl Reid, who has worked with Greg Norman and Tiger Woods in the past, was the man entrusted with the task of keeping Scott out of trouble at the Open.
Fourth causes consternation
The fourth hole has proved the most difficult for the players at the Australian Golf Club. Over the first two rounds, only eight birdies had been hit on the 193-metre par three. There were 170 pars, 96 bogeys, 33 double bogeys and three triple bogeys.
History not enough for Jones
Australian Matt Jones had no excuses for missing the cut. The 34-year-old was actually a member of the Australian Golf Club as a child. Despite shooting an eagle on the 14th in the first round, five over in the first round and one over in the first round meant he finished two shots below the cut.
Players duck for cover
It wasn't exactly raining birdies at the Australian on Saturday – and to make matters worse players had to dodge pine cones falling intermittently when signing for their scores.
More than a couple – plus unsuspecting members of the public – were seen ducking for cover as the missiles fell from a tree adjacent to the scorer's tent.
