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I'm the opposite, most days i play like a complete muppet then have 2 or 3 good holes.

Last week i had 16 stableford points after the first 5 holes and crunbled to finish wit 19 for the round

16 points from 5 holes is nuts
3 points from 13 holes is a kick in the nuts

The wheels really did fall off. But a great example that you are more than capable of playing better than your handicap. 6 shots better over the first 5 holes.

You clearly have the game, but to improve you "just" need to eradicate the errors, rather than try to hit better shots. Easier said than done.

That's my biggest problem Hoopie, consistency.

To give you an example, in that round i was on the green for 2 on what i consider the toughest par 4 on the course. (360m dogleg left with a creek running the entire left hand side which crosses the fairway 80m out and an elevested green with deep bunkers all around,. Oh i should mention that the entire right hand side is out of bounes).

One of my playing partners said "you'll 5 putt this" and i did. From there the next 5 holes were 9, 8, 10, 10, 9

Messed with my head

That hole sounds like a nightmare, certainly keep me awake at night. I would suggest a 4i off the tee to 160yds out then a 7i, all depends on wind and elevation, but a driver sounds too dangerous.

Putting is all about pace. I never buy into the saying "never up, never in" or "100% of short putts never go in". Totally wrong mind set. Yes you ideally want to make it to the hole, but those thoughts mean too many raced putts that take a couple more to get back.

I say "100% of putts that go past the hole do not go in". Bucket lid putting is a much safer bet. Just be happy 2 putting every green (especially ones you hit in regulation), just get the first putt close, you'll find a few drop in as well, but at worst your second putt is a short effort. Nothing mangles the brain like a 3, 4 or dare I say 5 putt. You lose all confidence on the greens and pace just goes out of the window. Next putt you smash 5 yards past, so sure enough the putt after is 3 yards short....arrrgghhhh.

Concentrate massively on pace, more so than direction. Get good at judging pace and you'll knock shots off your card quickly.

Big muscles are your memory muscles, they are the muscles that judge pace, not your wrists. Practice your putting where you only rock your shoulders, no wrist or leg movements.

Competition at the weekend.

Out in 6 over, which included a triple bogey (what could go wrong did go wrong) but played the back 9 in 3 under, so finished with a 3 over 75, so played to handicap.

Had 5 birdies in total, which usually means you're on for a good score, but too many silly mistakes, still it is good to have recovered from a bad position.

Nice work, Hoopie - always good to have the better part of the round in the second nine.

OK, who's going to win the Open, then, and what will the winning score be?

Molinari - 8 under

Good call. I'll go McIlroy - 10 under.

Shows how much I knew about that! Well played, Shane Lowry!

We were both way out.

Lowry played really well

It was nice to see him enjoying doing so as well - far too many pros at the top level look so gloomy when twelve under par and leading by four.

One consolation for our poor choices of winner - they both had the best round of the day.