Mark Calcavecchia: the honest golfer

Sincere, interesting and self deprecating. Perhaps not what you would expect from a press conference on Friday afternoon at the Open, but that's exactly how Mark Calcavecchia came across following his second round 69. The 1989 Open Champion finds himself in second place at the half way stage and has just given the most entertaining press conferences I have witnessed all week. Here are some of the highlights…   “This is the second time of the year I didn’t struggle to make the cut. I’m usually choking so bad coming down the last few holes on Friday because I want to play the weekend. I felt great today.”   “I would never think I’m the type of guy anybody could learn anything from. And I think experience is way overrated. All that means is I’ve hit more bad shots than the guys who are 20 years old, and they’re lingering on my brain.”   “I still think I can win, if not this week then maybe somewhere later on this year down the road, or it may not happen until I get to the Champions Tour. But it will happen again”   “I should have won at least 20 tournaments. I have had 27 second places and another 25 thirds. I probably gave ten of those away. I could have won the Masters but Sandy Lyle hit the shot of his life out of the fairway bunker. I thought I would have won the Masters at some point, and that’s clearly not going to happen. But that’s okay.”   “I’m allowing myself four [pints of beer] per night. It seems to be a nice round figure. It’s just enough, but it’s not too many.”