Well, the long awaited Olympics have begun to much fanfare and hoopla surrounding the security measures and the seemingly endless worries about the facilities not being ready on time proved needless, as usual. It seems that every country goes through the same construction woes speculation, be it the Olympics or the SEA Games.

While I always enjoy the opening and closing ceremonies, I gotta tell ya that the Olympics bores the hell out of me nowadays, with the exception of the women’s Beach Volleyball competition

There have been thousands of times that I had walked down a fairway in the rain, cold or extreme heat and thought, "somebody should invent a dome for golf courses and climate control the damn thing…"

Well, it appears that I am not alone in my desire as someone went and done it...or is the process of trying to.

There is an old adage that says: "Patience is a virtue" and while probably true for most people, it definitely doesn’t apply to most golfers. I openly admit that I have all the patience of Michael Schumacher in a traffic jam and am always on the edge of going postal.

Friday afternoon at Metro is not the best place to be if you lack patience, especially as all twenty-something checkout lines are backed up all the way to Lao Cai and one hour to check out with a few items can really make a person reassess how important those few items actually are to you.

Well, the horrible weather didn’t materialize, but the Open still provided a highly enjoyable and competitive event. In fact, it was one of the most exciting finishes that I can remember in quite a long time.

What made it even more enjoyable was "one of our own" won the darn thing. Todd Hamilton has been a fixture here in Asia for over 10 years. I remember him from the old days on the Asian Tour which was run by John Benda out of the Philippines, before going on to a great career in Japan. I guess there is hope for us all…well, more so for some than others, but I’m not ready to give up my Senior Tour dreams just yet…

Different major tournaments appeal to me for very different reasons. The US Open is my favourite because the USGA "tricks up" the course to the point where player begin to lose their minds out there. Hey, let’s be honest, it’s fun to see players blowing their brains out as they begin to imagine round objects with sharp edges.

The Masters is, well, The Masters. They do it their way and relish giving the boot to anyone who would dare to suggest otherwise. The telecast only shows the back nine, commercial advertisements are kept to a minimum and the reward for winning is a green jacket. You have to give them credit for sticking to their guns despite all the outside pressure to cave-in.

Every player, amateur or professional, always has one club in the bag that they love, and one that they absolutely detest.

For example, I used to hate my 4-iron with a passion. If there was any club in my bag which I felt deserved to die a horrible death, it was the 4-iron. However, once I changed to a custom-fit set, the 4-iron problem became a thing of the past. Now, the Lob Wedge has become the new bane of my existence.

I believe that the problem is two-fold.

Happy Birthday to …me.

Being born on the Fourth of July does have advantages, such as it being difficult to forget, but on the other hand, if someone DOES forget my birthday, it can be a real let down. For example, my mother always seems to forget my birthday...it makes ya wonder.

I do take issue with the way birthdays are calculated here in Vietnam, its like the International Date Line or something, travel East and gain a YEAR?. In the West, I am now 46 years old, but in Vietnam I am 47.

This hardly seems fair.

Well, another US Open has finally got underway at Shinnecock Hills…and, as usual the maniacs at the USGA have had their evil ways with it for the last 12 months in preparation for the event.

Normal set-ups for the USGA include rock-hard, lightning fast greens, fairways narrow enough to barely accommodate two Mercedes parked side-by-side on them and even the fairways are "stimped" to ensure enough players find the heavy rough…and heavy rough for the USGA means over four-inches of pure misery.

The Gannon Vietnam Open golf tournament, held at Ocean Dunes GC in Phan Thiet last week, just keeps getting better year after year..

For example, the golf course was in magnificent condition, greens quick and true, fairways well manicured and bunkers consistent. There was a problem on the first day with some very slow play (read: 6 ½ hours for 18 holes), but Jeff and the crew got it under control and the Sunday round went very smoothly.

I heard some players grumble about their caddies, but the caddie I had during the tournament was pretty damn good. I can honestly say that he saved me a few shots on Sunday.