Open pics, Royal Birkdale 2008

Took a few photos while covering the Open at Royal Birkdale recently, and here they are. Nothing special but I'm obviously meant to be working and no cameras are allowed on championship days either so had to do what I could.

1 - Not that Drome will ever read this, but this is one of the fleet of Lexuses (Lexi?) which ferry the players around in Japanese "luxury"



2 - The Claret Jug; no explanation needed



3 - The 18th green and mostly empty grandstand during one of the practice days. This is the view from the press waiting area.



4 - Only took a picture of Norman because he was the most famous person on the putting green at the time, three days later he had a two-shot lead going into the final round before finishing third.



5 - Monty and friends!!! A few of us had a laugh at this. These are practice times the players sign up for during each day. Normally it's 2 or 3 at a time, each with their usual mates like Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Adam Scott etc; Not for Monty though, bless him...



6 - +1 at the Open, the view from my seat in the press centre. In front is one of the guys from Reuters and of course the giant scoreboard.