Sandy Lyle blames sore hand for walking out of British Open halfway through 1st round

Sandy Lyle has put his sudden exit from last week's British Open down to a sore left hand that has been bothering him for two years. The former Open and Masters champion walked off the course at Royal Birkdale last Thursday after completing only 10 holes to be 11-over par. The Scot regrets pulling out, but believes it was the best thing to do because of possibly further damaging his hand and also for the benefit of two playing partners who would have been forced to carry someone who was struggling. "When you're 11 over after nine, it's a bit of a meltdown and I wasn't happy with myself and I was hurting in the left hand on the knuckles," Lyle said Wednesday on the eve of his debut in the Senior British Open at Troon. "Last week was not a thing I like to do on a regular basis. But you'll know from talking to my previous... [read full story]