The Open
Well golf fans it has finally happened. Rory has closed out a tournament and has captured yet another national open. This past week Rory McIlroy faced an uphill battle en route to his victory. On top of the insane weather the players faced, Robert MacIntyre put on an absolute show on Sunday. After firing an incredible round of 64 which included a spectacular birdie on the 72nd hole. By this point MacIntyre held the solo lead and it looked like he was going to win. However, those hopes for the Scotland native to win his country’s open quickly faded. Rory’s last two holes of the tournament included some of the best shots the golf world has ever seen. On 17 he stuck his tee shot to within six feet that set up the tying birdie, but his play on 18 was what really sealed the deal. After a solid drive to the right rough Rory hit a stinger that rolled up to about 12 feet from the hole. By this point you felt that Rory could do no wrong and this putt just had to drop. Well if you thought that, you would have been right. Rory sunk the putt taking a one shot victory over MacIntyre. From MacIntyre's perspective, you cannot be mad, he played absolutely flawless on a very difficult day, but I'm sure this loss will sting for a little while. The good news for both MacIntyre and McIlroy is that they both will have another shot at links golf this week at the fourth and final major, the coveted Open Championship.
I think personally that The Open is such an incredible test of golf. From a course standpoint, I think historically the courses play much easier than other majors, but the weather that can roll through during the open could be absolutely disastrous. Currently, at Royal Liverpool in England where this year’s Open is being held, it is raining sideways. On top of the rain, the temperature right now is just under 60 degrees with winds around 15 mph. Despite the crappy weather Royale Liverpool is essentially a relic at this point. The golf course was established in 1869 and has stood the test of time. While renovations and various changes have been made to keep the course up to date, much remains the same. The most notable change to the golf course is the completely brand new 17th hole. The new par 3, 17th replaces the par 3 15th hole. With the addition of the new hole, holes 16 and 17 are now the 15th and 16th hole. Another minor change to the course is the 10th hole which originally played as a 530 yard par 5, now it plays as a 507 yard par 4. This change brings the par down from 72 to 71. I think that is a huge change, the hole goes from a reachable par 5 in two to a strong par 4. Despite the changes and the weather, the toughest part about Royal Liverpool will be the bunkers. Many of the players have stated that the front nine is very scorable, short par 4’s and the reachable par 5, 5th hole. However, all that changes when you start to find bunkers. The bunkers are these small deep pot bunkers that have extremely steep faces. This basically means that if you find a bunker you have to layup. The other tricky part about links golf is that you could hit a drive perfectly down the middle but due to the firmness of the fairways your ball could find the bunkers regardless. However, in regards to the firmness, it’s very unlikely that the course will play firm this week due to the serious amount of rain the course has gotten.
In my opinion this week the player that avoids the pot bunkers, and putts well will seal the deal. With that being said there is one player that comes to mind that is probably one of the best putters in the world, that man is Cam Smith. With that being said I don’t think Cam will repeat and defend his open championship. There’s another player that won’t win either and that is Scottie Scheffler. Unfortunately right now for Scottie to win a tournament he needs to hit it right next to the hole every time. He is struggling with his putting on a level I’ve never seen before. He leads pretty much every stat category and when you get to putting he’s ranked basically near the bottom. Despite these two players I think the Claret Jug is up for grabs.
**Interrupting your regularly scheduled blog post for a fun update**
Now Tyler and I don’t talk about our personal accolades here, but this week was a pretty special week. This past Monday I (Mike) qualified for my first PGA Tour Canada event, The Commissionaires Ottawa Open and Eagle Creek in Ottawa, Canada. Thus far it's been a pretty surreal week, with that being said I'm ready to get the job done this week. If any of our readers would like to follow along you can do so here or on The PGA Tour app under the PGA Tour Canada tab. (Mike)
Do not let Mike play this achievement down. He has grinded for years to get to this point. Really stoked to be following Mike this week as well as watching The Open. Big time stuff from him and I look forward to the recap he gives us all next week on the first of many experiences out there. (Tyler)
**And we’re back**
As for the golf this weekend, I have a hard time picking against Scottie Scheffler and Cam Smith. I would pick those two against the field this week. I also am really looking forward to seeing how the course plays. Links style golf is some of the best and produces so many different golf shots then we are used to seeing. Royal Liverpool has sone awesome course features whether it be the internal OB or some of the course improvements since we last saw The Open here.
My final thought for this week is that The PGA Tour HAS to get better at making golf accessible on TV for those who want to watch. It was incredibly difficult to watch the final round last week at the Scottish Open as Rory and Rob Mac had a finish for the ages. This has become quite a pattern for the tour lately and they better find a solution to it fast. I am not sure how they can possibly think they are growing the game when they continue to make mistakes like this. (Tyler)