Golf: 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links - July 19-22

[Dr John Carlson]

1999: Jean van de Velde blows a 3 shot lead on the 72nd hole and loses in a playoff
2007: Sergio lips out a 10 footer to win on the 72nd hole and loses in a playoff
2018: ??????

The course is dry from lack of rain, which means it's playing extra fast, which means you probably don't need to hit many drivers.

Based on the above information, this week should set up well for somebody who has lots of experience not choking away majors, and somebody who plays much better when they don't take driver out of the bag. Can anybody think of a player who fits both those descriptions?

Tee Times:
The Open - Tee Times

DJ: +1200
Rose: +1600
Rory: +1800
Rickie: +1800
Spieth: +2000
Rahm: +2000
Koepka: +2200
Fleetwood: +2200
Thomas: +2500
Tiger: +2500

Click to read more...

 

[Cody Webster]

Can't wait for those 450 yard drives!!!

 

[Cody Webster]

$50 on Tiger

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

1953: Ben Hogan played his only Open. Won by 4. Hole #6 at Carnoustie is called Hogan's Alley. One of the most brutal tee shots in golf. OB left, a lot of fairway bunkers right. Anything right of the middle of the fairway has typically been considered too far back to reach the green, even if it misses the bunkers. OB isn't that far off the fairway on the left. A "bad" shot can easily be OB, it doesn't have to be a terrible shot. The aggressive play is to take on the left side of the fairway. No one is quite sure exactly how many times Hogan hit the fairway in 1953, but it ranges between 2 and 4. His ability to find this small landing area has taken on lore. This landing area was referred to as Hogan’s Alley, which is now the name of the hole. Former name of the hole: "Long”.

 

[Dakota Sioux]

Did I hear this right? DJ hit a drive 487 yards or something like that in a practice round.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Why'd they stop calling it the British Open again?

 

[Cody Webster]

Did I hear this right? DJ hit a drive 487 yards or something like that in a practice round.

Probably. Rickie hit a 458 yard drive at the Scottish last week.

I wasn't kidding with my first comment in this thread

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm going to pick Hatton this week. His recent form is good. His last three starts include two top 10's with the other result being T16. He won the Dunhill Links the last two years. He shot 67 and 65 at Carnoustie.

 

[Zibanejbread]

Going to the casino to place some bets after work. Some intriguing odds for this one.

 

[Cody Webster]

Going to the casino to place some bets after work. Some intriguing odds for this one.

I was thinking about driving down to Delaware to do the same, but don't feel like it lol

 

[Zibanejbread]

I was thinking about driving down to Delaware to do the same, but don't feel like it lol

LOL... fortunately Delaware Park is only 15 minutes away from where I work; which is either a good or (very) bad thing.

 

[Canes]

Why'd they stop calling it the British Open again?

Stop calling it that? I don't believe it was ever officially named that anyway. It just has been casually referred to as the British Open by some media and fans. Also, they play some tournaments in Northern Ireland which is not Great Britain.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

2020, 2021 and 2022 are looking like St. George's, St. Andrews, Lytham

At least we had a run of the better courses in the rota for awhile. Combine that with the new-ish course next year, and we won't see the better Open courses until at least 2023.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

It's really too bad that the R&A won't be going back to Turnberry for a long time. That's my favourite Open course for sure. Definitely looking forward to Royal Portrush next year though.

I wish they would do St. Andrews every 10 years, like the USGA does with Pebble Beach, instead of every 5 years. I get the history and all that but it's just not an enjoyable course to watch at this point and having it every 5 years is way too much.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

As for 2023, if they want to do two England Open's in a row, it'll be Hoylake, assuming the Lytham speculation is true. Turnberry should really be the next announced Scottish venue though. Otherwise, why is it in the rota? Logically, there are only three choices for 2023, Hoylake, Turnberry or Muirfield. But I get the feeling that Turnberry is running third because of Trump. The R&A doesn't want to admit it, but they don't want to have to deal with all that comes with the Owner of the course.

I never like the idea of two England Open's in a row. Nicklaus once said the farther South you go, the worse the Open venues are. St. George's and Lytham are pretty easily the two worst venues, and Hoylake is marginally better. The biggest appeal of Hoylake is its winners. Pretty good in that regard. Birkdale has a pretty decent history of winners, and the course is well received by the players, but thats mainly it for England.

My take on St. Andrews is that you either keep it every five years just for its history and acknowledge you'll be playing on a less than stellar course every five years or you get rid of it entirely because the course isn't up to par. And for the latter option, don't get me wrong, I don't like the course, but is it really any worse than St. George's or Lytham? Not really. If we are going to base this entirely on the quality of the courses, we'd be canning three of them like that. The 2015 Open was actually pretty interesting. My view on St. Andrews probably would've been different following the 2010 Open where Oosthuizen treated the event as the John Deere Classic.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Gunna be higher scoring with fast greens.

Tiger for the improbable upset comeback!

 

[Cody Webster]

5 more hours!!

 

[Cody Webster]

Gunna be higher scoring with fast greens.

Tiger for the improbable upset comeback!

The greens aren't fast....

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Yeah, the greens should be slow. Which should theoretically lessen the advantage that great putters have over poor putters.

 

[Zibanejbread]

here we go! f*** yea,

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

The greens aren't fast....

Oh, I forgot they have to keep them slow because wind can come unexpectedly. Hate that factor. Hopefully we see some big wind this weekend then.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Yeah, the greens should be slow. Which should theoretically lessen the advantage that great putters have over poor putters.

Well, it coulf favor the iron players because if they are slow the balls will just die so you can throw darts at the hole.

 

[joe89]

Can you smell it? The smell of good golf coverage from early morning to late night. The Open is the best.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Oh, I forgot they have to keep them slow because wind can come unexpectedly. Hate that factor. Hopefully we see some big wind this weekend then.

Sunday might be windy

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Some dude ranked 144 is leading right now and is about to post a really nice score. He'll shoot 80 or so one of these next couple of days.

Whenever these types are first on the leaderboard, I just cross them off. Look to whoever is first on the leaderboard with some credible golfing record as the actual first place.