Coffee Golf
The Open Championship starts(ed) today at Royal Liverpool, home of some mildly famous rock band. The last time Hoylake was played in the Open Rota was 2014 when Rory McIlroy held off Sergio, Ricky, and DJ to capture is first gold medal. 2006 Royal Liverpool saw Tiger grind away the competition for his second straight Open win by hitting iron off the tee all day on a baked out course. Chris Demarco kept it close through the front nine and Sergio ejected himself with a string of early bogeys.
Players seem to have pretty benign conditions today with very little wind forecasted. Lot of low scores early and that'll probably continue until the weather comes in overnight.
Who do you have winning? What's your favorite Open memory? Favorite Open Course?
I'm personally looking forward to the finishing stretch on Sunday. The re-designed 17th par 3 should provide excellent drama as someone tries to maintain a lead in the final round.
Not gonna lie I love The Masters and my favorite thing about golf is that it helps me nap. I can sleep and wake up and barely anything has changed.
It's a great activity to watch if you have spare time.
44 days can't come soon enough.
I was trying to figure out if Coffee Golf is some new activity
I was trying to figure out if there are any other very popular things that I have less interest in.
Coffee and golf: I totally understand the appeal of both. However, having tried each one a handful of times in my life, I've always left the encounter with a shrug.
Not a coffee drinker, but I love golf!
My goal when playing is to keep my cost per stroke as low as possible.
Viktor Hovland! (solely because my fantasy football draft is based on drawing one of 10 of the top-odds golfer names from a hat and tracking their british open finishing position now that the pga championship isn't in august anymore).
I'd start prepping for the 8th pick ASAP. Also enjoy Viktor's shirt today if you get a chance to watch.
damn! my guy is going to be looking good out there.
The best thing about golf is definitely the hooligans that show up to the tournaments
That takes some balls!
Be careful about too many strokes
I'll pass on commentary about "pin placement".
Tom Watson almost winning the Open in 2009 at age 59 was awesome.
That is definitely one of my saddest non-Michigan sports moments when he lost.
What sucked even more about that is "he had it". I'll never forget watching that intently and his approach shot just took an unexpected big bounce on the green. Had he gotten a proper bounce on that he would've won. Coulda shoulda woulda, I know...
I think it was adrenaline. He crushed that 8-iron. Should have hit 9.
Clearly, I'll never forget it.
That was the most crushing non-Michigan sports event I’ve ever experienced. Watson winning would’ve been the sports story of the century.
I completely agree. And, it's nothing against Stewart Cink - who defeated Watson. I would be fine with Cink winning a major - any other major - but, a Watson win in that Open would have been for the history books.
I have Tommy Fleetwood on my fantasy golf team, so thank you for reminding me to check the scores. What a surprise to see Tommy already -5 after a full round on the course before 10:00 am EST! Let's go Tommy!
Mildly famous band from Liverpool? This isn’t a Frankie Goes to Hollywood forum.
Hello, hello, I don't know why you say goodbye...
Masters is great, but this is my favorite tournament. Get up, grab that aforementioned cup of Joe, watch a lot of great golf, and still be able to accomplish something on the back half of the day… as it turns out today, that will be playing 18 myself.
I’ll be rooting hard for Jordan and Rickie.
Thank you for this... Coffee Golf because it's televised so early, you need coffee. My thanks!
Woke up to find out I won $1 in the powerball lottery last night and the British Open is on the telly. Doesn't get much better than this folks.
I'd prefer Rory to run away with it. Or just someone who didn't take any Saudi money.
I like Carnoustie because it's stupid hard, even if it isn't pretty.
Fowler with a snowman on 18. I feel ya Rickie.
Rooting for Rickie but I think Hovland is going to win. Working from home today and tomorrow with it on in the background. Slow days. Minimal calls and not much to do in terms of substantive brief writing.
When Daly and Woods altered how some of these courses were typically played despite conditions.
I have always favored creative shots with a fair amount of risk because then, deliciously, I get to try another as a recovery shot (pretty good at those). Typically you need to be able to really spank a shot which used to be in my repertoire.
All of this is why I never drank much if any on a course as when I play it means something to me even if there are no prizes or money involved. Still just a bogey golfer due to never playing that often upon adulthood (10 times tops per year-often 5 or less). That said I relished the chance to play different beautiful courses around the state (mostly Traverse/Antrim regions). Thankful people had the vision to develop them.
Played the Donald Ross Memorial free with my Brother-in-law at Boyne Highlands back in the day courtesy of a Golf Magazine connection. Drove forever in a cart to the tee and teed off and as we were about to pull out towards our shots a cart pulled up with two older gentlemen who asked to play along as they needed to get in practice for a tournament the next day. They then proceeded to smoke the course although the older one was 75. After watching this 75 yer old hit a 250 yard fairway 3 wood to the greens 'center more than once I asked the other guy what's up.
Turns out the older guy had beaten Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach on that really famous ocean dogleg with an Eagle to a Birdie on tv in a Pro AM. Neither said who they were other than first names and that they were developers (probably the guy we were talking to- other guy tight lipped). The talkative one said the 75 year old had played Pebble many times in this tournament. They finished an impressive round and we still did not know who this was.
A month later my BIL calls me and says he was reading golf magazine and it said the guy was one of Jack Nicklaus' best friends, a fellow named Pandel Savic. Former Buckeye QB, marine at Okinawa, co-founder of The Memorial at Muirfield. My BIL and I might have had UM ball caps on so a lot of the quiet approach makes more sense. But Holy Crap what an impressive guy. Nice to watch how the game is supposed to be played.
I played with an older guy thirty or so years ago at the old Dunes course in Vegas. Found out on about the third hole he spent several years as Ben Hogan's caddy. Most memorable thing he told me was "I was his caddy, not his friend. I'm not sure Hogan had any friends, and that was by his choice."
Incredible story. Hogan is an all-time legend. I've heard stories about him - and, one involved his caddie shagging balls as he was warming up. Hogan asked the caddie what the distance was to the target - and, the caddie replied - "149 or 150 yards". Hogan, perturbed, replied to the caddie - "What is it - 149 or 150?"
The game, like life, has evolved and changed since those days - when, it seems - there was a lot more personality in the players.
Shot shaping - working the ball in both directions - both off the tee and on approaches - SO much fine and interesting to see. It's nice when conditions require this - and, for players to not only play "in the air" - but also - "close to the ground".
my favorite major over lo these many years. Like world cups held in europe/asia or prepping for a noon CFB game, definitely good early morning singing song fodder. I might check this one out on the weekend especially if the weather over there makes it worth it.
Links golf is most captivating in heavy winds or under soupy churning skies which doesn't seem to happen much anymore.
they should make the players play with vintage equipment for the british...i'd tune in for that.
Rory would seemingly be all in on a hickory only major based on his comments last week. My FIL passed a few months back and now I have a collection of 1980's persimmon fairway woods. Love hitting those at the range.
Tho unaware of Rory's comments, glad he likes my idea. people might actually listen to him. Justin Rose and rory seem pretty cool to me of the modern era players but I don't follow golf anymore.
I still have an old "chicopee" wooden shaft putter I tried playing with for years as younger person because my dad had it from somewhere. It was good for awhile but I used it into totally unreliability status. Also, I was never good with flat sticks so it could have been me.
Last month I went to Scotland for a week and played Royal Troon, Carnoustie and the Old Course, among others. I cant wait for next year's Open at Royal Troon!
It's hard to bet against Scheffeler. He hasn't finished outside the top 5 since April!
My top 5:
Rory, to avenge last year's heartbreak and for carrying Jay Monaghan's water for the last two years.
Rickie, because he's had a hell of a comeback year.
Hovland, because he's played great in majors and would like to see him get one and not become another Cantlay or Schauffele
Rahm, because I'm a big fan and would love to see him start collecting a lot of major trophies
and Fleetwood because of the hometown angle plus he's a great all-around player that hasn't been able to get a PGA win yet.
Hard to beat the backdrop at St. Andrew's for finishing holes with the town butting up to the 18th green. I'm not as familiar with Open courses, but links golf overall is way more interesting to me than US Open or PGA courses/setups (see: Rory's 2 iron last week to win the Scottish, which isn't even in the bag on this side of the pond). 17 should provide some excellent drama down the stretch on Sunday if it's close!
That birdie birdie finish by Rory is up there with the most clutch finishes I've seen. I don't think there's another player on tour that could have pulled that off in those conditions.
Majors are best across the pond or on the West Coast. Means you can play before or after the coverage.
I have bets on Rahm, Morikawa, Hovland, Hatton, Fleetwood, DJ, JT, and Lowry. All with promo boosts or bonus money so any of those hit and I’ll make a solid profit.
Rooting for Rory or a first time major winner.
Fav Open venue is St Andrews. Just walked off the street and walked the course when I was in Scotland one summer. Gorgeous
My favorite memory is the slugfest Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus had at Turnberry in 77. The Duel in the Sun.
The 18th on Sunday was remarkable as Watson hit one to within 2ft and Nicklaus sank a 60ft putt to force Watson to make his.
https://www.theopen.com/latest/duel-in-the-sun-nicklaus-vs-watson-at-the-106th-open
Two of golf's greatest players - head to head - for four days. Great example.
It's now Friday morning - the early starters have finished their round - and, I'm wondering - when will the "tougher" conditions / weather arrive? I've heard the winds were stronger this morning - and, the conditions could turn much nastier over the weekend.
I'm not inferring anything negative about the players or course. The bunkers here are noteworthy and historical - stronger winds will definitely create a challenge and the fairways bunkers are essentially a one stroke penalty - which seemingly will come into play more often.
My guess is - it will be a three horse race on Sunday. Who will the horses be? It would seem like Harman, Spieth, and Fleetwood have a good chance to be in that race.
Enjoy.
It's Friday afternoon - about 20 golfers remain playing on the course (it's almost 3:30 pm EDT).
IMO, there's been some wind - but, it hasn't been material. There's a forecast for tougher conditions - stronger winds and rain - over the weekend.
Harman's at 10 under, Fleetwood is at 5 under - then - there's a bunch below that.
It seems to me that Harman has to come back to the field - which, with this course, its bunkers and their penal nature, would mean two bad bounces / swings - could open it up to a lot of other players.
I'll be getting up early over the weekend to enjoy the coverage.
Do you have any plans - or expectations?