Champions, Cutmakers And (Point) Missers From The 151st Open
Winners, losers and somewhere in between from a week at Royal Liverpool where Brian Harman won, Matthew Jordan made the locals proud and huge crowds descended on Hoylake.
I’m pleased to say it was another busy major heavy on winners and cutmakers…
Champions
Brian Harman. A driving and putting exhibition for the ages. That second round 65 will be better appreciated over time for what it was: as incredible of a round as any player has recorded this year or in the history of Hoylake. Only garnering a +2.49 (18th) Strokes Gained number for the day, Harman posted the 65 in peak winds that stood down just over an hour after he finished. Also, he should not be faulted for a brief Claret Jug speech: the rain was coming down harder than it had all week. Good job reading the (drenched) room.
Tom Kim. The 21-year-old nearly withdrew after taking a bad step and played through an ankle sprain to record his best major finish and weekend rounds of 68-67 (T2). After a brutal start to 2023, Kim continues to show he’s a rising star and plays with a verve that’s rapidly expanding his fan base.
Jason Day. Impressively recorded a ninth career major top 5 finish and just his second top 20 Open finish (T4 in 2015 at St Andrews). Day led the field in putting with a 26.75 average per round and wins the award for strangest post-final round comment: “On my death bed I’ll probably be praying for days like this. I’m not too displeased with the weather over here.”
Sepp Straka. The T2 Austrian made 21 birdies for the week, four more than winner Harman to lead the field tally by four. He also tied for the lead in greens hit with Hideki Matsuyama with 54 of 72. The recent John Deere Classic winner was a 200-1 shot despite his world No. 28 status heading into the week, but his overall play over the last year has him all but locked for a European Ryder Cup captain’s pick.
Matthew Jordan. A brilliant T10 performance facing intense pressure to perform at a course he’s played since age six. He’ll be back next year at Troon thanks to the finish. Jordan will always have a spectacular showing to make his home club beyond proud, as evidenced by Sunday’s clubhouse greeting. Most amazing of all: doing it while finishing well last in the field with a 269.2 average off the tee and no spectacular performances in the main statistical categories.
Final Qualifying. The R&A upped the number of spots to 19 this year and as evidenced by the performances of Alex Fitxpatrick, Thomas Detry, Antoine Rozner and Jordan—each in the top 11 heading to the final round—the expansion was justified. More FQ spots next year, please.
Martin Slumbers. Tiptoeing through a minefield of bloated egos and irrational views about the standing of today’s players in the world of sport, the R&A CEO rightly suggested that pro golf purses are not sustainable. He deftly pulled it off without insulting players and still set a positive tone for the week during a pre-championship press conference announcing another new amateur championship. He also made clear the R&A will be acting on its distance proposal by echoing the USGA’s sentiments expressed in June. Some mistook Slumbers as quietly asking for R&A financial help or even leaving a door open to taking Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia assistance with his soft denial to that question. But after the PGA Tour essentially collapsed in a matter of months under the weight of drunken sailor spending and sponsor resistance to forking out more money, Slumbers brought much needed perspective to golf’s purse wars.
TheOpen.com Radio. Always such delightful listening from the crew of Marcus Buckland, Sue Thearle, Ron Jones, Matt Adams, Sophie Walker, Raymond Burns, Alison Walker, Paul Eales, Harry Ewing, Maureen Madill and Carl Paulson. They captured the tone and beauty of The Open whether you’re listening on the ground or elsewhere. Based on the oddly-charming feature of reading listener emails on air (“Jerry in Bethesda says he’s enjoying all the coverage while out serving subpoenas!”), they enjoyed a strong American listenership. Oh, and so nice to see the on-site radios offered again after the useless WiFi/app listening years.
The Par 3 Channel. As part of NTT Data’s improved app experience, this sensational feed showed play at the 13th and 17th holes. Featured Groups coverage on the weekend was pointless due to selections way down the leaderboard, but the Par 3’s combination of production values, announcing and multiple camera perspectives made for sensational viewing even if though two holes never played as fearsomely as expected.
Short Par 3’s. From Brooks Koepka to Patrick Reed to Martin Slumbers, the wee ones were singled out as the most enjoyable one-shotters we need more of. So Little Eye has that going for it.
Fans of The 151st. Give ‘em a nearby station with extra trains running, some decent weather (until Sunday), and the fans turned out to the tune of 260,000 or so for the week. Undeterred by excessive food and merch prices or the lack of good viewing in spots, the entire operation never appeared to buckle under the weight of so many fans. That’s a tribute to the volunteers and workers who kept the property humming, orderly and clean while working long shifts. Expect a quick return to Hoylake. 2030 will mark 100 years since Bobby Jones played his last golf in England en route to the Impregnable Quadrilateral. Seems a good fit.
Fan Experience. The R&A’s sponsors have done a super job offering fun things to do, including HSBC’s kids-friendly pavilion, Mastercard’s cardholder clubhouse where Rick Shiels hosted conversations with Tom Watson, Loch Lomond’s spirit sampling and Nikon’s on-course opportunity to try their stuff. Also, kudos to the R&A for the free sunscreen, free water and free printed pairing sheets featuring color coded caddie bibs for identifying players.
Hoylake The Course. Well presented by links manager James Bledge and team, the links was greener than all would have liked but gave players a chance to shine no matter their style, nationality, marital status or overall ability. The leaderboard featured a bit of everything and Harman separated himself with a driving and putting performance that any other player had the option of replicating thanks to the unbiased architecture. More wind and maybe the ability to hit driver a few more times would have been nice. But that’s not the Royal Liverpool’s fault.
Hoylake Clubhouse. If you’re a developer looking for the ideal size, floor plan, aesthetic, character, placement on the landscape and overall efficient functionality, this would be a fine one to mimic.
Hoylake The Club. The membership quietly enjoyed the proceedings and kept a low profile even with a member contending. They welcomed the world without setting aside grandstands for themselves or renting out their amazing clubhouse.
Hoylake History. A course with so much heritage honors it beautifully. From the interior displays of medals and tributes to past champions, to small touches like the old pineapple fence posts leftover from the 19th century race course winner’s enclosure, England’s most historic golf club honors its past without feeling stuck in it.
Cutmakers
Rory McIlroy. The de facto defending champion here improved each day with rounds of 71-70-69-68 but appeared—like many top guns—to have little feel for the greens he mastered nine years ago. While the calls will continue to symbolically fire someone in his support system as a means of ending the major drought, that seems like a bad idea. Contending without the A game, as McIlroy did at Hoylake, remains a great sign. Maybe it’s time to rely on Harry for more help reading greens when not seeing the lines?
Matt Fitzpatrick. The pearly whites look superb now that the braces are off and the +2 finish is pretty good given the open dislike of links in general. Losing to your little brother by four will make for fun Christmas eve banter, but the bigger concern is hitting an average of 5.50 fairways a round and currently ranking 133rd in PGA Tour driving accuracy. Has the pursuit of speed robbed you of what was a strength just a year ago in Brookline?
The Open date. Irish hurling. Ashes cricket. Tour de France. And in a one-off killer, the women’s World Cup. Several big contests in world sports pushed The Open down the list of viewing priorities and will again in future years. Falling the week after Wimbledon after The Championships changed dates seems to make The Open feel like an afterthought in the UK. Even Rory McIlroy’s stunning Scottish Open victory was relegated to sidebar status online and in print when it should have been a bigger Open-interest booster. Moving The Open another week back might let the Scottish Open serve as a better lead-in versus competing against Wimbledon, while avoiding cricket, hurling and other big stuff. The days will still be long enough to get 156 around and retain the charm of all players starting at the first tee.
Course setup. The R&A’s Grant Moir and team offered a fine presentation of Hoylake in terms of width, roughs and flexibility on hole locations. On Sunday, two hole locations and one tee were shifted due to an updated wind-shift forecast (that never happened). The flat floor bunker raking controversy and over-maintenance of hazards requires a bigger picture discussion worthy of reconsideration at all Open venues. There seems to be universal agreement (even among players) that pot bunkers should play as hazards “forged by nature.” Which makes the engineering of lies a contradiction when combined with excessive grooming efforts to ensure fairness.
Slogans. Last year the R&A injected a sense of magnitude with the 150th’s “Everything Has Led To This.” That was cool. This year they unveiled “Forged By Nature,” a new and permanent-until-it’s-not slogan plastered in gargantuan-sized lettering that drowned out “The Open”. The words certainly worked in highlighting the role of nature in The Open and in the R&A’s sustainability efforts this week and beyond despite the forged-by-man approach to bunkers and a new 17th hole carved by heavy machinery. The slogan also came at the expense of heritage, like nods to past Hoylake winners (unless you looked deep into the HSBC Golf Zone) or a traditional home hole tribute to the late Tom Weiskopf, who passed away just after the 2022 Open. Last week was the 50th anniversary of his win at Troon and perhaps he will be remembered next year when the Open goes back there.
Justin Thomas. He did not make the cut but after going 81-71, the struggling two-time major champ admirably stopped by the interview area to discuss his struggles and dimming Ryder Cup prospects (14th). He joked about a sore wrist from hitting too many balls out of bunkers but has no other answers for his issues. Nor should he. Golfers are unreasonably expected to have a steadily-rising career trajectory. Thomas appears to be in a lull that almost every good player has suffered through. Taking the Fall season off might be the mental and physical tonic he needs to return to major championship contending form.
Little Eye. The overall logistics of the par 3 17th worked better than feared. The silhouette effect of an infinity green looked beautiful from the tee. But the maze of walkways look like intersecting American freeways. The putting surface is ample enough for the world’s best but probably 4-5 feet too high to see the beautiful Welsh countryside beyond or for any Hoylake member not named Matthew Jordan. The front and right bunkers were too much for even the best players despite seeing less action due to a lack of big winds. It’s the only par 3 I’ve seen where world class golfers struggled to find a place to lay-up…on their second shot. Refinements needed.
