Tuesday At The 152nd Open
Press conferences, tee times, weather forecast intrigue, and major championship's most centrally located home is listed. Plus, a review of Prestwick St Nicholas.
A busy Tuesday at Royal Troon included the announcement of tee times, revealing press conferences and the Met Office offering some confident thoughts on what to expect Thursday. Plus, the opportunity to buy one of golf’s most unusual properties is making news, and I review Prestwick St Nicholas for those curious about adding a terrific links to their west coast itineraries.
But first, in a special nod to Quadradegenerates out there who can’t wait for the big reveal: we have a better idea which tee times might be most inconvenienced by Thursday’s harsh weather.
Everyone!
But as you’ll see in Tuesday evening’s updated Met Office forecast, there might be a special kind of cruelty awaiting afternoon players who face strong winds going out and coming in.
Tee Times
A “strange bedfellows” theme this year produced some unexpected groupings for the first two rounds.
To kick off the 152nd, the 1997 and 2004 champions at Troon will be joined by local hope Jack McDonald in the first group out Thursday morning at 6:35 a.m.
Scottish and Canadian Open winner Robert MacIntyre will join Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood out at 9:36 a.m., while Tom Kim, coming off a T2 last year at Hoylake, continues his run of receiving featured group status.
The defending champion, Brian Harman, drew Viktor Hovland and Sahith Theegala at 9:58 when the somewhat heavy stuff will be coming down. They are followed by the McIlroy-Homa-Hatton-what-can’t-we-have-thought-bubbles grouping.
Notably afternoon groups include three major winners followed by two major winners and Patrick Cantlay.
With Xander Schauffele joining Tiger Woods and Patrick Cantlay out together Thursday afternoon, the first three major winners of 2024 have been split up.
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler heads out at 3 p.m. with 2017 champion Jordan Spieth and 2022 runner-up Cameron Young.
The full list of times can be viewed here.
Quotable
Bryson DeChambeau on his swing this week. “It's going to be about controlling that height through just length of backstroke for me this week. It's going to be tough. It's always tough, right to left into the wind, left to right into the wind, and down. It's very diabolical, and just trying to keep it low underneath the wind is key for me this week.”
DeChambeau on a dispute with his former coach. “Look, it's an unfortunate situation. I've loved that man for all of my life, and it's a private matter that went public, unfortunately. We tried to figure it out and make it make sense for everyone, and it just didn't come out that way. I've said all I've said in the Golfweek article, and to be honest, like I'm moving on and looking forward to a great tournament this week.”
DeChambeau on Rory McIlroy. “I said hello to him yesterday, and we talked. He said congrats. So everything's great there. He's a fierce competitor. I know he's going to give the fans, give everybody as much as he can this week. I'm going to be doing the same. We're going to be competing. Hopefully it will be another good battle.”
Jon Rahm on watching the Euro Cup final between Spain and England. “The [LIV] team was sharing a house that week, so me and Tyrrell [Hatton] watched it together. You can imagine that was a sight to see…It was exactly what you would expect it to be. Honestly, he's no different to any other football fan, I would think, out there. I've seen enough football with both Spanish and English supporters, and everybody's language is extremely colorful.”
Rahm on his game. “Nashville and last week, I felt closer to getting to a higher level of golf where maybe there isn't as many thoughts on my process. Maybe I'm playing a little bit more freely and seeing the ball flight that I want to see more often.”
Rahm on Troon. “It's like any other links, right? Keep it on the fairway, avoid bunkers. That's obviously going to set yourself up to -- put you in a position to where you can maybe attack some pins and make some birdies. Everything depends on the weather. If the wind comes like it can come, especially out here, it's almost a bit of a survival…I think last year's score or last Open's here score, two players, were the anomaly. I haven't seen anybody have a low score here. It's tricky golf course, especially the stretch of 9, 10, 11, even 12, 13, 14 now with the other tee, and I guess 15 can get quite difficult. All of them play almost in off the left.”
