Quite simply, he must have a massive chance.
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World Number 1 Jason Day finished one shot outside the playoff at the 2015 Open Championship but it proved the catalyst that kick started a phenomenal run for the Queenslander.
That is what had been holding back Johnson, a good putter who just had not seen many disappear into the cup until recently.
Branden Grace of South Africa was stunned to learn it had been 66 years since someone outside the United States had won the claret jug at Royal Troon. A then-42-year-old Darren Clarke won at Royal St. George’s in 2011 for his first major. It’s the kind of mistake he appears to have eliminated.
“If you want to do as well as you can at Opens, you want to get off earlier the better”.
Three-time major victor Rory McIlroy, who missed last year’s Open due to an injury suffered playing football on the tournament eve, is in a threesome with Hideki Matsuyama and dual Masters champion Bubba Watson at 8.36am (1736 AEST).
And at Royal Troon, it doesn’t hurt that he’s an American.
Wind and rain at a British Open?
An unfavourable draw can discount half the field if they encounter the worst of the conditions on the Thursday and Friday, while the depth of strength at the top of the game is huge.
Zach Johnson faced the inevitable rite that goes with being a British Open champion.
Johnson has won his past two starts – U.S. Open and WGC-Bridgestone, the latter at Firestone South in Akron.
Montgomerie’s best showing in The Open was 2005 finishing runner-up to Tiger Woods at StAndrews albeit eight shots behind the American. He went on to win the third leg of the career grand slam.
He was pictured cradling it as he slept on his way back to America after last year’s win and, though the attachment wasn’t quite so strong on his way back to these shores, Johnson needed advice from his mind guru on how to return it – after drinking some more wine from it. “I’d be over the moon if I could hold the Claret Jug one day”.
Jordan Spieth said pulling out of the Olympics was the hardest decision he’s ever made, and that it likely will haunt him as he’s watching golfers compete for a gold medal in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 112 years.
“Losing the other week sucked, I hated losing”, said Day.
Spieth had not commented on his decision until Tuesday’s scheduled news conference ahead of the British Open.
Graeme McDowell is another who could go well after his T10 in Scotland last week. And I said, “Yes, it would be a great honour” and I treat it as such.
“I’d had success over in Japan for 11 or 12 years and had made a nice living there, so it wasn’t like I came into a lottery-style amount of money”, he said, “but it did help, as my wife and I were moving into a house that fall in 2004”.
Scott (2.15pm) is the only Australian with an afternoon tee time.
Such is the stage for the 145th Open Championship, where the list of favorites keeps getting longer.
He added a T21 in the Quicken Loans National straight after that.
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Writers asked Dustin at Firestone what he has to change in his game to make it three in a row at Royal Troon. Five times a runner-up in majors. However, he had not placed inside the top 25 at The Open prior to tying for fourth at St Andrews a year ago. I’ve struggled there, I’ll be honest.
