Honorary Scotsman Watson clinched the fourth of five Open titles at Troon in 1982, while the combustible Tom Weiskopf – known as the “Towering inferno” – led from start to finish in 1973, and Palmer – known as “The King” – won his second straight Open there in 1962.
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The last three Open champions at Royal Troon – former Oklahoma Sooner Todd Hamilton, Justin Leonard and Mark Calcavecchia – are playing together the opening two rounds….
With a stellar line up set to assemble in South Ayrshire it is hard to look past the likelihood that one of the sport’s big hitters will claim the top prize.
After a series of near misses at majors, Johnson, with his breakthrough at Oakmont last month, has muscled his way into the top echelon, bumping all of the others, at least for now, into backup-singer roles – and by a simple chronological countback, pushed McIlroy into the No. 4 position.
Spieth bogeyed the last hole after an errant tee shot and had an even-par 71, while top-ranked Day shot 73.
There’s the whole hometown-boy-making-good angle (his father was Royal Troon’s longtime secretary).
Jason Day of Australia hits a shot on the sixth green during Wednesday’s practice round at Royal Troon.
Louis Oosthuizen has made the first hole-in-one at the British Open.
In past British Opens at Troon, the average front-nine scores have been three to four strokes lower than the back nine scores.
The other member of the Big Four is U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, who had an afternoon start.
The Open was first played on October 17 in 1860 at the Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland, the birthplace of golf!
Rose, who will join Masters champion Danny Willett, Charley Hull and Catriona Matthew in Team GB, hopes McIlroy may not have meant the “stuff that matters” comment.
They don’t remember any of the shots he played, only the words he said.
Shane Lowry (18 to 1): Yes, he blew the U.S. Open last month. But it’s still 72 holes and you’re going to have to play good golf for all of them. As a 19-year-old amateur, she tied for second at Cherry Hills in her first U.S. Women’s Open…. He was told the opening three holes are par 4s that measure under 400 yards, and that seemed to intrigue him.
“I have been here since Saturday and seen the different wind conditions”, he said. The PGA Championship will unfold in the last week of July.
The first reality check actually arrives one hole before the turn, on the par-3, 123-yard No. 8, the “Postage Stamp” hole – so named because of the diminutive green, set in the side of a sand hill, surrounded by five bunkers.
For McIlroy, though, it is a case of finding his touch on the greens and, perhaps more importantly, avoiding the bogeys and even double-bogeys which have crept into his game this season and derailed him on occasions.
His second shot landed in him in such trouble that it took two shots to get out of the bunker.
“Coming so close a year ago was definitely a motivational factor in that I would love to hold the Claret Jug and be able to put my name down in history with the best that have ever played the game”, he said at Troon.
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On the return leg, playing tougher holes into the wind, it was all about survival.
