Prior to that victory, Phil Mickelson said the longer Johnson went without winning a major championship, the more it became an elephant in his golf bag.
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Miller already made an interesting observation in a conference call Monday when he compared Troon with Pebble Beach. Johnson was the 36-hole leader at St. Andrews a year ago.
As for Miller sharing his personal feats? “It was like the ultimate ground game championship”.
“Every year I start out, I get excited for all the Majors”.
Known as a scrappy player who nearly always seems to find the fairways and who is adept at scrambling out of the rough, McDowell could finally break through for his second career major this weekend if his putter cooperates.
The younger Montgomerie is playing in his first Open Championship in six years after getting through qualifying at nearby Glasgow Gailes last month. I hated losing. It was a bad way to lose, and it was frustrating and disappointing.
“The other guys are having a great run at the minute but I feel like my game has been quite consistent apart from 2013 where I didn’t play that well”.
“It’s just part of the game”, he said.
American Jordan Spieth rounds out the favourites at +1200 after finishing one shot out of a playoff a year ago.
The 2014 Open champ was hardly first-class when he came a cropper at Troon’s famous par 3, eighth hole during practice. But the big gaffe came later, when USGA President Diana Murphy called the victor “Bethany” instead of Brittany Lang.
Westwood has been paired with the eventual tournament victor in both The Masters and U.S. Open this season. “During the prize presentation, I mistakenly called her by the wrong name repeatedly”.
McIlroy says he’s “very comfortable” with his decision not to go to Rio. “I appreciate her understanding, and I am sorry that what I said may have taken away from a historic moment for a very deserving champion”.
Schwartzel previously had been with Nike.
The often gutsy and wet weather which meet golfers on the shoreline links courses which make up the British Open mean the annual contest can be something of a lottery, especially as this year´s four-day event takes place at Royal Troon in Scotland.
“In recent years I’ve had a few decent looks at The Open”, he said.
One of my great pals, Ian Poulter, is with us too for the opening couple of days and I think he will be a sensation in the booth for us.
Among the players who switched to PXG this year were defending champion Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, James Hahn and Charles Howell III.
And at Royal Troon, it doesn’t hurt that he’s an American.
“My personal opinion is that most of the good par-threes in golf probably range between 123 to maybe 180 yards, something like that”, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson said the other day. “I’d be like, yeah, well, sometimes it goes like that and it goes in cycles”, he said.
He told Miller that he was his inspiration.
Arnold Palmer won his second consecutive Open in 1962 at Royal Troon, which happened to be Jack Nicklaus’ first Open.
Andy Sullivan (60-1): This Englishman has notched two straight Top-10 finishes on The European Tour in the last two weeks and finished 23rd at The U.S. Open at Oakmont last month. Beau Hossler has turned pro after two years at Texas and signed with Hambric Sports Management. That’s a beneficial thing when it comes to Opens.
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McIlroy – the 2013 Open champion – is making his return to the event after an ankle injury prevented him defending the Claret Jug previous year. Since the start of May, Donald has produced more rounds in the 70s than the 60s and has missed more cuts this year than he has top-25 finishes.
