THE Open Championship 2013

First topic message reminder :

In response to PD's plea, here's my effort at a thread for this week's ET event, which just happens to be the most important event on that particular calendar, if not in the world of golf as a whole. I'll try to keep it factual, other than the 'ones to watch' at the end.

The 142nd Open Championship gets underway this week at Muirfield, just outside Edinburgh. Defending champion, in both respects, is Ernie Els, the big South African having followed up his playoff win at Muirfield in 2002 with last year's surprise victory at Lytham.

Els has quite a record in this event. He missed the cut on debut in 1989, but has played every year since 1992, recording 2 wins, 3 runner-up positions and a further 7 top tens. He's missed the cut just twice in that run, in 2010 when so many were caught out by the weather on the Friday at St. Andrews, and again in poor conditions at RSG the following year. In that context, his win last year is even more remarkable. Other notable stats for the Big Easy at the oldest major include twice recording 4 rounds in the 60s without winning, in 1993 and 2004 (brownie points on offer for naming the only other player to do this and the year), finishing under par most often since 1963 alongside two other huge names in the recent history of the Open (easy to guess who so I'd like the number of times too please), and he edges both of them on overall number of rounds under 70, 39 to their 37 and 33. Interestingly they both have more rounds under par than Ernie, which I suppose means when he's good he's very good. Testament to that would be his 29 on the front 9 in the second round at Muirfield in 2002, and his seven consecutive rounds under 70 in 1993-4.

Muirfield as a venue commands, it seems, a great deal of respect from the players even though the male only status of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers as a club casts something of a shadow over an otherwise excellent location for this great championship. I have no intention of expressing an opinion on that particular issue, not least because this week has nothing to do with the membership of the club and everything to do with the best players in the world. At 7,192 yards it's no beast, and indeed may even be considered short these days, even though they've added some 158 yards this time around. That won't detract from the substantial test that it's bound to provide, the rough at least providing some defence even if the weather doesn't look like it's going to. It's not an in and out type links, rather the front 9 loops clockwise around the anti-clockwise homeward 9. Par is 71, with 3 par 5s (5,9,17) and 4 par 3 holes (4,7,13,16). The prevailing wind will help on 5 and 17, so look for those holes to be eagle opportunities, while 9 plays back into it and at over 550 yards will be out of reach for most if there's any kind of breeze. 2, 3 and 11 are par 4s under 400 yards and ought to offer birdie opportunities, especially since the wind is likely to be helping on those holes. With the exception of the 4th, the par 3s are all around 180-190 yards, so should be no more than a mid-iron for most of the field.  

Previous champions here have included some of the game's true greats - Els, Faldo of course, twice, as well as Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino, Player and Cotton. Nobody has won the Open here by default. Faldo's 18 pars to edge out Azinger in 1987 will be part of Open Championship folk lore for centuries, even though his finish here in 1992 was arguably more inspired following his mid-round stumble which let John Cook have a sniff of victory.

Perhaps important to note is that although we look back on those last 7 Muirfield winners as greats of the game, for some of them victory here was their first in the Open (2 names?) or indeed in a major championship of any sort (another 2?). As such, could this be the first of many Opens for a new great (Rory, Justin, Adam?)

Victory in Scotland this week for Phil Mickelson has to mean he should be considered as another great player with the potential to win at Muirfield, although the fairways there will surely look like tiny islands in a sea of rough in relation to the giant swathes of short grass that the contenders at Castle Stuart were faced with this past week. So who else could be lifting the claret jug next Sunday?

Rory McIlroy - the world no. 2 hasn't given anybody any reason to suspect he'll be able to turn his form so far this season around, and this isn't his favourite event on the calendar. If the weather remains as calm as forecast that may change, but there will surely be too many genuine contenders for Rory to sneak up on the rails and pinch this one?

Tiger Woods - we've not seen numero uno since his latest injury, to his left elbow, forced him to miss his own tournament at Congressional. He's apparently 'full go' for the Open, albeit recognising that staying out of the rough will be an even better idea than usual! The length, or lack of it, of the course means he can afford to leave the driver in the bag most of the time and still have scoring opportunities but as with Rory, there are too many other serious contenders to think that Woods might win here when he was only able to muster a T28 here last time, which included a very wet, windy and rough-strewn third round 81.  

Ernie Els - the defending champion has to be a very serious contender this week, his excellent Open record combining with some pretty good recent form including of course victory in Germany 3 weeks ago. With no wind to blow him off course as he wedges his belly putter into place, you have to think Els will be in the mix next Sunday.

Graeme McDowell - another recent winner, and the all or nothing man of 2013. To mix missed cuts and wins the way GMac has done of late suggests huge mental strength, something that Muirfield Open champions have in common.

Lee Westwood - as some of you may know I'm a big fan of Lee's, but I don't really know why. Ordinarily my pessimistic, cynical nature would predict a good start to the tournament for Lee only to whimper out of contention on Friday and Saturday to the point where he hasn't got a realistic chance of winning on Sunday. However, he took the decision to miss the French Open in order to be better rested for the Open, and I'm hoping that will pay off. He's straight enough to win, especially if his recently improved short game holds out, but whether he has the mental strength I mentioned above remains to be seen!

Justin Rose - mental strength can't be questioned following that tremendous finish at Merion, and he certainly has the game to win at Muirfield. He doesn't have a great record in the Open though, his famous 4th place as an amateur in 1998 at Birkdale comfortably his best finish. 12th in 2007 and 13th in 2009 are his best pro finishes. Given his exertions at Merion, I think victory here would be asking too much.

Adam Scott - Justin's big pal and the other major champion of 2013 so far should arguably be defending champion this week. I was at Lytham to witness his demise on the Sunday, and it was pretty clear as he played the 18th that he wasn't in a good place mentally. Much like Rory he bounced back from throwing away a major by winning one very soon after, but I just have a feeling that also like Rory the one that got away will take a bit longer to finally reel in. Rory will most likely win the Masters one day, just as Adam will probably win an Open, but I fear the memories will still be too fresh for the Aussie this week.

All in all then, GMac, Ernie or Lee. All are around 25/1. If you want an outside bet; Brooks Koepke will return you 5 times as much as those big names - he's had a phenomenal year on the Challenge tour, graduating to the main ET via 3 wins before July and he played pretty well at Castle Stuart this week.

With the weather promising to be very pleasant, the course is likely to be hard and running, with the rough therefore coming more into play. Muirfield will doubtless produce a fantastic tournament and another excellent golfer will be announced by Peter Dawson around 7pm next Sunday as 'winner of the gold medal and champion golfer for the year'.

Where's Kwinigolfer??

Sand wrote:

beninho wrote:The BBC could not see into the future unfortunately. Michelson wasn't really in it until he birdied 13 and then his great end.

Complete nonsense he was +1, so hardly out of it. I forgot we have to watch every single shot Tiger hits, as well as his facial expressions.

As was his playing partner Molinari. Do you think we ought to have seen every one of his shots too?

Did we see any of Molinari?? When did I say we needed to see all of Mickelson, We hardly saw him and he shot 66!

If Westwood had shot 71 he'd have done better than almost everyone in the field today. He didn't, that's life. At least he's putting himself in position to win one and his short game has come on leaps and bounds.

Fair play to Pmick for an astonishingly good round but even he said that all he was trying to do was make pars but that his putter was on fire. Fine margins.

No, but the point was he wasn't looking like shooting 66 until he made birdie at 13, from which point on we saw virtually every shot he played. We saw Molinari once on 18, because he hadn't improved on his starting position. As soon as Mickelson improved to level, they were on him. Just when would you have started showing his shots if you were the director, without the benefit of hindsight?

What a blinder by Mickelson. I won't jump on the bandwagon saying it's the greatest round of golf I've seen but it's certainly up there.

I don't think Westwood threw this away as he never had it in the bag. To say it was his to lose with 18 holes to play shows a lack of respect for the golf course, conditions and his fellow competitors. His failure is no greater than Scott's in my book. He certainly looked more likely to win than Woods did.

Agreed Mysti, Phil is an all time great, that was something else today. In the upper echelons of the game.

Barragan - At times today Lee might have looked more likely to win than Tiger. But, given he hasn't won a major his entire career, I guess we'll never know how he would have handled the pressure down the stretch if he was in pole position. Tiger? Well, I know that answer!

barragan wrote:I don't think Westwood threw this away as he never had it in the bag. To say it was his to lose with 18 holes to play shows a lack of respect for the golf course, conditions and his fellow competitors. His failure is no greater than Scott's in my book. He certainly looked more likely to win than Woods did.

Spot on

Shotrock wrote:...Tiger? Well, I know that answer!

You knew that answer you mean. Maybe if TW ever get's in that position again we'll be better able to judge that he still has it.

Navy - As they say ...  better to be a "has been" than a "never was".

Well, you certainly have that right!

When last did Tiger shoot the kind of aggressive scoring Phil did today in a major? He's just not doing it in majors at all. As Haney has said, he's perhaps not preparing for these tournaments as he used to. At the moment, he reminds me of Westwood and Donald's spells at number one.He simply doesn't look like winning.

navyblueshorts - I can't let you away with one comment you made above that if Lee had shot 71 it would have been better than almost everyone in the field. Have another look at the leaderboard to see just how untrue that is. 22 of the 84 players today scored 71 or better.

I know there was more pressure on Lee in the last group and he would have had to win it the hard way but that's life. He's good at getting himself into contention but if he is to win one then he has to do better than today. That's not being hard on him, it's just a fact. I hope he can do it.

barragan wrote:I don't think Westwood threw this away as he never had it in the bag. To say it was his to lose with 18 holes to play shows a lack of respect for the golf course, conditions and his fellow competitors. His failure is no greater than Scott's in my book. He certainly looked more likely to win than Woods did.

I agree with this yet at the same time, Westwood did have a 3 shot lead today and it coincided with a horrible run...................

I think Westwood is one of the good guys on Tour, will he win a Major ? Prob not....................................

Personally I think Lee has what it takes to win a major. I've certainly seen lesser players win them. Right now I think when top top guys like Phil see him at the top of the leaderboard they smell blood, and it gets them going. Its going to take a lot of courage for Lee to keep fighting back and putting himself in that position. But if he can do that then I believe he will win at least one.

You have to admire Westwood's attitude after. He says he won't get too disappointed and will move on. If one looks at the big picture he is right. He plays a game for a living and gets really well paid for it. He realises that and probably knows how lucky he is. People like us who can't do what he does, get more disappointed than he does and think it's tragic. He refuses to make not wining a major ruin his life.

if Westwood and mickleson both shot level par for the last six Westwood would have won. He was still well placed coming down the stretch but got outrun by a near perfect finish by mickleson. It seemed worse because mickleson finished 40 mins before the final group, but in reality this was a tight championship. Mickleson shot 74 on Friday only marginally better than Westwood on Sunday, and in far easier conditions..
At the end of the day he came out with the best score over FOUR rounds. Yes Westwood was leader after three, but it's a 72 hole championship, and unfortunately he wasn't able to add a 70 to his 72,68,70. He is becoming a more complete player and if he putts like that at Augusta, his wayward driving won't hold him back from a Green jacket.

lorus59 wrote:You have to admire Westwood's attitude after. He says he won't get too disappointed and will move on. If one looks at the big picture he is right. He plays a game for a living and gets really well paid for it. He realises that and probably knows how lucky he is. People like us who can't do what he does, get more disappointed than he does and think it's tragic. He refuses to make not wining a major ruin his life.

I think his attitude all week was great, particularly liked his comments when asked about the pin positions on Thursday "Well they were on the greens weren't they?". He was then told Poulter thought they were a joke... "Oh Poults is always moaning". His attitude for the most part is spot on, relaxed, self confident and knowing what he has to do. Contrast it with the (arguably) more talented Sergio (who might want to have a word with Baker-Finch too). Much as I like Sergio he gives the impression of bordering on depression and beats himself up waaay too much and has basically talked himself out of ever winning a Major.

In terms of the Majors I see Lee continuing to Sunday afternoon contend for at least the next 2-3 years, there's no reason at all why he won't make it over the line on at least one. He's clearly found something with his putting which was apparent at least on the first 3 days. The thing is, everyone had at least one dodgy day where they shot an average round (I saw a stat that the scoring average was around 75). What no one else did though (correct me if I'm wrong) was birdie 4 of the last 6 holes and for a contender to do that on Sunday afternoon ultimately decided the destination of the claret jug.

Great event I thought. And definitely a worthy winner and a great way to do it with a birdie on the last in a round of 66 on a very tough layout. And what a bounce back after the US Open. Back to back wins too. Well done Phil!

It was a disappointing round from Wetswood in the end. Early on yesterday I thought he looked very comfortable and those closest to him were slipping up. I think if and when Lee wins a major, it will be like Phil did yesterday - coming from behind with a great final round. There are definitely a lot of positives he will take from the week.

Yesterday had it all though. Loved Poulter's run too. Made for gripping viewing start to finish.

How funny is this - Link

Nice to see Stenson contending again. His ball striking was sublime. If he'd have holed a few more putts he would have given Phil a real run for his money

SmithersJones wrote:How funny is this - Link

Is Super now writing articles for the DailyMash??

lorus59 wrote:You have to admire Westwood's attitude after. He says he won't get too disappointed and will move on. If one looks at the big picture he is right. He plays a game for a living and gets really well paid for it. He realises that and probably knows how lucky he is. People like us who can't do what he does, get more disappointed than he does and think it's tragic. He refuses to make not wining a major ruin his life.

I'm not sure about this to be honest. Firstly do I believe him ? Or is it more shrink talk to help him relax on the course. Secondly whilst I do 100% agree that there are far more important things in life than golf, I also want majors to go to guys who desperately want to win them. If they don't care so much, then why should I ?

Cant be super as he was not referred to as frog face.

No OWGR thread? PD on leave of absence?

themightyone wrote:No OWGR thread? PD on leave of absence?

PD & Kwini AWOL.............have they defected??

Well yes Diggs. LW is playing it down. He is gutted and wants a major bad!

But he is right in what he says  IMO- I just don't think he believes it.


Thoughts on Poults

John Cregan wrote:

themightyone wrote:No OWGR thread? PD on leave of absence?

PD & Kwini AWOL.............have they defected??

Perhaps a US site is a little more upbeat to focus on considering this year's results of our fellow Europeans...

I have to disagree with most and say that I thought Lee Westwood did blow his lead.  

When he birdied 5 to get back to -3 he had a three shot lead.  By that stage in the round the early nerves would have gone, he must have felt luck was on his side with his escape birdie at 5 and having played 5 holes he would have known where his game was and what game he had for the rest of the round.

He then played a really bad shot at each of the next three next holes.  I'm sure stonger minded players would not have made three mistakes in a row.  He was very lucky to only bogey 7 (unlucky being plugged, but a bunker is a hazzard) and very lucky to escape with a par at 9.

Seems he did not have his A game and I recall he said as much after the round.  But a world class player must be able to get it round with his B game and catching bunkers at 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 at Muirfield is a sin.  If your game is a little off then play the percentage shot instead surely.

As for Phil setting a score that forced Lee to shoot level for a play-off.  Factually correct of course, but if Lee had held his score together and say was 2 under playing ther back 9 then Phil would have been far less likely to make the birdies he did.  Phil could see he was just within touching distance and he could see all the other guys were struggling.  If Lee had been able to keep a grip of his round I don't think Phil would have been able to challange as well as he did.  Lee opened the door and Phil walked through.  In a way Lee is lucky Phil got to -3.  If Phil won on -1 or he and Stenson went into a play-off on par then I think more of us would agree Lee blew it.

Some say nice guys don't win and Lee is by all accounts a nice guy, but Phil's also a nice guy but he can find the guts / bottle / balls to get the job done.  

Surely we have to conclude that Lee Westwood is lacking in getting the job done in the Majors.  We used to rightly blame his pitching and putting, but not this week.  We could blame his long game this week, but maybe the root cause is in his head.

lee did blow his lead- however if a player of phil;s calibre wasnt there he still may have won the thing!

many players have blown there lead and made it tough to close out- but have closed out due to no one rising to the challenge.


Just to point out- forget the finishing scores for stenson , westy, scott etc.. They wouldnt have been the same if phil had ended on level par or 1 under..

Also, perhaps some of Europe's better players will now support the Scottish Open as preparation for this event.

Worked for PHIGJAM this week!

mystiroakey wrote:Well yes Diggs. LW is playing it down. He is gutted and wants a major bad!

But he is right in what he says  IMO- I just don't think he believes it.


Thoughts on Poults

Thoughts are Ill have to listen for years to how brave Poultry nearly won another Open despite the fact he was 4 shots behind Phil and wasn't even second in the end.

No credit for him giving us another amazing bit of golf entertainment?

He has done this on 2 other occasions in majors.. Once in an open and i think last years PGA when he started off with 5 birds final round..

He didnt win and in this case certainly didnt deserve to. But he was a very good character in this open championship. He played his part very well!

give him some credit!

Well done Poultry. That OK ?

thats good mate

He has gained a new fan:whistle:

Irrespective of all the ifs & buts and what might have happened if this or that player wasn't there, Lee has so far been unable to seize his chance in a Major. He needs to be the one who shoots Par at worst (and probably a couple better) on the last 9 holes on even the most difficult courses on Sunday while in contention. Phil is a truly great player because he has now done this on several occasions. But even those players with only one Major have usually had to do this to earn their victory. Majors don't just land in a player's lap. It's hard to think of any Major winner who didn't have to play some of the greatest shots of their life on Sunday when it mattered most in order to get over that line.

I thought DC put up a reasonably good performance considering his pretty tragic form since he won the open.

Absolutely gutted for Westy. Still, if an American was going to win it I'm glad it was Mickelson- he is a true class act.

Another 4th day lead that LW has blown, but I think he has a lot to take from his performance.
His putting was very, very good. I know he's been improving for a while, but this was a level above. It was his primary weapon this tournament, with his long game not quite where it usually is. 

Another tournament lost, but for me, a real improvement in his game.

A lot of very impressive amateurs in this tournament so it will be interesting to keep an eye on them.

On the whole, a thoroughly enjoyable Open. Here's to hoping the PGA is just as entertaining!

Fine win by our latest son of Scotland McElson

I know BBC journalism isn't very well received on here, and at times rightly so, but I think Iain Carter has summed up Westwood's performance quite well here

Yeh, good article that. Sums it all up pretty well. Didn't realise his GIR was so poor this tournament.

A lot of deja vu moments for me.

Phil Mick mugging Westwood from behind on the last day of a major.

Adam Scott bogeying 4 consecutive holes on the last nine in The Open when in contention.

Ultimately a story of redemption, with the winner being someone who had thrown away a recent major (thinking of McIlroy and Scott).

Overall, I feel very disappointed that Westy couldn't play to the same standard shown in the first 3 days. It wasn't a complete car crash, and I don't think many in the groups behind Mickelson played particularly well - but still, it wasn't a close contest at the end nor did Westwood even come runner up. Perhaps Lee and Hunter brought each other down a bit, who knows.

On the positive side, as some have said already, Westwood's short game and putting continue to improve and I would say they generally stood up on the Sunday. He's only just started working with Sean Foley, so I'd hope that his long game will improve from here.

Best scenario for me? I think it would be a wonderful story if Lee re-hires Billy Foster next season, and they win their first major at the Masters. And then lap the field at Hoylake. Would I place any money on that happening though? Can't say I would.

I'd love to see them reunited too, Sky. Sadly I have a suspicion there's some bad blood there now.

Shotrock wrote:Also, perhaps some of Europe's better players will now support the Scottish Open as preparation for this event.

Worked for PHIGJAM this week!

Especially now it is actually on a links course and not a bandon imitation.


I loved peter alliss's assessment of PHIGAM's mastery of links; he didn't really play any of the traditional shots but just learned how to use his game on a links.  I wonder if phil realizes his banging on about "getting" links golf sounded rather foolish given the shots he didn't bother to play.

His game did of course work so I guess he at least worked out the conditions better than the rest.

What was obvious in the final round was that the players could not get their heads around the concept of playing a knocked down longer iron short of the green instead of hoping a bombed wedge would run on with any level of consistency.

He may not have bounded a niblick (???) 2 foot above the deck with his featherie, but make no mistake he played the right shots for that course in those conditions for his talent/ability. That's pretty much the definition of a links game in my mind.

Whether he'd triumph in real wind on a typical links I couldn't say but he could only do what was in front of him and by god he did it well on Sunday.

As I conceded above P-mick brilliantly adapted his skill set to the situation, but from listening to his comments you would think he had just used a set of shots not seen since the days of old tom.

I just object to him portraying an image of himself as a master of the traditional links shot, when all he did was play very well.

Of course one way to look at it is that the course is a great one and therefore many styles of play can be used to shoot a good score. I actually believe this to be the case and don't see phil playing as well on some of the other open rota courses.

I saw a couple of the interviews Phil did immediately after his win (but didn't hear Alliss' comments). I didn't think there was anything wrong with Phil's comments, I merely took it that he'd adapted his game over the years to a variation of his game that could be successful on links courses. And he said more than once he wasn't sure he could be successful on a links. I didn't hear him say he was now mastering traditional links shots, just recognising he'd had to work hard to adapt his own game, and what rightly feels like a great achievement to him.

Something the likes of Rory would do well to follow.

phil up to #2
you have to go as far as #29 to find a player who has scored less points than rory in 2013. interesting to see how quickly he'll drop out of the top 10 on current form.