The Open Championship 2017

Round 4 Tee Times
07:55 Danny Willett
08:05 Sung-hoon Kang, Aaron Baddeley
08:15 Thorbjorn Olesen, Sean O'Hair
08:25 Russell Henley, Kevin Kisner
08:35 Bernd Wiesberger, Charl Schwartzel
08:45 Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Webb Simpson
08:55 Kent Bulle, Laurie Canter
09:05 Soren Kjeldsen, J.B. Holmes
09:15 Martin Kaymer, Jimmy Walker
09:25 Daniel Berger, Xander Schauffele
09:40 James Hahn, Joseph Dean
09:50 Toby Tree, Andy Sullivan
10:00 Lee Westwood, Young-Han Song
10:10 Justin Rose, Gary Woodland
10:20 Yi-Keun Chang , Adam Scott
10:30 Jon Rahm, Andrew Dodt
10:40 KT Kim, Peter Uihlein
10:50 Alfie Plant, Brandon Stone
11:00 Charley Hoffman, Zach Johnson
11:10 Thomas Pieters, Bubba Watson
11:25 Ernie Els, Haotong Li
11:35 Steve Stricker, Kevin Na
11:45 Chris Wood, Thongchai Jaidee
11:55 Matthew Southgate, David Drysdale
12:05 Marc Leishman, Tommy Fleetwood
12:15 Jamie Lovemark, Joost Luiten
12:25 Sergio Garcia, Matthew Fitzpatrick
12:35 Andrew Johnston, Paul Casey
12:45 Tony Finau, Jason Dufner
12:55 Jason Day, Scott Hend
13:10 Shaun Norris, Richard Bland
13:20 Alex Noren, Rickie Fowler
13:30 Ian Poulter, Richie Ramsay
13:40 Rory McIlroy, Ross Fisher
13:50 Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Chan Kim
14:00 Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson
14:10 Hideki Matsuyama, Branden Grace
14:20 Brooks Koepka, Austin Connelly
14:30 Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth

2nd year this will be completely off my radar thanks to those sellouts at the R&A and their disgraceful and utterly short sighted view on growing (and maintaining growth of) the game.

Any idea when the field is finalised?

There is a programme on Sky at 1pm U.K. time announcing the tee times on Monday. Could that be the same time?

barragan wrote:2nd year this will be completely off my radar thanks to those sellouts at the R&A and their disgraceful and utterly short sighted view on growing (and maintaining growth of) the game.

I agree with you Barragan although I don't think I'd be able to manage not seeing it, I've taken Thursday and Friday off work and will be watching as much as possible.

You can take a nowTV week pass for 11 quid and watch it online, although if you do not care for sky I can appreciate why you wont.

The Open field:
Can't find any listing more concise than this:

https://www.theopen.com/Players

Presentation of pretty graphics on all golf sites seem to be taking over from any notion of merely providing information.


Perhaps this is a touch more digestible:

https://www.europeantour.com/en/europeantour/tournaments/2017/146th-open-championship/#entry

Cheers Kwini. Hopefully one of those sites will make it easy....

I'll post the event tomorrow morning.

https://www.theopen.com/TeeTimes#!/R1 Tee Times are out, will insert in the article later!!!

I see super's Scottish Amateur protege, Connor Syme, has drawn Daly - enough to put anyone off his game.

Can anyone explain to me why there are 53 players in the list of Category 4 Exemptions? (The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2017) LINK HERE

Obviously they group the big names together, but is the whole thing pieced together or is any of it a draw?

http://www.skysports.com/share/10951422 vote the Harrington group people!!

barragan wrote:2nd year this will be completely off my radar thanks to those sellouts at the R&A and their disgraceful and utterly short sighted view on growing (and maintaining growth of) the game.

There's a 2 hour highlights programme on BBC every evening.

I'm never wrong wrote:Can anyone explain to me why there are 53 players in the list of Category 4 Exemptions? (The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2017) LINK HERE

Once the field as specified is complete, they fill any remaining places from the world ranking, so I assume they include those "alternates" under the owgr Top 50 category - see Tony Finau, for instance. Only explanation I can think of.
By the by, Good that almost all eligible Americans are making the trip , , , , , ,

kwinigolfer wrote:

I'm never wrong wrote:Can anyone explain to me why there are 53 players in the list of Category 4 Exemptions? (The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2017) LINK HERE

Once the field as specified is complete, they fill any remaining places from the world ranking, so I assume they include those "alternates" under the owgr Top 50 category - see Tony Finau, for instance. Only explanation I can think of.
By the by, Good that almost all eligible Americans are making the trip , , , , , ,

Passport office must have been busy.

kwinigolfer wrote:

I'm never wrong wrote:Can anyone explain to me why there are 53 players in the list of Category 4 Exemptions? (The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2017) LINK HERE

Once the field as specified is complete, they fill any remaining places from the world ranking, so I assume they include those "alternates" under the owgr Top 50 category - see Tony Finau, for instance. Only explanation I can think of.
By the by, Good that almost all eligible Americans are making the trip , , , , , ,

Thanks Kwini, I think you have nailed it with "Once the field is complete". I thought the exemptions were in order of precedence, so for example Brian Harman - who was 51st on the OWGR would be catered under that category, but he got in under Category 13 (Top 5 Fedex points list on completion 2017 Travelers Championship). Semantics, possibly....

The Top 50 exemption exemption came from Week 21, right after the BMW-PGA and COLONIAL tournaments.

It looks likes the alternates were determined on Week 27, right after the Greenbrier tournament.

Players #51-#53 look to be Webb Simpson, Tony Finau, and Anirban Lahiri

Webb Simpson was the first alternate, must have been only 155 spots exempt.

Finau was the 2nd alternate, got in when Ben Curtis WDed
Lahiri was the 3rd alternate, got in when Piercy WDed.

Lahiri was ranked 90th on week #21, when the Top 50 exemptions were announced. He went up into the 65th after his T2nd at Memorial.

What is everyone's favourite grouping?

From 1963 to 1980, 18 years, Jack Nicklaus was only beaten in the Open Championship 38 times, by 26 different players


Bob Charles (2)
Phil Rodgers
Tony Lema (2)
Peter Thomson (2)
Brian Huggett
Christy O'Conner (2)
Roberto De Vicenzo (3)
Kel Nagle
Bruce Devlin
Sebastian Miguel
Max Faulkner
John Panton
Gary Player
Tony Jacklin (2)
Lee Trevino (3)
Lu Hiang-Huan
Craig Defoy
Johnny Miller (2)
Neil Coles
Tom Weiskopf
Gary Player
Peter Oosterhuis
Tom Watson (3)
Jack Newton
Seve Ballesteros
Ben Crenshaw

GPB wrote:From 1963 to 1980, 18 years, Jack Nicklaus was only beaten in the Open Championship 38 times, by 26 different players

Tony Lema (2)
Peter Thomson (2)
Brian Huggett
Christy O'Conner (2)
Roberto De Vicenzo (3)
Kel Nagle
Bruce Devlin
Sebastian Miguel
Max Faulkner
John Panton
Gary Player
Tony Jacklin (2)
Lee Trevino (3)
Lu Hiang-Huan
Craig Defoy
Johnny Miller (2)
Neil Coles
Tom Weiskopf
Gary Player
Peter Oosterhuis
Tom Watson (3)
Jack Newton
Seve Ballesteros
Ben Crenshaw

Wow!
Had never heard that before
Some good names in there, top golfers who hardly ever got the chance to play US Majors.

Caught a clip on Sky showing John Rahm playing out of a bunker. Thing was, he was playing a 4 iron. He had knees and waist bent and the club was practically horizontal. Pot type bunker as well. Flopped out nicely.

Think I remember talk about Player or Seve doing the same thing with all the irons in the bag once.

Something like this:

http://golf-info-guide.com/golf-tips/pro-signature-shot/seve-ballesteros-the-artful-bunker-shot/


I wonder how BDeC will do with his same-length clubs in pot bunkers.

I see Justin Thomas is wearing a tie for Round 1; is he taking the p1ss?

GPB wrote:From 1963 to 1980, 18 years, Jack Nicklaus was only beaten in the Open Championship 38 times, by 26 different players

Tony Lema (2)
Peter Thomson (2)
Brian Huggett
Christy O'Conner (2)
Roberto De Vicenzo (3)
Kel Nagle
Bruce Devlin
Sebastian Miguel
Max Faulkner
John Panton
Gary Player
Tony Jacklin (2)
Lee Trevino (3)
Lu Hiang-Huan
Craig Defoy
Johnny Miller (2)
Neil Coles
Tom Weiskopf
Gary Player
Peter Oosterhuis
Tom Watson (3)
Jack Newton
Seve Ballesteros
Ben Crenshaw

Yeah, but I'm unbeaten..

kwinigolfer wrote:I see Justin Thomas is wearing a tie for Round 1; is he taking the p1ss?

It's more likely a rosary necklace..

I'm never wrong wrote:Caught a clip on Sky showing John Rahm playing out of a bunker. Thing was, he was playing a 4 iron. He had knees and waist bent and the club was practically horizontal. Pot type bunker as well. Flopped out nicely.

Think I remember talk about Player or Seve doing the same thing with all the irons in the bag once.

TBF, pretty much the first thing Rahm said was that he learnt it from Seve.

Any chance of putting this in the featured article zone?

GPB wrote:From 1963 to 1980, 18 years, Jack Nicklaus was only beaten in the Open Championship 38 times, by 26 different players

Tony Lema (2)
Peter Thomson (2)
Brian Huggett
Christy O'Conner (2)
Roberto De Vicenzo (3)
Kel Nagle
Bruce Devlin
Sebastian Miguel
Max Faulkner
John Panton
Gary Player
Tony Jacklin (2)
Lee Trevino (3)
Lu Hiang-Huan
Craig Defoy
Johnny Miller (2)
Neil Coles
Tom Weiskopf
Gary Player
Peter Oosterhuis
Tom Watson (3)
Jack Newton
Seve Ballesteros
Ben Crenshaw

That's 24 names. Bob Charles makes it 25, who is number 26?

Eyetoldyouso wrote:

That's 24 names. Bob Charles makes it 25, who is number 26?

Ooops, Missed two names when I copied and pasted.

Bob Charles and Phil Rodgers are the other two players. Bob Charles beat him twice

Just spotted Paul Broadhurst is in not sure how(top senior?) that is a good effort

Won Senior Open . . . . . . Having himself a good senior career. Pleased to see that.

sirbenson wrote:What is everyone's favourite grouping?

Rahm, Reed, Westwood would be my afternoon choice closely followed by the group out straight after. Of the less obvious I like Knox, Noren, Poulter.

I like 9.36 (Harrington, Perez & Pieters) and 10.09 (Koepka, Hideki & Fleetwood) in the morning

Really like the Phil, Leishman and Franny in the afternoon.

What has DeChambo ever done to secure a primo group? Puma paying a ton of money to the R&A no doubt.

O'bese O'Meara opening the batting on what must surely be his Open swansong. He'd be more value in the commentary box.

kwinigolfer wrote:I like 9.36 (Harrington, Perez & Pieters) and 10.09 (Koepka, Hideki & Fleetwood) in the morning

Really like the Phil, Leishman and Franny in the afternoon.

What has DeChambo ever done to secure a primo group? Puma paying a ton of money to the R&A no doubt.

O'bese O'Meara opening the batting on what must surely be his Open swansong. He'd be more value in the commentary box.

He'd be better in some sort of box Kwini.

Not sure Grace and Dufner are a primo group. Grace has one PGATour win on his resume (Euro Wins are mostly 2nd tier wins).

Prince Dracula did a summary of theoretical OWGR points earned all time at the Open Championship.

Spoiler:

Grace has won around the world, went 5-0 against the Big Tour's best in 2015 and has 4 x Top 5 finishes in the past 9 Majors.
Yeah, right, not a primo player. Compared to who?
Not many with his record over the last three years.

There you go again....putting stock into match play contest. 4 of those wins were with a partner.

None of his EuroTour wins were against "stout" fields. Both Grace and Dufner are ranked outside the Top 30.

And I am sure players like CH-III is obsessing that BAD got to play in a primo grouping.

Grace is the real deal. Wouldn't be surprised to see him bag a major soon.

Incredible how #81 ranked DeChambeau gets singled for a Primo pairing with #30 something ranked Dufner/Grace while #169 ranked player gets a free pass for being paired with #18 Matt Kuchar.

Maybe it is because Ramsay won a US Amateur....

Maybe no one considerers Kucher to be a "primo" player. He's quiet and not flashy so his name just goes under the radar.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2017/07/18/golf-returns-bbc-deal-show-uspga-championship/

Interesting news as far as the PGA Championship next month

sirbenson wrote:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2017/07/18/golf-returns-bbc-deal-show-uspga-championship/

Interesting news as far as the PGA Championship next month

Wow. That's something that (if true) I really didn't think would ever happen again.

Seems true - notice though that it clashes with the World Athletic Championships so only on red button coverage until after 10:30pm

That's brilliant news about the PGA, really pleased with that

Regarding O'Meara he has confirmed this will be his last Open. He is 60 now - which I believe is the R&A's cut-off - and it's at Birkdale so giving him the honour of the opening tee-shot is the right thing to do.

Im pretty surprised about the PGA going to the BBC, but seems to make sense if they stated they wanted to open it up to a wider audience. The BBC do well with different platforms with things such as Glastonbury so getting some golf on should be manageable. In America are the majors on free to air TV or behind a paywell like the UK?

So will the BBC now get back the full masters coverage as Sky have no deal in place for next year.

You'd hope by now the BBC will not use Peter Alliss anymore and yeah that's a good point about Sky not having the Masters...you'd wonder how they are going to sell a golf channel after potentially losing 2 majors

Hope so. Would be nice to see viewer accessibility/figures take precedence over the mighty $$$, but can't see it tbh. Still, more of a chance than at this time last week I'd say.

Agree wire, it's nice to see O'Meara getting the first tee slot tomorrow. Seemed a nice guy from what I remember of him winning the 2 biggies (it was 2 wasn't it???)

Yeah two biggies (Masters, Open) the same year

Very surprised that the bbc got the PGA champs. Not sure how much will be on the TV but I assume almost all the action will be available on the bbc sports website or the red button.

It will be interesting to see what figures the bbc get, i would assume that even red button viewing will be similar to Skys viewers. I have tried to get a comparison of the BBc and SKy Masters viewing figures for this year but cannot find anything. But the Open figures for last year compared to the year before, was crazy 1.1 peak for sky 4.5 peak for the bbc. Even whispers on a few reports that the USGA a concerned about figures regarding the US Open. With Cricket bringing some free to air back in the future, maybe sport is realising that it needs the coverage not just the cash.