The Open Championship 2019 - Shane Lowry!!!

First topic message reminder :

Shaneo Lowry!!!!!!!!!!

I am just not sure what a player can do to check if a club is conforming other than carry the test out for themselves, which doesn't seem possible. It is not unreasonable for the players to expect a level of quality control from the manufacturers.

Although to bring in my f1 analogies agian, cars can fail extremely technical rules that those without mechanical engineering degrees would struggle to understand and the driver stills feels the brunt of the penalty.

While I agree there probably isn’t much a player can do to check it does give them an easy out “Didn’t know anything about it guvnor, honest”

It’s a difficult one for sure

Someone has cheated.
Do you just turn a blind eye and encourage it to happen again?

Kwini

I agree if a non conforming club used in competition then the player should be DQ'ed. Just not sure what they can do to stop it happening other than trust the manufacturers tech people.

McLaren wrote:Kwini

I agree if a non conforming club used in competition then the player should be DQ'ed. Just not sure what they can do to stop it happening other than trust the manufacturers tech people.

Why should you trust someone who's trying to push the rules envelope to the limit? That's total b0ll0cks.

kwinigolfer wrote:Someone has cheated.
Do you just turn a blind eye and encourage it to happen again?

Hello Mr Strawman.

I would trust my supplier is making clubs that are conforming. They have the testing equipment and how to test the tolerances. The onus is on the manufacturer and not the player.

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Someone has cheated.
Do you just turn a blind eye and encourage it to happen again?

Hello Mr Strawman.

I would trust my supplier is making clubs that are conforming.  They have the testing equipment and how to test the tolerances.  The onus is on the manufacturer and not the player.

So: Penalise the manufacturer, but I seriously doubt the golf authorities have the legal right to do so.
But, and you're right, it sounds as if Parsons & TaylorMade are equally guilty.

Someone has to stick to the rules, and penalising any player who tries to bring a non-conforming item into play should be dq'd and fined. As has been done with dodgy balls in the past.

callaway are not entered in the competition, you cant hold anything over them. The player is entered, he makes the decision to use whatever clubs he wants. He stands by the decision if one of them is dodgy.

Why don't they have a tester at each event, and then the players can get there clubs tested. Or just make sure they find out how to get the club independently tested, and do that.

I seem to remember on here a few years ago when Portrush was first talked about as a possible venue for the Open a lot of people doubted it would happen or could happen. Lots of doubts that the infrastructure would be good enough etc. I think those doubts must well and truly be gone now as it has been a great championship with great crowds and it is such a nice course.

Sky need to stop calling Mcilroy the best player in the world...because he hasn’t been for a good while now!

Another good week for Willett. After a 12th at pebble, its gradually getting better for him. Which is good news!

So Shane admitted he would go to bed dreaming of lifting the Claret Jug. I can’t say I blame him, four shots in the lead off the back of a 63.
I just hope he avoided the town as no doubt Portrush would have been bouncing last night.
On that can anyone recall a player getting the level of support at an Open that Shane did yesterday? Rory in 14, Darren Clarke 11, Tom Watson in 09 are recent ones that got high levels but I don’t think any were at the level Shane got.

Will Shane close it out guys?

Yes he will!
Hope so anyway.
Looks like the "weather" is starting . . . . . . .

Shane or Tommy. I'd be happy with either!

Hopefully the bad weather is on it’s way Kwini! Apart from the last day of the PGA there hasn’t been enough carnage at the majors

Are Ben and Kwini suggesting that for every club a player puts in there bag they should find someone to independently test them?

McLaren wrote:Are Ben and Kwini suggesting that for every club a player puts in there bag they should find someone to independently test them?  

I'm suggesting that someone needs to be made accountable for cheating, whether thru ambivalance or deliberate act.
In these cases, it appears that no illegal equipment has been found to have been put in play.

But, in the past, players have been dq'd for using non-conforming gear whether balls or clubs.

Schauffele, and possibly others, seem to be fortunate in that the R&A pre-empted dodgy clubs being used in competition, but Xander seems hell-bent on deflecting accountability and getting pee'd off at the R&A, whereas it's the manufacturer he should be focusing his blame on.

So you’d DQ Xander?

sirbenson wrote:So you’d DQ Xander?

If he put that club into play, of course.
But he didn't.

Other players are guilty and it’s totally unfair to single out Xander! Not saying you’re Kwini, but it’s poor form from the RnA

Where is this god awful weather they were calling for haha

McLaren wrote:Are Ben and Kwini suggesting that for every club a player puts in there bag they should find someone to independently test them?  

It's up to them. But if a club is found to be a bit off and haven't had it checked. Its their own fault. Can't just say, it's what they gave ne. Its nonsense.

As I said above any player using a non conforming club in a tournament should be DQ'ed but how do Kwini and Ben propose the players go about getting their clubs independently verified?

IMO, you are missing Xander's point. He doesn't want random testing, he wants 100% testing.

Apparently 4 out of the 30 tested drivers failed the R/A testing. From 4 different manufacturers. That's 13.3%. That's an alarming percentage, and extrapolated to the entire field, that's could mean 16 (or more) players that are playing non-conforming drivers.

Once the R/A got a failure rate that high, they should be testing everyone's driver.

If I was on Xander's team, (and Six Sigma Black Belt) I would also be asking for Gauge R&R records on the testing equipment. To make sure the testing equipment is not giving out false negatives and false positives. 13.3% failure rate is a big red flag that something is the testing procedure is amiss.

I’d agree with that testing the minority of the field instead of the majority it isn’t fair

A fantastic reception for Shane at the 1st. It must be so difficult not to get caught up in it.

McLaren wrote:As I said above any player using a non conforming club in a tournament should be DQ'ed but how do Kwini and Ben propose the players go about getting their clubs independently verified?

Mac,
I get my car inspected once a year, but that doesn't protect me against any nonconformity later that year. Same thing here, surely?


GPB,
Agree with most of that.


Good bogey in the end for Shane on #1, missed chance for Tommy.

It looks like someone has moved the switch on the back of Koepka’s head from Major to PGA Tour Event

NBC willing Lowry to lose this.
Not sure whether it's a preference for a dramatic finish or an American win.

Come on Shane!!

MacIntyre in with a 68 and up to T11.
You'd bet that he'll finish Top Ten and secure an exemption for next year.
Well done supes

kwinigolfer wrote:MacIntyre in with a 68 and up to T11.
You'd bet that he'll finish Top Ten and secure an exemption for next year.
Well done supes

Now T8 as the weather front moves in!

LadyPutt wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:MacIntyre in with a 68 and up to T11.
You'd bet that he'll finish Top Ten and secure an exemption for next year.
Well done supes

Now T8 as the weather front moves in!

One more bad mistake from a Top Tenner and Tom Lewis will also be in for RSG - and I think that's where he first hit the public eye.

Come on Shane!

Shane could bogey in now and still win comfortably but Sky seem to be going a long way to justify his level of play with warnings of previous collapses.
But it must be to appease the casual viewer as anyone who follows golf can appreciate the difficult conditions and understands that he won this yesterday and today he is comfortably doing all he has to, to ensure it.

We have all been rightly critical of Shane's schedule since his WGC win because he has failed to nail down a position well into the OWGR top 50, but what would we recommend his schedule look like after he wins the Open?

He will be qualified for the Majors for the foreseeable future and probably get into the next ryder cup but does he need to find a more sustainable schedule in terms of maintaining a higher OWGR?

His Wikipedia profile shows that he has won it already.

McLaren wrote:We have all been rightly critical of Shane's schedule since his WGC win because he has failed to nail down a position well into the OWGR top 50, but what would we recommend his schedule look like after he wins the Open?

He will be qualified for the Majors for the foreseeable future and probably get into the next ryder cup but does he need to find a more sustainable schedule in terms of maintaining a higher OWGR?

If he brings this home, I'd say he can play where the hell he wants. So long as he gets his 15 x PGA Tour events in.

T4 would get lw1 into The Masters as well at RSG. Provided Koepka doesn't birdie the last.

For context he only seems to have failed to qualify for the 2018 Masters, but has failed to qualify for quite a few WGC's since 2015.

Well Done and Well Played Shane

So what is the first thing that he will put in the claret jug?

Ice Cream?

kwinigolfer wrote:

If he brings this home, I'd say he can play where the hell he wants. So long as he gets his 15 x PGA Tour events in.

I think I agree with that, especially since an Open is a better achievement than having stayed in the top 30 OWGR for several years. The mail it in for regular events then turn it on at the majors model has certainly worker for Koepka (who by the way looks ready to smash JB in the chops).#

I just quite like Shane and think that it would be good if he could avoid the mindset adopted by one time winners like Oostie and Charl who seem content that their career aims have been met and their hearts don't seem in it anymore. Shane could win another Major.

GPB wrote:Well Done and Well Played Shane

So what is the first thing that he will put in the claret jug?

Ice Cream?

Only if it's heavily flavoured with Guinness . . . .

For Super

87 for JB!?!

Also don't think too much if any criticism can be thrown at Fleetwood. The conditions were too tough to make enough birdies to make up the deficit from the start of the day, especially considering Shane scored solidly.

Also for Super

Fatty Shane definitely banging a hotter woman than super ever has.




But no doubt Supers regime of gruel and marathon running will bag him a hottie in no time.

Poor JB

Funny given how many people said Portrush didnt have the infrastructure to hold the Open that it has broken attendance records.

https://www.theopen.com/latest/2019/07/the148thopen/record-breaking-crowd-to-attend-148th-championship

Collapse2005 wrote:Funny given how many people said Portrush didnt have the infrastructure to hold the Open that it has broken attendance records.

https://www.theopen.com/latest/2019/07/the148thopen/record-breaking-crowd-to-attend-148th-championship

Who said that?  Seems like you have a chip on your shoulder.

That was the reason given Mac as to why the Open hasn’t been in Portrush

The implication is that people on here strongly held that opinion. And anyway none of the open venues have great infrastructure and most have to make some alterations for the event.  No doubt Portrush isn't currently functioning how it usually would.