**2021 British Open (Open Championship) Thread**

[Fumbleweed 422]

The British Open (or Open Championship) is now just a little more than a week away. Per my usual custom, here is my list of my top ten favorties and other possible contenders. Picks are subject to change a bit also depending on what happens during the next week or so, but probably not much. Royal St. George's plays host to this year's tournament for the first time since 2011 (Darren Clarke). The British is tied with the Masters as my favorite major, so really looking forward to the first one in two years (Covid) 

Top Ten:

1. Paul Casey- Much like Clarke's win in his early to mid 40's ten years ago, I think we're due for another longtime vet to win their breakthrough major. Would love it to be Westwood, but Casey's play over the past two years makes him the pick. 

2. Jon Rahm- The last two times he's teed it up in competition, he's been a world beater. Will be the favorite in the eyes of many, if not most. 

3. Jordan Spieth- Along with the Masters, this is the major Jordan's game is most suited to winning. Length is hardly a must have in Britain. Look for Jordan to contend. 

4. Viktor Hovland- Just won in Europe a little over a week ago. Hovland just seems to be trending towards a huge win somewhere in the next 24 months. Could it be here and now?

5. Brooks Koepka- Major championships mean putting Koepka on the list nearly every time he tees it up- has extensive experience playing in Europe despite being American.  

6. Tyrrell Hatton- Has the game to win an Open Championship, but still has the same unruly temperament which will prevent a top-five finish in my book despite a solid showing overall. 

7. Rory McIlroy- Always a threat to win a major obviously. Needs a good first day to have a shot at his fifth major come Sunday. 

8. Adam Scott- I still believe that Scott is going to win a second major before fading into the sunset. He is owed one after his epic collapse in the 2012 Open. I could be wrong, but I think one more is coming. The question is: When?

9. Stewart Cink- Yes, I know he's older, but Cink's all around game this season has been superb. I think he'll combine that with his experience in this one and back-door a top ten. 

10. Shane Lowry- Defending champion is a good bet to play well even if he doesn't ultimately contend on Sunday late. 
 

Obvious omissions include the likes of Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Louis Oosthuzien, and Patrick Cantlay. St. George's is a quirky course and I think we'll a bit of a quirky leaderboard throughout the week until things settle down a bit on the weekend. 

[edjr 5,547]

tired of the same old courses being used. Time they use Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Doonbeg Ireland

[Cruzer 1,992]

Gonna be the 1st Open w/out Peter Alliss on the broadcast. 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

Putting a few bucks on fitz and cam like usual.  They don't have much success at the British but Im riding them.  Both 50 to 1

[fricker66 91]

Cink and Hatton are the oddball picks there.  Let's see if either makes the cut.  

[listen2me 23 1,537]

1 minute ago, fricker66 said:

Cink and Hatton are the oddball picks there.  Let's see if either makes the cut.  

Why is Hatton an oddball pick for the British? Links player.  T6 in the last Open.  Ranked #10 in the world...

[WhiteWonder 2,171]

I know you can't just go chalk but Louis has to be in the top 10. Playing great, excellent track record at majors save for the fact he should have more than one win by now. 

And I know this is biased but Phil should be in the obvious omissions list. Winning the PGA may have been a career capping blip on the radar type event at this point but he did make the cut at the US Open and older players can historically hang at Open Championships. Windy, Links style more similar to Kiawah might be a good recipe for a successful week. 

[Cruzer 1,992]

3 hours ago, listen2me 23 said:

Why is Hatton an oddball pick for the British? Links player.  T6 in the last Open.  Ranked #10 in the world...

I like Hatton, he's world class, gritty and can putt. 

That being said, he's a big fish in a small Euro pond... Lee Westwood 2.0. 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

10 hours ago, Cruzer said:

I like Hatton, he's world class, gritty and can putt. 

That being said, he's a big fish in a small Euro pond... Lee Westwood 2.0. 

Perhaps.  But they are different types of players.  Hatton may not have the temper to finish off majors.  But here at the British I think he is very live and a top 10 prediction isnt odd in any way.

I may be partial as he helped win me 2k on draftkings off a 3 dollar entry last year.  

[Cruzer 1,992]

2 hours ago, listen2me 23 said:

Perhaps.  But they are different types of players.  Hatton may not have the temper to finish off majors.  But here at the British I think he is very live and a top 10 prediction isnt odd in any way.

I may be partial as he helped win me 2k on draftkings off a 3 dollar entry last year.  

He'll prolly be one of those that (if he ever does win a major) wins an unexpected one, like the PGA. 

Tell you one thing though, he's a nut bet for any Old Tom Morris look-alike contests. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Old_Tom_Morris_1860.png

 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

The last time it was here the scores were not very low.  Don't recall if it was weather related or what.  If it plays like that then it gives Hatton a good chance.

[bostonlager 2,457]

Hovland got a Euro win a couple weeks ago. Giving him a look next week at +4000

[fricker66 91]

17 hours ago, listen2me 23 said:

Why is Hatton an oddball pick for the British? Links player.  T6 in the last Open.  Ranked #10 in the world...

I don't trust him in the majors.   Discounting years before 2015 (missed cut in his first 3 Opens as a young pro), he has played in 22 majors and has missed the cut 9 times, including all 3 in 2020.  Admittedly, he has 5 top 10 finishes in those cuts that he made, but he has been mediocre in the last two majors, finishing 38th at the PGA and missing the cut at Torrey Pines this year.   

He also missed the cut at The Players this year.  

By the way, if you haven't done so, you can go to PGATour.com and see all of the stats for every golfer.  Pretty cool stuff.  Hatton's is here:  https://www.pgatour.com/players/player.34363.tyrrell-hatton.html

[bostonlager 2,457]

Rickie Fowler +8000

Bryson DeChambeau to miss the cut +250

Dustin Johnson to miss the cut +350

[Alias Detective 1,179]

49 minutes ago, bostonlager said:

Rickie Fowler +8000

Bryson DeChambeau to miss the cut +250

Dustin Johnson to miss the cut +350

D!CK move

[bostonlager 2,457]

Just now, Alias Detective said:

D!CK

I would have taken him with your pick in the 3rd too. You can't pass on him, just not sure how well his game is going to translate across the pond. 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

On 7/7/2021 at 2:13 PM, listen2me 23 said:

Putting a few bucks on fitz and cam like usual.  They don't have much success at the British but Im riding them.  Both 50 to 1

Fitz dropped to 28 to 1.  Cam went up to 70 to 1.  

Dropping Fitz.  Playing Cam and now Zalatoris at 80 to 1.  Limited to no real experience on a links course.  But he is from Texas.  Has to have experience in the wind.  80 to 1 just too high for thr caliber of player.

[Alias Detective 1,179]

47 minutes ago, listen2me 23 said:

Fitz dropped to 28 to 1.  Cam went up to 70 to 1.  

Dropping Fitz.  Playing Cam and now Zalatoris at 80 to 1.  Limited to no real experience on a links course.  But he is from Texas.  Has to have experience in the wind.  80 to 1 just too high for thr caliber of player.

Zalatoris played the Scottish open last week.  Played quite well too.

[bostonlager 2,457]

 

[Cruzer 1,992]

WTF kind of stroke was that?  

Zalatoris misses one-foot putt at The Open - Bing video

 

[Bert 1,087]

48 minutes ago, Cruzer said:

WTF kind of stroke was that?  

Zalatoris misses one-foot putt at The Open - Bing video

 

It was like he got stuck and then had a spasm .

[Cruzer 1,992]

Man, so focking great to have the Open back. Nothing like waking up to a major up and underway at the crack of dawn. 

Incredible Day 1, so many off to hot starts.. Unless the weather turns, which it doesn't look like it is, we're in line for a playoff. 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

Aaaaaand Will Z withdraws

Golf betting can be annoying 

[edjr 5,547]

7 minutes ago, listen2me 23 said:

Aaaaaand Will Z withdraws

Golf betting can be annoying 

The guy with the nail in his head finally got ahold of him?

[Cloaca du jour 2,064]

Some dude with a man bun best not be around for sunday lol..

[Cruzer 1,992]

I'm not sure why, but I'm getting a little tired of the Louie Oostie schtick. 

I'm pulling for Colin or Spieth....but watch out for DJ, he's coming. 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

Pulling for speef as usual.   More of us should have seen Morikawa coming.  The lack of links track records got to me too much.  Morikawa is truly one of the best on the planet.  And taking experience away....the course sets up for Morikawa.   His number was inflated because of the lack of British experience.   

There are maybe 2 or 3 players I would say are better than Morikawa right now and hes improving at a faster pace than them im sure.  

[bostonlager 2,457]

11 hours ago, listen2me 23 said:

Pulling for speef as usual.   More of us should have seen Morikawa coming.  The lack of links track records got to me too much.  Morikawa is truly one of the best on the planet.  And taking experience away....the course sets up for Morikawa.   His number was inflated because of the lack of British experience.   

There are maybe 2 or 3 players I would say are better than Morikawa right now and hes improving at a faster pace than them im sure.  

If Collin Morikawa could get any sort of consistency with the putter, he would dominate for a long time. 
 

 

He averages 4.64 birdies per 18 holes, which ranks fourth on the PGA Tour. But among the 216 golfers ranked in strokes gained putting in 2021, Collin Morikawa ranks 186th

[bostonlager 2,457]

 

[Cloaca du jour 2,064]

Moving day gonna be tough...drying out...course set to max length today..tough pins..

[WhiteWonder 2,171]

On 7/7/2021 at 6:45 PM, WhiteWonder said:

I know you can't just go chalk but Louis has to be in the top 10. Playing great, excellent track record at majors save for the fact he should have more than one win by now. 

And I know this is biased but Phil should be in the obvious omissions list. Winning the PGA may have been a career capping blip on the radar type event at this point but he did make the cut at the US Open and older players can historically hang at Open Championships. Windy, Links style more similar to Kiawah might be a good recipe for a successful week. 

Okay so 1 for 2?  

[Bert 1,087]

14 hours ago, Cruzer said:

I'm not sure why, but I'm getting a little tired of the Louie Oostie schtick. 

I'm pulling for Colin or Spieth....but watch out for DJ, he's coming. 

Maybe because he has the personality of a wet sponge?  
 

Go Spieth!

[WhiteWonder 2,171]

I don’t see anything wrong with Louis personality. He’s kind of low key funny. Doesn’t take himself so seriously. I guess spieth gets fired up sometimes on the course and people gravitate to that. He’s never been my favorite. Don’t dislike him like I do a Justin Thomas ….

also I don’t know what the Louis Schtick is. That he gets talked about a lot in terms of not believing he only has one major? I mean he has tons of seconds so I think it makes sense. It’s less annoying to me than the constant talk of best players to never win a major. 

[Cruzer 1,992]

The Louis schtick is: 3 straight days of Louis on the leaderboard, 24/7 Louis, Louis, Louis coverage...............only to gag it away. Yea he has a major, but that was a long time ago. 

He's the modern day Tom Lehman who during a stretch from '95-'98, was in the final group of each of those US Opens........only to come up short. 

He is playing the best though, nothing spectacular - just fairways and greens. We will see if he can hold up - love to see someone take him down to the wire. 

[Cruzer 1,992]

Omg, did Spieth shiit the bed or what? Not only did he bogey 17 and 18 - but those were 2 of the most gawd awful giveaway bogies you will ever see. 

He's gonna come up 2 short you watch, and he's gonna be sick. 

[listen2me 23 1,537]

Morikawa seems to be putting fine today

[Bert 1,087]

On 7/17/2021 at 10:20 PM, Cruzer said:

Omg, did Spieth shiit the bed or what? Not only did he bogey 17 and 18 - but those were 2 of the most gawd awful giveaway bogies you will ever see. 

He's gonna come up 2 short you watch, and he's gonna be sick. 

I was playing golf yesterday and missed the final round.  Did Oosty do his usual fade away or was it a spectacular choke?

[WhiteWonder 2,171]

4 minutes ago, Bert said:

I was playing golf yesterday and missed the final round.  Did Oosty do his usual fade away or was it a spectacular choke?

It was a fade away. You could probably say he choked but he started the day with only a 1 shot lead. Clearly he tightened up. Not some sort 5 shot lead choke job or final few hole collapse. 

[edjr 5,547]

12 minutes ago, Bert said:

I was playing golf yesterday and missed the final round.  Did Oosty do his usual fade away or was it a spectacular choke?

Was another Louie Pewie stink show. He sucks. Tired of his act. 

Nice to see a golfer with a set of balls in the final round. Morikawa was nails

[supermike80 1,285]

Way better than the US open.   Actually saw a golfer (Morikawa) play tough when things got interesting.  He made some awesome putts and par saves.  Unlike the US Open when it seemed to be a contest to see who would choke the most.

Would have been a little more interesting if weather mattered on Sunday, but still was a great final round to watch.