avrag

This is what I have written about Tiger for close to 20 years on this forum, only to be called a "hater" numerous times. I can't wrap my head around the fact that the general consensus seems to be that it is ok to blame Scottie Scheffler for majors being boring, but it was not ok to dislike the "Tiger Era" for exactly this reason.

There is no better shot in golf than a reliable soft fade. Lee Trevino: "You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen." (PS: Personally affected. Lost my soft fade at the start of this season, and for about two months, golf turned into a horror show, especially driving.) 😄

Rory always had holes in his game. Scheffler doesn't. This week for example, Rory chipped an putted as well or maybe better than I have ever seen him (at least in a Major). And what happens? He loses his ability with the driver (relatively speaking).

^^^^This. He could win 12ish. But after what he said in his press conference before the Open, he could also retire once he has the career Grand Slam and just be a dad.

The way he plays golf is not boring at all, it's breathtaking. But just like Tiger, he makes Majors boring, because you know that it's over once he gets a two shot lead.

Everybody, who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s in Italy, Germany, Switzerland or Austria, has seen Tyrell Hatton before (PS: I like him).

It is important to start with these disclaimers: I love links golf. I love playing it, I love watching it, and I will always defend it as a the way golf was meant to be played against everybody who doesn't like it. I love the Irish culture and the Irish landscape. All people from Ireland I have met were extremely pleasant and likeable. So please, I don't want to draw the ire of this entire nation at me. That being said: I don't understand the glowingly positive things people said about Portrush in all of the previews, especially that it is a fairer test than many other Open venues. I can't remember ever seeing so many great shots ending up with terrible results and so many mediocre shots with good results. In my view, this is caused by the way the greens are built with their false fronts and upturned saucer features. And after watching two full rounds, I still don't recognise many of the holes immediately, like I usually do on almost all other Open courses. The 4th, 5th, the 16th and the 18th are the only exceptions. I also ask myself how this course is even playable without thousands of spectators and hundreds of spotters and marshals.

Today is the first day of having two weeks free and off from work. I will play in local club comps on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The weather is good around here. But instead of going out and practicing myself, I just got stuck watching Shane Lowry on the range at Portrush. He is practicing in the rain, and it is one hour earlier there than it it is here. Hopeless. 😁

To be honest: At the time, I felt just as much despair for Westwood as a I did for Watson.

I still have a hard time believing that there is an English player who hits it long AND can putt AND looks like a male fashion model. 😁

I have just watched the documentary "Underdogs" , which tells the story of the 2009 Open. I thought it was a good one, I really like Stewart Cink now. 😄 To be fair, even back then, although I wanted Watson to win, it was sad how much disrespect and even hatred was aimed at Cink at the time. The documentary puts things in perspective. Trigger warning: It contains about 3 minutes in total of Brandel Chamblee talking.

😁 That was my first thought as well, when I saw him for the first time. BTW, because of the Mizuno connection, there are a few interesting videos with Penge on the Youtube channel of Matt Fryer.

You have your explanation right there. Actually, ( 😁) I have often read the myth that it was called the "British" Open forever, until the R&A went crazy 20 years ago and "renamed" it "The Open". So I did some research a few years ago. I searched for tickets, programs and other items at sports memorabilia shops online. I searched all decades of the 20th century. I did not find a single "official" item, that had "British" Open on it. It was always "The Open Championship". All the R&A does differently now is to ask that the tournament is called by its proper name. And that's not too much to ask. BTW The tennis tournament which is being played in the West of London at the moment is not the British Open either.