2025 Open Championship in Portrush

[joe perry]

He couldn’t even stay in Portrush Sunday night and have a party 

 

Guess he had to go back to Dallas on a private jet so he doesn’t miss out on the notorious short Texas Summer and the 98 degree humid weather 

 

Hold the plane and maybe enjoy the pubs in Belfast and leave at 3am from the airport at the very least 

 

Why wouldn’t he want to stay a couple of days in the one of the greatest areas on Planet Earth and have some fun savouring the victory and exploring the area and relaxing away from the course 

 

The Antrim Coast is up there with the great spots such as :

 

The walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach 

 

The coastline and drive or water taxi to Portofino 

The area around Portrush either direction is just as cool as 17 mile drive  with nice some nice beach towns, sightseeing and pubs along the way 

 

No offence but unless he is going to Hooters in Dallas 🙂 and I suspect he isn’t - that city is far behind other places in Texas such as San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth 

Edited July 21 by joe perry

[JungleJimbo]

43 minutes ago, joe perry said:

He couldn’t even stay in Portrush Sunday night and have a party 

 

Guess he had to go back to Dallas on a private jet so he doesn’t miss out on the notorious short Texas Summer and the 98 degree humid weather 

 

Hold the plane and maybe enjoy the pubs in Belfast and leave at 3am from the airport at the very least 

 

Why wouldn’t he want to stay a couple of days in the one of the greatest areas on Planet Earth and have some fun savouring the victory and exploring the area and relaxing away from the course 

 

The Antrim Coast is up there with the great spots such as :

 

The walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach 

 

The coastline and drive or water taxi to Portofino 

The area around Portrush either direction is just as cool as 17 mile drive  with nice some nice beach towns, sightseeing and pubs along the way 

 

No offence but unless he is going to Hooters in Dallas 🙂 and I suspect he isn’t - that city is far behind other places in Texas such as San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth 

 

@joe perry: Similar thoughts re Scheffler's itinerary (post-completion of tournament) crossed my mind 

i.e. whether he and caddie Ted Scott and families might stay back in Northern Ireland for a few days, to de-compress/ some family time.

 

Sean Zak posted a nice related Reel on IG.  https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMWSFlkNXkv/

 

... Another question: In this "inside the Open" video from the R&A

... why is the "thump" audio from the turf interaction at the practice range (eg timestamp 2:55 onwards) = so satisfying & high-res/ high-def (whereas the discussions = almost inaudible -- presumably by-design -- but the mic quality/ audio-quality = astonishing & adds to the enjoyment of these videos)

 

 

Edited July 21 by JungleJimbo

[iBanesto]

 

[golfingonly4fun]

9 hours ago, aabcuue said:

Before arriving there is a free volunteer party often w raffles. Don’t forget the free training, quick tour and introduction to your leaders/capt.

 

You typically pay $200-1000usd to get a vol pkg. 2025 Ryder is 1000. Majors/FedEx playoffs are higher.

2018 Shinnecock was $350+ but rose quite a bit more than inflation for 2026.

 

You get high end clothing specific to that tournament in special colors different than a mfgr in merch tent. Usually 1or2 polo and light rain resistant out wear. Lately reusable water bottle sometimes cheap but can be Hydro flask/Artic. Post 9/11, a clear carry bag is included to get through security and manage the day moving from parking to vol tent check-in to working shift.

Worth it, all depends what your function is, if you like doing it and when.

Some positions you see ZERO golf. Some duties are done before and/or after the tournament. Other positions you will interact with pros/team members/vips.

 

More common are only golf at one position for entire shift half day (morning vs afternoon) or might be rotated every 30min-2hr.

 

Get to course early before play/practice/pro-am starts and some form of breakfast, usually continental, is in the vol tent. Do refill water bottle, grab whatever free drinks are available (bottled water, sodas, sometimes juice) before leaving for shift.

 

Remember esp. for non-majors, tournament is a fundraiser for local charities. Usually 2+million is raised yearly.

I volunteered as a marshal at the Open. Our club was assigned the Practice Grounds; range, short game, putting. It was an experience of a lifetime, I'm very grateful to have been invited to join. It was a lot of work- five hour shifts, 100% standing the entire shift, I had Mon/Fri off, but worked 3 hours for a friend Monday, so one day off. Jacket and hat for uniform, Hugo Boss, and no cost to volunteers at all, R&A pays for everything.

 

TBH i'm still worn out, and now packing for my return over the pond. When I have some airport time I'll put together a proper post with photos, etc. Portrush and the Dunlunce course really shined this week, it was great to see so many from all over the world enjoying my second home...

[JungleJimbo]

2 minutes ago, iBanesto said:

 

 

Whilst he remains at "54" a.k.a. "They who must not be named"?

 

[Gareth]

10 hours ago, Go_Blue! said:

Where did Scottie hurt you?

He disturbed my Sunday afternoon snooze in front of the TV with that double bogey. Normal service was resumed 5 minutes later

[iBanesto]

5 hours ago, aabcuue said:

I never thought SS is dull, esp. not n person or off camera. Seems media and his competitors don’t think he is either.

“Scheffler is witty, Jordan Spieth says. And when you’re witty, one activity comes as easy as Scheffler’s swing. 

“He s**t-talks,” Spieth said. 

“You can’t really go at him because he’s smart, and he’s got good bulls**t.”

 

For everyone that thought SS was expressionless, what were they watching or not?

“Throughout the round, TV cameras spotted Scheffler and LI laughing, and afterward,…We did a joke about each other a little bit and just so nice to play with him.”

 

https://golf.com/news/scottie-scheffler-joke-haotong-li-open/

 

They had some great banter whilst waiting on the 17th tee.

 

Edited July 21 by iBanesto

[Gareth]

10 hours ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

So you're knocking him because his life values differ from yours? Seems whack but you're entitled to your opinion. 

 

He's quite forthright interviewing and answering questions. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the canned answers we hear from 90+% of the other guys. 

 

He does acknowledge the gallery. I've seen it personally. He's just not extremely demonstrative but to say he doesn't acknowledge people is just plain wrong. 

 

 

You have no idea of my "values" as a person at all. And ones values are not the same as an opnion which is what I was sharing.

 

Yesterday the post round interview was dire but that's mainly down to Sarah Stirk on SKY for us UK watchers as she's hopeless. I'd agree that Scottie does have some interesting comments to make but only with an interviewer who actually asks decent, searching questions of him.

 

Taking yesterday as an example at The Open I didn't see SS engage with the vast gallery once. Everytime he reached into the cup to retrieve his ball (irrespective of whether it was a par/birdie or whatever) he just walked away, head down and without a flicker of emotion or recognition of the gallery. That obviously works for him and his game/career but it doesn't endear his to those of us who ultimately pay his salary in some small way. There are many, many other players I'd pay good money to watch and SS would never be on that list.  

[Duct Tape]

7 hours ago, Zjhl2024 said:

the last major is over, what's next?

Masters April 2026. 

[Gareth]

8 hours ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

But they provided nothing of substance.  "Have a pulse" or whatever is just noise.  Everyone has a pulse if they're actively playing golf.  Try a little--- who should he emulate?

You should read what I said more carefully if that statement was aimed at me sir.

[iBanesto]

10 hours ago, NosajNeelik said:

Nicklaus wasn’t animated lol

 

True.

 

Nicklaus sees his game as similar to Scheffler.

 

[Buddon _Burn]

9 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

While I don’t think Scheffler is suuuper exciting, I wouldn’t use Tiger as an example of excitement.  Outside of the dozen or so epic shots he’s famous for, Tiger won the same way: monotonous, precise execution.  Fairways and greens, deadly putting.  And Tiger was just about the most ‘robotic, phony, corporate speak, don’t say anything of note’ interview after most of his tournaments.  Who cares though.  As a fan, all I care about is the golf.

 

Both of these guys were/are assassins and should be judged on their play on the course.  The rest is just noise.

I think also there was a lot of perceived excitement around Tiger because golf (the game, the tours, the industry, the politics etc.) had all been fairly dry from my memory in the years up to his arrival. Scheffler has clicked into gear when golf didn't need him as much (unless you buy into there still being a massive hole since Tiger stopped playing other than sporacially/the need for a player to overcome/distract from the LIV/PGA Tour divide, which I don't). There was plenty of other players coming through/LIV issues/industry developments + Covid and it's impacts to occupy a reasonable amount of that space in recent years. 

[nicoy3k]

29 minutes ago, Buddon _Burn said:

I think also there was a lot of perceived excitement around Tiger because golf (the game, the tours, the industry, the politics etc.) had all been fairly dry from my memory in the years up to his arrival. Scheffler has clicked into gear when golf didn't need him as much (unless you buy into there still being a massive hole since Tiger stopped playing other than sporacially/the need for a player to overcome/distract from the LIV/PGA Tour divide, which I don't). There was plenty of other players coming through/LIV issues/industry developments + Covid and it's impacts to occupy a reasonable amount of that space in recent years. 

lol everything about Tiger was iconic and spectacular. He had an electric swing, was the longest player of his generation, has an endless roledex of unbelievable shot highlights, played with fire on the course, it wasn’t just was he did it was how he did it.

 

Scotty is boring, he is also 30 so unless he never has a slump he isn’t going to sniff the record books. 
 

I know nobody wants to hear this but the fact that he didn’t win for 70 starts to me tells me that he could basically disappear from the winner circle one day. 

 

Edited July 21 by nicoy3k

[braincramp52]

4 hours ago, joe perry said:

He couldn’t even stay in Portrush Sunday night and have a party 

 

Guess he had to go back to Dallas on a private jet so he doesn’t miss out on the notorious short Texas Summer and the 98 degree humid weather 

 

Hold the plane and maybe enjoy the pubs in Belfast and leave at 3am from the airport at the very least 

 

Why wouldn’t he want to stay a couple of days in the one of the greatest areas on Planet Earth and have some fun savouring the victory and exploring the area and relaxing away from the course 

 

The Antrim Coast is up there with the great spots such as :

 

The walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach 

 

The coastline and drive or water taxi to Portofino 

The area around Portrush either direction is just as cool as 17 mile drive  with nice some nice beach towns, sightseeing and pubs along the way 

 

No offence but unless he is going to Hooters in Dallas 🙂 and I suspect he isn’t - that city is far behind other places in Texas such as San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth 

He and his family have been over there for a couple weeks, maybe he's seen enough and wants to get back home. Not everybody likes to party in pubs or drive around sightseeing.

[nicoy3k]

10 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

While I don’t think Scheffler is suuuper exciting, I wouldn’t use Tiger as an example of excitement.  Outside of the dozen or so epic shots he’s famous for, Tiger won the same way: monotonous, precise execution.  Fairways and greens, deadly putting.  And Tiger was just about the most ‘robotic, phony, corporate speak, don’t say anything of note’ interview after most of his tournaments.  Who cares though.  As a fan, all I care about is the golf.

 

Both of these guys were/are assassins and should be judged on their play on the course.  The rest is just noise.

lol a dozen? You mean 1,200?

[iBanesto]

 

[Buddon _Burn]

6 minutes ago, nicoy3k said:

lol everything about Tiger was iconic and spectacular. He had an electric swing, was the longest player of his generation, has an endless roledex of unbelievable shot highlights, played with fire on the course, it wasn’t just was he did it was how he did it.

 

Scotty is boring, he is also 30 so unless he never has a slump he isn’t going to sniff the record books. 
 

I know nobody wants to hear this but the fact that he didn’t win for 70 starts to me tells me that he could basically disappear from the winner circle one day. 

 

I don’t disagree and for the record I’m a big Tiger fan, Scheffler not so much (although no issue with him). The point I’m making is that it’s just a different time. 

[braincramp52]

5 minutes ago, nicoy3k said:

lol everything about Tiger was iconic and spectacular. He had an electric swing, was the longest player of his generation, has an endless roledex of unbelievable shot highlights, played with fire on the course, it wasn’t just was he did it was how he did it.

 

Scotty is boring, he is also 30 so unless he never has a slump he isn’t going to sniff the record books. 
 

I know nobody wants to hear this but the fact that he didn’t win for 70 starts to me tells me that he could basically disappear from the winner circle one day. 

 

He actually just turned 29 but I get it. No one can predict what he's going to do but for the last few years he's the best golfer on the planet and it ain't even close. Everyone that knows him says he's a fun dude to be around and a great husband and father. I hope he continues playing his boring golf and being who he is.

[naval2006]

Scottie is THE man, hands down. Absolute dominance for the third year in a row. The king of golf. 
 

Hard to figure out how this guy already has haters. It’s probably a GolfWRX thing, or his high level of success, I don’t know. 

[braincramp52]

14 minutes ago, naval2006 said:

Scottie is THE man, hands down. Absolute dominance for the third year in a row. The king of golf. 
 

Hard to figure out how this guy already has haters. It’s probably a GolfWRX thing, or his high level of success, I don’t know. 

It says more about social media and us as a society than it does Scottie. Once someone achieves a high level of success we need to nit pick them to pieces to try to tear them back down. 

[ChrisSP]

A lot of posters in this thread probably used to hate the once notoriously "boring" Bill Belichick but now think that crazy old bastxxx's much more interesting. LOL!

 

Bizarre world we live in.

[mshills]

Lot of selective memory in here. 
 

Tiger unquestionably had many memorable huge shots that were exciting. But his interviews were horrible until post-injuries, when he’s let his guard down and is totally different than he was as Peak Tiger. In between those memorable huge shots, he did not engage the galleries. He did not “play fiery” whatever the heck that means. He was single-minded in focus and concentration. That is a huge part of what made him great, and if you think he was out there fist pumping, raising the roof, or riding a bull down the fairway, you didn’t watch Tiger at his peak. 
 

I don’t know what to think about the posts that Scheffler owes the gallery something when he is retrieving his ball from the cup or that he somehow was obligated to stay in Belfast to party. That’s just weird. If you travel for business, you know…at a certain point you don’t care where you are, let’s get home. 

[Ferguson]

14 hours ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

Why don't you and the others tell us who scottie needs to emulate to not be dull? 

 

There is a guy that plays in the group behind us occasionally.  His nickname is Brickeye.  

 

I am going with Brickeye. 

[Tpbiker]

Scottie sucked all the excitement from yesterday's final round, but not because he's dull or boring, simply because he was head and shoulders above everyone else. He knew exactly what he had to do, and is good enough to execute it flawlessly. He didn't need exciting golf, he was that far ahead.

 

As for him lacking character on the course, it's his day job, he's a golfer, not a stand up comedian. If I'm playing a comp even I am far more 'serious' than when batting it round with my mates. And that's at the lowest level of golf going. I can forgive him for just getting on with the job in hand when an Open is at stake.

[caniac6]

6 hours ago, joe perry said:

He couldn’t even stay in Portrush Sunday night and have a party 

 

Guess he had to go back to Dallas on a private jet so he doesn’t miss out on the notorious short Texas Summer and the 98 degree humid weather 

 

Hold the plane and maybe enjoy the pubs in Belfast and leave at 3am from the airport at the very least 

 

Why wouldn’t he want to stay a couple of days in the one of the greatest areas on Planet Earth and have some fun savouring the victory and exploring the area and relaxing away from the course 

 

The Antrim Coast is up there with the great spots such as :

 

The walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach 

 

The coastline and drive or water taxi to Portofino 

The area around Portrush either direction is just as cool as 17 mile drive  with nice some nice beach towns, sightseeing and pubs along the way 

 

No offence but unless he is going to Hooters in Dallas 🙂 and I suspect he isn’t - that city is far behind other places in Texas such as San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth 

He’s going home because it’s home. He’s not the new Tiger, but he might be the new Byron Nelson.

[Birdman62]

1 hour ago, naval2006 said:

Scottie is THE man, hands down. Absolute dominance for the third year in a row. The king of golf. 
 

Hard to figure out how this guy already has haters. It’s probably a GolfWRX thing, or his high level of success, I don’t know. 

 

Note I most definitely am NOT a hater, and do not begrudge him his on-the-course demeanor one bit. He owes fans absolutely nothing in that regard. I am rather in awe of him in fact.

 

I have simply been pointing out that, given his age, statistically he has ~6-7 maybe 9-10 years to cement his legacy.  His best comps aren't Jack or Tiger, they're Tom Watson and Gary Player. And I have to take into account his recent comments, because that sounds like someone who could very easily get nailed by burnout at some point.

 

But the sheer and utter failure of any golfers younger than him to win anything since SS's Masters win in 2022 may indeed mean he'll blow past fellow Texan Ben Hogan with ease as the older cohort ages out of contention, leaving him high and dry and dominant. [That's a post for later today] If those trends continue it most certainly may warrant laying down some money somewhere on him winning the calendar Grand Slam.

[naval2006]

This may be bad news, but winning golf is, well, boring.  Cabrera, Phil or Bubba and the magic shots at Augusta is what remains in people's memory.  But the neat grind of champions from Thursday through Sunday usually remains unseen.  The crowds and the media always need the show.  

[Ferguson]

10 minutes ago, naval2006 said:

This may be bad news, but winning golf is, well, boring. 

 

But the neat grind of champions from Thursday through Sunday usually remains unseen. 

 

The crowds and the media always need the show.  

 

Very, very true.  

 

The typical neoteric, content-consuming younger "my life is fueled by social media" golf fan wants to see a bombastic winner.  They simply can't process watching a player methodically execute a final round. 

 

[GG43]

6 hours ago, joe perry said:

He couldn’t even stay in Portrush Sunday night and have a party 

 

Guess he had to go back to Dallas on a private jet so he doesn’t miss out on the notorious short Texas Summer and the 98 degree humid weather 

 

Hold the plane and maybe enjoy the pubs in Belfast and leave at 3am from the airport at the very least 

 

Why wouldn’t he want to stay a couple of days in the one of the greatest areas on Planet Earth and have some fun savouring the victory and exploring the area and relaxing away from the course 

 

The Antrim Coast is up there with the great spots such as :

 

The walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach 

 

The coastline and drive or water taxi to Portofino 

The area around Portrush either direction is just as cool as 17 mile drive  with nice some nice beach towns, sightseeing and pubs along the way 

 

No offence but unless he is going to Hooters in Dallas 🙂 and I suspect he isn’t - that city is far behind other places in Texas such as San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth 

I suspect he just wanted to go home with his family and celebrate with his friends.  Given the amount of time these guys are away from home each year, that's perfectly understandable.  

[MarkFromPA]

At about 11:12, what is the Claret Jug being filled with? Closed captioning says "lusks." Is that right? Thanks!