The 10-player Australian contingent teeing up at the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool this week includes everything from an amateur and a 36-hole final qualifier all the way up to the tournament’s defending champion, Cameron Smith. We’ve got everything, including several solid chances at victory.
The rakes aren’t the ones Royal Liverpool Golf Club usually uses, according to one member of the club. They’ve been put into play especially for Open week, and the issue specifically is that they’re wide tooth rakes.
For the better part of two years, in the void of true, public-facing leadership in the PGA Tour’s battle against an existential threat, Rory McIlroy has stepped into the role and took a stand for what he believed was right.
Hoylake is a venue known perhaps as much for its legacy of world-class winners as it is for its historically insidious holes where out-of-bounds plays a somewhat outsized role.
It’s one thing to have confidence in your teenage son’s abilities as a golfer. It’s another thing entirely to plant your flag when he’s just 15 years old and bet on him winning a major championship some day.
The social highlight of the week has been the Tuesday evening barbecue attended by as many as 70 guests, a figure made up primarily of (possible) Ryder Cup players, caddies, wives and girlfriends.
It represents an 18 percent increase from last year when the champion at St Andrews, Cameron Smith, earned $US2.5 million from a prize fund of $US14 million.
With Royal Troon (Scotland) in place for 2024 and Royal Portrush (Northern Ireland) set to host in 2025, the return to Birkdale for what will be the 154th Open was predictable.
Links golf is a multi-faceted affair, one that asks an often-dizzying array of questions all the way from driver to putter. That is why so many believe golf in the land where the game began is the ultimate test, both mentally and physically.
Australian Golf Digest
