A tip of the hat to Royal Troon
The 152nd British Open was a pure delight in many ways — game-changing par-3 holes, leaderboard underdogs, fabled weather and, ultimately, a worthy champion.
The rain, the wind, the Postage Stamp and Thriston Lawrence reminded me just how much I like Royal Troon Golf Club, host of last week’s British Open.
It was a memorable edition that featured no-name underdogs such as Lawrence and Daniel Brown in contention the final day along with big names such as Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose and the eventual winner, Xander Schauffele.
Troon features the Postage Stamp, the par-3 eighth hole with the Coffin Bunker that buried Shane Lowry’s charge, and the Railway Hole, the par-3 11th, that also knocked Lowry off track. It’s a good guess Troon isn’t Lowry’s favorite Open Championship venue. Or maybe it is — he doggedly stayed in contention until the final nine.
Thanks to the R&A for this tournament and reminding me how good Royal Troon is. Maybe I underrated it or simply forgot its many merits. I do love a links with an adjacent railway line.
So I’m revising my rankings of the current courses in the Open rota and bumping up Royal Troon. Is this a case of recency bias? No doubt. Just remember, ranking the Open courses is like rating an all-star team. Every one is a classic. So this is just nit-picking and personal preference.
Why isn’t some smart tour group operator offering a two-week trip that features a round of golf at each modern Open venue? I think that would cause drooling for a lot of golfing tourists.
Anyway, here’s my list. Let the debate continue …
10, Royal St. George’s: A wonderfully fun course to play for visitors, its terrain changes make a round here into a rollicking rollercoaster ride. But the hills and mounds are fickle, often penalizing good shots. It doesn’t always identify the best player … nothing against Ben Curtis, who was superlative the week he won.
9, Royal Liverpool: Arguably has the least memorable holes of any Open site. Tiger Woods won here without using his driver when the course was baked hard. Brian Harman won here last year, outmaneuvering all the bigger hitters. The in-course out-of-bounds is a deal-breaker for me. So is driving through all of Liverpool to get there each day, as I did in 2007. Some rough neighborhoods. Old Rodney Dangerfield joke regarding rough neighborhoods: “I asked the realtor how far it was to the bus stop. He said, ‘I dunno, so far nobody’s made it.’ Rough neighborhood, I’m telling ya …”
8, Royal Lytham & St. Annes: If you like bunkers, this one is for you. There are more than 200. The oddity of having a par-3 as the first hole isn’t a negative — it’s a quirk to be celebrated. It almost has a parkland course feel despite being an ocean-side links. Not the prettiest of all the links.
7, Carnoustie: The fairway bunkers are penal — one-shot penalties, basically (or worse). It’s hard to argue with the memorable, but awkward, finishing stretch that gave us Jean Van de Velde’s excellent adventure.
6, Royal Birkdale: The seaside dunes give Birkdale a special feel. The course gave us Jack Nicklaus’ famed Ryder Cup concession putt to Tony Jacklin, signaling a new Ryder Cup era, and Jordan Spieth’s crazy trip through the practice range en route to a victory in 2017, his last major win.
5, Royal Portrush: This should probably be ranked higher but we’ve only had one look at the new-and-improved layout and that was in 2019. Terrific links and it presented an Irish winner, Lowry, who put on an impressive ball-striking display. There’s no way he’s paid for a drink in his home country since then. I’m looking forward to seeing Portrush again in 2025 and bumping it higher in the ranking … maybe No. 2?
4, Trump Turnberry: The Ailsa Course has a bevy of gorgeous holes on the ocean’s edge. There’s a lighthouse. There’s the Ailsa Craig in the distance, an odd and ominous lump of an island. There’s the stunning clubhouse high up on a hill overlooking the grounds. There’s The Duel in the Sun between Tom Watson and Nicklaus in 1977. There’s the Watson heart-breaking loss to Stewart Cink in 2009. And there’s a blank space since then because the R&A apparently won’t hold an Open there as long as former President Donald Trump owns it. Make Turnberry Great Again. Have another Open.
3, Royal Troon: It’s got the Railway Hole (No. 11) and the Postage Stamp (No. 8). How many courses have two famed-feared-beloved-loathed holes like that? Troon gave us the Henrik Stenson-Phil Mickelson dueling 63s, an incredible day, and just capped a thrilling shootout in which Schauffele raced ahead of the herd. The course provided just the right mix of birdies and disasters.
2, Muirfield: It is the oldest organized golf club, believe it or not, dating to 1744, and has produced a long line of great champions. Nicklaus won his first Open here and was so inspired by the course that he named his own creation Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. Mickelson won his only Open here in 2013. Other Muirfield winners include Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Watson, Walter Hagen, James Braid and Harry Vardon. Woods did not win here. His Grand Slam tour got knocked off course by a mid-day monsoon in 2002 when he shot 81. (Woods might point out that Colin Montgomerie didn’t win an Open there, either. Or anywhere else.)
1, The Old Course: The Home of Golf. In St. Andrews, Scotland. Enough said.
THE CAPTAIN CRUNCH
Did anybody else wonder whether Keegan Bradley got the surprise call to be the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for 2025 because he was in the Netflix behind-the-scenes PGA Tour show? After Tiger Woods declined the job, were PGA of America officials lacking a Plan B until somebody piped up and said, “Hey, I saw this Bradley guy on Netflix and he was upset he wasn’t picked for the last team — he really, really likes the Ryder Cup. How about him?”
Bingo. A new captain is born.
(It’s a good thing that guy watched Netflix and not “The Price Is Right.” All right, let’s get our next contestant — Bryson DeChambeau, come on down!)
BEST LINE OF OPEN WEEK
Brandel Chamblee: On “Live From the Open” describing how Shane Lowry’s shot at the 11th hole struck a spectator instead of going into some unplayable gorse plants: “That shot should have been in the gorse ... instead it hit a guy in the ‘orse.’”
Honorable mention: Chamblee, again, on Royal Troon: “It’s the kind of golf course that makes you want to play golf.”
THE EARLY RYDERS
The Ryder Cup is a year away, but if it was coming up in two weeks and you, as captain, had to pick all 12 players for the American side, who would you select?
I would not take Jordan Spieth or Justin Thomas. Their performances in the last Ryder Cup and their continuing lack of form put me off.
The obvious six: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Bryon DeChambeau, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay.
The likely next four: Max Homa, Brian Harman, Sahith Theegala, Brooks Koepka.
The last two: Billy Horschel, Nick Dunlap or Keegan Bradley. (You can’t leave Keegan off the team twice in a row, can you?)
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I agree with your Open venue analysis and urge the R&A to get over who owns Turnberry. Easily the best venue along with Muirfield. Like all,your work as well. Thanks.