This Week The Open Championship
Held at Royal Troon Golf Club
7175 Yards Par 71
South Ayrshire
The Champion Golfer of the Year was Brian Harman
In the TH our Open Champion was Radar
This week, the oldest golf tournament in the world. This the final Major of the year. Byron Nelson and Ray Floyd needed the Open to complete the career Grand Slam. The first Champion was Willie Park Sr who defeated Old Tom Morris. Played at the Preswick Golf Course, it was three rounds on a 12 hole course. The winner got a belt. Tom got revenge the next year winning with Willie coming in second. The two dueled for years, each winning the Open four times.
Willie and the ‘Belt’
The event was won by a Scot or Brit every year until 1907 when Frenchman Arnaud Massy was Champion. There wasn’t another foreign champion until 1921 when American Jock Hutchison was the Champion Golfer of the Year. That started a trend as Americans won 12 out of the next 13 years, with Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen doing much of the damage. In the 30’s and continuing after WWII, Americans tended to skip the Open. Travel was difficult and the purse wasn’t big enough to be an incentive. Still there were many foreign champions in those years such as the great Australian Peter Thomson. By the late fifties commercial jet travel arrived. Arnold Palmer brought his popularity and the accompanying spotlight. He was runner-up in 1959 and then won back to back the next two years. The win in 1962 was at this year’s venue, Troon. From then through the early 80’s, foreign champions were the norm . . . except for the great Tony Jacklin in 1969.
FUN FACT: Everyone remembers in 1999, Jean van de Valde having a three shot lead on the 18th tee and then carding a triple bogey. That put him a playoff with Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard. Paul eventually won . . . he was ranked 231st in the world and had started the fourth round 10 shots out of first place . . . a record for Major Championships.
Four and an Alt
| Slinger | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Alternate | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taf | Scheffler -1 | Schauffele -9 | ABERG (3) MC11 | Morikawa 2 | McIlroy MC11 | 3 |
| MX2 | McIlroy MC11 | Schauffele -9 | Morikawa 2 | Rahm -1 | FLEETWOOD | 3 |
| Wendy | Schauffele -19 | SCHEFFLER (3) -1 | Aberg MC11 | Finau MC11 | McIlroy MC11 | 4 |
| Metro | McIlroy MC11 | Schauffele -9 | Scott 0 | Macintyre 9 | FOX 5 | 11 |
| Radar | Scheffler -1 | Schauffele -9 | Aberg MC11 | HOVLAND (3) MC11 | McIlroy MC11 | 12 |
| Hedge | Scheffler -1 | Koepka 8 | RAHM (3) -1 | Spieth 5 | Im -1 | 14 |
| Phil | Schauffele -19 | McIlroy MC11 | Aberg MC11 | DeChambeau MC11 | HOVLAND MC11 | 14 |
| Chevy | Aberg MC11 | Fleetwood MC11 | Scheffler -1 | Lowry -4 | IM -1 | 17 |
| Max | Hovland MC11 | Woods MC11 | Scott 0 | Im -1 | MCILROY MC11 | 21 |
| Scrums | Morikawa 2 | Aberg MC11 | FINAU (3) MC11 | Scheffler -1 | McIlroy MC11 | 23 |
| JJ | Macintyre 9 | DeChambeau MC11 | SCHEFFLER (3) -1 | Morikawa 2 | Aberg MC11 | 24 |
| EMC | Smith C MC11 | DeChambeau MC11 | Koepka 8 | Rahm -1 | CLARK MC11 | 28 |
“So much easier to judge . . . than to think”
~ Mike Rowe