Cameron Smith of Australia is the defending champion this week at Royal Liverpool
The final men’s major of the year, The Open, will be played at Royal Liverpool this week. The course has undergone some significant changes since the Open was last played year in 2014, including turning the 17th hole from a par-4 to a short but devious par-3 in an effort to provide a sterner test for the world’s best golfers.
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Here are four storylines that we think are worth paying attention to this week:
Will Rory McIlroy end his major drought?
Rory McIlroy won his last major, The Open Championship, in 2014 at the same venue
As every major rolls around, golf fans recall that It’s been nine years since McIlroy last won a major championship. It’s also 12 months since he missed winning the 2022 British Open despite leading after 54 holes and hitting all 18 greens in the final round – primarily because of a stupendous show of golf and putting by Aussie Cameron Smith.
But McIlroy is coming off a convincing win at the Genesis Scottish Open which featured 9 of the top 11 ranked players in the world. Just when it seemed he had let yet another tournament slip through his grasp in the final round, he produced two spectacular iron shots on the 17 th and 18 th in extremely windy conditions, and, for a change, made the resulting birdie putts to win by one shot. McIlroy would say later that the 2-iron he hit on the 18 th into a strong headwind was his best shot of the year, but it wouldn’t have mattered as much if he had missed the putt.
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It’s Rory’s putting that has been his Achilles heel over the last 12 months, which is why making those two birdie putts to win was important. He not only earned his first win in six months, but he’s gained a big boost of confidence. Also, the last time the Open was played at Royal Liverpool, it was a 25 year old McIlroy who took home the claret jug.
The caveat is that only one player has ever won both tournaments – the Scottish Open & The Open in consecutive weeks – Phil Mickelson in 2013. This is one instance in which McIlroy would undoubtedly love to follow in Mickelson’s footsteps.
Could we see another first time major winner?
Starting in 2015, there have been at least two first-time major winners every year. It’s the second longest stretch since 1980. The longest stretch was nine years from 1991 to 1999, just before Tiger Woods began his domination of the game of golf.
First-time major winners have claimed 21 of the last 34 majors, which translates to a winning percentage of just under 62%.
So far this year there has been one – Wyndham Clarke at the U.S. Open. If we get a second first time winner this year, it will match the stretch from ’91 to ’99. There’s no shortage of contenders either. Norway’s’ World No. 5, Viktor Hovland, has been playing well recently. Patrick Cantlay, the World No 4, has been tipped to win a major championship for some time now.
If Ricky Fowler were to bounce back from his U.S. Open loss and win The Open, that would be a hugely popular win. Fowler finished in a tie for second in 2014, so he knows his way around the golf course too.
Can Scottie Scheffler putt well enough to win?
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World No. 1 Scheffler hasn’t won a tournament since The Players Championship in March but not for lack of chances. In his last 10 tournaments, Scheffler has incredibly finished outside the top-10 just once – a tie for 11 th in the RBC Heritage. More impressively, he has finished in the top-5 in his last seven events, and in the top-3 in five of those Seven. An amazing display of playing world class golf week after week.
Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in scoring average, greens in regulation, shots gained total, and shots gained: approach to greens. What’s been holding him back is his putting. He ranks 134 th in strokes gained: putting with an average of -0.167.
If he can make a few putts this week, he will be hard to beat.
Will Shubhankar Sharma make the weekend?
On one of the fairways of the #FrontNine.It has been great going;from where we started.
The journey is going to be way more exhilarating,from here on.I can well see that.
Patience and gratitude are the mantras of golf/life
@shubhankargolf
@ScottishOpen pic.twitter.com/8AjWQgwpfB— Col Mohan Sharma (@mls01aer) July 11, 2023
For Indian fans, all eyes will be on Sharma, who qualified for the Open by virtue of his finishing 29th in the Race to Dubai European Tour rankings last season. It’s been a disappointing year for Sharma so far though, with only one top-10 finish in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in February. He’s missed his last three cuts, including at the Scottish Open last week.
As India Golf Weekly has documented, Indian pros have struggled to get into the majors over the last five or six years, let alone make the cut. Anirban Lahiri got into the PGA Championship this year but did not make the cut. In fact, the last time an Indian made the cut in a major was Sharma at the 2019 British Open.
Sharma will turn 27 on the Friday of The Open. What better birthday present than to make the weekend and potentially set up a good finish to his season ?
Yuvraj Singh invited to The Open’s celebrity event
Yuvraj Singh in action at The Open Invitational
Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who permanently wrote his name in the record books when he hit six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad in the 2007 T20 World Cup, was among the celebrity invitees for this year’s edition of The Open Invitational which brings together celebrities from various fields for a round of golf the weekend prior to the actual Open Championship. By inviting athletes from other popular sports, such as cricket and football, as well as entertainers and social media influences, the hitherto old fashioned R&A of St. Andrews hopes to increase the appeal of the game and reach out to new, and younger, audiences who might otherwise not watch golf.
It’s nearly time.
Less than two hours before we are live on YouTube and TikTok for The Open Invitational.https://t.co/yav8KBIaX5 pic.twitter.com/FqSQCaqAmb
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 16, 2023
The Open Invitational was streamed live on YouTube, TikTok, and TheOpen.com rather than traditional broadcast channels as a way of meeting fans where they are and ensuring that young people worldwide would watch it.
In addition to Singh, this year’s event featured England football internationals Jordan Pickford and Jermaine Jenas, NFL ( American football) champion Victor Cruz, and world-title winning boxer Tony Bellew. On the entertainment side, Hollywood actress Kathryn Newton, pop star Ronan Keating, and many others.
You can watch the Celebrities in action here –
Credits:-
Photo – The Open