Official 2013 British Open at Muirfield Discussion Thread

[mmoan2]

Originally Posted by ChrisP

Some thoughts after this British:

1) Congrats to Phil. Never thought he'd win a British and he did. Amazing round

2) Wow....if you thought the attention on Phil at Pinehurst was already going to be big, imagine it now with the career grand slam on the line. He is going to really gear up for it now. He needs that U.S. Open.

3) It's days like this that make me wonder if Lee Westwood is ever going to win a major. I just don't know if it's ever going to happen.

4) We're close to Hideki Matsuyama becoming a major name and player in the game of golf.....and I do mean MAJOR.

5) Hoylake next year will be the complete opposite of Muirfield. Unless gale force winds show up, you'll see complete opposite scores. It's up there with St. Andrew's as the easiest in the rotation.

6) I think the odds of Tiger catching Jack-Jack may be slipping to under 50%. Not sure it's going to happen.

I was really disappointed in Tiger's front 9 iron play today. You can;t win a major chopping out of 4 feet of hay all day. He actually impressed me, though, with his turn around on the back. I thought he was headed for a huge number today the way his mind and game were both so off. I think Tiger's health may keep him from Jack, but he was pretty darn close to taking the Masters (as in, maybe 2 inches when he hit the flagstick for ultimately a 4 stroke swing) and not far off here. If he hasn't won another major by the end of 2014, I'm closing the book on his chances at Jack. I thought by now the Foley years would earn some more major results, but there's still the PGA and he's very close right now. If he stays healthy, he's got another 35-40 legitimate shots at majors. 10% of those and he's got him. I think right now he has clearly reestablished himself as the best in the world over a long period of time. We'll see how long it lasts. I think day by day Rory is proving that the "next Tiger Woods" is most likely some 13 year-old kid right now. He's too darn inconsistent. Tiger and Nicklaus never had such awful spells like this when they were supposedly "in their prime." In their 20s, a bad year was 5 wins and probably 1 major.

[phan52]

[COLOR=FF0000] [SIZE=20px]PHIL!!!!!!!!  [/SIZE] [/COLOR] [SIZE=20px][SIZE=14px]That was some performance.  This may go down as one of the Opens ever, at least in my book.  Here's to the Champion golfer  [/SIZE][/SIZE] (barring a miracle)

Yes, it will certainly go down as one of the Opens ever, in most people's books. :-)

[Beachcomber]

Looks like back to back wins bumped Phil to the #2 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings.  Is this the highest he has ever been?

http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/home/default.sps

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Looks like back to back wins bumped Phil to the #2 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings.  Is this the highest he has ever been?

http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/home/default.sps

He's spent several weeks (several year's worth, I believe) at #2 over several periods. But he's never been #1.

[boogielicious]

I was playing yesterday when all this was happening.  I left the house at 10 with Westwood still leading.  I couldn't get an update on my phone for some reason when we started at noon.  When I finally got the download, I kept re-reading it making sure I was reading it right.  Then I played the guessing game with the guys in my group and the group in front.  They we all very surprised.

[zipazoid]

It was a perfect convergence of opportunity, courage, execution...and a little luck.

Kudos to Phil, only a month after yet another crushing runner-up in the US Open, he posts the week's best score in the final round when it was absolutely needed. Lesser players would have used that loss as an excuse to mentally check out for the rest of the season. Instead Phil packs up the family, heads over to Scotland, and accomplishes the double of the Scottish Open & Open Championship.

He is the most resilient player in the history of the game. He fires, and sometimes fails, but he gets back up...and fires again.

He's the embodiment of the cliche - you can't keep a good man down.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by iacas

He's spent several weeks (several year's worth, I believe) at #2 over several periods. But he's never been #1.

That's pretty surprising considering the wealth of stellar golf he has played in his career and some of the other names that have grabbed the #1 spot in recent times. Guess that's what happens when your career plays out during Tiger's reign.

Kinda like the Gretzky factor in pro hockey, a lot of incredibly dominant players became "also ran"s due to the eclipse that was Gretzky.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by iacas

He's spent several weeks (several year's worth, I believe) at #2 over several periods. But he's never been #1.

If he plays the next couple tourneys at the level he has been recently, he will be soon.

Runner up in the US Open, and consecutive wins including the Open Championship...

All in what...5 weeks? Unreal level of golf right there...if he had won the US Open, he'd have probably bumped Tiger out for #1.

[colin007]

Really disappointed in Tiger, it's amazing how such a great putter can't adjust to the different green speeds. Really doesn't make any sense...

[kw purp]

Death, taxes and Lee Westwood falling apart on Sunday. Vintage Lee!

When are the announcers/analysts going to stop acting like this guy is any good?

He has 2 pga tour wins. The St. Jude Classic (who cares) and some tournament I have never even heard of and has even less stature than the St. Jude.

But somehow he is one of the best in the game? smh

[August]

So great that Lefty won the British Open. Hopefully he can now win the missing US Open, I believe he has enough years to get a couple of good chances to win it.

[boogielicious]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

That's pretty surprising considering the wealth of stellar golf he has played in his career and some of the other names that have grabbed the #1 spot in recent times. Guess that's what happens when your career plays out during Tiger's reign.

Kinda like the Gretzky factor in pro hockey, a lot of incredibly dominant players became "also ran"s due to the eclipse that was Gretzky.

Like when Brad Park came into the league.  He would have been the greatest defenseman of his generation except for that other guy, Bobby what-his-name.  BTW, spent an evening with Brad Park.  He is an incredibly nice man.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by kw purp

Death, taxes and Lee Westwood falling apart on Sunday. Vintage Lee!

When are the announcers/analysts going to stop acting like this guy is any good?

He has 2 pga tour wins. The St. Jude Classic (who cares) and some tournament I have never even heard of and has even less stature than the St. Jude.

But somehow he is one of the best in the game? smh

Great ball-striker, yes. And for three days he putted very well, which would explain why he had the 54-hole lead - he was making everything. But, once again, in crunch time he wilted.

What is really telling was his post-round comments where he was asked (and I am paraphrasing both the question & the answer) - are you disappointed in your finish, and his reply was no, I had another top three in a major. Apparently he is satisfied just with being close. Well, there's another word for that. Loser.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

What is really telling was his post-round comments where he was asked (and I am paraphrasing both the question & the answer) - are you disappointed in your finish, and his reply was no, I had another top three in a major. Apparently he is satisfied just with being close. Well, there's another word for that. Loser.

Let's look at his statement -- If you take it on face value, you've got something.

But I think Westy was attempting to remain positive -- he did not say it correctly.

The best golfers have amnesia as to poor shots, poor putts, and poor rounds - they learn and forget. They say Jack never remembers a 3 putt. That's what helped make him great. Confidence and Amnesia.

I think Lee was not being authentic, or as "Dr" Phil might say -- "real." Lee needs to go back to his golf shrink for more lessons.

I bet if Westy had a do-over he'd say, "Sure, I would have loved to win the Open. I played decent for 3 rounds and putted great. I led by 2 strokes at the start of the day. I fought out there and did not have "it" today for whatever reasons. But I did finish in the Top 3 and that's a positive. I'll learn from this, drink a Guinness with my buds, knowing I am one of the best golfers in the world. And then I'll work more and enjoy the game. That's all I can ask of myself."

[zipazoid]

Yeah, I can buy that. I may have been reading too much into his reply. But he did seem more 'at ease' than he should have been, imo.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Yeah, I can buy that. I may have been reading too much into his reply. But he did seem more 'at ease' than he should have been, imo.

Yeah, I think he was putting on a facade and was more interested in finding a pub...

[kw purp]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Great ball-striker, yes. And for three days he putted very well, which would explain why he had the 54-hole lead - he was making everything. But, once again, in crunch time he wilted.

What is really telling was his post-round comments where he was asked (and I am paraphrasing both the question & the answer) - are you disappointed in your finish, and his reply was no, I had another top three in a major. Apparently he is satisfied just with being close. Well, there's another word for that. Loser.

Just so over the pathetic amount of hype and praise that he gets for accomplishing nothing. By the way they talk about him you would think he would have like 20 non major pga tour victories. He has not won anything of relevance and he is 40. Sunday morning I would have bet my life on him and Hunter Mahan both having absolutely zero impact on the outcome of the tournament.

rant over.

[newtogolf]

What's Lee or anyone in his position really going to say given the question?  It was his tournament to win and he didn't.  He could make up lame excuses which would be torn apart by the golf "experts" or simply point out that at least he was close again.  No one plays for 2nd or 3rd place, so obviously he's disappointed, stupid question imo.