2014 Open Championship (British Open) at Royal Liverpool Discussion Thread

[iacas]

Um, I'll probably be up, but no guarantees. Are we sure they're teeing off early again tomorrow?

I dunno. That's when coverage starts, so that's all I meant.

I love the British Open being five time zones ahead. You can play 36 AND watch the final round of a major in the same day, if you want. :)

[JetFan1983]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Um, I'll probably be up, but no guarantees. Are we sure they're teeing off early again tomorrow?

I dunno. That's when coverage starts, so that's all I meant.

I love the British Open being five time zones ahead. You can play 36 AND watch the final round of a major in the same day, if you want. :)

Hehe. Yep.

[bunkerbill]

i heard drums as rory went to sign the card but, not looking at the picture, wonder their source.  was the drummer(?)  aside the walk? i'm ruling out marching behind him.  was it a soundtrack superimposed?

[RJH999]

My ass i'm waking up at 7 PT to see Rory Mcilroy win.

[Mulligan Jeff]

ESPN commentators are ho hum I miss Faldo in the booth and yes Miller as well.

[Crim]

So who is going to be posting in this thread tomorrow at 6am? /me raises hand. I think Rory wins, obviously, but it's far from a certainty.

Ill be up tomorrow in the wee morning hours for sure. Fowler/Rory is a fun combo...despite the 6 shot lead

[Hardballs]

In the uk it's on bbc, quite possibly the most boring commentary you'll ever hear! Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow! Be interesting to see if McIlroy can hold his form and if RF or SG can make a charge!

[FarawayFairways]

Well its raining very heavily at Hoylake now, with standing water starting to appear

Might have been very different if the leaders had got caught out in this?

[Mr. Desmond]

Well its raining very heavily at Hoylake now, with standing water starting to appear

Might have been very different if the leaders had got caught out in this?

Rors would have finished -8.

And tied for the lead with Sergio.

[FarawayFairways]

Actually, there's a semi serious point to this isn't there.

Lightning we can accept is something that they wanted to avoid, but rain? Since when has it been said that a tournament has to scheduled around rain? Surely that's just part of the luck of the draw, in much the same way as wind can be on a links. After all it's been calcuated that Thursdays early starters have enjoyed a three shot advantage to the half way mark.

I'm trying to think where it was a few years ago (sure it was Carnoustie) when a storm hit and wiped out half the field through a combination of rain and wind. Is the symbosis of weather and landscape not an integral ingredient of links golf? Players accept that when entering the lair etc

So if you started the day on 3 or 4 under and had moved up to say, 7 or 8 under and in the clubhouse, before the storm hit, are you not entitled to feel a little aggrieved that the leaders weren't being asked to play through this? I'm perhaps thinking of Justin Rose in particular who'd got himself on the wrongside of the wind draw bias. Was he not entitled to say something to the effect of, 'look, I've had to play in the worst of the conditions, and I've kept myself on the fringe, now I think the leaders should also be tested'?

This is thw weather radar for Hoylake just before 5 o'clock, it had been raining for an hour previous. That would have been about holes 8-11 for the leaders I reckon

[Mr. Desmond]

Rub of the green ... sort of.

It is not a requirement to use dual tees in weather ... I think the organizers want some level of probability that they will finish the tourney on a timely basis.

It might have helped if they had looked at tomorrow's forecast before using the quick method ... kind of kicks the tournament in the buttocks to finish so early ... and other players who did not have the good fortune to play the previous days in the best weather (Thursday?) ... the weather adds to the drama and would most likely have an effect on the leaderboard.

[brookter]

I don't think it was rescheduled because of the rain: it was purely because of the perceived risk of lightning. Yes they mentioned heavy rain in the announcement, but it was in conjunction with the thunderstorms, rather than the reason for the delay. They were very clear that the professional advice was all to delay -- it didn't turn out that way, but I can understand their thinking based on the advice given.

[DwightC]

I think you're putting too fine a point on it when you distinguish between lightning and rain.  As I read the press release, the reason for rejiggering the Saturday schedule was to build room for weather delays into the day, which seems to me like a prudent decision, given that the R&A; was trying to run a major tournament in the face of something called an 'Amber Warning' (terminology I'm not familiar with but I guess it's some form of intermediate weather advisory like we have in the US).   Any decision like that is going to have different consequences for different parts of the field.  That's just the rub of the green.

[brookter]

Well, the press release is fairly clear:

http://www.theopen.com/en/News/LatestNews/2014/07/Friday/Revised-Format-for-the-Third-Round.aspx

The R&A; has announced that the third round of The Open Championship will be played with a two tee start due to forecast thunderstorms tomorrow (July 19).

[...]

"David Rickman, The R&A;’s Executive Director of Rules and Equipment Standards, said: “On a beautiful evening such as we have today, it is hard to believe the disruptive forecast that we have received for tomorrow. The Met Office’s on-site forecasters believe that there is to be a significant risk of thunderstorms and heavy rain , which will interrupt tomorrow’s play. This is consistent with the Amber weather warning that has been issued for much of England and Wales. Therefore, we have taken a number of decisions regarding tomorrow’s play to maximise the chances of completing the Championship on time."

As they don't have a history of suspending play for heavy rain, I think it's reasonably clear it's the risk of lightning (and consequent disruption) which is the lead factor here.

[atb5079]

Rory winning tomorrow to get to 3 majors is really gonna put him in a new category...already. He'll have passed Crenshaw, Irwin, JMO, Langer, Zoeller, Lyle, O'Meara, Janzen, Strange, Norman, etc. Pretty impressive.

Then you have an interesting smaller group at 3 majors - VJ, Payne Stewart, Larry Nelson, Casper, Middlecoff, Harrington, Nick Price among others.

Then when you get to 4, it really gets thin. Raymond Floyd, Ernie, Willie Anderson, Morris Sr/Jr, and a few others.

It'll be interesting to see where he goes with this, of course assuming he closes it out tomorrow. Next year's US Open seems like a course that would fair well for Rory also.

[Hardballs]

There's been a delude of rain forecast here in the uk all day, it never materialised, we've barely had a couple of heavy showers, however, I only live an hour away, it's very warm and humid and there is definitely going to be a down pour before tomorrow! I wouldn't worry though! It's been baking here all week and a links course would soon drink that up! Whatever the weather, hope Rory keeps this form up!

[inthehole]

Ladies and Gentlemen your 2014 British Open Champion.

... VICTOR DUBUISSON

hey, it could happen - Sergio, DJ and Ricky seem to be laying down.   VDub was the only guy who really killed it last couple days (other than Rory).     It will be interesting to see if Rory's putter stays hot & he stays out of the fescue on sunday.   If Rory does win, it will open the floodgates ... he will have earned ultimate confidence in his Nike equipment and the sky's the limit then.

[brookter]

I'm about 20 miles away (Chester) -- heavy for a few hours this morning while I was walking the dog, but not too bad after about 10. Forecast was for much worse.