2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Discussion Thread

[Gunther]

"Go get that."  Ma boi

[iacas]

2 hours ago, MuniGrit said:

I still can't believe Tiger never won a major by coming from behind. Always had lead or Co-lead.

That's only because they define "coming from behind" as where players stand at the end of a full round.

Tiger's last major win (2008 @ Torrey Pines) required him to come from behind a few times, both in the last round AND during the 18-hole playoff. Hell, that's what made the birdie putt on the 72nd so exciting… he had to make or he would lose, because he was behind at the time.

So, IMO, Tiger has come from behind to win a Major Championship. (And if the U.S. Am was still considered a major like Jack considered it a major until about the time Tiger won three, he came from behind several times in those to win, often with very few holes left.)

And people say this "he didn't come from behind" stuff as if it's a knock on Tiger (I'm not saying you are, just that people have, often Nicklaus fans). Like as if it was a bad thing to have an insurmountable lead… and to hold off all challengers and win 14 freaking times. Tiger also only LOST once when he had the 54-hole lead.

Jordan Spieth came from behind to win this major, too, in that sense, even though he started the day with a lead.

[ScouseJohnny]

Jordan Spieth wins the British Open, and a significant topic of conversation at the Sand Trap immediately turns to Tiger Woods.

I don't know whether this is simply indicative of Tiger's greatness a decade ago, a common infatuation to be found at the Sand Trap, or, most likely, a combination of the two.

Edited July 23, 2017 by ScouseJohnny

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, ScouseJohnny said:

Jordan Spieth wins the British Open, and a significant topic of conversation at the Sand Trap immediately turns to Tiger Woods.

Yeah, TWO OR THREE WHOLE POSTS, oh my! You're seeing what you want to see or something…

[MarvChamp]

Comparing Spieth to greats like Tiger and others is inevitable. What got to me over the past few months was analysts talking like he's dead! "Will he ever come back from..." or "Will he ever win..."  this or that. I thought to myself, Good grief! He's only 23. His accomplishments are outstanding and remarkable. What's this stuff all about? -Marv

[Piz]

It's pretty obvious that Spieth doesn't have the talent, the grit, or the intestinal fortitude, to win majors by a greater margin than he does.

[nevets88]

This is a thankless job, trying to control the mob crowd.

Off topic, I skipped the ads, but just assume there were ED ads today.

 

[Shindig]

5 hours ago, MuniGrit said:

Ernie needs a PGA too.

Oops, you're right.  I was thinking of DL3's PGA win when I was accounting for what Ernie had won.

[nevets88]

Whomever at Under Armour made the deal to sign Spieth to a long term contract before his first Masters win, I need to have some of that.  Don't recall seeing anyone else wear UA. I know UA has other PGA endorsements (Woodland), just never seen them. Which is fine if Spieth keeps this up.

 

[dennyjones]

PGA

•  Matthew Fitzpatrick^[55]
•  Hunter Mahan^[6]
•  Jordan Spieth^[56]
•  Tommy Pickering
•  Bernd Wiesberger
•  Gary Woodland

LPGA

•  Alison Lee^[57]

[mtsalmela80]

This creates a couple good story lines going into the PGA, will Jordan complete the career grand slam with the momentum he has going in now, will Koepka continue his great play and perhaps make it a double major year? 

Both are without a doubt favorites going into it.

 

 

 

[Chris223]

Isn't Paul Dunne also UA?  I remember a couple years ago at The Open he mentioned walking near the ropes and tons of people yelling "Jordan Jordan can you sign this!!" Lol.  But yes, great decision.  Spieth will be UA for a long time, I'm also willing to bet he'll be Titliest for a long time

[Buckeyebowman]

What an absolutely crazy final round! If a golf movie were made with that many plot twists, it would go down in flames,

After Spieth hit it off the world right on 12 I thought he was done for! To escape with a one putt bogey was huge. Then, when he was getting ready to hit his tee shot on the Par 3, 13th a crazy thought went through my mind. "Watch this guy knock it in the hole and send this place stark raving mad!"  Damned if he didn't almost do it.

After that shot, and birdie, he had "the look" back. All the stuff that happened before was gone. A great example of letting the bad stuff go!

I will say this, Spieth needs to find a Driver he can trust! Or maybe a Driver swing he can trust. Especially when the wind is hitting him in the back. Yeah, I know! He just won the Open Championship, but he seems to have a problem with that.

And I felt sorry for Kuch. He played some damn good golf this week, but just came up a hair short. After they finished on 18 and were shaking hands, you could see in his eyes just how much this hurt!

 

[ChrisP]

With all the balls we saw go into the rough this week and get good lies, imagine if the rough was high like it was 2008 when every missed fairway was basically a layup? No one would have finished under par this week. Spieth definitely benefited from the thinner rough because he missed a lot of fairways today.

[Jack Watson]

I like Kuch a lot but not his swing.  He had a lot of chances just couldn't roll his rock.  Still a great guy.  Hit it well.

Great tourney to watch.  

Spieths had a lot of experience with big time pressure at his age.  Bodes well for him.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Jack Watson

[GolfLug]

Love Kuch, hope he comes away with a major before all said and done. He is a class act but couple of times I felt like he was almost too nice to JS.

[iacas]

34 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

After Spieth hit it off the world right on 12 I thought he was done for!

Was 13. And he was fortunate that it was "early enough" in the round that he could recover. And that Kuchar didn't do much after that.

[Buckeyebowman]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

Was 13. And he was fortunate that it was "early enough" in the round that he could recover. And that Kuchar didn't do much after that.

You're right. I started adding it up in my head after I clicked "Submit Reply" and thought I might have screwed up.

And Spieth did recover. With a vengeance!