It is, however, a remarkable thing that though golf courses are often in lovely places it frequently so happens that the beauties of the landscape are to be seen from anywhere except the course. Who, for instance, ever heard of a self-respecting sea-side course where one could get a view of the sea! One may hear it perhaps roaring or murmuring, according to its mood, beyond an interminable row of sandhills, but save with the artificial aid of a high tee one never dreams of seeing it. So it is at Portrush, in accordance with the best traditions, and only two or three times in the course of the round does a view of the surrounding beauties threaten our mental concentration on the matter in hand.
BERNARD DARWIN
The wrappage will be quite perfunctory, as we're beginning our descent into Portrush....
Not That Dylan - Best known as a teammate of Jordan Spieth at Texas, his breakthrough win comes with this curious header:
Dylan Frittelli wins John Deere Classic with help from an old Tiger Woods operative
Yanno, I think of The Mossad as having operatives, but Tiger not so much....But the reference is to this feature of the modern professional golfer:
Maybe the South African native is on the cusp of changing that. A 29-year-old PGA Tour rookie, Frittelli won the John Deere Classic by two strokes with a bogey-free weekend that included rounds of 65 and 64 on the TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.
“Just proves that the work I've been doing is the correct work,” Frittelli said. “Being 150th in the FedExCup throughout the season is so frustrating because you don't see the results come through. If you just keep sticking to it, and I made that change on my mental game this week and last week and thankfully came to fruition this week and helped me out.”
Frittelli’s sports psychologist is Jay Brunza, with whom he began working when he played college golf at Texas. Brunza is best known for his work with Woods throughout his amateur career, even caddieing for him in his U.S. Amateur victories.
“He and I have been texting all week,” Brunza said from his home in San Diego. “I just sent him a short text last night.”
I'm guessing that Hogan never had a sports psychologist texting him all week....
Not That North Berwick - The only golf I watched this week came from North Berwick, though not the real North Berwick, home of the original Redan:
NORTH BERWICK, East Lothian, Scotland -- Before a wrist injury incurred just afterthe Volvo China Open in late April brought his 2018 season to a premature end, there were those who saw Bernd Wiesberger as a strong candidate to make last year’s European Ryder Cup side. Now, fully recovered and armed with two European Tour victories in 2019, even more informed observers will surely see the 34-year old Austrian as more than likely to make his debut in the biennial contest at Whistling Straits next year.
The latest -- and sixth -- addition to Wiesberger’s trophy cabinet is the Scottish Open, seven weeks after his fifth, the Made in Denmark. With an at-times stumbling final round of 69 over the picturesque but largely defenseless Renaissance Club, the former Austrian Amateur champion reached 22-under par for four circuits of the Tom Doak-designed layout to eventually clinch the $1,166,660 first-place check.
That 72-hole total of 262 was only good enough to tie Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, who closed with what was the third 62 of a week dominated by birdies and eagles aplenty. On the final day only eight members of the 72-strong field shot over-par. As many as 47 broke 70.
Heavy rains rendered the course defenseless, and the complete absence of any breeze left it so. But those aerials of the East Lothian coast, looking North across the Firth of Forth were still quite stunning. And somewhere on that coastline on the far side of the Firth was St. Monans, the quaint fishing village where the bride and I shall be residing a month from now.
But here's hoping it does firm up in the interim, because our last such trip, to Wales in 2017, also featured unlinksy soft conditions.
Portrush Upon Us - This has been a long time coming.... since 1951 for sure. Why don't we start with this Bob Harig backgrounder on how it all transpired. I'll skip the Graeme-Rory-Darren bit, opting to introduce everyone to Wilma:
"You have to talk to Wilma,'' McIlroy said. "Wilma Erskine. She was the key. She was the one who got this done.''
Erskine is in her 35th year as Royal Portrush's secretary and club manager, and in no way is she willing to take credit for the course's return to prominence. But she undoubtedly had a huge role by envisioning something greater than a sleepy outpost -- which is basically what she found upon beginning her tenure at the club in 1984.
"When 'The Troubles' arrived in Northern Ireland, nothing happened; we were part of an economic downturn that saw declining membership,'' Erskine recalled. "We didn't have any visitor revenue coming from the USA. We were at the bottom of the pot.''
And you'll hear quite a bit of talk about that 2012 Irish Open, though I quite agree that it really started with the old guys:
Staging a golf tournament such as The Open would have been out of the question.Actually, staging any golf event of prominence would have been nearly impossible. After the 1951 Open, the R&A staged the 1960 Amateur Championship at Portrush -- an event that did not return until 1993.
"That is sort of when we awoke,'' Erskine said. "We got the '95 Senior British Open, and that was televised, particularly in America, and we were getting a lot more public attention. Media was starting to come to us. We started to get U.S. visitors. It's one of those things where you've got to have some tournaments to get media attention, and then exposure, which helps bring money to reinvest. It's like a circle.''
Royal Portrush had always been viewed as one of those faraway, mystical courses that showed up in rankings but few had visited. Located north of Belfast on the eastern coast, it was a bit out of the way for some.
I do remember those Senior Opens (I think they were there in back-to-back years), including the allegation that Gary Player improved his lie in the original Big Nellie bunker....
If you're interested in such things, the opportunity to grab an Open was also the result of venue uncertainty at the time:
"I have a lovely letter from Peter Dawson inviting us to host the championship that was written in 2014,'' Erskine said. "We had to go through the process, and then we had to go to the members to see if they would be happy to host the event. I think he enjoyed the project, was very much behind it. He saw Portrush as a new venue, and it was refreshing. Obviously there were the problems with Muirfield [membership] and maybe Turnberry [remote location], so here was a new venue.
That was gentler time, when the biggest issue in Ayrshire was its remoteness.... But Portrush might not have happened were Peter Dawson not juggling those other issues.
This header seems a bit melodramatic:
British Open: Martin Ebert - The man who recreated Royal Portrush
Yanno, it was pretty damn fine before he laid his eyes on the place.... Long after Martin Ebert's remains are dust, the world will still be marveling at the creations of Harry Shapland Colt:
Colt’s place in golf’s firmament is well established. Aside from Royal Portrush, Colt designed Rye, Sunningdale’s New Course, Wentworth’s West and East Courses and Stoke Poges. He also had a hand in remodeling and upgrading such classics as Royal Porthcawl, Alwoodley, Aberdovey and Pine Valley.
Royal County Down? Swinley Forest? Rye? Muirfield? Some serious omissions, no?
I bear no grudge towards Mr. Ebert, but that header is more than a bit off-putting. The actual article is far more respectful:
Imagine you’re an art school graduate and you’ve been asked to enhance a Monet painting or you’re an English literature grad and you get a request to edit a Dickensnovel. Now you know how Martin Ebert felt when he was commissioned to make Royal Portrush good enough to stage the Open Championship.
Ebert, of golf course architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert, is the man largely responsible for adding two new holes – the 592-yard, par-5 seventh hole and 434-yard, par-4 eighth – to Royal Portrush. Those two holes have made it possible to bring the Open Championship back to Northern Ireland for the first time since it hosted in 1951. The Englishman’s task wasn’t easy because he was dealing with a Harry Colt classic.
That's more like it... In that photo, Ebert and Clarke are on the sixth tee, a hole named "Harry Colt's." As well it should be... And, of course, Ebert gets it:
“There is a fair amount of trepidation when you make major alterations to a classiccourse such as Royal Portrush,” Ebert said. “What was very much at the forefront of my mind was that this is a Harry Colt classic, and the members are so proud of that heritage. So it was a real concern.”
Ebert, who learned his trade under Donald Steel before joining forces with Tom Mackenzie in 2005, eased his concern by going back in time to study Portrush’s evolution since its inception in 1888. He discovered the layout had gone through considerable change since Colt first got involved with the course’s design in 1932.
“Having the knowledge that Colt’s original design had been played around with gave us an understanding that the course wasn’t completely untouched Colt,” Ebert said. “It allowed us to show the members that their course had gone through such significant change before the last Open Championship (1951).”
Everyone will naturally focus on those two new holes, which will play as Nos. seven and eight. I do wish, though, that someone would provide a listing of the other changes undertaken. I know that the Par-5 second has a new green, some fifty yards past the old version, and I hiked up and played from the new tee on the old 16th/now the finishing hole.
I worry that the Forecaddie is teasing us:
Forecaddie first look: Portrush immaculate, firm, ready for British Open
Firm? That seems wishful thinking after Lowell's local report and the Scottish Open....
As for conditions? Put The Forecaddie down for “perfect” when it came to the fescue and rye turf. There are very few divots were visible thanks to members hitting shots off
Awfully green, no? mats over several months. The fairways are surprisingly firm given their deep green shade and on the greens, the ball is rolling nicely with the usual slower links speeds.The course sports healthy rough off the tee and in several spots, tall fescue grass combined with ferns and other wildflowers that will keep marshals busy looking for balls. The Forecaddie counted an almost perfect blend of shot shapes required off the tees and greens, setting up ideally for stout ball strikers who may just be so-so on the putting surfaces.
I could live with perfect....
I'll recommend but not excerpt this David Normoyle feature on playing the Dunluce with Martin Ebert before work commenced, including the significance of Peg 40. But I do want to grab this photo from Peg 40, now d/b/a the eighth green:
Darwin be damned, this links is way over quota in eye candy....
I haven't looked at a weather forecast yet, though the Golf Channel commentators yesterday indicated lots of rain on the tournament days, though only modest winds. We'll save the Met Office for tomorrow.
Who Ya Got? - Beef's in, so that changes everything.... The Golf.com gang offer their top line picks:
Jonathan Wall: Xander Schauffele. Xander has a thing for the majors. He was runner-up at 2018 Open Championship and has finished T6 or better in four of the last six majors. I could see him taking down the field at Portrush.
Josh Sens: Gimme Adam Scott. His winless season so far belies how well he’s played, having put himself into the mix in all the majors, not to mention a couple of runner-ups in other events. The man is back in form, and back to an event where he’s got a long, strong history.Sean Zak: Give me the man playing for Grandma. KUCH! Our Controversial Man of 2019, Matt Kuchar, gets revenge from Birkdale.
Jeff Ritter: This first-time (in a long time) major venue feels like a spot for a first-time major winner. I’ll take Jon Rahm. At some point he’s going to control his emotions on a major weekend, and he just shot 62 to win the Irish Open — he’s gotta be in a good mood at the moment.
Not to worry, the last two went for Brooksie and Rors.... Scott is generating more love than one might expect, and has reportedly spent more time at the venue than anyone else.
The sleeper picks are always the more interesting:
Jonathan Wall: Charley Hoffman. At 250/1, Hoffman is the epitome of a deep sleeper pick. Sure, he’s missed the cut in his last four starts, but you can’t overlook back-to-back top-20 finishes at The Open. I’ll bite.
Josh Sens: Matt Wallace. Hard to call a guy with his record a sleeper, but even his T3 at the PGA Championship didn’t really put him on the radar for the average state-side golf fan. He’s already proven he can win in Europe. Just a matter of time before he wins an event that makes headlines here.
Sean Zak: Rafa Cabrera-Bello isn’t going to win The Open but he will play well and finish top 12. He’s faded in some big moments during his career, but he’s so darn solid he’s worth an each-way bet.
Charley? I'm hoping that Jonathan double-checked that he's actually in the field, because I can't remember the last Charley sighting. As for Rafa, he's solid, at least for a guy that throws up all over his shoes so often...
Jeff Ritter: This first-time (in a long) major venue could produce a long-shot, out-of-nowhere winner. It’s been a while since The Open crowned a Paul Lawrie, a Todd Hamilton, or a Ben Curtis, and we’re due. Today, give me Erik van Rooyen at 125/1, a South African who just had a nice week at the Scottish Open, cracked the top 10 at the PGA at Bethpage and may be ready to take another step this week.
Pat Ralph: I agree with Ritter that, given the relative obscurity surrounding Portrush, a one-off, first-time winner could be coming this week. And I like a European’s chances after Americans have snapped up the first three majors this year. With that, give me Matt Wallace. A T3 at Bethpage and T12 at Pebble, Wallace is playing well and knocking on the door.
Josh Berhow: Erik van Rooyen was my pick, too, but in the name of variety I shall identify someone else. Graeme McDowell has missed the cut in his last two starts but was playing well before then, which helped him get a spot at Portrush, where he’s from. You can’t underestimate how much this week means to him; he’ll play inspired golf.
Give them their due, at least none are trying to pass off Kooch as a sleeper.....
The Tour Confidential panel has yet again demonstrated their focus on a field of one player, so we'll start with their third item, in which they frame this inevitable question in a curious manner:
3. Brooks Koepka’s major dominance needs no introduction and another favorite this week, Rory McIlroy, is returning to an area where he grew up and a course he’s plenty familiar with. Are you taking a Brooks/Rory combo to win or the field?
In golf, always the field.... Easy in this case, because I'm not over the moon about either of those names....
Zak: Field! Brooks hasn’t shown much success in the links game, so his parkland pedigree is kinda moot for me this week. Rory will play well enough, I’d imagine, but something about 150 other players appeals to me most.
Ritter: Always the field. Too many great players have a shot, like DJ, Kuchar, Fleetwood, Rahm and Rickie, to name a few.
Sens: For either of those guys to walk off with the claret jug would be about as surprising as Djokovic winning at Wimbledon. But of course, the field. Always the field.
Bamberger: Even in the Snead-Hogan heyday, I’d never take two players over the field, not in a full-field event. Field.
Berhow: Have some fun, guys. Give me Brooks and Rory! Yeah, I know the field is the safe bet, but I really like these guys’ chances this week. And plus, this is fake money we are betting, right?
I'm not sure that Sean has his facts correct, because Brooks has a T6 and T10 on his short Open resume.... As for Rory, no way for us to know how the week will feel for him, but the pressures would seem to be profound. But notwithstanding that passport and course record, the softer and calmer the forecast, the better for him.
Rory seems happy or, perhaps more likely, is putting on his happy face before heading home:
“All I wanted to do was get a scorecard in my hand,” McIlroy said. “Doesn’t matter if the winning score is 20 under or 10 under or whatever. I just wanted to play four rounds of competitive golf. I’m going to do that this week and at least have a better idea of where my game is at heading into next week, instead of having a few weeks off and trying to figure it out once I get there.
Setting the bar kinda low, no?
As for this guy, could he be any weirder?
The five-time major champion took to social media to reveal that he’s lost 15 pounds in 10 days in order to “reset” his body ahead of the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland this week.
“Let’s get real for a few minutes,” Mickelson said to open up the video. “I haven’t posted anything because I haven’t been feeling good about himself and the way I’ve been playing, and so I haven’t wanted to do anything or be in public. The last 10 days I’ve done what I call a ‘hard reset’ to change and try to make things better.”
The 2013 Open Champion said that he lost the 15 pounds by completing a “six-day fast with water and a special coffee blend for wellness” and going on a retreat.
“I don’t know if it’s going to help me play better or not, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to try to get my best back,” Mickelson said.
I might have been tempted to work on my golf game, but I'm sure this is just as helpful.
Back to the TC gang:
5. What’s the best Open storyline no one is talking about that you can’t wait to see unfold?
Zak: That Dustin Johnson has regressed to where he was prior to Oakmont. Wickedly talented but missing something. He is likely to go major-less again but hang near the top of the World Ranking. As impressive as it is maddening.
Ritter: Portrush is undeniably gorgeous, but what type of player does it favor? How will weather affect it? So many Open venues are known quantities, but this one is essentially a giant question mark. Can’t wait to see it play out.
Sens: Did I just read that Phil Mickelson lost 15 pounds in 10 days on some whacky fast? Inquiring minds want to know: Will dietary deprivation become the next big culinary fad in golf now that CBD gum appears to have peaked? Fascinating.
Berhow: The last major means the final chance for guys to capitalize on some underwhelming seasons. Justin Thomas has won in each of the last four years but hasn’t yet in 2019. You know Spieth’s story. Paging Patrick Reed? When’s Tommy Fleetwood gonna grab a big one? On and on.
Bamberger: That the British Open is becoming the second-most coveted title in world golf, and world golf includes American golf. And in the next decade or so, as the movement toward everyman golf and away from elitist golf only escalates, it will eventually supplant the Masters and become what it once was, golf’s most illustrious title, the answer to the question, “If you could win only one event, which would it be?”
That last one is quite the prediction, no? I'm not even sure that should be the objective, but there's a small subset of the golfing world for whom this has long been the case. But I do think Mike is onto something, that the divide between championship and recreational golf is widening, with the former becoming less interesting.
This was their last query:
6. Our Max Marcovitch recently checked out (and ranked) the cold beverages at Pinehurst Resort’s brewery. What’s the best drink you’ve ever had at a golf course?
I'll leave you to click through at your leisure, if so inclined. Their answers are perfectly fine, they just have nothing to do with this week's festivities. I'll use this to tell you that Portrush has one of the great halfway houses in golfdom, complete with quite the selection of brown liquor:
I virtually guarantee that Golf Channel/NBC will have a feature on this facility, notable for the Union Jack flying overhead that indicates it is open for business. And in the worst of the weather, it does quite a bit of business indeed.
See you tomorrow.
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