THE Open Championship 2013

First topic message reminder :

In response to PD's plea, here's my effort at a thread for this week's ET event, which just happens to be the most important event on that particular calendar, if not in the world of golf as a whole. I'll try to keep it factual, other than the 'ones to watch' at the end.

The 142nd Open Championship gets underway this week at Muirfield, just outside Edinburgh. Defending champion, in both respects, is Ernie Els, the big South African having followed up his playoff win at Muirfield in 2002 with last year's surprise victory at Lytham.

Els has quite a record in this event. He missed the cut on debut in 1989, but has played every year since 1992, recording 2 wins, 3 runner-up positions and a further 7 top tens. He's missed the cut just twice in that run, in 2010 when so many were caught out by the weather on the Friday at St. Andrews, and again in poor conditions at RSG the following year. In that context, his win last year is even more remarkable. Other notable stats for the Big Easy at the oldest major include twice recording 4 rounds in the 60s without winning, in 1993 and 2004 (brownie points on offer for naming the only other player to do this and the year), finishing under par most often since 1963 alongside two other huge names in the recent history of the Open (easy to guess who so I'd like the number of times too please), and he edges both of them on overall number of rounds under 70, 39 to their 37 and 33. Interestingly they both have more rounds under par than Ernie, which I suppose means when he's good he's very good. Testament to that would be his 29 on the front 9 in the second round at Muirfield in 2002, and his seven consecutive rounds under 70 in 1993-4.

Muirfield as a venue commands, it seems, a great deal of respect from the players even though the male only status of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers as a club casts something of a shadow over an otherwise excellent location for this great championship. I have no intention of expressing an opinion on that particular issue, not least because this week has nothing to do with the membership of the club and everything to do with the best players in the world. At 7,192 yards it's no beast, and indeed may even be considered short these days, even though they've added some 158 yards this time around. That won't detract from the substantial test that it's bound to provide, the rough at least providing some defence even if the weather doesn't look like it's going to. It's not an in and out type links, rather the front 9 loops clockwise around the anti-clockwise homeward 9. Par is 71, with 3 par 5s (5,9,17) and 4 par 3 holes (4,7,13,16). The prevailing wind will help on 5 and 17, so look for those holes to be eagle opportunities, while 9 plays back into it and at over 550 yards will be out of reach for most if there's any kind of breeze. 2, 3 and 11 are par 4s under 400 yards and ought to offer birdie opportunities, especially since the wind is likely to be helping on those holes. With the exception of the 4th, the par 3s are all around 180-190 yards, so should be no more than a mid-iron for most of the field.  

Previous champions here have included some of the game's true greats - Els, Faldo of course, twice, as well as Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino, Player and Cotton. Nobody has won the Open here by default. Faldo's 18 pars to edge out Azinger in 1987 will be part of Open Championship folk lore for centuries, even though his finish here in 1992 was arguably more inspired following his mid-round stumble which let John Cook have a sniff of victory.

Perhaps important to note is that although we look back on those last 7 Muirfield winners as greats of the game, for some of them victory here was their first in the Open (2 names?) or indeed in a major championship of any sort (another 2?). As such, could this be the first of many Opens for a new great (Rory, Justin, Adam?)

Victory in Scotland this week for Phil Mickelson has to mean he should be considered as another great player with the potential to win at Muirfield, although the fairways there will surely look like tiny islands in a sea of rough in relation to the giant swathes of short grass that the contenders at Castle Stuart were faced with this past week. So who else could be lifting the claret jug next Sunday?

Rory McIlroy - the world no. 2 hasn't given anybody any reason to suspect he'll be able to turn his form so far this season around, and this isn't his favourite event on the calendar. If the weather remains as calm as forecast that may change, but there will surely be too many genuine contenders for Rory to sneak up on the rails and pinch this one?

Tiger Woods - we've not seen numero uno since his latest injury, to his left elbow, forced him to miss his own tournament at Congressional. He's apparently 'full go' for the Open, albeit recognising that staying out of the rough will be an even better idea than usual! The length, or lack of it, of the course means he can afford to leave the driver in the bag most of the time and still have scoring opportunities but as with Rory, there are too many other serious contenders to think that Woods might win here when he was only able to muster a T28 here last time, which included a very wet, windy and rough-strewn third round 81.  

Ernie Els - the defending champion has to be a very serious contender this week, his excellent Open record combining with some pretty good recent form including of course victory in Germany 3 weeks ago. With no wind to blow him off course as he wedges his belly putter into place, you have to think Els will be in the mix next Sunday.

Graeme McDowell - another recent winner, and the all or nothing man of 2013. To mix missed cuts and wins the way GMac has done of late suggests huge mental strength, something that Muirfield Open champions have in common.

Lee Westwood - as some of you may know I'm a big fan of Lee's, but I don't really know why. Ordinarily my pessimistic, cynical nature would predict a good start to the tournament for Lee only to whimper out of contention on Friday and Saturday to the point where he hasn't got a realistic chance of winning on Sunday. However, he took the decision to miss the French Open in order to be better rested for the Open, and I'm hoping that will pay off. He's straight enough to win, especially if his recently improved short game holds out, but whether he has the mental strength I mentioned above remains to be seen!

Justin Rose - mental strength can't be questioned following that tremendous finish at Merion, and he certainly has the game to win at Muirfield. He doesn't have a great record in the Open though, his famous 4th place as an amateur in 1998 at Birkdale comfortably his best finish. 12th in 2007 and 13th in 2009 are his best pro finishes. Given his exertions at Merion, I think victory here would be asking too much.

Adam Scott - Justin's big pal and the other major champion of 2013 so far should arguably be defending champion this week. I was at Lytham to witness his demise on the Sunday, and it was pretty clear as he played the 18th that he wasn't in a good place mentally. Much like Rory he bounced back from throwing away a major by winning one very soon after, but I just have a feeling that also like Rory the one that got away will take a bit longer to finally reel in. Rory will most likely win the Masters one day, just as Adam will probably win an Open, but I fear the memories will still be too fresh for the Aussie this week.

All in all then, GMac, Ernie or Lee. All are around 25/1. If you want an outside bet; Brooks Koepke will return you 5 times as much as those big names - he's had a phenomenal year on the Challenge tour, graduating to the main ET via 3 wins before July and he played pretty well at Castle Stuart this week.

With the weather promising to be very pleasant, the course is likely to be hard and running, with the rough therefore coming more into play. Muirfield will doubtless produce a fantastic tournament and another excellent golfer will be announced by Peter Dawson around 7pm next Sunday as 'winner of the gold medal and champion golfer for the year'.

Is the Cut Top 70 & ties??

Its allways good though to stick the true leader up and not worry about the leading score- Pmick and woods I would have to say have the speculative lead at 2 under- Distbin is clearly also doing very well at 3's- so i would say that is what the player's around par need to think about tbh.

LW , Poults- your still well in there lads and they will also believe it as well.

fingers crossed for a copy cat day. So the late starters will get the easy conditions first up.

The 18th windmill hole clearly owes poults a birdie as well

mystiroakey wrote:Are you going to make a bold prediction about Poults again Diggs?

Mac- The wind she blows.. Ricky will get back in this..

Well he is playing his way out of the top 50 this year, so I was just a year early with my prediction.
I predict a top 40 finish for him this week,  which would be a season highlight.

He is going to motivated big time after hearing the hate over his windmill comments.. Never get at poulter he will just come back at ya!

Top 10 this week. and will rise again in the rankings

Is woods having a pop at the pin placements... so its all about pmick, woods and poulter- the only lads with the balls to speak up. But then when hasnt it been!!

Re media focus on Rors form. Come on- Its golf people!! Rors is a streaky player and allways has been.

Lee's got a 10 footer to go to 1 under!

come on fella

Come on Westy!!

The greens look so true- westy is putting beautifully. And striking it better today!!

Yeh, he's been fortunate with his tee time today I think. He's aprt of the groups that can really take advantage of the watering of the greens. A little more control over your shots hopefully means a few more birdies and fewer bogies!

Good par putt from Tigger on the first.. Good start after a kind of misjudged iron in.. Playing the running in shot which didnt bounce

He hasnt been fortunate Blues- the players had the good start yesterday . he didnt.

If it gets harder throughout the day to the same extent that will even it out

Yeh, sorry I didn't phrase that too well.
 
Just seen him trickle into the bunker- such bad luck. Does he ever play a major without being the victim of a really cruel stroke of fate or luck..?!

ermmmmm.

yeah- but you make your own luck. I am still hoping he will get that win so I dont want to caste him off as an unlucky so and so..

Anyway another birdie!!

2 under. He has to make this early start count

What's the ermmmmmm for?

Cracking up and down from Lee there. Woods ticking along nicely.

Both Tiger and G-Mac have a nice rhythm today

 
  The ermmmm was me debating in my own mind whether to discuss Westy's luck!

Do we need to read everything that goes on in your mind mysti?

Who's been putting for Westwood these 1st 2 days?

Wow... sloppy by Tiger... didn't see that coming

Like Westy said in a post-round interview a while ago, I think the only thing left for him to do is change religion.

Another really encouraging long distance putt from Westy there on 6th.

Yeh, Tiger and GMac are both going nicely.

I love the way the BBC do the ball flight tracer on the tee shots! Not done enough though!

You can block me if you want!

mysti

I would never do that.

Good lad..

I think Lee hired Stricker or some other good putter to putt for him

To be fair lads- Westy has been getting better at his short game and putting all season..

He topped scrambling(or close to) at the masters and was last(or close to) the year before!!!

mystiroakey wrote:To be fair lads- Westy has been getting better at his short game and putting all season..

He topped scrambling(or close to) at the masters and was last(or close to) the year before!!!

Getting better and what he's been showing until now = world of difference

Brilliant birdy putt from the par 3 9th for Westy! Off the green, but pin high and uphill- was aggressive and it paid off. Keep it up.

Par 4 8th, but yes. I noticed he marked his ball while Charl played on, so I think he must have been on the green even though it looked like he was off.

Alig - he has shown it alot this year- problem being he has lost some long game control..

And in pressure situations he has missed a few- we are not at that point yet.

But at the moment - Its looking good - very good!

Fingers crossed lads!

Sorry Smithers, you're right, 8th! Damn Radio 5 live

gmac with a cracking shot. this championship is lighting up. I just hope it gets toughter later

I hope it does too. I want to see some of the guys who were out early yesterday to struggle this afternoon to level things out

Darren Clarke par for the day....4 birdies and a Quad !!

Just keep going Westwood......... keep finding fairways and it's going to happen............

What are the pins like today compared to yesterday?

If it gets tougher later will it be as tough for the later starters as yesterday was?

Must say, if it was that tough yesterday afternoon Mr Woods must have played well to get it into the red from the +1 I saw him on.

Much to many people's consternation I'd like to see him win. Don't care.

Anyone know the Cut Rule.......not available on the Open Website or anywhere i have looked. Seems to be a secret as usual.

I seem to have Top 70 rather than Top 65 in my head.................no ten shot rule?

yes thats the norm for the open John. But you know these things change!!

I cant see a cut line on the official leaderboard

Open Championship cut rule:
Everyone in the Top 70, including ties, after 36 holes makes the cut. Golfers outside of the Top 70 do not advance to the next round, no 10 shot rule.

2 short misses from Tiger... very strange. Other then that he has played well enough. Just not getting enough out of his round like this.

Tiger must be a little disappointed with his front nine. Two three putts and made a mess of a par 5 he could have reached with two 3 irons.

lw - GOOD Lad.

Smithers?

You had alot to say yesterday!

Why are you so quiet?

You ought to know by now Mysti, he's only getting our hopes up before dashing them cruelly again. Bloody good while it's lasting though!

Joint leader now and looking veeeeery good. Come on, keep it up!

Kapur's struggling greatly today already. Someone's obviously told him that Majors golf is meant to be a challenge

"PROJECTED CUT
Hoteliers of Gullane, stand by your guest beds. We have news of a projected cut. The R&A has said that those on three over will be staying of the weekend, those on four over will be cut adrift.
 
That means that, at the moment, the like of Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy will be packing their bags unless they can improve on their scores."
 
Above the very "informative" BBC Sport online tell us about the cut.... the R & A have said +3 according to them. This is truly disgraceful journalism from the BBC...............my guess (without seeing a forecast) is +6....................

No one deserves a major who has not got one, as every one that has won one deserves it. But i would like to see Westwood win one. Whether he will if some big names are around putting on the weekend pressure is another point. But if he can finish -5 then just 2 steady rounds will not eb far off.

And there you have it. Gets into the joint lead and then 3 stabs. Sorry, you know I'd love to see it happen but there's no way.

just go with the flow smithers- everyone is going to have 3 putts out there- everyone!

Wheels coming decidedly off, now missed a fairway with an iron by quite some way. You had to bring me into it, didn't you? If you'd just left it alone till he finished I'd have gladly swallowed all the humble pie in the world to see him post (as crossed my mind) 62 and set a new record for a low round in a major.

dont worry dude-- lee is better off a couple behind mid way anyway- slightly out of the limelight is better for him

I think its getting a bit harder out there to be honest