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HOYLAKE, ENGLAND – Greetings from England as it’s Tuesday morning at The Open with a full slate of press conferences ahead. Brooks Koepka just spoke to the media, and Jon Rahm, Colin Morikawa, and Scotty Scheffler are all set to speak soon. Rory McIlroy He was On schedule, it will be canceled Monday afternoon.
McIlroy is clearly a huge story this week, so it’s a shame we won’t hear much from him before the tournament, but there are plenty of other good speakers this week. Let’s get to them.
Rory McIlroy
1a story And 1B? That may be the case, especially since McIlroy won the Genesis Scottish Open on Sunday. His game was sharp, he’s come close to the bigs, he’s won here before, and now he’s coming out victorious. But here’s the thing – it’s getting old to keep looking for the same old McIlroy talking points when it comes to the majors, but at some point, sometime, he’s going to win again… right?
Repeat Cam Smith?
It’s been a very quiet fall and spring, but he’s been doing really well lately and just won a LIV event two weeks ago. A man can strike with the best of all. Would it be amazing to see him redo? i don’t think so.
the chapter
The last time The Open was held, golfers were presented with two very different courses. Tiger Woods won in dry conditions in 2006, while McIlroy won on a wet track in 2014. This year may be something in the middle. It’s 11 a.m. local time now, and it’s pouring outside. It doesn’t look like it will end soon.
Who ends the year disappointed?
a lot of people! They only hand out four major titles a year, and three of them have already been claimed (John Rahm, Brooks Koepka, and Windham Clark). For some guys, a year less major is a failure, finally during the prime of their career. Guys like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas know it’s time to win big. Others like Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland didn’t want to wait another year for their debut.
Scotty Scheffler
Scotty has had 19 straight top 12 finishes. Nineteen! Admittedly quite new to golf hooking and still figuring it out, but I can’t imagine many of you skipping it in your office bathrooms.
The new Par-3 game
Another thing to watch this year: the 17th, a third-rate shortstop that runs in reverse like it did in 2014. And it’s going to be an amazing sight. Will it be the same golf hole? We’ll find out.
Liv’s future?
Could this be the last major we have for golfers on the PGA Tour And Leaf golfers? After the merger was announced, it is still not clear what will happen to LIV. It can persist in some way, it can be used in some kind of team component or, frankly, it can fade away. At this point, nothing would surprise us, but it is possible that in the near future the PGA Tour and LIV players who only meet in the big corporate story will disappear in the near future.
Ryder Cup Effects
Speaking of LIV, for its players, this is their last chance to earn valuable OWGR points to secure a spot on the Ryder Cup team. They don’t earn them in regular LIV events, so they need to capitalize on the majors, as Koepka did, with his PGA Championship win essentially securing his place. (Although LIV players are still the captain’s choice.) Koepka actually played a practice run with U.S. captain Zach Johnson on Monday, though Koepka said it was a coincidence. And yes, he said, they did talk about the Ryder Cup.
The Fitzpatrick Brothers
When Matt Fitzpatrick won the 2022 US Open in Brooklyn, his brother, Alex Fitzpatrick, was behind the fame. Fast forward to this week’s Open Championship, and the Fitzpatrick brothers will take on the match at Royal Liverpool.
Alex, 24, hit his card with the Open Finals Qualifier. It is his first major start.
Matt was playing for Manasquan River in New Jersey when Alex was competing in the playoffs.
“Oh, I was so happy. I was playing golf, and I was constantly refreshing scores,” Matt said Monday in Hoylake. It took some time to update. My girlfriend was literally like, ‘Put it down. It’ll load in a minute.’ I was constantly blinking, texting my mom, ‘What’s he doing?’ Where does he hit her? I was so happy for him.”
Brooks back
Well, he is He was again all year, but can he continue his great resurgence this week? Koepka tied for second at the Masters and then won a PGA Championship. Tied for 17th at the US Open. He has won five majors in his career, but only once (in 2018) has he won two in a season. He has a chance to do it again this week.
His creativity bodes well for the golf links, he said Tuesday, and said he remembers hitting the grass as a 10-year-old in Florida because he saw the pros do it in the Open Championship.
“You can hit 10 different shots, you can hit a lob wedge, you can hit it from 80 yards, you can bump and run it with kind of a 3 wood or a hybrid, whatever you’ve got, or a 6 iron,” he said. “One player is not favored.”