The Open Championship
Royal Troon, The Old
Course
Thursday July 14th -
Sunday July 17th, 2016
by David Barwise
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| Photo: yachthavens.com |
The 3rd major of the year, the 9th
time the Open has been held at Troon, and the 145th Open
Championship. Where does the time go...?
“The Old Course is a challenging test of golfing ability.
With the wind to contend with, and deep rough interspersed with gorse and
broom, accurate shot making is essential.” This is taken from the official
Royal Troon website and, from the off, it’s obvious that accuracy is going to
be the watch-word of the tournament. One of the most treacherous courses – not
just on the Open rota but also in championship golf – a trip to Troon requires
accuracy everywhere.
The more astute golf fan may well remark that the approach
shot will be key to success this week, especially because of the tightly-placed
greenside bunkers, but hitting fairways will be important in generating the
spin required to stick on these teeny-tiny greens.
So the complete links package, then. Length off the tee
preferred but not vital and putting will inevitable separate the Tiger Woods-s
from the Tiger Wouldn’t-s*. But it’s the men who hit the straight-ball, scheme
their way around the course and fight valiantly against the wind that will be
find their way to a longer lie-in on Sunday morning.
So where does this leave us predictions-wise? On which
golfers should we focus our attention (and our wallets, should you be so
inclined)?
There are obvious candidates, but I have limited myself to
just three for today. This is partly due to the fact that I’m saving the Brits
for a separate blog post which should hopefully materialise soon – so stay
tuned for that!
The Defending
Champ – Zach Johnson
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| Photo: telegraph.co.uk |
The two-time major winner has proven his mettle, taking both
of them in windy conditions. First, the 2007 Masters Tournament was won with
the joint highest score ever (+1) after fierce winds plagued the weekend.
Similarly, ZJs victory at St Andrews last year came on the Monday due to a
week-long storm.
The Old Course at Troon is in many ways a traditional links
course; it plays out in nine holes, back in in nine and is stapled to the
coast. The exposed nature of the course will inevitably play its part when the
gusting wind rears its ugly head. But if one man can tame the harsh conditions,
Zach’s your guy. It’s also a course that suits his skill set. By no means is it
long, but it is a thinker’s course and a worker’s course and ZJ is certainly
both of those.
T17-T8-T10 has been his best run of results all year. He’s
been saving himself for this.
The Man of the
Hour – Dustin Johnson
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| Photo: golfersdigest.com |
The problem we see with this part of the golfing schedule is
that many competitors are burned out by this point. You could argue that this
is partly what prevented Jordan Spieth from clinching the third leg of his
“Grand Slam” in 2015 (although, I concede there were many factors against him).
Many people had ramped up their commitments at the beginning of 2016 in order
to claim perhaps the most coveted tournament in golf – the Masters. This is
certainly true for Rory and, if Jason Day is to be believed, for Spieth.
Accepting this reasoning, the aim of the game is peaking at
the right time and Dustin Johnson is certainly doing that right now. Finally
shaking the Sunday meltdown syndrome that has plagued his major attempts for
the past few years, Johnson can play with more freedom in the knowledge that he
has the US Open already under his belt.
A proven player in the wind (which will almost certainly be
a factor) and with the luxury hitting long irons off the tee to ensure accurate
play, you’d be a fool to look past him – especially with the Willets,
Mickelsons and Bubba Watsons of this world appearing to have passed their 2016
prime.
The Man In Second
– Sergio Garcia
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| Photo: sbnation.com |
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Perhaps the greatest player (of the current crop) never to
win a major. Every golfer in the field wants to win, but no other golfer can
possibly feel as entitled to a major victory as Garcia. Sergio has waited his
turn, and this is his best opportunity to strike. The Open is certainly the
event he has seemed closest to winning – being runner up in 2007 and more
recently in 2014. The man has finished a startling 1-T5-T5 in his last three
tournaments (including a win at the AT&T Byron Nelson and a top-5 finish at
the US Open).
An excellent wind player and a veteran of this competition,
Sergio seems likely to succeed where others will fail this week. True, anyone
in the field could be victorious this week, but the man who claims the Claret
Jug is the one who grasps the opportunity. And Sergio knows he can’t let
another one slip through his fingers.
* Okay, that was cheap
but I enjoyed it.
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