Spotlight: The Open Championship

The showdown for the 2024 edition of golf’s oldest Major takes place at Royal Troon from 18-21 July.

Think of a typical Scottish summer’s day. Then think of The Open Championship. Wind, rain, jerseys, beanies, flag pins swaying. Then it changes to sun, short-sleeved shirts and grown men and women wearing shorts in the galleries.

The thing is that you don’t really know what weather you’re going to get over the four days The Open is held at Royal Troon – this year’s 152nd staging of the Championship will be the 10th time this Scottish links course has been the host – although it does generally tend to be quite mild, by Scottish standards.

Uncertainty around the weather is matched by that of trying to predict a winner.

The last time the event was held at the venue, in 2016, Henrik Stenson held off Phil Mickelson on one of the great final days in Open history, with the Swede shooting a closing 63 and “Lefty” a 65. Who came third? Some 14 shots behind Stenson was JB Holmes, if you really want to know.

Twelve years earlier when Royal Troon was host, the unheralded Todd Hamilton came through in a four-hole playoff against Ernie Els. The American put together four pars in the playoff which was enough to see off the South African.

Generally speaking, Royal Troon is quite forgiving – should the Scottish weather play along.

When Stenson won in 2016 he was on 20-under-par 264. Hamilton and Els were both on 10-under 274 in 2004. The momentum was with The Big Easy. He’d birdied the 17th and 18th to force the playoff, but a bogey on the 17th in the head-to-head ended his hopes.

The trick, as seems obvious, is to give yourself a chance by first making the cut. In 2004 and 2016 the cutline was three over and four over, respectively, as nearly half the field packed their bags and went home. You have to take advantage of the favourable conditions, again as obvious as it sounds, because you don’t know when they will change.

BATTLE FOR THE AGES
Relive the magic of the duel between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson at the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

Speaking of change, Royal Troon was dragged into the 21st century when members finally agreed to allow women to join the club. That was 2016. In an attempt to show how accommodating they were to ladies, the 2020 AIG Women’s Open was held there. It was won by the German Sophia Popov, ranked No 304 in the world heading into that Major. Earlier this year she slipped to a career-low 1 004th, but has since rebounded and was around 350 in the middle of June.

The point is, it’s impossible to nail your colours to the mast in trying to predict a winner.

What we do know is that The Open isn’t kind to world No 1-ranked golfers heading into the event. Scottie Scheffler, look away now. The last No 1 to win the Major was Tiger Woods, back in 2006, at Royal Liverpool. Before then it was Woods again (2000) and that’s about it. Nick Faldo won at Muirfield in 1992 and was promoted to world No 1 the day after the tournament.

While you’re looking for a winner, factor in that of the nine previous editions on this Scottish links course, six have been won by Americans.

In fact, only Arthur Havers (1923), Bobby Locke (1950) and Stenson (2016) have bucked the trend. So, we’re looking for an American who isn’t ranked No 1 and will win with a total of around 11 under. He needs to be a 30-year-old, if one throws all the information into a potjie.

Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark or Jordan Spieth perhaps?

Despite the relatively mild weather at this time of year, and the double-digit scores under par, the course, a par 71, looks easier than it is. It’s worth repeating what Colin Montgomerie, widely considered the finest golfer to have never won a Major, has to say. He grew up in Troon while his father, James, was the club secretary.

“As a local member, and someone who knows the course better than most, I am often asked how I rate Royal Troon alongside the other classic Scottish links courses. I tend to respond by suggesting that it is right up there alongside Carnoustie as the toughest links course in the country.”

EXPLORE THE COURSE

More local knowledge comes from Jan Chandler, one of Royal Troon’s past secretaries. “Some of the hardest holes are around the turn. There are only four blind drives and they come consecutively at the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th.”

So, we have a fair idea of where the TV drama may well come from.

THE SA CHALLENGE

Despite conditions and courses not conducive to producing great links players, South Africa has a strong record at The Open.

Four golfers – Bobby Locke (1949, 1950, 1952 and 1957), Gary Player (1959, 1968 and 1974) Ernie Els (2002 and 2012) and Louis Oosthuizen (2010) – have contributed a total of 10 wins. That places the country behind only the US, Scotland, England and Australia on the list of most successful nations.

GREATEST SHOT
Ernie Els recalls his incredible bunker shot on the 13th at the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield.

In 2017, when Branden Grace lowered the men’s Major record to 62 at Royal Birkdale – a number only matched six years later – he tied for sixth, while in 2015 Oosthuizen missed out by one shot in a playoff to Zach Johnson.

This year’s field again has a strong influence and there’s hope that one of them will break the 12-year drought of men’s Major champions from the country. Of course, Ashleigh Buhai gave us all breathing space when she triumphed at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield to be South Africa’s most recent Major champion.

This year, eight South Africans will be gunning for glory in the 152nd Open Championship including two-time champion Ernie Els, 2010 winner Louis Oosthuizen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dean Burmester, Darren Fichardt, Thriston Lawrence, Ryan van Velzen and 2024 Africa Amateur champion Altin van der Merwe, one of 12 amateurs teeing it up in the 156-strong field at Royal Troon.

Wishing our local heroes four days of incredible shot-making in Scotland!

Written by Gary Lemke | Photo credits: The R&A Championships / The R&A / David Cannon / Getty Images / Backpage Pix