Tag: British Open Golf

Ludvig Aberg’s rapid rise in just three months as a pro was capped Monday when the 23-year-old Swede was selected as one of the European team’s captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup against the United States outside Rome this month.

Luke Donald filled out his team by picking Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose along with three rookies — Aberg, Sepp Straka and Nicolai Hojgaard — as Europe bids to win back the trophy after being routed by the Americans at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Straka and Hojgaard got the call ahead of Adrian Meronk in what was widely seen as Donald’s toughest decision, but it’s the presence of Aberg that will most excite European golf fans.

He turned pro in June when ranked as the world’s No. 1 amateur and after being named the best college player in the United States for a second straight year at Texas Tech. Aberg posted four top-25 finishes in his first two months on the PGA Tour, then headed back to Europe in a bid to convince Donald he deserved a Ryder Cup call-up.

Winning the European Masters in Switzerland on Sunday by reeling off four straight birdies late in the final round presented a case Donald just couldn’t ignore.

“He showed yesterday in Crans he has the potential to be one of golf’s superstars,” Donald said.

Donald noted that Aberg, who has yet to play in a major championship, played the kind of golf on the college scene that only Rahm and Hovland have produced over the last 20 years.

He said he was “blown away” by Aberg when playing alongside him for the first two rounds of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour in June, when the Swede shot 65-67.

“I challenged him and said come over to Europe and play a couple of weeks,” Donald said. “It was like a walk in the park for him and obviously for someone so inexperienced, it’s so impressive.”

No player has made a quicker transition from the amateur ranks to the Ryder Cup.

“If you would have told me a couple of months ago I was going to be in these kind of conversations, I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” Aberg said.

Fleetwood narrowly missed out on automatic selection via the World Points List but was an obvious pick for his third Ryder Cup appearance. It will be the 43-year-old Rose’s sixth appearance while Lowry, another major winner, will be playing in his second straight Ryder Cup.

Straka, ranked No. 23, was rewarded for strong recent form which saw him win the John Deere Classic and tie for second at the British Open in July, then finish tied for sixth at the Tour Championship eight days ago.

Donald said the 78th-ranked Hojgaard, who is the youngest player on the team at age 22, got in on the back of three top 10s in his most recent six events.

That meant Meronk missed out despite being a consistent performer on the European tour. He won this year’s Italian Open at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, where the Ryder Cup is taking place.

Europe hasn’t lost a Ryder Cup on home soil since 1993 and Donald will be taking four rookies to Rome — MacIntyre also is playing in his first — in a bid to avenge that 19-9 loss two years ago.

“They are going to be strong. They are always stronger than us on paper and world rankings, and obviously they had a pretty convincing win two years ago,” Donald said. “We certainly don’t underestimate them. They are going to be extremely tough opponents. But we’ll be ready for them.”

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HOYLAKE, England — Tommy Fleetwood has experience of seeing a wave of support carry a home favorite all the way to the claret jug.

In 2019, Fleetwood was in the final group with Shane Lowry on the Sunday of the British Open at Royal Portrush. Lowry wound up winning by six shots and was the toast of the whole of Ireland.

Fleetwood has imagined “a million times” the same thing happening to him on English soil. And there’s hardly anywhere better than at Royal Liverpool, close to where he grew up.

There’d be no more popular champion this week than Fleetwood, a 32-year-old distinctive because of his flowing locks.

“Winning the Open is a huge, huge dream. No matter where that is, that’s always something I’ve visualized and always thought about,” he said Wednesday.

“But then again, having the opportunity to do it so close to where you grew up is something that’s very unique and very special.”

Growing up, Fleetwood lived in a house just round the corner from Royal Birkdale, which he’d get on when accompanying his father, Peter, on evening dog walks. He was the poster boy when the Open was held there in 2017 and finished tied for 27th.

Hoylake is down the coast from Royal Birkdale, along the Irish Sea, and Fleetwood recalls playing it as a junior.

“I don’t know the course that well,” he said, before adding: “But I do know it better than most.”

This week will be memorable for Fleetwood whatever happens on the course. Friday marks the first anniversary of his mother’s death and it is one of the motivations fueling his run at a first major title.

“We know that that’s coming up,” Fleetwood said. “It would be nice to think she’s watching over.”

Fleetwood arrives at Royal Liverpool with three top-six finishes in his last four events, including a loss in a playoff with Nick Taylor at the RBC Canadian Open and a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open after a closing 63.

The 21st-ranked Fleetwood is among a group of players — including Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose — seeking to become the first Englishman since Nick Faldo in 1992 to win the British Open. Tony Jacklin, in 1969, was the last Englishman to win an Open in England.

CLARK AND ITALY

Wyndham Clark is the U.S. Open champion, and he looks forward to that time when he can see the silver trophy at home in Arizona and reflect on his marvelous feat.

That will have to wait. The U.S. Open ended on June 18. Clark still hasn’t been home.

He played the Travelers Championship the following week in Connecticut, and then has been in Europe ever since.

“I had a wedding in Italy,” Clark said. “So I went to Italy, and then I said, ‘Well, let’s just stay. We just won a major; let’s enjoy it.’ So my girlfriend and I stayed there for another 10 days and then played the Scottish last week.”

Clark likely can count on another trip to Italy. His two wins this year were big ones — the Wells Fargo Championship with its $20 million purse ($4 million to the winner) and the U.S. Open, which counts double toward the Ryder Cup.

That moved him to No. 2 in the U.S. standings and he is looking like a lock to make his Ryder Cup debut at Marco Simone outside Rome at the end of September.

Scottie Scheffler is the only player to have mathematically clinched a spot.

“I would like to think I’m on the team, but at the same time, I believe I’ve still got to go earn it,” Clark said.

AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIP

The R&A already works with Augusta National on the Asia-Pacific Amateur, and with Augusta National and the USGA on the Latin America Amateur.

Now it’s going out on its own by creating a similar tournament for Africa.

Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A, on Wednesday announced the African Amateur Championship. It will be Feb. 21-24 next year at Leopard Creek in South Africa, a 72-man field with 72 holes of stroke play.

The winner will earn a spot in the British Open next year at Royal Troon.

“It’s a hugely exciting initiative for African golf, and it’s the last part of the continent around the world where we don’t have our own championships that we now do,” Slumbers said.

The other two amateur championships have been successful. The Asia-Pacific Amateur produced two-time winner Hideki Matsuyama, who went on to win the Masters. Seven players in the field at the British Open have won the Asia Pacific or Latin American Amateur.

NOW ON THE TEE

The British Open typically has a local connection hit the opening shot of the tournament, such as Paul Lawrie at St. Andrews last year or Darren Clarke at Royal Portrush in 2019.

This year the choice was easy.

Matthew Jordan not only grew up in the area, he’s a member at Royal Liverpool. Jordan earned his place through Final Local Qualifying two weeks ago.

Tommy Fleetwood knows him well.

“I actually played with him when he was like 16 around here, and I remember coming off and saying, ‘This kid is really, really good.’ I think he’ll continue to grow, but this is a great week and opportunity for him. Being at your home course, it doesn’t always follow. You know the course well, but that doesn’t mean loads.

“But it’s a great opportunity. Hopefully he’ll get a bit of momentum going early doors and see what he can do.”

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HOYLAKE, England — The most telling comment from Rory McIlroy about this British Open, and his hopes of ending an astonishing nine-year drought in the majors, is that he said nothing at all.

For the second straight major, McIlroy removed himself from the lineup of pre-tournament news conferences, instead offering a few vague quotes through the R&A and random interviews.

The attention on him is greater than ever, on and off the golf course.

He has been the strongest voice for the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf, now shockingly a proposed partnership. Inside the ropes, he is coming off a win at the Scottish Open and now returns to Royal Liverpool, where he won wire-to-wire the last time the Open was here in 2014.

Rain fell on the already green links of Hoylake on Tuesday, conditions that suited McIlroy in his previous four major titles, all of which led Padraig Harrington to refer to McIlroy as a “person of interest” this week.

“Everything seems to be setting up nicely,” Harrington said.

The question now is whether McIlroy is like other multiple major champions who collected all their trophies in a short period of time, or whether this nine-year drought is a long aberration.

Harrington was one of those players, collecting his three titles in a span of six majors. Jordan Spieth won three legs of Grand Slam over three years. Nick Price won three out of nine majors at the height of his game and never got another.

McIlroy won his four majors from the 2011 U.S. Open through the 2014 PGA Championship, and he looked to just be getting started. He is 34, considered the prime years for a golfer, though he also is in his 16th full year as a pro.

“Patience — it’s a horrible thing for Rory,” Harrington said. “Oftentimes, you win your first, maybe there’s two or three in there pretty quickly. From 10 years ago, there’s more players around. It’s not as free and easy, is it? It’s not a foregone conclusion.

“We keep seeing that — players come into the pomp of their career, they look unbeatable for a period of time, usually two seasons,” he said. “Look, he can win any week and he’s got to have good feelings going into Hoylake.”

Twenty-four players have won majors since McIlroy captured his last one at rain-soaked Valhalla in the 2014 PGA Championship, some multiple times — Brooks Koepka with five, Spieth with three, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson with two each.

It’s not getting any easier.

McIlroy returned to No. 2 in the world with his victory in the Scottish Open. He said he would have arrived at Hoylake with confidence even without winning based on his consistent play the last few months — six consecutive finishes in the top 10, including his runner-up finish in the U.S. Open last month that ran his drought to 33 majors without winning.

Rahm won the Masters in April, adding to his U.S. Open title two years ago.

“I can understand how when you get on a roll like that and win one, next time you’re in position you win another, well, it’s only fair to believe that the next one you’re going to be ready to handle the moment,” he said.

Harrington’s goal during his back-to-back British Open titles (2007-08) and the PGA Championship in 2008 was to get to the back nine and take it from there. Confidence was everything, and that starts with belief in his game.

He was asked his theory on players winning majors in bunches.

“The difference when you’re winning those tournaments is you’re not looking over your shoulder,” he said. “If you believe you can win with your ‘B’ game, your ‘A’ game shows up. If you think you need your ‘A’ game, your ‘B’ game turns up. That’s the nature of golf.”

That has worked best for Koepka, who figures the majors are the easiest to win by eliminating who has realistic chances and what number of players are typically on their game that week. The list keeps shrinking.

He won four times in a span of four majors, and then he added his fifth at the PGA Championship in May, which he attributed mainly to finally feeling healthy again. And his love for the majors begins with discipline in knowing what shots to take and how to avoid big numbers.

“Just be as disciplined as you can and know where to miss it,” he said. “I think that’s why I’ve had such success. It’s just understanding the moment, the shot, where it needs to miss.”

At Royal Liverpool, that starts with avoiding the pot bunkers off the tee, and that’s what McIlroy did so well in 2014 when he built a five-shot lead going into the final round and was never seriously threatened.

Golf felt easy then, and at times it still does.

McIlroy has won 19 times around the world since his last major. Of the players who went nine years or more between majors, only Gene Sarazen (1923 PGA to 1932 U.S. Open) won more often with 25. Back then, there were only three majors.

“He’s obviously a tremendously talented player and he’s put himself in position and it hasn’t happened yet. I can’t say what goes through his mind, obviously,” Rahm said. “He wants to get to five — not many players have gotten to five. He still has a lot of years to play ahead of him, so I know he wants to keep adding to that tally.

“I’m pretty sure he will get that number five at some point.”

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HOYLAKE, England — Matthew Jordan has been given the honor of hitting the first tee shot at the 151st British Open. He’ll know exactly where to put it.

The 27-year-old Jordan lives in Hoylake and is a member at Royal Liverpool. No surprise, then, that he has been approached by a number of players about the optimal way to get around the course.

He hasn’t been giving much away.

“I might pick and choose what I tell people,” Jordan said Monday.

For the two British Opens staged at Hoylake since the turn of the century — won by Tiger Woods in 2006 and Rory McIlroy in 2014 — Jordan was a wide-eyed spectator enthralled with seeing the best players of the world right in front of him.

He said he “froze” when Woods walked past him and through the clubhouse.

“In ’06, he was on the putting green,” Jordan recalled about Woods, “and I don’t think I moved for 20 minutes.”

He remembers getting up early enough to see the first group out. On Thursday, he’ll be among them — his tee time is 6:35 a.m. — on a course where he has previously shot 62.

“I remember when I was 16, I shot a 69 off the backs here, which is one of my first amazing rounds,” Jordan said.

So, the No. 329-ranked Jordan was asked, could he be a factor in the championship on his home course?

“When I come away from this next week, I just want to play the golf course like I know I can, like I do in practice, like I normally will if I’m here preparing for any other events,” he said.

“And if I feel like I can do that, then I know that I can do well around here.”

JUG JOURNEYS

Cameron Smith says he didn’t do anything too crazy with the claret jug from winning the British Open last year.

But he has one strong memory from taking the prized trophy home to Australia. He was the first Australian to win the British Open since Greg Norman in 1993.

“I took it back to my home club in Brisbane and it was actually timed perfectly,” Smith said.

He said the club had an awards night where it presented the trophy to the club champion along with all the other golf events from the year.

“It was one of the first nights I got back to Australia, so brought the claret jug there, had all the members there, and, yeah, had a ripping night,” he said. “For a little country club outside of Brisbane to have the claret jug in it, I think was a pretty cool moment,” he said.

OPEN SIGNS

All signs point toward Rory McIlroy being able to end his streak of 33 majors over nine years without winning.

The British Open is at Royal Liverpool, where McIlroy went wire-to-wire in 2014, the last time the Open was here.

But he has two things working against him historically.

It has been 10 years since anyone captured the Scottish Open and British Open in consecutive weeks — Phil Mickelson in 2013 at Castle Stuart and then Muirfield.

Also working against him? No one has ever won the claret jug twice at Royal Liverpool.

PAYNE STEWART AWARD

Former NBC Sports analyst and six-time PGA Tour winner Gary Koch has been selected to receive the Payne Stewart Award.

The award has become of the top honors on the PGA Tour, given annually to a player who exemplifies character, charity and sportsmanship. It began after Stewart died in a private plane crash in 1999, the year he won the U.S. Open.

Koch won the Florida Open as a 16-year-old amateur, helped lead Florida to an NCAA title and won six times on tour. He is equally known for his second career, working 33 years for ESPN and then NBC Sports. His most famous call was, “Better than most,” when Tiger Woods holed a 60-foot birdie putt on the island-green 17th hole at The Players Championship in 2001.

Koch will be honored Aug. 22 in Atlanta during the Tour Championship.

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