The Open 2014

[Jimothy]

As much as like to see British success, I'd love to see Garcia win this. He's been so close so often, arguably the best player never to win a major.

[HowardsBulletHeader]

As much as like to see British success, I'd love to see Garcia win this. He's been so close so often, arguably the best player never to win a major.

Likewise but he hasn't got the bottle for it.

[Donut]

Amazing golf to watch. Rory was great with the putter all week and got the job done today, it wasnt easy with low scores everywhere to protect the lead.

 

The PGA is a major that should suit Garcia, there is hope for him

[Hirsty The Blue 94]

Was a great watch this week. And some decent returns on Furyk E/W betting wise.

[Donut]

I would urge anyone who hasnt been to a tour event live, go. you will not be disappointed

[HowardsBulletHeader]

Amazing golf to watch. Rory was great with the putter all week and got the job done today, it wasnt easy with low scores everywhere to protect the lead.

The PGA is a major that should suit Garcia, there is hope for him

I was mightily impressed with Rickie Fowler all week but particularly today. He hit a few wayward shots and got up and down, holed some lovely 8-10 footers for pars and stuck at it for a bogey free round. Mightily impressive from both Rory and Rickie in the final group.

Garcia doesn't have the bottle IMO, showed in the bunker on 15, that was a very poor shot. I would have been well miffed if I had done that myself never mind a professional.

[Donut]

I was mightily impressed with Rickie Fowler all week but particularly today. He hit a few wayward shots and got up and down, holed some lovely 8-10 footers for pars and stuck at it for a bogey free round. Mightily impressive from both Rory and Rickie in the final group.

Garcia doesn't have the bottle IMO, showed in the bunker on 15, that was a very poor shot. I would have been well miffed if I had done that myself never mind a professional.

 

Ive got to admit, Fowler's pitching and chipping, and the nerve to keep holing par putts was fantastic. The work he has done with Butch has definitely got him more consistent from a swing standpoint and his touch was incredible. Hes achieving good results in big events too, so could well be a big danger at the WGC Bridgestone and the PGA.

 

I think Garcia's biggest problem is huge peaks and troughs in emotion as much as anything. His problems on that hole started when he was so pumped up after the previous couple of holes, he tried to bash the biggest pitching wedge of his life into 15. All the shot needed was a flighted under control 9 iron with a little bread and butter cut. It was terrible contact and flared well right after he swung out of his shoes. He should have done much better with the shot first time round as it was relatively easy, but i thought he played in a way that was at times too amped up. That can transfer well into certain scenarios like Ryder Cups, but not at the business end of strokeplay. Negative momentum really affects him too.

[Super_horns]

Impressive set of final round scores - was that down to the quality on display or conditions being favourable?

Pleased McIlroy won though - held on well under that pressure.

[Ric Flair]

Impressive set of final round scores - was that down to the quality on display or conditions being favourable?

Pleased McIlroy won though - held on well under that pressure.

 

Hoylake has often been seen as one of the easiest of all the open venues. Tiger finished on 18 under 8 years ago. If anything it was even easier this year as the course was soft, which made it target golf at times which is almost unheard of at an Open where the beauty of the event is it's unpredictability.

 

That said, there was some seriously good golf played over the 4 days and it was good to see a birdie fest. I wouldn't want to see that in an Open every year, I prefer the courses to really test them but in the end it was a decent one this year.

[Donut]

Impressive set of final round scores - was that down to the quality on display or conditions being favourable?

Pleased McIlroy won though - held on well under that pressure.

 

Ric sums it up well. Take away the prevailing wind, and the par 5s become meat and drink. Add that to the fact that the bouncyness had gone, and it was much easier to control the ball, hence the scoring.

 

Another problem with a course like Royal Liverpool, which i would describe as a good, but not great, Open venue, is that there are a fair few holes that disadvantage the shorter hitters disproportionally to long hitters.

 

Ill give the 1st hole as an example but there are others. With Rory's power, he can blow it over the left fairway bunker with a driver, whereas shorter hitters like Zach Johnson, McDowell, KJ Choi, Faldo, Miguel Angel Jimenez amongst others that i was watching on friday had to hit an iron to a very narrow target. Not only that, they were then left with a long iron into a heavily guarded green which gave them much less control and the bunkering was severe.

 

I dont think in the principles of course design this should happen. Landing areas should be tougher the further up the fairway you go, to make you think whether hitting the driver is the right option, and worth the risk. McIlroy for example had the best of both worlds on that hole. Because he COULD hit a driver, he had a wider target to hit at, AND therefore a short iron into the green that was an option not afforded to some of the other players.

 

But what i will say, is that its a difficult balance to strike. The rough could be grown up more, but we dont want a Carnoustie 1999 all over again. The players did praise the course and its condition, but in the absence of true links conditions, the course had little defence.