IRONS:Ping Blueprint (3-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
WEDGES:Ping Glide 2.0 Stealth (50 degrees bent to 48, 54 degrees bent to 55), Glide Forged Pro prototype (60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Black shafts
Brooks Koepka is up to his usual tricks. That means taking jabs at his favorite foil, Bryson DeChambeau. “Drove the ball great. I love my driver,” Koepka said with a sly smile.
Brooks Koepka is up to his usual tricks.
That means taking jabs at his favorite foil, Bryson DeChambeau.
“Drove the ball great. I love my driver,” Koepka said with a sly smile of his TaylorMade model one day after DeChambeau whined that his Cobra driver “sucks.”
That also means being in the thick of another major championship trophy hunt. Koepka, a four-time major winner, held the lead on Sunday at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in May and climbed as close as one stroke back at the U.S. Open in June before faltering down the stretch on both occasions.
On Friday, Koepka made eight birdies, including on the final three holes at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, to shoot 4-under 66 and stay within shouting distance of the lead at the midway point of the 149th British Open. It was his 41st round in the 60s in majors since 2016, most of any player in that span.
After shooting 1-under 69 on Thursday, Koepka, 31, overcame a sluggish start to his second round. He canceled out an early birdie at the second with a bogey at the third before making a costly double bogey at the fourth, where he didn’t love his tee shot.
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“Poor decision off four tee to hit 3-wood,” said Koepka, who talked his caddie, Ricky Elliot, into the club choice. Koepka compounded the error with a mental mistake with his sand wedge.
“I didn’t talk to Ricky for a hole and a half, I was so mad,” Koepka said.
He regained his cool with a birdie at five and two more on the front side to turn in 1-under 34. He shifted into overdrive on the closing stretch, making a birdie at the par-5 14th, a bogey at 15 and then the closing birdie barrage on the final three holes.
Koepka showed little ill effect from not touching a club in the previous two weeks since he competed at the Travelers Championship. That unusual approach leading into a major could be unsettling for Koepka, but he said it works well for him and who can complain with his performance?
“I’ve honed it for 20 years and it’s pretty much the same,” Koepka said of his swing. “Getting away and mentally re-charging is the key.”
Koepka improved to 5-under 135 and trails Louis Oosthuizen (thru 13 holes) by seven strokes and Collin Morikawa by four strokes.
WEDGES:Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (46 degrees), with Project X 6.5 shaft, (52, 56, 60 degrees), with Project X 6.0 shafts (From $159.99 at carlsgolfland.com and dickssportinggoods.com)
WEDGES:Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (46 degrees), with Project X 6.5 shaft, (52, 56, 60 degrees), with Project X 6.0 shafts (From $159.99 at carlsgolfland.com and dickssportinggoods.com)
“It’s felt close, but it just hasn’t quite been close enough,” he said of the state of his game. “Just got to keep working on it and persist with it and keep my head down and keep going.”
Rory McIlroy’s game remains a work in progress.
The Northern Irishman finished with a birdie at 18 on Thursday to shoot even-par 70 in more difficult afternoon conditions and hoped to build on that momentum. But he opened his second round at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, with two bogeys en route to shooting 70 again and enters the weekend at least nine strokes behind the leader at the midway point of the 149th British Open.
“Two bogeys in the first two holes sort of put me behind the 8-ball a little bit,” McIlroy said.
“It’s felt close, but it just hasn’t quite been close enough,” he added of the current state of his game. “Just got to keep working on it and persist with it and keep my head down and keep going.”
McIlroy battled back after the inauspicious start with birdies at Nos. 4, 9 and 12 to get into red figures, but made two late bogeys to spoil his slow climb up the leaderboard.
“Then a mental error on 16, trying to get too close with my tee shot. I hit a club that was barely going to get over the bunker if I hit it exactly right, it just didn’t quite cover,” he explained. “It sort of tempted me into trying to hit a really hard sand wedge and didn’t get that up-and-down.”
He compounded his error by missing a short par putt at 17, but lessened the blow by finishing with a birdie for the second day.
“It was nice to birdie 18 and at least make sure that I’m here for the weekend because I think at 1 over I would have been sweating a little bit,” he said.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy walks from the 8th tee during his first round on day one of The 149th British Open Golf Championship at Royal St George’s, Sandwich, England. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN)
Unless McIlroy makes a remarkable weekend charge, he will head to the Masters in April without a major title since the 2014 PGA Championship, a span of seven years. Asked if he was trying too hard to break his dry spell, he said, “Not at all. I’ve got four of them. Geez, look, I’ve got – I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I get to do what I love for a living. I have a beautiful family. My life is absolutely perfect at the minute. I want for nothing, so it’s not a case of trying too hard, for sure.”
But McIlroy also made clear that this isn’t a case of complacency either.
“It’s tough to be here and just say I’m glad to be here for the weekend, but the position I find myself in on the 18th tee, that’s the reality,” he said.
McIlroy, the Champion Golfer of the Year in 2014, lost his World No. 1 ranking last year and has slipped back to No. 11 in the world. He began working with instructor Pete Cowen ahead of the Masters in April and won the Wells Fargo Championship in May, but it hasn’t translated into major glory: missed cut at the Masters, T-49 at the PGA, T-7 at the U.S. Open. He’s dug himself a big hole at Royal St. George’s.
“If I was really on my game and sharp with how I’ve played the last two days, I probably could have been 6- or 7-under,” he said. “But it’s just not – it’s close, it’s just not close enough.”
The British Open has been either boom or bust for Tyrrell Hatton, with more bust than boom.
The British Open has been either boom or bust for Tyrrell Hatton, who sits 10th in the Official World Golf Ranking and 28th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, with more bust than boom.
Although he has a pair of top-6 finishes in the event, the 29-year-old from High Wycombe, England, has also missed the cut five times in eight Open starts.
During Friday’s second round at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, the always-entertaining Hatton was running hotter than usual as he hit his approach on the 18th hole. Hatton was 2 over for the tournament at the time, and dangerously close to missing the cut again.
After he hit his iron, he promptly crunched it repeatedly and snapped it in two. Clearly, he needs another session of Anger Management Therapy.
Of course, Hatton has long had a history of being a self-described “angry golfer.” As consistent as his game has been over the last two years, his reactions and emotions continue to be wildly unpredictable. Hatton has converted fans through his hilarious antics — often skewering himself after a bad shot or making subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) gestures during his typically steady rounds.
Also during Friday’s round, Hatton was a little upset with someone in the gallery at Royal St. George’s. He shot a 70 on Friday, following up on Thursday’s 72.
Not everyone is a fan of the Open fans this week. Tyrrell Hatton gives the finger to somebody in the gallery. pic.twitter.com/LsIN1dsx6F
It wasn’t the best of second days at the British Open for Tyrrell Hatton.
He finished the day at even par and plus-2 for the tournament, but there were some pretty angry moments from the golfer known for flipping off a body of water last year.
After one hole, a hot mic picked up the golfer saying something very NSFW. After another, he flipped off … a patron? The crowd? Another inanimate object? I’m not sure.
And then there was an epic breaking of a club. Not a great day!
Here are all the lowlights from his Friday (WARNING: NSFW LANGUAGE AHEAD!):
Hatton running out of holes to complete the Tantrum Slam. Flipped the bird, broke a wedge. All that’s left is kicking your bag and breaking a tee marker.
After sustaining an injury in the first round of the 149th British Open, Will Zalatoris has withdrawn from his debut at the championship.
After sustaining an injury in the first round of the 149th British Open, Will Zalatoris has withdrawn from his debut at the championship.
Zalatoris shot 1-under 69 on Thursday, but on the 15th hole he drove into the thick rough. It was so buried in the wispy hay that the volunteer spotters reportedly barely could find it. Zalatoris hacked at it with a one-hand follow through and bent over in pain.
Golf Channel’s Cara Banks, who spoke with Zalatoris’ agent Alan Hobbs, said he felt a shooting pain at impact and a tingling sensation down his leg.
Zalatoris, who was runner-up at the Masters in April, was scheduled to tee off in the afternoon wave alongside Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, at 10:21 EST. He arrived to the course early to work with a trainer, but the pain was actually worse, leaving him no choice but to pull out of the tournament.
“He’s devastated,” according to Banks of Golf Channel.
Zalatoris, 24, has had an incredible rise in the last 12 months from Korn Ferry Tour to special temporary membership status on the PGA Tour and with a slew of top-10 finishes has climbed into the top 50 in the world.
“I contemplated not finishing the round yesterday (Thursday), but considering this is my first Open, I felt like I needed to finish the round,” Zalatoris said in an Instagram story. “I am completely gutted to not be moving forward in the championship.”
He entered the week at No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Waiting for confirmation but Will Zalatoris now listed as a WD from The Open. Didn't look right after hitting this shot out of the hay on 15 yesterday. pic.twitter.com/2hmgQEsvWu
Morikawa opened with a 3-under-par 67 Thursday and then went all scorched earth on the links of Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, in Friday’s second round.
Playing links golf for the first time in last week’s Scottish Open, world No. 4 Collin Morikawa was befuddled by the sand-based, firm turf and tied for 71st.
“I had to adjust,” he said.
Turns out it didn’t take one of the elite ball-strikers in the game long to do just that. After changing irons to improve his contact through the turf heading into the 149th British Open, Morikawa opened with a 3-under-par 67 Thursday and then went all scorched earth on the links of Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, in Friday’s second round.
Pummeling the flagstick from near and far with spectacular iron play – he’s regularly referred to as Iron Byron – Morikawa threatened to equal or break the record for the lowest round ever shot in a men’s major before signing for a 6-under-par 64 to move to the top of the famous yellow leaderboards at 9 under.
He is three shots clear of the field halfway through the second round.
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Morikawa fell two shots short of equaling the major record of 62 set by Branden Grace in the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale. Morikawa also fell one shot short of the tournament record at Royal St. George’s established in 1993 by Nick Faldo and Payne Stewart.
“I’m able to be fully committed. I feel confident with my irons again that I just didn’t have last week. It’s a learning process,” he said this week.
Morikawa made four birdies in five holes in the middle of the round and was 7 under through 14 before making his lone bogey on the par-4 15th, when an errant drive set up a rare missed green in regulation.
Morikawa also missed two shortish birdie attempts, including on the 18th hole.
Morikawa is in position to become the first to win two different debut majors. In 2020, he won the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco in his first crack at the Wanamaker Trophy.
Morikawa, 24, has seven top-10s this year, including his fourth PGA Tour title coming in the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship and a runner-up finish in the Memorial. He also tied for eighth in the PGA Championship and tied for fourth in the U.S. Open.
(That’s not me bragging. I’ll do that on Sunday if he hoists the Claret Jug.)
At least in the second round on Friday, Morikawa proved that was the case at Royal St. George’s by putting together an incredible 18 holes. As of publishing, he’s in the lead with some of players near the top of the board getting ready to tee off, and if you’re just waking up, you may want to see some the highlights. So while you’re sipping on your coffee, here you go:
