Tag: Royal Troon Golf Club

Tiger Woods admits assassination attempt on Donald Trump affected him at 2024 Open Championship

“It was a long night and that’s all we watched the entire time on the way over here.”

Tiger Woods returned to his home on Jupiter Island much sooner than he hoped after another failed attempt to play into the weekend at a major championship.

But the 15-time major winner had a notable week beyond posting a two-day total 14-over 156 at Scotland’s Royal Troon Golf Course.

Tiger has missed the cut in three consecutive majors for just the second time in his career, and he’s failed to finish six of eight majors he’s entered since his February 2021 accident.

But before revealing Friday he’s done playing competitive golf until the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in early December, and confirming he will return to the PNC Championship in Orlando on Dec. 20 to once again play with his son, Charlie — Tiger called the tournament once known as the “father-son” the “fifth major” — Tiger had an eventful week.

Tiger was impacted by the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, telling the BBC he watched coverage of the shooting the entire flight to Scotland and was not in the “right frame of mind” when he arrived. Trump emerged from the shooting with a bloodied right ear.

“I didn’t accomplish a lot because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” he said. “It was a long night and that’s all we watched the entire time on the way over here.

“I didn’t sleep at all on the flight, and then we just got on the golf course.”

Tiger and Trump, who lives in Palm Beach, are on friendly terms. The two have played golf together and in 2019 Trump awarded Tiger the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Tiger, though, did not arrive at the first tee wearing a large bandage on his right ear like some of Trump’s followers at the Republican National Convention.

More: Was that social media post of Donald Trump playing golf after getting shot accurate? We fact-checked it

Tiger’s slam dunk on Montgomerie

2024 British Open
Tiger Woods of the United States reacts after a bunker shot on the fifth green on day one of The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon on July 18, 2024 in Troon, Scotland. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

By Tuesday, though, Tiger was slam dunking on Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie, who suggested last week the 48-year-old might want to consider retiring in wake of his recent underwhelming results in major championships.

“You think, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ ” said Montgomerie, 61, while adding that Tiger has lost his enjoyment and passion for the game.

Montgomerie, by the way, has won exactly 15 fewer major championships than Tiger, and Tiger let the world know that in his retort.

“As a past champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60,” Woods, who has won three Claret Jugs, said Tuesday.

“Colin’s not. He’s not a past champion, so he’s not exempt so he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do.”

Montgomerie can have his opinion when it comes to one of the greatest athletes — and still one of the most popular — of all time. But he has to expect blowback, and he cannot expect anyone to take seriously the age-old excuse of saying he was taken out of context, which he did on social media.

Because what we saw this week as Tiger continued his determined quest to regain his form after more injuries than Montgomerie has PGA Tour wins — actually, anyone with one injury has more than Montgomerie has won on the PGA Tour — and that horrific accident more than three years ago, suggests once again nobody moves the needle in this sport like Tiger.

Even with Tiger ranked No. 874 in the world.

Tiger preparing for next event

So for those wondering where Tiger goes next … he made it clear he’s heading to the range and the gym the rest of year. That is, after watching son Charlie make his U.S. Junior Amateur debut next week at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan.

In fact, Tiger was asked this week about Charlie, a rising sophomore at The Benjamin School, and if he was thinking about his son’s next step.

“Not when I’m playing, no,” he said. “When I’m working, I’m working. When I’m at home, away from the golf course, yeah, I do talk to him. We’re working on getting his game right.”

That makes two in the Woods family because Tiger has a long way to go to get his game back on track. And that does not mean back to the most dominant player on the planet. No, that title now belongs to Scottie Scheffler.

But at least back to a spot where a man who has won 82 times on the PGA Tour, tied with Sam Snead for the most, can play on the weekend again. Tiger likely will enter 2025 with a similar goal he set for 2024, but did not accomplish, of playing one event a month, through at least the four majors.

Since the 2021 accident, Tiger has played 26 rounds in 10 official PGA Tour events, eight being majors. Of those, he has finished three, withdrawn from three and missed the cut four times. He has not placed higher than 45th.

“I’d like to have played more but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,” Tiger said Friday following his 77. Tiger had 11 bogeys, three doubles and three birdies in the two days.

“I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year. I’ve gotten better, even though my results haven’t shown it, but physically I’ve gotten better, which is great.

“I seem to keep progressing like that and eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into the competitive flow again.”

That does not sound like a man ready to take advice from Colin Montgomerie.

Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

Former BBC commentator recalls how Arnold Palmer’s ‘power game’ led to 1962 win at Royal Troon

Clive Clark believes the power game Palmer used in that 1962 win could be the key.

Clive Clark remembers watching Arnold Palmer with his powerful forearms and lashing swing reaching long par-4s and even par-5s in two shots at Royal Troon, a course where Palmer won the 1962 British Open.

“I remember him ripping irons onto I think the par-5 sixth,” said Clark, at the time still a few years away from joining what was called the English Tour. “Nobody else was getting up with a driver and an iron. He was the big hitter of that era until (Jack) Nicklaus came along.”

Clark, a La Quinta resident and golf course designer, was a long-time player on the DP World Tour and a commentator of golf broadcasts for two decades for the BBC. Clark believes the power game Palmer used in that 1962 win, Palmer’s second consecutive British Open title, could be a key to the British Open played at Troon as the event heads into the weekend.

Gallerites watch Arnold Palmer hit an iron shot on the 11th hole at Troon, Scotland, July 11, 1962, in opening round of the British Open Golf Championship.

“So much depends on which way the wind is blowing,” Clark said. “You can be going out downwind and everything seems to be a drive and a short iron or a wedge, and you come back and the wind is the other way and every hole feels like it is a drive and a 3-iron. The wind plays a big part in the Open. And it can change, both in direction and velocity.”

Clark said for fans not familiar with many of the British Open courses, Troon might look much like the other courses in the rotation.

“With the exceptions of the Old Course (at St. Andrews), they are somewhat similar in respect that they generally start growing the rough as opposed to trimming it down,” Clark said. “It is not like American rough. It is generally fescue.”

There are distinct holes on Troon, Clark added, starting with perhaps the most famous hole on the layout, the par-3 eighth hole known as The Postage Stamp.

“It is an intriguing little hole, just over 120 yards,” Clark said. “But you can play ping-pong between one bunker and the other around the green. It’s a great hole.”

Another key hole will be the 483-yard par-4 11th hole, known as The Railway.

More: These big names missed the cut at the 2024 British Open at Royal Troon

“The 11th can be a frightening hole. People have come to grieve on that,” Clark said. “It has a railway line all the way down the right. It’s a long par-4 with a lot of gorse. Your drive over is quite a carry over the gorse there.”

Troon is hosting its 10th Open Championship this week, the last being in 2010 when Sweden’s Henrik Stenson won a final-round duel with Phil Mickelson. But in the previous six Opens at the course before Stenson’s win, dating back to Palmer’s 1962 victory, Americans were the winner each time.

Golf course designer Clive Clark at the Hideaway in La Quinta, June 30, 2017. (Jay Calderone/USA Today Network)

Clark, whose best finish in the Open Championship came with a tie for third in 1967, said it depends in part on how players adapt to the demanding British Open conditions and course setup.

“I remember one of the first Opens I played in was the 1966 Open that Jack (Nicklaus) won at Muirfield,” Clark smiled. “I remember in his winning speech, I don’t know how the members took it, but Jack said I’d like to thank all of you members for giving up your hayfield for the week.”

Who is Daniel Brown? 5 things to know about the Englishman near the top of The Open leaderboard

Daniel Brown finished his second round on Friday at 5-under par.

The top of the leaderboard at The Open at Royal Troon features plenty of familiar names — and one that may look a bit strange even to the most avid golf fans.

Daniel Brown (no, not The Da Vinci Code author) finished his second round on Friday at 5-under par and solidly in second place behind Shane Lowry.

While stars like Tiger Woods, Wyndham Clark and Cameron Smith missed the cut at the final major of the year, Brown seems to have found his footing on the windy and wet links course.

So who is the weekend contender for the 152nd Open Championship? Here are five things to know.

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1. He’s a 29-year-old from Northallerton, England

Heading into The Open, Brown ranked No. 272 in the Official World Golf Ranking, so it’s really alright to admit you had never heard of him before The Open. Most golf fans hadn’t been given a reason to know him.

2. Dan Brown is playing in his first major tournament

Which is also the second reason many had never heard of him before. Brown is making his major debut in the United Kingdom’s biggest golf tournament and he made it through Thursday with a bogey-free round to hold the outright lead at 6-under.

But it’s not the first time Brown has been to The Open. As a teenager, Brown got to attend The Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2012 as Ernie Els won his second Claret Jug. If Brown was excited then, imagine how he feels now.

3. Brown only qualified for The Open three weeks ago

Maybe that’s helped him stay loose and not overthink things. Only 16 spots were available in a 36-hole final qualifying event for The Open and it took Brown sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the 36th hole to secure his spot. After facing that type of pressure, playing The Open may feel less daunting.

But the story gets a bit more wild when you look at Brown’s recent form. In his last eight starts on the DP World Tour, the Englishman has made the cut just once — that was at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open.

4. Daniel Brown’s brother is caddying for him at The Open

Ben Brown, Daniel’s younger brother, also tried to qualify for The Open but missed out on a spot in the field. He’s still walking the course inside the ropes anyway thanks to his Daniel, who has been relying on him plenty this week.

“I like having him on the bag,” Brown said. “He’s good at reading greens, and he’s obviously a good golfer himself. So he can give good advice. To share sort of my first major with him on the bag is nice.”

5. Brown could become the third golfer to win a major debut in the last 100 years

That’s how improbable these first two days have been at Royal Troon.

Only Keegan Bradley (2011 PGA Championship) and Ben Curtis (2003 Open Championship) have won their major debut, but a win by Brown this week maybe even more improbable.

Bradley already had nine Top 25 finishes (including a win) earlier in the PGA Tour season before claiming his major victory. Curtis, meanwhile, was a 300-1 underdog at The Open in 2003. Brown entered The Open at more than double that length at 750-1 at BetMGM.

Lynch: Tiger Woods has never been less competitive, but he’s also never been more relevant

In a bitterly divided sport, Woods will play the role of pied piper.

TROON, Scotland — A fine line separates optimism from delusion, a narrow DMZ where the belief that things will improve collides with immovable facts that simply won’t support buoyancy. That’s the space where Tiger Woods’ fans have been living for years, and his early but not unexpected departure from the 152nd Open can only render as hollow casuistry the arguments of the diehard faithful. It was a performance that leaves a lot of available real estate on the island of believers in Woods’ prospects as an elite force.

By the time he rolled out of this overcast village on Scotland’s western shore, he was at the arse end of the leaderboard atop which he once presided. Only five men in the field had a worse two-round total than his 156, a glum number he reached when a Friday 77 was added to his opening 79. He made just three birdies in 36 holes. His Strokes Gained Total statistic shows he lost almost eight strokes to the field, 3.68 with the putter and more than 4 with his approach play. Only around the greens did he creep (barely) into positive numbers.

“Well, it wasn’t very good. Just was fighting it pretty much all day,” Woods said, displaying an admirable gift for understatement.

In the two years since the 150th Open in St. Andrews, Woods has made seven competitive starts. The ledger shows two withdrawals, two missed cuts, a tie for 45th at the Genesis Invitational 17 months ago, and two dead-last finishes, one of which was in his own 18-man Hero World Challenge. His latest effort at Royal Troon continues a well-established chicken-egg conversation.

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“I’d like to have played more but I just wanted to make sure I was able to play the major championships this year,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of time off to get better physically better. I’ve gotten better, even though my results haven’t really shown it. But physically I’ve gotten better, which is great. Just need to keep progressing like that and eventually start playing more, start getting into the competitive flow again.”

That narrative has been dispiritingly familiar to golf fans since Woods re-emerged from a 2021 car wreck. At every major he talks about the need for more reps, but the reps never come. He has reasons, of course, none of them unreasonable: young kids, global business, boardroom responsibilities, broken body. Mostly it’s the body. All but the most feverish understand that he’s at the stage of needing to catch two lightning bolts in a thimble in order to win.

After his second round, Woods admitted he doesn’t even plan to compete again for five months, not until December, when he appears at the Hero and the PNC Championship, his annual outing with his son, Charlie. “I’m not going to play again until then and keep working on it. And just come back for our fifth major, the father-son,” he said.

The chicken-egg cycle begins another lap.

Tiger Woods chips to the 12th green during the second round of the Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Troon. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

Woods has been irrelevant as a competitor for years, certainly since the crash. So in that respect, Colin Montgomerie wasn’t off-base in expressing befuddlement that Woods stays out here, a pale shadow of his once resplendent self. But Monty was myopic in thinking that competitiveness is the measure of Woods’ relevance. What he does inside the ropes is no longer the metric by which his contribution to the product is assessed, and as we know, what matters most these days is “the product.”

In a bitterly divided sport, Woods will play the role of pied piper. He’s on the PGA Tour’s transaction subcommittee that negotiates directly with the Saudis. He’s on the Tour’s Policy Board, the only member with no expiration date on his term. He will help shape the future of the men’s professional game, and be instrumental in selling it to both fans and fellow players. That’s why he was added to both bodies. His public voice matters, perhaps because he hasn’t used it often.

Regardless of the numbers he posts, Woods’ presence is additive to the business, just as Arnold Palmer was even when telecasts stopped showing his scores. The Tour admitted as much last month when it voted him a lifetime exemption into signature events, for which he would not otherwise be eligible. Now, when the whim strikes him, the 874th-ranked player in the world has a guaranteed spot in elite limited fields. It was dressed up in the language of lifetime achievement for those who’ve won more than 80 times on Tour, but if the win total was 79 the line would simply have been moved. And that’s defensible.

Woods is a proud man and his scores must settle somewhere between embarrassing and irksome, but he seems to maintain a belief that there’s another run in him. It’s highly improbable, yet still possible. What isn’t speculative is his value in the here and now. When Woods shows up, he adds eyeballs and bolsters the Tour’s chief constituents — sponsors being asked to pay more, broadcasters airing a diluted product and fans expected to overlook the absence of a handful of engaging stars. Even if his appearances in actual Tour events are scarce.

His value isn’t diminished by the scores at Royal Troon. Not for Tour executives, not for its private equity investors at Strategic Sports Group, and not for the gaggle of pasty-faced kids chasing him around a wet, blustery Scottish links in hopes of a glimpse or an autograph. The kids didn’t seem to care about the number on his scorecard. And the others? They’re focused on the number he adds to a valuation. That’s the long-term outlook that still holds promise.

Angry Shane Lowry sees British Open solo lead disappear (briefly) over rules controversy

Lowry knew immediately that he was in a world of trouble.

TROON, Scotland – Shane Lowry’s lead during the 152nd British Open took a hit due to a bad shot and a ruling that didn’t go his way on the 11th hole at Royal Troon Golf Club during the second round on Friday. It resulted in a double bogey but Lowry managed birdies on two of his final three holes to card 2-under 69 in breezy conditions and improve to 7-under 135.

Lowry, the 2019 Open champ who opened with 66 and added three birdies and a bogey in his first 10 holes to lead by two, yanked his second shot dead left from 176 yards at the 11th hole into a gorse bush.

“I did the hard part. I hit my drive where you could find it, which is obviously a hard thing to do on that hole. I drew a nice lie in the (right) rough. I got a little bit distracted on the right just as I was over the shot, and I kind of lost a bit of train of thought. You’re so afraid of going right there that I just snagged the club and went left,” he said.

According to the radio broadcast, Lowry blamed a photographer for distracting him. A hot mic caught him erupting at the photographer.

Lowry knew immediately that he was in a world of trouble and hit a great provisional to about 10 feet. It looked like he might escape without too much pain.

“The referee asked me going down, did I want to find my first one, and I said no. So I assumed that was OK. Then we get down there, and somebody had found it. So apparently we have to find it then, or you have to go and identify it, which I thought, if you declared it lost before it was found, that you didn’t, you didn’t have to go and identify it,” Lowry said.

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However, a spectator found Lowry’s ball in the gorse bush, which meant that Lowry had no choice but to play his original ball. Lowry argued with the rules official. According to the radio reporter, he said, “Even though I told you I didn’t want to search for it.” The rules official said, “I am very sorry, but yes.”

According to the Rules of Golf, as soon as the original ball is found it is back in play and the second ball on the green is no longer an option to play.

“It’s one of those rules where common sense is thrown out,” said radio commentator Brendon de Jonge.

Lowry asked for a second opinion but the ruling stood.

“I felt like through that whole process of that 20 minutes, it was whatever it was, of taking the drop, seeing where I could drop, and I felt like I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing, and I felt like (caddie) Darren (Reynolds) did a great job too just kind of — he kept telling me, we have loads of time. We don’t need to rush this. We just need to do the right thing here.”

Lowry elected to take an unplayable lie. He could’ve dropped within two club lengths but it wouldn’t have given him much of a shot so instead took the option of taking the ball back on line of sight leaving himself about 70 yards. After the penalty shot, he knocked his fourth to the fringe and took two putts for a double-bogey 6. Lowry led the championship by two when he teed off at No. 11, Railway, but after his Railway nightmare, he left tied for the lead with Englishman Daniel Brown.

“Is this really going to mess with the mind of Shane Lowry?” the radio host asked.

It did not. Lowry didn’t drop another shot and finished with birdies on two of his final three holes to retake the solo lead when he headed to the clubhouse.

“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a 6,” Lowry said. “It wasn’t a disaster. I was still leading the tournament.”

Despite lost sleep, Scottish stars in mix after Open Championship’s first round at Royal Troon

A ruffled golfing mind can make a restless pillow.

TROON, Scotland — In theory, sleeping should be a fairly straightforward process. All you have to do, after all, is lie on your back and shut your eyes. It’s so easy, even a corpse can do it.

But trying to nod off the night before you make your Open Championship debut? Well, that’s a different matter altogether.

“I tried to get to bed around 7.30, 8 p.m. last night because I knew it was going to be an early start,” said Scottish amateur Calum Scott.

“I tried to get comfortable in bed and see if I could close my eyes, but it took me a while. I was probably up until midnight, so I didn’t get much sleep.”

A ruffled golfing mind can make a restless pillow. He would’ve slept better last night, mind you. A spirited level-par 71 on a tough, testing day left this particular Scott as the leading Scot. He was even better than Robert MacIntyre.

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It was an admirable effort from the Walker Cup player, who harnessed the conditions and some early nerves to fine effect.

“The first few holes were a little shaky,” conceded Scott, who earned his place in the field through The Open Amateur Series. “It was tough with the crowds out there. It was something I haven’t experienced before.

“I was a little uncomfortable at the start, but once I got the past the nerves, the noise and the other distractions, I settled in and played some really good golf.”

A particular highlight was a birdie on the Postage Stamp, par-3 eighth – what Rory McIlroy would’ve given for that – while a birdie putt from 12 feet under the towering gaze of the grandstands on the 18th provided a finishing flourish.

The hearty round of applause for a job well done was fully merited. A post round 40 winks was probably justified too.

“Birdies at the Postage Stamp and the 18th?” he smiled. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

While Scott trotted off for a kip, MacIntyre returned to his own digs in a chipper mood after a dogged 1-over 72.

On a day when one or two big names suffered a few devastating dunts to their ambitions, the newly crowned Genesis Scottish Open champion’s exercise in damage limitation brought an upbeat self-assessment.

“I thought it was almost perfect,” said MacIntyre, who has recorded two top-10 finishes in his previous four Open appearances.

“The putter didn’t turn up today, but I thought tee to green was absolutely superb. You can’t win it on the first day, but you can play yourself out of it. I thought 1-over was a good round of golf.”

After a relatively barren day on the greens, MacIntyre plonked in a six-footer for birdie on the 18th to give himself a late lift.

“I had loads of chances from inside the 12-feet range,” he said of the ones that got away. “I thought I rolled them well and they went the opposite way. But that’s Troon. It’s very subtle.

“It’s an old school links golf course where the greens are very flat but they just kink left to right. With the crosswinds, as well, when you’re hitting a putt, the ball will move in the wind. But that putt on the last was big.”

Bearsden’s Ewen Ferguson, the winner of the BMW International Open a couple of weeks ago, opened with a 3-over 74 while local lad Jack McDonald marked his Open debut with a 76.

Out in the very first group of the 152nd championship, with past Troon winners Justin Leonard and Todd Hamilton for company, McDonald relished the experience in his own backyard.

“I played really well tee to green to be honest but I had a few three-putts in there,” said McDonald, who nabbed a Troon tee-time in a play-off at the final qualifying shoot-out at Dundonald a couple of weeks ago.

“Todd just kept saying to me, ‘come on, knock this in and get the crowd going’. It almost felt like I just needed that one putt to go in, but I just couldn’t do it.

“I kept going at it, though, and kept committing to everything. It was all about controlling the emotions of playing in my first major. I could’ve been a few shots better. But that’s golf.”

Lynch: Royal Troon 1, Bryson DeChambeau 0

His opening round in the 152nd Open was, as the Scots say, dreich.

TROON, Scotland — Conventional wisdom, grounded in a data sample compiled over the past 164 years, says the key to success in the Open Championship is more about art than analytics, that links golf itself is best understood through poetry rather than pedagoguery. So it came as no surprise to learn Thursday that Bryson DeChambeau is taking the opposite tack in trying to solve a puzzle that continues to confound him.

His opening round in the 152nd Open was, as the Scots say, dreich — a word usually reserved for the dismal weather that has settled over the Ayrshire coast. Like a whiskey hangover, it began painfully and offered little respite. He was 6-over-par through eight holes. The skill for which he is most celebrated — the tee ball — was firing, but not much else. In approach play and putting, DeChambeau wasn’t close to breaking the top 120 in the 157-man field as the day wore on. He made 104 feet 5 inches of putts, but 54 feet 11 inches of that came on one stroke, an eagle putt on the 16th hole. He signed for a 5-over par round of 76.

Most Tour players would quickly dismiss a day like today, chalking up poor scores to the whipping wind, scattered rain and penal hazards on this venerable old links. Others certainly did.

“It’s tough. It’s really tough … It’s brutal.” — Brian Harman (73)

“Disappointed. Got off to a bad start. Missed every sort of important putt. Drove it pretty poor. It wasn’t the best day.” — Tommy Fleetwood (76)

“One of the worst rounds I think I’ve had this year … It wasn’t a fun experience.” — Tyrrell Hatton (73)

“I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions. Your misses get punished a lot more this week.” — Rory McIlroy (78)

“They cannae f——-g play!” a cantankerous old Scot of my acquaintance muttered derisively.

DeChambeau is a cause-and-effect guy, willing to ascribe only so much of his performance to the vagaries of the conditions. “It’s a completely different test. I didn’t get any practice in it, and I didn’t really play much in the rain. It’s a difficult test out here,” the U.S. Open champion said. “Something I’m not familiar with. I never grew up playing it, and not to say that that’s the reason; I finished eighth at St. Andrews. I can do it when it’s warm and not windy.”

Bryson DeChambeau hits out of the rough on the 15th hole during the first round of the Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Troon. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

Unfortunately for him, warm and windless weather isn’t on tap this week, nor many dry spells. They seldom are at the Open.

“I’m going to go figure it out,” he announced after signing his card. His game plan for mastering the ancient linksland won’t rely on inspirational talk about art or poetry, but on Flightscopes and Trackmans.

“It’s something equipment-related. The golf ball is — look, I’m not at 190 ball speed, so particularly when I’m hitting driver or 3-wood, those clubs are built for around that speed, that 190 ball speed, and my 3-wood around 180, so colder, firmer conditions the golf ball is not compressing as much,” he said. “So it’s probably something along those lines.”

Somewhere Old Tom Morris, or even Young Tom Watson, chuckles.

“When there’s so many measurements going on in your mind — ,” a reporter began.

“There’s not that many. There’s a couple but not that many,” DeChambeau quickly replied, like a kid denying having eaten the cake he has just smeared all over his face.

The man who seldom provides stock answers seemed to be struggling to understand why his stock shots didn’t deliver stock results, while being reluctant to accept that stock shots can lose value in the crosswinds and firm conditions that prevailed Thursday at Royal Troon.

“I was trying to draw the ball and the ball was knuckling a little bit. It was a really difficult challenge, and I should have just cut the ball.”

“I was swinging it somewhat okay, just the ball wasn’t coming off in that window that I normally see, so it was a weird day.”

DeChambeau also referenced that windows theory in a press conference two days ago. “Most people try to see it through windows. I do too, but not that specific,” he said. “It’s more of, if I take it back a certain distance and go through, it will come out with a certain launch just based on the loft. So I’m really focused on accomplishing that task, just swinging the way I want to swing, and the results will speak for themselves hopefully.”

The results didn’t produce a comforting message but continued an unimpressive trend. In six previous appearances in the Open, the outlier remains a T-8 finish two years ago at the Old Course, the only venue he can bludgeon his way around. Otherwise, there are two missed cuts, no finishes inside the top 30, and two outside the top 50.

“I’m just proud of the way I persevered today. Shoot, man, I could have thrown in the towel after nine and could have been like, I’m going home. But no, I’ve got a chance tomorrow. I’m excited for the challenge,” he said. “If I have some putts go in and hit some shots the way I know how to and figure out this equipment stuff, I’ll be good.”

Who knows, DeChambeau might be proven right. He’s an inveterate problem solver. So too was Ivan Lendl, but then Lendl never quite managed to figure out his sport’s oldest and most prestigious major championship contested in the British Isles. And like the tennis great, even DeChambeau’s failure to solve the riddle is oddly compelling.

Friday at 2:48 p.m. Troon time, he gets to try again, beginning from well outside the projected cut. By the dinner hour, we’ll know whether golf fans will wait 262 days — or only 260 — before seeing him again in a tournament that matters.

Justin Thomas shoots 68 at 2024 British Open, or 14 strokes better than his start a year ago

“I have yet to play a links course that I dislike or I think is bad,” Thomas said.

TROON, Scotland – A year ago, Justin Thomas made a career-worst score of nine on his final hole of his opening round of the British Open at Royal Liverpool en route to another disappointing missed cut in a major. He looked lost in his game. One year later, Thomas posted 3-under 68 at Royal Troon on Thursday to sit alone in third, three strokes behind leader Daniel Brown at the 152nd Open. Asked to describe the difference in his game from a year ago, he said, “I would guess about 15 strokes better, 13 strokes? What did I shoot?”

He shot 82 a year ago so Thomas should’ve split the difference because the answer is 14 strokes.

“I couldn’t even tell you what I was thinking or how it was then,” Thomas said. “I’m just worried about how I am now, and I’m very pleased with my game and know things are continuing to work in the right direction. I’ve just got to keep trying to play well.”

Thomas, a 15-time winner on the PGA Tour and two-time major winner, has slipped to No. 29 in the world. He ranks 17th in the FedEx Cup with five top-10 finishes this season, so in comparison to last year, his game has shown signs of regaining the form that made him a world No. 1.

BRITISH OPEN: Leaderboard | Photos | How to watch

But he remains winless since the 2022 PGA Championship, and the majors mostly have been a disaster this season. He finished T-8 at the PGA Championship in his native Kentucky but missed the cut at both the Masters and U.S. Open, continuing a distressing trend. He’s missed more than half of his last nine starts in majors.

On a rainy, battleship-gray day in the first round, Thomas carded seven birdies, including the final two holes, despite tricky wind conditions that flipped in the opposite direction than the pros had faced in practice rounds or even back in 2016, the last time this championship was contested here.

“That was wild,” said Thomas, who still managed to birdie two of the first four holes. “ I remember trying to drive 1 and 3 in 2016, and I hit 7-iron into 1 today, and I hit a 3-wood up there on 3 to have a wedge in. But it just was very, very different. But it just was all very typical of an Open, just trying to make the best out of the conditions.”

Thomas, who made his Open Championship debut at Troon in 2016 and began with a 67 that year to sit T-4 through 18 holes before falling to T-53, has struggled at this major more than any other, with nary a top-10 and a T-11 in 2019 as his best showing in seven previous appearances. Yet, Thomas declared himself a fan of links golf.

“I have yet to play a links course that I dislike or I think is bad,” Thomas said. “If I had to choose one style of golf or probably even one golf course the rest of my life to play, it would be a links course.”

At the Genesis Scottish Open a week ago, Thomas raced out of the gate with a flurry of birdies to shoot 62 and assume the first-round lead. Despite taking six more shots this week, Thomas ranked his play as better at Troon.

“I felt like I had great control off the tee,” he said, “just in the sense of, I would say, the quality of play.”

Last week, Thomas tumbled down the leaderboard and finished T-62, saying he didn’t get anything out of his rounds.

“It wasn’t bad enough to shoot over par both days,” he said.

Will this week be any different? Can Thomas piece together more than one good round in a row – preferably four of them – and be a serious contender at the 152nd Open? To hear Thomas tell it, his game is trending in the right direction and as the pros like to say, he said he feels close.

“I’m just doing, I would say, everything better,” he said.

On Thursday, he was 14 strokes better than a year ago and that alone is reason for optimism.

Watch: What’s it like to walk out on the first tee at Royal Troon?

Our Eamon Lynch walked the grounds and took a quick tour. 

We’re rolling into the final men’s major championship of the season as the world’s best will head to Royal Troon in the United Kingdom for the 2024 Open.

What will it be like when the players walk through the tunnel at the first tee?

Our Eamon Lynch walked the grounds today and took a quick tour.

Less than a decade ago, back in 2016, Royal Troon hosted the 145th edition of The Open which featured a duel between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson. Stenson would go on to win by three shots at 20 under.

The opening hole, named Seal, is a par 4 playing 370 yards for the championship. Here’s a flyover.

Royal Troon is ranked 23rd on Golfweek’s Best Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain and Ireland. This marks the 10th time the event will be held on the course.

Greg Norman to the Open at Royal Troon? R&A rep: ‘I don’t think there’s a ‘G Norman’ (on the list)’

With the event now sold out, the combative LIV Golf CEO may have to sneak in from the beach.

When Henrik Stenson captured the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in 2016, a total of 173,000 spectators looked on.

When the storied event returns to the Scottish coast this year, a whopping 250,000 will file through the gates, the R&A announced earlier this week, adding that all the tickets had been scooped up.

With the event now sold out, the combative LIV Golf chief executive, Greg Norman, may have to sneak in from the beach.

In the tense, uneasy truce that men’s professional golf finds itself in, Norman grabbed a chunk of the limelight at the Masters after apparently buying a ticket on the secondary market.

The 69-year-old Australian, who won two Claret Jugs and lost in a playoff at Troon in 1989, was not invited by The R&A to compete in the Celebration of Champions or attend the Champions’ Dinner at St. Andrews in 2022 after the LIV rebellion had swung into action just a few weeks earlier.

“I don’t think there’s a ‘G Norman’ (on the list) and I think someone would have let me know if there was,” chuckled The R&A’s director of corporate communications, Mike Woodcock, when asked if the Great White Shark’s name had been plucked out of that ticket tombola.

2024 Masters
Greg Norman walks behind the No. 2 hole during the first round of the Masters Tournament. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)

“Obviously, there are tickets still available on the resale platform or hospitality. He’s very welcome to look there.”

At the second round of the 88th Masters, Norman wore a white golf shirt with the LIV logo, black slacks, his signature straw hat, or as one patron put it, “the Crocodile Dundee deal,” and golf shoes with Softspikes. All that was missing was a glove, a yardage book, and, of course, an invitation as a past champion, something he never managed to achieve despite several near misses.

Instead, the CEO of LIV Golf was out walking in the gallery of Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, or as another patron described him, “the captain of the Crushers,” and lending his support. He was joined by two younger women and a heavyset man in all black, who may have been providing security.

For those in the gallery, it was like seeing a ghost. Norman, 69, who first played in the Masters in 1981 and last attempted to win a Green Jacket in 2009, showed up with a ticket he bought on the open market, according to his son, Greg Jr., in a social media post. Norman said he was there to support the 13 golfers he’d paid handsomely to defect to the upstart LIV Golf backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak contributed reporting to this post.