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The 2021 British Open – or Open Championship, if you want to be official about things – is underway and man does it already feel great to have it back in our lives after it was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.
And you know what? When it comes to majors I’m going to put this in the second slot and the distance between it and the Masters (which will be No. 1 forever) isn’t that much.
I know what you’re thinking right now – what about the U.S. Open!!?? The U.S. Open is fine and enjoyable (except when they pick boring courses like Torrey Pines) but it doesn’t come close to touching the British Open.
There are many reasons why the British Open is so awesome:
1. The courses. We get to see the best golfers in the world play some of the most historic courses in the game and test their skills in links golf, which is so different from most of the courses here in the U.S. They actually have to think their way through shots, play balls on the ground, and avoid bunkers that are designed to be punishing, unlike the ones we see each week on the PGA Tour.
2. Morning golf is the best golf. There’s nothing better than waking up before the sun comes up, pouring a cup of coffee, and watching the best players in the world playing golf on the other side of the pond. There’s just something so incredibly soothing about the whole thing. Also, if you live on the West Coast you get some night golf the first two nights, with play starting at 10:30. Staying up late for a few hours and watching the early morning golf from the other side of the world was always one of my favorite things to do each year when I lived in California.
3. The British Open doesn’t need to trick up its courses and grow the rough high like the U.S. Open to challenge the players. It always feels like the players are playing the game and the course the way the Earth designed it to be played. It’s all so natural and beautiful. They’re like “Hey, here’s this course from 1863, go out there and have some fun!”
4. I love the yellow scoreboards. I know that sounds weird and goofy but the yellow scoreboards just warm my heart.
5. The greenskeeper at Royal St. George’s is the coolest greenskeeper on the planet.
Again, the U.S. Open is fun and our national championship and I have all the respect in the world for it and watch 90 hours of it each year but the British Open just feels better.
Oh, and here are some predictions we did for the tournament. And here are some of our best bets.
Enjoy!
Quick hits: Giannis’ incredible block… Loki’s epic plot twist… NBA prospect’s wild dunk… And more.
– Did you see Giannis Antetokounmpo’s block late in the Bucks’ Game 4 win over the Suns last night? It was incredible and you need to see all these different angles of it.
– Henry McKenna dives into the Loki finale and the epic plot twist it had.
– NBA prospect Jericho Sims hurt his face on the rim while throwing down a big dunk and the video of it is just ridiculous.
– Michelle Martinelli spoke to U.S. Olympic swimmer Lilly King, who has become the queen of psyching out her opponents.
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