The Open 2024

G1032

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408500#Comment_122408500

Aberg I'd imagine will win one

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408524#Comment_122408524

Yeah, but we've had a few like him , Belgium chap? That never followed through on the early promise.

I'll be glad to be proven wrong and would love shane or Rory to find the spark

CMcsporty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408308#Comment_122408308

Shooting a 69 yesterday in those conditions was also outstanding.

CMcsporty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408520#Comment_122408520

8 hours!!!!
Where was that?

G1032

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408547#Comment_122408547

I'll ask and get back to you. I assume Torrey Pines but I'll confirm

FixdePitchmark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408558#Comment_122408558

Your mate hangs around top places.

CMcsporty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408558#Comment_122408558

This your mate?

G1032

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408606#Comment_122408606

🤣🤣🤣

G1032

Public course. Anyone can play. It's his home course. Discounted rounds for residents of the area. He also works in the industry.

irishgeo

Read an article a few years back that highlights golfers usually start to peak in a 3yr winning cycle. At the peak they need to pick up as many majors in that cycle as they can.

Looks like Xander is in that zone.

The article highlighted Harrington and a few more like that.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122409565#Comment_122409565

Speith 15 - 17. Rory 11 - 14

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408308#Comment_122408308

And a very lokeable lad.

eagle eye

Xander will move up to no.2 in the world after that win.

He's top class player, great ball striker, solid around the green and a very good putter.

He was the nearly man in majors for quite a while, he's well and truly put that title to bed.

Deeper Blue

23 top 25s in 30 majors for Xander, and only four missed cuts. It seems it's only since he won the PGA that people have acknowledged how insane his major record is.

Toranaga

I have been backing Xander for years through all of his near misses and stopped this year so taking credit myself 😅

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122408520#Comment_122408520

I remember Harrington saying that Augusta is the best place for players who struggle with putting to win, because with the green speeds, you barely need to set the ball on line. The stroke doesn't come in to it as much.

Scotty Scheffler

Sergio Garcia

Bernard Langer

Bubba Watson

Hideki Matsuyama

All had putting woes and never won any major except the Masters, 8 between them. Will be interesting to see does Scheffler win elsewhere, although I expect he will.

spacecoyote

Just can't warm to Xander, not sure why? He's an exceptional golfer obviously, and super consistent.

Just feel there's something almost cold about it. Maybe it's the fact he's friends with Cantlay, but almost gives the impression that he wouldn't really care that much if he never won, as long as he's making loads of money. He just feels slightly cynical to me maybe. I don't know the guy at all, but that's just the feeling he gives me.

Also, someone pointed out the tapping down on the line of his putts at the first major win (maybe one of the NLU guys). I hadn't really paid attention to it prior to then but he really does, on shorter putts in particular almost beat a channel to the hole "repairing" the marks on the green.

G1032

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122410677#Comment_122410677

That's very interesting and I'd never heard that before. Makes a lot of sense though

The Big Easy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122410677#Comment_122410677

Add Adam Scott to the list too, putting is always overstated at the Masters, but I wouldn't fully agree with Harrington.

It's always the best iron player that wins at Augusta.

The Big Easy

I kind of felt the same, but he came on Live at the USPGA after winning and came across very well I thought.

Now Cantlay is another matter, nothing redeeming about him. I would say Xander is a decent skin and suffers through association

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412127#Comment_122412127

Yes, Adam Scott too.

Before Harrington said it, if someone had asked me which major you have to be the best putter to win, I would have probably have said the Masters. But Vijay Singh aside, I can't really think of any poor putters who have won other majors, yet easy to list lots who have won the Masters.

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412221#Comment_122412221

It's an interesting take! Not doubting Paddy, but surely there are some stats that could back this up though? Would something as strokes gained putting by Masters winners be much less than strokes gained by the winners of the other Majors.

Shane would be considered a relatively poor putter vs the best, surely his Open win could be counted as one such example.

I would have thought that The Open was were putting mattered the least. However, lag putting would be fairly important.

CMcsporty

@irishgeo

also heard Harrington say this back in 2017. Sighted himself as the example! He was asked about Tommy Fleetwood and his chances of winning a major. He said he could once this wasn't a peak 2-3 year window of form.

Fleetwood is 33 now so maybe there is time yet for him. If I was a betting man, (Nod to Phil), I would say No.

Schauffele is only 30. No weakness in his game and now has a great Major record.

Only 3 MC. 13 Top 10s Not Including his 2 Wins.

In the same period

RMcI: 6 MC. 16 Top 10s. 0 Wins

TF: 4 MC. 8 Top 10s. 0 Wins

I think Xander will win at least 1 more. Probably a US OPEN.

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412473#Comment_122412473

As far as I know, there are no SG stats for the Masters, so hard to prove it. But looking at the winners, there is probably something to it. Maybe it's more of a case that if you are poor at putting (for a pro), your ball-striking needs to be supreme to make up for it. And the Master's is probably won by the best ball-striker who putts ok for the week.

Would agree with you on Shane, but he's more of a streaky putter. He did putt very well that week to win the Open. But I guess you could say that about any pro, they all putt well some of the time.

CMcsporty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122410677#Comment_122410677

Harrington! I love his insights. All of those players had an elite Iron & chipping game.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412507#Comment_122412507

Cant see Lowry ever winning at Augusta primarily because his putting is not bailed out enough by his chipping. It's just not in the same class as Scheffler, Matsuyama or even Schauffelle.

Langer was all about where to wedge and chip to specific points on the greens at Augusta which "requires great accuracy and control".

Probably one of the reasons why even peak Harrington could only manage a tied 5th.

newport2

2007 was Harrington's chance at the Masters. The 15th killed him, triple-bogey, birdie, double-bogey, bogey. If he'd played it in level par for the week, he'd have won by a shot. Zach Johnson laid up each day for 2 birdies and 2 pars, 7 shots better.

CMcsporty

Ah yes, coldest Masters ever? He went out in the final round with…Justin Rose!!!

won by another British Open winner Zach Johnson on +1!

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414345#Comment_122414345

The stands are immovable instructions. They are not part of the golf course and as such you get a free drop if the ball is affected by them.

It's a penalty drop from bushes. The ball is considered unplayable so a drop is taken at the nearest point of relief and you lose a shot.

slave1

For the bush drop, it's not nearest point of relief, it's two driver lengths from the ball usually but if that does not get you out of the bush you can go for back on the line of the ball to the hole but that can be troublesome if the bush is on the edge of the course, if all else fails you can go back and take your shot again with the walk of shame.

As a general rule you can never end up closer to the hole whatever option you elect

Mushy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414889#Comment_122414889

Sometimes there can be spurious reasons for getting a free drop despite being in crap like bushes. Schauffle got one at either the pga or us open, had a completely unplayable ball, but there was some device for stats/measuring between ball and green, so 2 club length drop and was in the clear with no penalty

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414906#Comment_122414906

Yeah that one is pretty simple. Before he determined whether the ball was playable or not the tower in his way was used as a line of sight drop.

Captain_Crash

It helps to know the rules! On the way to winning the US Open in 2016 DJ found himself in some absolute s**t on the back nine on the Sunday and decided that a TV tower off in the distance was obstructing his line of sight, so got free relief on the opposite fairway and had a nice mid iron into the green for a look at birdie.

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414880#Comment_122414880

The rules are set that way so the competitors are playing the course as it is designed - not based on how the TV companies or marketing consultants decided to place the stands and TV towers. Stands, TV towers, cables, crowd control fencing, etc. are not integral parts of the course and aren't hazards. They are temporary structures put in place to facilitate spectators (either in person or watching on TV) - and are treated the exact same as Ground under Repair on any other course.

If your local course designated an area as GUR for one weekend of the year nobody would dream of demanding penalties be imposed for that.

Take Lowry's shot into the stand on Saturday. The other 51 Saturdays of the year that shot lands in the rough 15 yards or so off the green but still comfortably in bounds. A crappy lie is quite possible, but there's no automatic penalty for that shot.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414948#Comment_122414948

I remember that, killed of Shane's chances

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122415598#Comment_122415598

It’s the rub of the green.

He could equally well hit a grandstand - or some other temporary structure - and bounce OB and have to take stroke & distance penalty where if it wasn’t there he would have been still in play.

Its not that different to a lad missing the fairway by 5 yards and ending up under a bush, whilst his playing partner slices it 40 yards right and ends up in the next fairway with a perfect lie and a line at the green

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122415768#Comment_122415768

Could have Tour specific rules that could make them a penalty area though? I think you could.

And I don't think it would be a bad idea, especially for greenside stands, which can often be seen as a 'safe' target when there's trouble on other sides of the green. Not that any pro will admit to aiming for a stand.