To paraphrase the famous saying somewhat: Behind every great golfer is a great coach. Just ask any of the pros who have sought the guidance of the likes of Hank Haney, Sean Foley, Peter Cowen or anyone with the last name Harmon.

These are the men who live away from the spotlight, working on the sidelines to ensure their pupils are ready and able to give their best when they step on to the fairways.

Now there is another name you can add to the list of coaching greats who helped make waves at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool last month.

American pro Brian Harman left all trailing in his wake in Hoylake, storming to a six-stroke victory, showing nerves of steel in front of a hostile English crowd, and put on a putting masterclass in some seriously nasty British weather.

Cradling the claret jug on the Sunday, Harman, who has a Ryder Cup to look forward to next month, was the first to admit this was far from a one-man show, and thanked his family and team, including coach Justin Parsons.

The 36-year-old has been working with Parsons since 2019, taking over from the late Jack Lamkin, and years of hard work eventually bore fruit with Harman’s third pro win and their first together (he had previously won the John Deere Classic in 2014 and the 2017 staging of the Wells Fargo Championship).

Speaking in the 100th edition of Golf Digest Middle East back in 2017, Parsons said: “I would love to think in nine years’ time I have helped a player to achieve a major championship victory.”

He did it in six.

“No disrespect to the fact I get pleasure from helping you strike a seven iron better or whatever, but I think professionally what really thrills you the most is to see someone you have nurtured come up and perform higher than they have before. That’s what Butchy [Harmon] always says to us, your biggest job when you have got a good player is: ‘Don’t screw it up.’”

Back in the present, Parsons is now an Elite Golf Instructor at The Sea Island Golf Performance Center in Harman’s home of St Simons, Georgia. But it was quite a journey for the coach to reach the top, having begun in his home in Northern Ireland before cutting his teeth in the UAE.

The UAE was certainly instrumental in getting Parsons to see the wider world of golf after first picking up a club and playing around on his local course as a kid back home.

“My late uncle had given me an intro to golf when I was about 10 or 11, but it was basically just how to hold a club,” he told Golf Digest Middle East. “It wasn’t until I was 13 that I really got into golf, when a friend asked me to play with him. We ended up playing the entire day, and from that moment on I can remember being hooked on the game. That was in the summer, and by the following year I was a competitive amateur and I went on to play in boys’ team events all over Ireland.

“I took to it very quickly, and having gone through the amateur ranks, I was teaching in Bangor when a client took me to Dubai. We played golf every day. This was around 2004 and we were up at Jebel Ali and we played there, the Montgomerie and, I think, Dubai Creek. I was just blown away by the facilities, they were just incredible.

“Even back then, Dubai felt like such a buzzing place and felt to me like a really cool place for a young person to be.

“Having met some of the club teams — I met Wayne [Johnson] while at the Montgomerie — and I decided on a wing and a prayer to head over and it all worked out. I will always be grateful to Wayne for giving me that start in 2005 and joining the team at the Monty.

“I learnt so much about the operational side of an academy. It really was an invaluable lesson in how an upscale property is managed.”

It is no understatement to say Parsons was making an impression, but even he was taken aback as his career went in a new direction. 

“I rose to the position of Director of Instruction in 2007 and then came my next opportunity,” he explained. “In 2008, I was watching the FA Cup final with a few of the golfing guys in Dubai and my phone rang. I saw it was an American number so I went outside to take the call. It was Claude Harmon III — we had met a couple of times before — and he asked if would like to help him open the Butch Harmon School at the Els. I thought it was just such a great offer from the ‘First ‘Family’ of golf instruction, and immediately I told him I was interested.

“Again I was so fortunate to be working with guys in Dubai who made it fairly streamlined for me to make the move from one position to another in the UAE, which was not as common as it is now.

“I started in the late summer of that year by procuring and creating programmes and looking at who we would have on the staff. We were fortunate to have Butch come over in early 2009 and it has been a good run since and the facility has been a great success.”

As his stature grew, Parsons found himself working with professionals in Europe and the States and, with a young family in the UAE, the travel began to keep him away from home more and more. 

“While I was not actively throwing my CV around, there were some who knew I would consider an opportunity in the States,” he told us. “Todd Anderson, an excellent fellow coach for the likes of Billy Horschel, had left his position at Sea Island around 2016 and there was a growing feeling that they needed someone to occupy that role of teaching Tour players and they also had plans to open the Golf Performance Center, which has become an incredible facility on par with everything in the UAE.

Sea Island

“Through some of the contacts in America, we had some approaches made and what it would take to come over. In the summer of 2018, my wife and I came over to the US Open at Shinnecock Hills and we combined that with a trip to St Simons and we had a good look around. It felt like a great place, not only to continue my PGA Tour work but also to establish a home base for my wife and kids where Dad wasn’t going to be away as much. It is a beautiful island and a great place to raise the children.”

While he was thrust into the limelight somewhat thanks to Harman’s success at Royal Liverpool, Parsons had already been well-established in coaching circles for many years. 

Eliot VanOtteren/Sea Island

“The Brian Harman adventure has been one of many,” he said. “I have helped numerous notable players in Europe — Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie and I started out with David Howell and Michael Hoey back in the day — those were the guys I was regularly working on tour with. We had Will Smith and Hugh Grant out at the Els golf school, guys who are very connected to the UAE like Dwight Yorke and Brian Lara would come down too.

“It was very cool to be part of all that in Dubai, where you would see so many excellent players, stars and celebrities, and you would pick up an awful lot from them too.

“In my last couple of years in Dubai, I was helping Peter Uihlein and Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, and they were mainly playing in the PGA Tour, which is what took me across to the States so much. While I was there I was lucky enough to work with Michael Thompson, who had won a PGA tour event in our first year together. Then I also had Harris English, who went on a great run and won twice, which kinda led to be being on the coaching team for the United States Ryder Cup team at Whistling Straits, which was a very proud moment, if slightly strange to be on the ‘other side’ from which I have always supported.

“I am also helping Davis Love III with his swing on the Senior Tour. Interspersed with that, I have helped Seamus Power, Patton Kizzire, Ben Coles, Will Gordon, Branden Grace, so there is quite a decent list there.”

Now the Parsons family is well settled in St Simons, Justin has had time to reflect on his past life in the UAE and how things have changed for him professionally and personally. 

“We do miss a number of things about Dubai, and it will always be special to me as that’s really where it all began,” he said. “There is the vibrancy of the city and the multinational dynamic, the pace we enjoyed in our twenties. Now we are in our forties, the pace here is a little slower and it gives us a chance to reflect on things. My wife teaches yoga and, looking back, Dubai has a special place in our hearts personally and professionally and we wouldn’t have done it any other way.”

MIND CONTROL

Back to that major moment and, while Harman had not won a title since 2017, Parsons knew it was just a matter of time before things clicked and there was no need to massively change anything. All the signs were there that something special could be about to happen at the Scottish Open the week before the showdown in Hoylake.

“We met up at the Renaissance on Tuesday, and he reacts and responds very well to links golf — the conditions are good for his iron play and I think it suits the way he putts the ball and the creativity he has as a player,” Parsons said. “As we went through the week at the Renaissance, I don’t think we changed anything. The putting system he runs remained the same, the full-swing stuff we have implemented over the past two or three years was pretty much the same. We were in a good position going into the weekend, and Rory [McIlroy] was hitting some brilliant shots in tough conditions while Brian settled for finishing eighth.

“On the Sunday before the Open, I was down at Royal Liverpool having a look at the course, looking at how it was going to play, and Brian got down after us. He took the Monday morning off and then we got down to it in the afternoon.

“It is clear that when these guys are playing well, as a coach, you need to just keep them in their process, give them assistance, answer any questions, but making sure you are not introducing anything that would lead them in the wrong direction, which can be easy to do.

Eliot VanOtteren/Sea Island

“Brian, his caddie Scott, and I had some good preparation, playing nine holes in some really wet conditions. The golf course did play well for him. He is a very straight hitter, the driver can go further than others and he can challenge those bunkers and, of course his putting was excellent all week. He got a little template that I think got him rolling the ball really well on the greens. You will notice if you look back the putts were all going in at good speed and running right at the hole.

“He did make one little change by taking ice baths up at Renaissance and he continued that at Royal Liverpool. I think that had some mental and physical benefits. We saw some great mental control from being in that lead from Friday afternoon all the way to the last hole on Sunday. He was in the lead at the Open and he controlled his mind and his expectations and his process very, very well.

“By his own admission he will say he had to control his expectations at times, and that has been part of his training over the past three or four years. That has been something we have done collectively, not only with me but with his caddie and the other people that we talk to through the years — to control a fast-moving mind — it really has been a collaborative effort.

“To see him to be able to gather all that together and play the type of golf he is capable of in his mid-thirties is really special and he joins a special club as Open Champion and if he can continue to implement the processes that he has implemented and keep himself in good shape and control that busy mind and let the talent he clearly has as a player come out, it would be no surprise to see him have a very good next three to five years.”

The post Speaking with Justin Parsons about his journey from Northern Ireland and the UAE to the US and Open Championship glory with Brian Harman at Hoylake appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There is room for debate as to whether the claret jug is the most iconic item awarded to a tournament winner in golf, a chorus of folks representing a sleepy town in Georgia likely arguing that a certain emerald blazer has an awful lot of cachet, too. Where there is no uncertainty is this: The claret jug is the best mulligan in golf history.

The trophy that has become synonymous with the Open Championship was not handed out for the first time until 1873, 13 years after Willie Park Sr. won the inaugural playing of the event at Prestwick Golf Club. In lieu of a cash prize for the winner, Park was awarded the Challenge Belt, something akin to boxing hardware made of red Moroccan leather with an oversize silver buckle and emblems adorning the front.

The belt was given to subsequent winners, but each had to return it to Prestwick’s club secretary. Tournament rules stipulated that no golfer would earn permanent possession of the belt unless they won the Open three straight years. Lo and behold, Young Tom Morris did just that in winning the Open in 1868-’70.

Without anything to hand out to future winners—no tournament was played in 1871 because of this very dilemma, according to the Open website—members at Prestwick, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews met to come up with an alternative prize. On Sept. 11, 1872, each club agreed to pitch in £10 to purchase the celebrated trophy we think of today.

With this backstory in mind, here are 13 more things you might not know about the claret jug.

1. The claret jug actually has a formal name: The Golf Champion Trophy.

2. The original jug was made by Mackay Cunningham & Company of Edinburgh.

3. The claret jug is 20¾ inches tall with its base and 5½ inches in diameter at its widest (the base is 7¼ inches in diameter). It weighs roughly 5½ pounds. It’s 92.5 per cent sterling silver.

4. The first golfer formally awarded the jug was Tom Kidd, when he won at St. Andrews in 1873. However, his is not the first name that was engraved on the trophy. Young Tom Morris, winner of the Open for a fourth time in 1872, has his name above Kidd’s out of deference to the fact that the trophy had been commissioned but was not ready when Morris was victorious the previous year. Morris was given a gold medal, which also became an annual award given to the champion.

5. The original claret jug was awarded to 28 different golfers through 1927 when the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews decided to put it on permanent display (well, almost permanent) in its clubhouse along with the original Challenge Belt, which was donated back by the Morris Family. Since then, a full-scale Champions’ replica has been presented to each winner, starting in 1928 with Walter Hagen.

6. The Open winner is allowed to keep the claret jug for a year before returning it to the R&A ahead of the next Open Championship. The R&A has turned “the return” into a highly choreographed ceremony in recent years.

The 2021 Champion Golfer of the Year returns the Claret Jug to The R&A ? Can @Collin_Morikawa win it again this week?#The150thOpen @MercedesBenz #PerfectDrive #MBGolf #MercedesBenz pic.twitter.com/ZQIvhtUEvB

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 11, 2022

7. Though winners must hand back the permanent claret jug, they do receive a full-size replica to keep and can order up to three smaller replicas.

8. Mistakenly, Tom Watson was given the original claret jug (from 1873) when he won the 1982 Open at Royal Troon. It was a mistake compounded by the fact that Watson accidentally knocked the trophy off a table in his house taking a practice golf swing, denting part of it. Watson took the trophy to his basement workshop, put it in a vice and bent it back into place.

9. There are three other replica jugs: one in the British Museum of Golf at St. Andrews and two others used for travelling exhibitions.

10. Prior to 1968, it was the champion’s responsibility to have his name engraved on the trophy before returning it. However, when Roberto De Vicenzo forgot to have it done, the R&A took the responsibility back and created the tradition of having an engraver (first Alex Harvey and now his son, Garry) on-site to do the honours prior to handing the trophy to the winner each year.

Mark Runnacles/R&A

11. There is a typo on the jug. The engraver who put in the 1947 entry for Fred Daly mistakenly wrote Hoylake as “Holylake.”

12. There are any number of stories of winners taking the claret jug to exotic spots to celebrate their victories. Our vote for the most unusual: Henrik Stenson strapping the claret jug into a life preserver while water skiing after his 2016 victory.

This might be a first…Champion Golfer of the Year @HenrikStenson takes the Claret Jug jet skiing!
(via @cnn) pic.twitter.com/22ETxyvwdg

— The Open (@TheOpen) November 19, 2016

13. Several champions have told stories of drinking various concoctions from the jug (it is a 19th-century design that was used to serve claret, a dry red wine from the Bordeaux region of France). But the strangest thing to inhabit the jug might have been a collection of ladybugs. Padraig Harrington promised his son, Patrick, he could put the insects into the jug after the 2006 Open win at Carnoustie. Harrington had ladybugs engraved on the replica jug that he kept.

The post Open Championship 2023: 13 things you might not know about the claret jug appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

As a preview of the 2023 Open Championship, we have ranked our top 100 golfers in the field:

100-86

Tiger Christensen, Davis Riley, Pádraig Harrington, Stewart Cink, Chris Kirk, Danny Willett, Ockie Strydom, Antoine Rozner, Alex Fitzpatrick, Ewen Ferguson, Zack Fischer, Kazuki Higa, Oliver Wilson, Bio Kim, Thriston Lawrence

Valerio Pennicino

After a promising rookie season, Riley is in a bit of a sophomore slump. However, he played well in the opening round of the Scottish Open, and his no-frills game is built for links dominance. … The time might not come at Hoylake, but Alex Fitzpatrick (above) is very, very close to no longer being known as Matt Fitzpatrick’s brother. … (Whispers) Paddy Harrington has real ‘09 Tom Watson potential.

85-76

Michael Kim, Lee Hodges, Matt Wallace, Matthew Southgate, Joost Luiten, Jazz Janewattananond, Shubhankar Sharma, Connor Syme, Brendan Todd, Adam Schenk

Schenk is having a breakout season at 31, entering the Scottish ranked 45th in the world and 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s making just his fifth major start, however, so be careful riding him too hard as a longshot. … Todd woke up from a year-long slumber at the John Deere Classic. He’s not a “sexy” pick, but at fourth in sg/around-the-green and 21st in putting he’s an interesting gamble. … Since winning the Corales Puntacana Championship, Wallace has failed to post a top-25. And yet, he’s so creative around the green (13th in that strokes gained category) that he has our interest.

75-66

Scott Stallings, Branden Grace, Laurie Canter, Charl Schwartzel, Nick Taylor, Yannik Paul, Guido Migliozzi, Tom Hoge, K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston

There’s always one Euro player who’s introduced to American audiences during the Open. That will be Paul this year, who’s currently holding down at automatic qualifier spot for the European Ryder Cup team. … Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open but otherwise he’s been stone cold, missing the cut in four of his past five starts. … Also cold: Hoge. Since finishing third at the Players he hasn’t better than T-43.

65-56

Lucas Herbert, Alex Noren, Emiliano Grillo, Richie Ramsay, Victor Perez, Rasmus Hojgaard, Billy Horschel, Abraham Ancer, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Francesco Molinari

Octavio Passos

Molinari’s on the list for his 2018 win, but despite his struggles since 2019 he’s remained formidable at the Open with T-11 and T-15 finishes since. … For those looking for a deep, deep sleeper, Ramsey owns three T-7 or better finishes in his last five starts on the DP World Tour. … Last year Noren withdrew from the Open to fly halfway across the world and play in the Barracuda. It proved to be a good decision, as he finished in second; still, he could have play the Old Course during the Open!

55-46

Pablo Larrazabal, Sepp Straka, Harris English, Thomas Pieters, Russell Henley, Thomas Detry, Kurt Kitayama, Jordan Smith, Thorbjorn Olesen, Ryan Fox

Could Straka parlay his John Deere Classic success into something special at Hoylake? He’s far from a consistent performer, but when the getting is good, Straka has a ceiling that few possess. … English’s game seems fit for an Open, but his last top 40 finish game almost 10 years ago. … After starting the season strong, Detry’s had just one top-25 finish since March.

MORE: Why the 2006 Open at Hoylake was the most emotional moment of Tiger’s career

45-41

Seamus Power, Si Woo Kim, Adrian Meronk, Gary Woodland, Phil Mickelson

Ross Parker – SNS Group

Power is starting to lose his chance at the Ryder Cup. A top-15 finish at Hoylake could go ways in turning that tide. … Scotland gave Mickelson the stone-cold silent treatment last year at St. Andrews. Without that intimacy and connection with the crowd, Mickelson floated like a ghost, knowing he was no longer of this world yet equally unable to leave it. It will be interesting to see if the crowds down south in England are more hospitable, especially with the developments in professional golf over the past month. … Woodland is having a nice little comeback season, ranking 11th on tour in SG/off-the-tee and ninth in approach. Don’t think that will lead to the claret jug, but as a top-20 play the former US Open winner is worth a look.

40-36

Sahith Theegala, Robert MacIntyre, Keegan Bradley, Brian Harman, Denny McCarthy

McCarthy is 13th in strokes gained over the past three months, with three top-seven finishes in his last four starts. We said it ahead of LACC and it’s worth repeating: ​​If Team Europe sets up the Ryder Cup venue in Rome anything like they did Paris—where accuracy and short game are paramount to power—McCarthy and his lights-out putting merit consideration for the US club. … MacIntyre hasn’t made the jump Old World circuit backers thought he would after his breakthrough at Portrush in 2019. However, the Scotsman is still in his 20s and had the breakthrough victory many think is coming ripped from his hands at the Scottish Open by Rory McIlroy. That’s after a T-4 in his previous DP World Tour start. … Theegala has been stuck in neutral for the past three months, playing consistently OK but far from great golf. However, should he make a run at the Scottish, he’s worth investing as a second-tier fantasy option.

35-31

Adam Scott, Joaquin Niemann, Talor Gooch, Min Woo Lee, Corey Conners

Octavio Passos

Scott is a tempting play for your fantasy lineup, finishing T-5 at the 2014 Open at Hoylake. He also has just one top-five finish in his last 32 major starts, with his last top-10 coming in 2019. … Does Gooch’s three wins on LIV merit Ryder Cup consideration? No, not really, yet his continued performance does warrant consideration as an Open flyer. … Conners continues to be a second-shot savant (11th in approach) and has five finishes of T-12 or better in the last three months. He’s struggled in majors outside of Augusta, but that iron work could pay dividends in Hoylake.

30-26

Justin Rose, Tom Kim, Sam Burns, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed

Kim had a T-8 at the US Open, largely off a lights-out Saturday front nine. He was in the mix until late on Sunday at the Scottish Open, which bodes well considering he missed the cut in three of his last five starts and statistically has been a bit of a mess for three months now. … Burns has been extremely hit-or-miss since his WGC-Dell Match Play win. Given his lack of track record at majors—he’s yet to finish better than T-20—Burns is a risky gamble. … Reed hasn’t done much at the Open, but he’s been playing well at LIV, making him a viable dark horse pick.

25-21

Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Bryson DeChambeau, Max Homa

Day was one of the hottest players in the game six weeks ago, culminating in a win at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Since the W he’s missed three of four cuts, and the three were biggies in the PGA Championship, Memorial and US Open. Aside from a run at the 2015 Open, Day doesn’t have much of a track record at the British. So why is he this high? Because in that heater earlier this year Day showed he could be the player he once was, and that glimpse doesn’t disappear that quickly … DeChambeau’s sneakily regained the form that once made him an elite player, entering Hoylake off a T-4 at the PGA and T-20 at the US Open. He may not seem like a good pick for the Open Championship, but he did finish T-8 at St. Andrews last summer. … Matsuyama finished T-6 in his Open debut in 2013, but has not had a top-10 finish since.

20. Cameron Young

Richard Heathcote/R&A

World Ranking: 18 Open Championship starts: 2 Best finish: 2nd, 2022

This is an odd thing to say but we’re going to say it: The John Deere Classic, where Young finished T-6, maybe what turns around his season. The Bronx Bomber had not finished in the top 30 in his previous seven events, and over the last three months was outside the top 70 in true strokes gained. Calling it a sophomore slump is unfair, but Young hasn’t taken the leap many believed he would in 2023. Yet he finished runner-up at last year’s Open, and his performance last week spurs belief his struggles may be coming to an end.

19. Wyndham Clark

Ezra Shaw

World Ranking: 11 Open Championship starts: 1 Best finish: T-76, 2022

In the immediate aftermath, Clark’s US Open win seemed to be viewed as one of the times where a good player gets on a heater and achieves immortality. Personally, that take is myopic, if not misinformed, because Clark actually might be a killer, the type of player with the ceiling that begs questions of where he may ultimately go. There don’t seem to be any holes in his game, ranking inside the top 45 in every strokes-gained category, and he boasts an old-school finesse—particularly around the greens—that correlates to links success. The Open is historically not kind to the inexperienced, so it’s probably unfair to expect too much out of Clark in his second career Open start. But make no mistake, this is a name you’ll be hearing from for some time.

MORE: It’s time for the PGA Tour to host a month-long European swing

18. Justin Thomas

Jared C. Tilton

World Ranking: 20 Open Championship starts: 6 Best finish: T-11, 2019

Both things can be true: 1) Statistically, Thomas isn’t that far off from his usual production and still ranks among the tour’s best birdie producers. 2) Thomas hasn’t looked right in months, missing three of his last four cuts. He’s also historically struggled at the Open, just one finish better than T-40, odd given his shotmaking and creativity should serve him well on links golf. This is especially true at Hoylake, which allows for some breathing room off the tee and puts a premium on ingenuity in approaches. But majors are not the most conducive environments for reversals.

17. Tony Finau

Hector Vivas

World Ranking: 14 Open Championship starts: 6 Best finish: 3rd, 2019

Finau has won four times in the calendar year. He’s also failed to finish in the top 10 in his last nine major starts, with zero top-25s in the first three majors of 2023. With Finau turning 34 in the fall, the runway to make his mark in the tournaments that matter the most is getting short. If this Open turns out to be more of a shootout than Opens of the past, Finau (sixth in birdie average) may be the beneficiary.

16. Dustin Johnson

Richard Heathcote

World Ranking: 77 Open Championship starts: 13 Best finish: T-2, 2011

Has finished T-8 and T-6 in his last two Opens and was a respectable T-12 at Hoylake in 2014. Coming off a good performance at LACC (T-10). And because we have nothing else to add, nothing was more poetically apropos than DJ—a man undisturbed by his surroundings, beholden to an inner command only known to him—doing backflips off a yacht during golf’s Congressional hearing.

15. Tyrrell Hatton

Andy Lyons

World Ranking: 16 Open Championship starts: 7 Best finish: T-6, 2019

Has been sneaky good for the last six months, ranking eighth in true strokes gained over that span, and ranks third overall in strokes gained on the tour season. He also seems to play well in tougher conditions, which theoretically should bode well for weeks like this. And yet, Hatton has been a non-factor at majors, finishing outside the top 10 in his last 14 starts. Still, his best two major performances have come at the Open, and Hatton is too good to stay out of the major mix for this long.

14. Matt Fitzpatrick

Vaughn Ridley

World Ranking: 9 Open Championship starts: 7 Best finish: T-20, 2019

Has played steady golf over the past three months since winning the RBC Heritage. Hasn’t done much of note in his previous seven Open outings, although hasn’t been far off either, finishing better than T-30 in his last three Open starts. Links golf asks a lot of questions out of a golfer, but each question is baked in strategy and gumption. As Fitzpatrick showed at Brookline last summer, he does not fall short on any of those prerequisites.

13. Tommy Fleetwood

Ross Kinnaird

World Ranking: 22 Open Championship starts: 8 Best finish: 2nd, 2019

Fleetwood allowed Nick Taylor to win the Canadian Open in hopes providence would be delivered at “his” national championship. That is our theory and we’re sticking to it … For Fleetwood to stick around into the weekend he’ll need to get off to a better start than he has been this year, ranking 70th in first-round scoring average. Luckily, those averages improve as the tournament goes on. Ranking outside the top 50 in birdie average, Fleetwood’s best chance at the claret jug is seemingly if the course plays mean. Conversely, he also finished T-4 at last year’s birdie-fest Open. Coupled with a good showing at LACC, this may be the time for TommyLad.

12. Patrick Cantlay

Ben Jared

World Ranking: 4 Open Championship starts: 4 Best finish: T-8, 2022

For all that’s been made about Cantlay’s performance—or perceived lack thereof—at majors, the man has finished T-14 or better in three straight major starts, including a T-9 two months ago at the PGA and a T-8 at last year’s Open at St. Andrews. He entered the Scottish ranked fifth in strokes gained on the season and fourth in SG/off-the-tee, although he also missed the cut. If he can hold it together around the green, Cantlay may finally get the major monkey off his back.

11. Rickie Fowler

Cliff Hawkins

World Ranking: 21 Open Championship starts: 11 Best finish: T-2, 2014

We had Fowler as high as No. 5 in our preliminary rankings and as low as No. 15. Why buy the hype: Fowler’s sixth in true strokes gained over the last six months, has four top-10s in his last five starts (including a win in Detroit and contending at the US Open) and finished runner-up the last time the Open visited Hoylake. The worry: That heater may have crescendoed with his victory two weeks back. And for gambling purposes, Fowler’s price has risen dramatically, and that value, while fair, is far from good. But if the setup is there for the taking or there to break the field’s spirit, Fowler has the ability to contend in both, making him one of our favourites.

10. Viktor Hovland

Andy Lyons

World Ranking: 5 Open Championship starts: 2 Best finish: T-4, 2022

Last year’s Open—where Hovland played in the final pairing, only to be just one of two players in the top 14 who failed to break 70—was an important step for Hovland. He ejected hard at St. Andrews that Sunday, but competing at majors is a bit like riding a bike in that you have to fall off to figure out how to stay on. That experience was on display at this year’s PGA, where he finished runner-up, and at the Masters, where he finished T-7. The important thing is to make sure those experiences don’t create too much scar tissue. The short game remains a work in progress, but the ball striking is so good (10th in tee-to-green) it can combat those deficiencies.

9: Collin Morikawa

Oisin Keniry

World Ranking: 19 Open Championship starts: 2 Best finish: Win, 2021

Morikawa is in danger of falling outside the World Top 20. He’s also ranked ninth in true strokes gained over the last six months and finished T-2 in Detroit. He made this ridiculously hard game look ridiculously easy this time two years ago at Royal St. George’s, and Hoylake will give him the opportunity to duplicate those feats. One thing to keep an eye on: Morikawa has been one of the best Round 2 players on tour this season, his scoring average sixth-best among tour players on Fridays. Should his wave avoid the bad weather in Round 1, don’t be surprised to see his name among the leaders heading into the weekend.

8. Shane Lowry

Mark Runnacles

World Ranking: 30 Open Championship starts: 10 Best finish: Win, 2019

Royal Portrush was not an Open aberration. Along with his victory in 2019, Lowry has finished inside the top 25 in the Open since 2017. Lowry’s game is a bit like Jordan Spieth’s in that it may have fared consistently better in an era, yet this is one of the few tournaments where that game can not just compete but outshine his competition. Moreover, after a bit of a slump, Lowry has started to signs of coming out of hibernation, finishing in the top 20 in four of his past five starts—including the PGA Championship and US Open.

7. Jordan Spieth

AFP/Getty Images

World Ranking: 10 Open Championship starts: 9 Best finish: Win, 2017

Has missed three of his past five cuts, including at the US Open. So what; if Augusta National is his fantasyland, links golf is Spieth’s playground. He’s finished T-9 or better in four of his last six Open starts, capped by a win in 2017. The game over there speaks to his cunning and inventiveness, allows him to be a bit more loose off the tee and doesn’t require the power of most PGA Tour sites. Just as importantly the greens, due to their relative slowness, tend to equalize the field in putting, with a slight favouritism to aggressiveness. Similar to the Masters, it may seem like Spieth should have more than one Open victory.

6. Xander Schauffele

Sean M. Haffey

World Ranking: 6 Open Championship starts: 5 Best finish: T-2, 2018

A T-2 in 2018 at Carnoustie is his only top-10 at the Open. No matter, only Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka and Fowler have better true strokes gained figures over the last three months than X-Man. Schauffele knows he is the best player in golf without a major and that people think it’s well past time to shed that label, but he’s still in his 20s and his game should age well. Owning one of the best ball striking/short-game combos (fourth in approach, sixth in putting), Schauffele should be in the mix no matter what Hoylake throws at the field.

5. Cameron Smith

Harry How

World Ranking: 7 Open Championship starts: 5 Best finish: Win, 2022

If there was one player to worry about competitive atrophy jumping to LIV, it was the reigning Open Championship winner. After a quiet start in 2023, Smith has shown he’s still very much the player who won the Players and Open last year, finishing T-9 at the PGA and fourth at last month’s US Open and winning a LIV event last week. Though last year’s breakthrough at the Old Course is Smith’s only finish of note at the Open, the Aussie’s short-game dexterity is the perfect asset for links golf. Expect a strong title defense.

4. Scottie Scheffler

Harry How

World Ranking: 1 Open Championship starts: 2 Best finish: T-8, 2021

The only thing that stopped Scheffler at St. Andrews was, um, well, just trust us. He owns the best true strokes gained figure over the last three, six and 12 months in professional golf and comes to Hoylake finishing no worse than T-5 in his last seven starts. (Reread that sentence again.) His last finish outside the top 12 was last fall. In short, the dude is balling. That we have the World No. 1 at No. 4 on his list is no indictment on Scheffler or his odds this week, but rather how loaded golf’s front-line of stars is this season. Plus, his heater has to eventually cool off, right? … (Silence) … Right?

3. Jon Rahm

Ross Kinnaird

World Ranking: 2 Open Championship starts: 6 Best finish: T-3, 2021

He contended for the 2021 Open, ultimately finishing in a tie for third. However, that is the lone top-10 in Rahm’s still nascent career at the Open (although he did finish T-11 in 2019). His game is too round and his mind too creative to allow that track record to continue, and past wins at the Irish Open underline Rahm knows how to play links golf. Will be heading into the Open Championship looking to get right after a missed cut at the Travelers Championship, although that is the aberration in 2023, boasting four wins since January alone, including his Masters triumph. He’s also second to just Scheffler in true strokes gained over the last six months. You could make the case he should be No. 1 on the list, and you won’t get much of a counter.

2. Rory McIlroy

Dom Furore

World Ranking: 3 Open Championship starts: 13 Best finish: Win, 2014

The golf gods do not pay their debts and have no stomach for karma, for if they did McIlroy would have emerged victorious at St. Andrews last summer. But while McIlroy, winner on Sunday at the Scottish Open, will again be the sentimental pick for the claret jug his game needs no extra love, ranking seventh in strokes gained over the past three months, according to DataGolf, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the US Open. And to state the obvious, the last time the Open was contested at Hoylake the Ulsterman left as its champ. It’s hard to bet against McIlroy, and we certainly won’t, although there’s one player whose chances we slightly favour…

1. Brooks Koepka

Ramsey Cardy

World Ranking: 12 Open Championship starts: 8 Best finish: T-4, 2019

He’s calling out LIV teammates. He’s posing on Instagram with Bryson. He’s doing Lord knows what with the Wanamaker. Koepka is a fusion of swagger and swashbuckler, and it’s clear—after seemingly running on E last year—his confidence tank has been refilled. Koepka’s been sneaky good at the Open with four top 10s in his last six starts. The reason Koepka is so good at majors is he brings his best when the course is at its worst. If Hoylake plays mean, and it should, the winner will be golf’s baddest man.

Is it the Open Championship or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilise both names in its coverage.

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Do you remember that old Tiger Woods Nike poster with the caption “The eyes have it”? Actually, the more appropriate question to golf fans of a certain age is if they remember where they put theirs. The photo showed a crouching Tiger lining up a putt with that unmistakable steely look that helped make him one of the greatest competitors of all time. It also had to be one of the best-selling posters of all time. (And for the record, mine is in the basement.)

It made sense for Tiger to have that unwavering aura. After all, he was trained to be tough by a military father since he was in diapers. Earl Woods, who served two tours in Vietnam, wanted his son to be just as prepared for pressure and opponents as he was for any golf shot. And Tiger has said that Earl’s psychological tests would take him “Right up to the breaking point.” You can argue with those methods, but you can’t argue with Woods’ on-course success as he won a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles (and counting), including 15 majors.

RELATED: A super-scientific top-10 ranking of Tiger’s all-time best celebrations

We’ve seen a kinder, gentler Tiger in recent years. Having kids, being humbled by scandals and being broken down by injuries will do that to you. But you can still count on one hand how many times Tiger has cried on a golf course. And you can still need only your index finger to point to the one time the tears flowed like no other.

On May 3, 2006, Earl Woods died at age 74, and Tiger Woods lost his father, mentor and best friend. Six weeks later, Tiger teed it up in his first tournament since his dad’s death, the 2006 U.S. Open, and shot a pair of 76s at Winged Foot to miss the cut at a major for the first time(!) in his professional career.

But in his next start the following month at the Western Open, Woods showed some of that trademark resiliency he had been taught by Earl, finishing T-2. And two weeks later, starting with the 2006 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool—the site of next week’s championship—Woods would embark on arguably the greatest stretch of his career.

RELATED: We rewatched the final round of the 2006 Open Championship

The performance at Hoylake turned out to be particularly notable, though, for a couple reasons. For one, Tiger used his driver only one time over four rounds. For another, his reaction to winning his 11th major was much different than any other. After tapping in on the 72nd hole for a two-shot victory over Chris DiMarco, Woods triumphantly raised his arms like we’ve seen countless times, but then—clearly, with Earl on his mind—he gave caddie Steve Williams a 15-second bear hug and started sobbing.

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Williams, who would be fired by Woods five years later, pointed to the heavens and did his best to console his boss. But Tiger continued to cry as the two made their way off the green:

Ross Kinnaird

“Stevie said to me as we were coming up the last, ‘this one is for dad’,” a then 30-year-old Woods said that day. “And then, after the putt, all these emotions just poured out of me. They have been locked in there.

“I just miss my dad so much. I wish he could have been here to witness this,” Woods added. “He enjoyed watching me grind out major wins, and this would have brought a smile to his face.”

Winning golfers cry all the time, but not this winning golfer. At least, not until he won major No. 1 without his dad.

That being said, we’ve seen more emotion from an elder Woods. Tiger said he held back tears when he ended his long winless drought at the 2018 Tour Championship, but he cried a bit after embracing his kids at the 2019 Masters (Who wasn’t crying at that point?). He also shed some tears as he missed the cut at last year’s Open Championship, which could be his final appearance at St. Andrews.

But again, nothing like the outburst we saw from Tiger following his victory at the 2006 Open Championship, which kicked off a historic seven-tournament winning streak on the PGA Tour, only trailing Byron Nelson’s 11 consecutive wins in 1945. Tiger let those emotions pour out on that 72nd hole and then immediately went back to beating the pants off everyone with the drier, intimidating eyes we’re more used to seeing. That would have brought a smile to Earl’s face as well.

David Cannon

RELATED: Our handy guide to all of Tiger Woods’ 82 career PGA Tour titles

• • •

Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilise both names in its coverage.

The post Open Championship 2023: A look back at the most emotional moment of Tiger Woods’ career appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story first ran ahead of the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, won by Rory McIlroy.

You remember the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool, right? The one where Tiger Woods hit one driver the entire week and cried more in one minute than he probably had in his entire life? But there was more to that memorable final round. We re-watched it and made some observations.

• Tiger Woods was AMAZING. We have to start with that. He was so good he had even Nick Faldo gushing with compliments:

“This has been a master class of tactitional golf. It’s really been fantastic to watch.”

Later, Faldo described Woods’ ball striking as “sheer perfection.” Woods didn’t hit a driver the final three days and still finished 18 under to win his third claret jug and 11th professional major.

• Paul Azinger also liked Woods’ conservative game plan. “Who knows, maybe Tiger Woods will change his strategy from now until the rest of time and rein it in a little bit.” Hmm. It didn’t exactly happen like that, but there were times with Woods applied prudence over aggression.

Stuart Franklin

• Of course, course conditions had something to do with Woods’ strategy. There are firm and fast golf courses and then there was Hoylake.

• Chris DiMarco played incredibly, duelling with Woods at a major for the second year in a row. He took Tiger to a playoff at the 2005 Masters, but losing by two to Tiger at the top of his game was just as impressive. We talk a lot about big names hurt by playing in the Tiger Woods era, but was anyone as singularly affected as DiMarco? Chris DiMarco, two-time major champion has a nice ring to it.

Warren Little

• On the other hand, Sergio Garcia, who was in the final pairing with Woods, played terribly. He shot a front-nine 39 (four over) to lose any chance of catching Tiger. It was the start of a series of unfortunate finishes at the Open for the Spaniard.

• When Woods was challenged, he played even better. DiMarco cut the lead to one, but Tiger made birdies on 14, 15, and 16. Game, set, match.

• Woods was relatively reserved in his reactions throughout the day. This is him holing a putt for eagle on No. 5. Ho-hum:

Andrew Redington

• To make up for his lack of celebrating, Tiger twirled his club on almost every shot. He gives his first really good one as he hits his approach shot on No. 2. Watch a compilation of his round here. You can count the non-perfect shots Woods hit on one hand:

• Speaking of fashion, Garcia looked preposterous dressed as a human banana.

Andrew Redington

• Not that Jim Furyk’s shirt was any better. Are those supposed to look like suspenders? Yeah, we’re making a similar face right now.

Stuart Franklin

• It looked weird seeing Adam Scott putting with a normal putter. We’ll spare you a picture because it wasn’t pretty.

• There was a delay on No. 18 due to protesters dumping purple paint on the green. Luckily, the tournament had all but been decided.

Ross Kinnaird

• And finally, there was the special moment of victory, where Woods—whose father, Earl, passed away two months before—shared an emotional embrace with caddie Steve Williams. It was all very moving, but you have to wonder: What do those two guys think when they see these images now?

STRINGER

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In addition to having his name etched on the claret jug and attaining the coolest title in the game, “champion golfer of the year,” the winner of next week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool will receive a check for a record $3 million from a total purse of $16.5 million. Both figures, announced by the R&A on Wednesday a week ahead of the major, represent 18 per cent increases from last year when the champion at St. Andrews, Cameron Smith, earned $2.5 million from a prize fund of $14 million.

“Our aim is to ensure the Open remains at the pinnacle of world golf and we have almost doubled the prize fund since 2016,” said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers in a statement. “While we are seeing substantial increases in prize money across the men’s professional game, we are fulfilling our wider obligation to the sport by elevating the AIG Women’s Open, strengthening pathways in the elite amateur game and encouraging more people around the world to play golf. We believe that getting this balance right is vital to the long-term future of the sport.”

Lower down next week’s leaderboard, those coming up short of first place won’t be doing too badly. Both second ($1.708 million) and third place ($1.095 million) will be paid seven-figure sums. The man in 31st place will see his bank balance boosted by $104,500. Those qualifying for the weekend by finishing inside the top 70 and ties after 36 holes will earn in excess of $35,000.

Even those who miss the cut aren’t forgotten. The leading 10 professional golfers and ties will be paid $12,000; next 20 and ties $10,000; and the remainder of professional golfers and ties $8,500.

All of which is in stark contrast to the early days of golf’s oldest major. The first three Opens (1860-1862) offered zero prize money. In 1863, the £10 pot was shared amongst the eight professionals in the 14-man field. By 1893 the total purse had leapt to £100. Steady rises saw the first £1,000 Open take place in 1946, a figure that increased ten-fold over the next 20 years. When Peter Thomson won his fifth Open at Royal Birkdale in 1965 he was paid £1,750, more than twice what he earned for his first victory in 1954.

By 1977 the total purse was £100,000. Then by 1993 it was £1,000,000, the year champion Greg Norman won £100,000. In 2011, the prize fund had risen to £5 million, a number that reached $10.25 million by 2017, when the R&A had changed its prize payment to American dollars. Only three years later, Collin Morikawa became the first Open champion to be paid $2 million when he won at Royal St. George’s.

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For the 11th time in the 163-year history of the Open Championship, golf’s oldest major will take place at Royal Birkdale in 2026, which is no surprise. Six years have already passed since Jordan Spieth won the most recent Open over the Southport links in the northwest of England.

And not since the first championship outside Scotland was held at Royal St. George’s in 1894 has the event been played outside England three years in succession. So, with Royal Troon (Scotland) in place for 2024 and Royal Portrush (Northern Ireland) set to host in 2025, the return to Birkdale for what will be the 154th Open was predictable.

“Royal Birkdale is a world-class championship venue and its outstanding links will once again provide the world’s best men’s professional golfers with a tough but fair test of their talents and capabilities as they compete for the claret jug,” said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers in a statement. “It has produced many memorable moments that are woven into the story of this historic championship, including a dramatic final round in 2017 when Jordan Spieth won for the first time. We look forward to another special occasion in three years and it will be fascinating to see which player will emerge to join a list of renowned champion golfers to have won at Royal Birkdale.”

The 154th Open will be played at Royal Birkdale in 2026.

See you soon… @royalbirkdale ? pic.twitter.com/dRG7hYhWUR

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 11, 2023

Indeed, Birkdale’s previous champions—six of the nine American—are an accomplished bunch, boasting as many as 37 major victories between them. In addition to Spieth, Peter Thomson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O’Meara and Padraig Harrington have all claimed the coveted title there. Of those, only Baker-Finch has not won multiple majors.

This year’s Open Championship is July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool.

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For a figure like Young Tom Morris, there’s always a threat that time will leave him a little colourless—nothing more than a name you vaguely recognize, but with all but the most prominent details (“he won some Open Championships, right?”) washed out with history. He didn’t live into his 80s like his father, Old Tom…in fact, he didn’t live past 24. When he died on Christmas Day in 1875, professional golf was still in its infancy. Over time, of course, at least a dozen legendary golfers have come and gone, the centre of power in global shifted across an ocean, and it’s no surprise that names like Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods are going to resonate far more with American fans.

But there’s something about Young Tom Morris that—when you fill in those colours—is both fascinating and heartbreaking. He was the greatest golfer of his time, a designation that includes his father, and despite his brief time in the spotlight, he completely transformed the world of golf and set the stage for the modern game. He was, in fact, the first true modern professional golfer, achieving a celebrity independent of his club, setting his own financial terms, and building up an impressive store of wealth considering the times and his own station in life. More than all that, he was a consummate winner.

Print Collector

When the details are plucked from the fog of history, Young Tom comes to life. In this week’s Local Knowledge podcast, we explore the man as he was, through his cockiness bordering on arrogance in the face of a sport dominated by wealthy gentlemen, to his incredible rise to the top at a shockingly young age, to the heartbreak of the fate that befell his wife and child and then, not long after, Young Tom himself. Compared to contemporary figures like Woods, source material on this original superstar is scant, and it’s a testament to his legend that despite the intervention of the decades, we can still see him with great clarity—golf’s tragic genius.

Listen to the Local Knowledge episode below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Turns out Tiger will play the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. Not Tiger Woods, but a German teen amateur who plays college golf at Arizona State. Tiger Christensen—along with Royal Liverpool member and DP World Tour pro Matthew Jordan, and Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt’s younger brother—were the standout stories Tuesday among 19 golfers who secured spots in the Open via 36-hole final qualifying from four sites.

Christensen, 19, birdied three of the final six holes at West Lancashire to lock up one of five Open Championship spots from a field that included major winners Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell. The West Lancashire site saw England’s Matt Wallace, who won the PGA Tour’s Punta Cana Championship earlier this year, take medalist honours at 11 under par (68-65). Wallace’s fellow Englishman Jordan and Kyle Barker were a shot further back at 10 under. Fitzpatrick joined Christensen in securing the last two spots at nine under.

Royal Liverpool, hosting its 13th Open Championship, took to Instagram to celebrate Jordan’s qualification. “He’s done it! Huge congratulations to Matty Jordan on securing a spot at his home Open here at #RLGCHoylake in a couple of weeks’ time, courtesy of a fantastic performance in Final Qualifying at @westlancsgc Lancs today,” the club wrote.

Five smiling faces. Five Open places.

See the final scores from @WestLancsGC here ? https://t.co/bSOJYCSbJZ pic.twitter.com/zqnzGsSLVE

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 4, 2023

“Playing in from of the home crowd was brilliant; I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like in two weeks’ time,” Jordan said after qualifying. “It was great playing with Sergio [Garcia] today; he brought more people along. I can’t wait to get there. See you at Hoylake.”

Alex Fitzpatrick, who walked inside the ropes when his older brother Matt won the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club at Brookline, secured a spot in his major debut. Matt took to Twitter to celebrate on what will be the 10-year anniversary of his Open Championship debut.

“10 years ago yesterday I qualified for The Open for the first time,” Fitzpatrick, who was low amateur at the 2013 Open at Muirfield, wrote on Twitter. “Today my brother does the same exact thing!! Couldn’t be prouder and can’t wait to play a major championship with him!”

At Royal Cinque Ports, in the English seaside town of Deal, South Africa’s Martin Rohwer and Beglium’s Thomas Detry shared the low 36-hole score at three under, while a shot back was the South African LIV Golf duo of Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace. Frenchman Antoine Rozner secured the last of five spots at two under.

Royal Porthcawl was dominated by Englishmen—LIV golfer Laurie Canter topped the leaderboard at eight under, while countrymen Brandon Thompson Robinson (four under) and Matthew Southgate (two under) joined Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond and Oliver Farr rounded out the five who got through.

The only Scottish site, Dundonald Links, offered four spots. Homegrown player Michael Stewart finished at seven under, followed by England’s Marco Penge (five under) in second. Australian Connor McKinney (three under) and Scotland’s Graeme Robertson clinched the third and fourth spots in a playoff.

Meanwhile at @DundonaldLinks, an epic play-off reached the fifth extra hole…

…before Graeme Robertson did this to qualify for The Open. pic.twitter.com/V0zwZBTMRd

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 4, 2023

“I putted beautifully this morning, hit the ball in play pretty much everywhere and holed a lot of putts,” Robinson said. “It was good fun out there. I hit a couple of loose shots this afternoon with the weather coming in for four or five holes but I battled through it.”

There were 21 LIV golfers who entered final qualifying. Among those who did tee it up, three progressed—Schwartzel, Grace and Canter. Garcia and McDowell were among the group who did not advance.

Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, shot 67 in his morning round at West Lancashire but shot 71 in the afternoon and missed out on a playoff by three shots. He had played 24 straight Opens, dating back to 1998 when he was an amateur. He has 10 top-10 finishes, including runner-up finishes in 2007 via a playoff loss to Padraig Harrington and 2014, where he tied Rickie Fowler, two shots behind Rory McIlroy.

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Seeking to play in his 25th consecutive Open Championship, Sergio Garcia will lead several members of the LIV Golf League in hoping to secure last-minute entry into the field at Royal Liverpool via 36-hole qualifying next week.

From major champions like Garcia, Graeme McDowell and Charl Schwartzel, to reserve players like Andy Ogletree and Wade Ormsby, 21 LIV golfers will play July 4 in Final Qualifying for the 151st Open at four sites. Four spots will be offered from each site.

In England, West Lancashire and Royal Cinque Ports are host venues while Royal Porthcawl in Wales and Dundonald Links in Scotland round out the quartet. Those 21 LIV players are competing in final qualifying due to their Official World Golf Ranking being outside the top 50, the threshold for earning an automatic spot into the field, and failing to qualify via any of the R&A’s 27 exemption criteria.

For LIV golfers, the Final Qualifying events falls on the Tuesday after LIV’s tournament at Valderrama Golf Club in Spain and just three days before the start of the league’s event at Centurion, outside London.

Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, has played in the Open every year going back to the 1998 edition at Royal Birkdale, where he qualified as the British Amateur champion. The 43-year-old enjoyed an impressive run at the championship featuring 10 top-10 results in a 15-year span from 2002. That included the 2007 Open at Carnoustie, when Garcia lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington, and another runner-up showing in 2014 to Rory McIlroy at Royal Liverpool.

Garcia, who was successful in progressing through 36-hole final qualifying for last month’s U.S. Open, will tee it up at West Lancashire alongside England’s Matthew Jordan, a DP World Tour player who is a member at Royal Liverpool, as well as European veteran Jamie Donaldson. 2010 U.S. Open winner McDowell also will play at West Lancashire.

At Porthcawl, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri, Laurie Canter, Matt Jones, and Cameron Tringale will make the three-hour drive from Centurion to Wales.

Leishman has played every Open since 2012 and posted three top-six finishes that included a playoff loss to Zach Johnson at the 2015 edition at St. Andrews.

“If 36-hole qualifying is what I have to do get into the Open, then I’m happy to do it,” Leishman said. “I hadn’t played final qualifiers for a while [until last month’s U.S. Open], but this works in conveniently only a couple hours from where we’re playing near London and it’s when I’d normally be playing a practice round. I feel I’ve got some really good play left in me at the majors.”

South Africa’s Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, headlines seven LIV players at Royal Cinque Ports.

The LIV golfers who are exempt for The Open are Abraham Ancer, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuzien, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Richard Bland, Talor Gooch and Thomas Pieters.

Among the other noteworthy tour pros taking part in Final Qualifying are Alex Fitzpatrick, the younger brother of U.S. Open winner Matt, as well as Aaron Wise, and Matt Wallace (West Lancashire). At Dundonald, notable pros include Matt Kuchar, Mackenzie Hughes, Aaron Rai and club pro Michael Block, who tied 15th at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

You will be able to follow scores for the Open’s final qualifying here on Tuesday.

LIV PLAYERS AT FINAL QUALIFYING FOR THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

West Lancashire: Graeme McDowell, Sergio García, Mito Pereira, Scott Vincent

Royal Cinque Ports: Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel, Brendan Steele, David Puig, Dean Burmester, Wade Ormsby, Kieran Vincent

Dundonald Links: Carlos Ortiz, Peter Uihlein, Jason Kokrak, Sebastian Muñoz, Andy Ogletree

Royal Porthcawl: Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri, Laurie Canter, Matt Jones, and Cameron Tringale

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