As you might expect, all three had nothing but good things to say about the Italian Job the European team pulled off last week. By way of example, Fitzpatrick was especially enthusiastic. During his press conference, the former US Open winner used the word “special” five times. “Amazing” came up twice. There were four “greats.” But, disappointingly perhaps, only one “fantastic” and a lone “surreal.”

Fleetwood kept that level of euphoria going, maybe even more so. The man who scored the clinching point on Sunday afternoon was his usual eloquent self during his presser, but the temptation to enthuse was never far away. The score for the 30-year-old Englishman came out at five “specials,” an amazing 11 “amazings,” four “greats” and, like Fitzpatrick, one “surreal.”

As for MacIntyre, the young Scot can perhaps be forgiven the endearing level of giddiness he brought to the proceedings. Unbeaten in his three matches in Italy, the Ryder Cup rookie has every right to look back on his debut with nothing but unadulterated pleasure. His vocabulary varied a little from his older teammates, but the message was the same. For the record, there were two “greats,” three “brilliants,” one “incredible” and seven “dreams.”

Still, beyond the inevitable hyperbole, each player was instantly able to identify particular moments of individual pleasure amid the emphasis on team play that is the essence of the Ryder Cup. Fitzpatrick was especially touched by something his fourball partner, Rory McIlroy, said to him in the immediate aftermath of the pair’s first day 5&3 fourball victory over Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele. In his third Ryder Cup, this was Fitzpatrick’s first point.

“The best moment of the week for me was winning my first point with Rory,” he said. “We hugged at the end and said: ‘Well done.’ Then he told me that he was glad that it was with him that I got that first point. For me, that was so special. Especially as I had played so well. For the first seven holes I didn’t miss a shot.”

That is not to say Fitzpatrick was 100 per cent satisfied with his own performance. Although at pains to emphasise that winning as a team trumps all, the 29-year-old Englishman admitted to mixed feelings when it came to his overall input to the common cause. Advice from a fellow Yorkshireman, England Test cricketer, Joe Root, helped.

Robert MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood pose for a photograph on the first tee in front of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews clubhouse prior to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. David Cannon

“It’s a weird feeling, being part of a team and not necessarily feeling like you contribute,” Fitzpatrick said. “I look back at my last two Ryder Cups. I didn’t contribute, but we lost. I can accept that more than last week when it was almost like you can’t celebrate as much because you’ve not done as much. But Joe gave me some great advice. You have to understand it’s about the team. I know it’s definitely not about myself, it’s about us as a team and that’s why we do so well. But it was interesting emotionally for me. It was obviously disappointing to not do better for myself, but obviously absolutely delighted to win.”

Unsurprisingly, Fleetwood had no hesitation in identifying the highlight of his week. When you are fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to score the match-clinching point, anything else has to be almost irrelevant.

“All that I was thinking at the time was just what an amazing opportunity it was,” he said. “You practise your whole life and all of a sudden, me, Tommy Fleetwood from Southport is there with one good shot [from the 16th tee] to win the Ryder Cup. I still can’t believe it went straight to be honest. But I was very happy when I looked up and saw where the ball was heading. I couldn’t really see where the ball landed. The sun shines at you, so all you have to do is wait for what the noise is going to be in the crowd. It was on the green and I was like: ‘Yeah, that will do.’”

As for MacIntyre, the Scot gave much credit to the steady improvement he saw in his own performance to his fourball partner, Justin Rose. Over the three games from which he emerged unbeaten, MacIntyre went from pretty awful to acceptable to eventually playing with some aplomb.

“Right from the first tee shot on the Friday, Justin saw I was nervous,” MacIntyre said. “I was almost crying walking off the range. But when we had done all the [pre-match] pictures and all that, he put his arm around me. ‘Everything is going to be all right. This will be over in two-and-a-half minutes,’ he said. He was brilliant. He’s so experienced. He kept me calm. He trusted me. He believed in me. Even though I was terrible that day.

“Then Saturday, I was more solid. I was never out of a hole. I was never making a disaster. I was almost allowing him to be more aggressive because he was playing so good. I stood on 13th green and he was trying to help me read the putt. I was like: ‘Justin, it’s all right. I got this one.’ And once I holed that, he put his arm around me and was like, that’s what it’s all about. He was incredible the whole week.”

Indeed. But every member of the European team was other things, too. Special, amazing, great, fantastic, surreal, brilliant and incredible all come immediately to minds.

Main image: Andrew Redington

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Fitzpatrick qualified alongside Hatton and Hovland on the World Points List following his tied third finish in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland. The 2022 U.S. Open champion will play in the Ryder Cup for the third time at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, from September 29 – October 1, 2023, adding a home appearance to his previous outings in the United States in 2016 and 2021.

Scotsman MacIntyre will make his debut in the biennial contest, qualifying via the European Points List alongside McIlroy and Rahm. He will tee it up at Marco Simone as part of Team Europe one year on from securing his second DP World Tour title at the Rome venue.

Captain Donald said: “There are many major milestones in every Ryder Cup journey but there is no question that finalising the automatic qualifiers for Team Europe is most definitely one of them.

“These six players have been standout performers throughout the qualification period and I am delighted to welcome each and every one of them officially to the 2023 team.”

McIlroy and Rahm were the first players to book their places for the first Ryder Cup to be played in Italy, with four-time Major winner and World Number Two McIlroy arriving for his seventh consecutive Ryder Cup appearance as the most experienced of the European qualifiers.

The Northern Irishman has been part of every edition of golf’s greatest team contest since his debut in 2010 – and has been on the winning side four times – wrapping up his latest appearance with the help of Rolex Series victories in Dubai and Scotland.

World Number Three Rahm is set to make his third appearance for Team Europe at Marco Simone, in the year in which he secured his second Major victory at Augusta National in April.

The Spaniard was part of Thomas Bjørn’s victorious team at Le Golf National in 2018, and produced a standout performance for Europe in Whistling Straits three years later, contributing 3.5 points from five matches.

FedEx Cup Champion Hovland was the next to secure his place in Captain Donald’s side, and the 25-year-old is set for a home appearance after making history as the first Norwegian to play in the Ryder Cup two years ago.

Hatton became the final player to wrap up a spot before this week’s final qualification event in Switzerland. The Englishman will make his third successive appearance and will be aiming for a second victory on home soil after making his debut in Paris in 2018.

Donald will complete his 12-player team when he announces his six Captain’s Picks at 2pm (BST) on Monday September 4.

The Captain’s Picks Show will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, Golf Channel in the US and on Ryder Cup Europe’s platforms worldwide.

The post Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre complete six automatic Team Europe qualifiers appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The final automatic spot on Luke Donald’s European team for the Ryder Cup showdown with the United States will come down to the final qualifying event — this weeks’ Omega European Masters ‚ with six players still in the running.

After finishing T-4 fourth place at the Czech Masters on Sunday, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre holds a slender lead in the European Points List, narrowly increasing his lead over closest challenger Yannik Paul.

The Scot birdied his final hole to finish his week on 17-under, gaining 85.42 points in the Czech Republic to increase his total on the European Points List to 1828.99.

His top five at Albatross Golf Resort also helped to increase his advantage over Yannik Paul, who began his week just 90.67 points behind MacIntyre and finished one behind him in 10th place. It means Paul gained 50 points to up his tally to 1702.9, which leaves him 126.09 points adrift of the man who displaced him in the automatic spot with one week to go.

MacIntyre and Paul are two of six players in this week’s field that can end the week in Donald’s line-up. They all have necessary scenarios to make that happen, but Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, Rasmus Hojgaard and Adrian Otaegui all have a mathematical chance of claiming that third and final place.

They will all tee up at Crans-sur-Sierre on Thursday knowing that the fate of their Ryder Cup place is in their hands, whether that is doing enough to qualify, or enough to impress Donald in the last event of the qualifying period.

Tommy Fleetwood, who is currently occupying the third spot on the World’s Points List, could have also qualified with a win but is not competing in Switzerland this week.

Scenarios: What each player needs to do to win

• MacIntyre could still be caught even if he finishes second, so needs to win to absolutely guarantee his place, but only a top-three finish from fellow contenders will threaten his position.
• Paul will qualifies if he wins. He would need to finish at least tied for third with two others, or better, to have a chance.
• Meronk needs to finish in a tie for second with just one player or better to have a chance
• Perez needs to finish in second place alone, or to win to have a chance
• Hojgaard needs to win to have a chance
• Otaegui needs to win to have a chance

European Points List
Player Points
Rory McIlroy (Q) 4033.5
Jon Rahm (Q) 3417.23
Robert MacIntyre 1828.99
Yannik Paul 1702.9
Adrian Meronk 1620.59
Victor Perez 1571.03
Tommy Fleetwood 1534.37
Rasmus Hojgaard 1435.51
Adrian Otaegui 1435.51
Shane Lowry 1290.23

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GULLANE, Scotland — It was quite a moment and quite a shot, one Robert MacIntyre will surely remember forever, no matter what the 26-year-old Scot goes on to achieve in his career. And it was, no matter the pureness of the strike, or how well he coped in a time of great excitement and stress, a lesson in how to take full advantage of a huge slice of good fortune.

The story goes like this.

Standing on the Renaissance Club’s 18th tee, MacIntyre was five under par for the final day of the Genesis Scottish Open, 13 under par for the week and tied for the lead with a guy named Rory McIlroy. MacIntyre’s drive was a poor one, badly sliced by the lefty into what looked like heavy rough well left of the fairway. So far, so not so good.

It was here, however, that MacIntyre got his break, one the poor quality of his tee shot hardly deserved. But no matter. Instead of the expected heave-ho back to the short grass, the lad from Oban was presented with a nice lie on a conveniently located pathway through the rough. And then, from 213 yards, he struck a 3-wood to inside four feet from the cup.

One of the top shots of the year!

Scotland's @Robert1Lefty just stuck it from 213 yards to 3 feet on the 72nd hole @ScottishOpen! pic.twitter.com/fVk7DWQbDP

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 16, 2023

“I changed clubs because I thought my rescue club couldn’t get there,” he said. “I end up slicing my 3-wood in there to take some distance off and it came out absolutely perfect. Yes, I hit a poor tee shot, but that has to be one of the best shots I’ve ever hit in my life.”

This angle of @Robert1Lefty's incredible shot ?

What a moment for Scotland's own on the 72nd hole @ScottishOpen ??????? pic.twitter.com/c7tgwHjIkn

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 16, 2023

The ensuing birdie—only the second of the day on a 483-yard par-4 averaging 4.63—was a mere formality. MacIntyre, who left the green in tears, was around in 64, a magnificent effort in conditions less than ideal. And one playing partner David Lingmerth was moved to describe as “one of the best I’ve ever witnessed.”

Still, enough to ensure victory? As things turned out, it wasn’t. But only eventually. And only because of McIlroy’s brilliance elsewhere. So, although MacIntyre was clearly disappointed at the outcome, pushing the man many feel is the best player in the world into making two late birdies to secure victory remains something to be proud of.

“I’m delighted with the way I played,” was MacIntyre’s immediate verdict. “But this is a sore one to take right now. It’s a dream for any Scotsman to win the Scottish Open. I used to watch this event when it was played at Loch Lomond. But it just wasn’t to be. I have to take my hat off to Rory. What a finish. He’s probably the best in the world, so when he needs to produce he knows that to do. And he did it today.”

While fulsome in his praise of McIlroy, MacIntyre also has much to be proud of. This performance comes at the end of bleak few months, ever since he picked up the Italian Open title last September. Having made his way into the world’s top 50 after finishing T-12 in the 2022 Masters, the 26-year-old shinty enthusiast has slithered down the rankings. This week, he arrived as the 104th-best player on the planet. But still not lacking self-confidence.

“I haven’t proved much to myself this week,” he continued. “I know what I can and can’t do. I think I can play against anyone when my game is on. And this shows I’m there or thereabouts.”

Going forward, this result will make MacIntyre a sound each-way bet for next week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. He is clearly something of an expert when it comes to links golf, having finished T-6 in the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush. Then there is the Ryder Cup. Before this week, no one was pitching him to be the first Scot to play in the biennial contest since Stephen Gallacher in 2014 at Gleneagles. But things change quickly in golf. All it takes is a wee bit of luck and lot of talent.

The post ‘One of the best shots of my life’: Robert MacIntyre didn’t win the Scottish Open, but did claim this incredible memory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 26-year-old golfer showed off an impressive tennis serve. One that he wanted fellow Scottish athlete Andy Murray to see:

Me after one visit to @Wimbledon @andy_murray ?? pic.twitter.com/oNTCBtmwg0

— Robert MacIntyre (@robert1lefty) July 11, 2023

Look at him just painting that out-wide corner. We’re not sure if the two-time Wimbledon winner will be impressed, but we are, Robert. And how about the fact that MacIntyre, a lefty on the course, is a righty on the court?

Anyway, as you can see by his caption, MacIntyre was inspired by a recent trip to the All England Club, which he posted about last week:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @robertmacintyre

Not sure he got the same celeb treatment as Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and their wives, but it looks like he had a nice time. And now it looks like he’s looking for a match. He just might want to start with someone slightly easier than Andy Murray.

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The trio will be part of a world-class field at the Renaissance Club in East Lothian, including defending champion Xander Schauffele and major winners Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Thomas.

Scheffler, who defends his WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play title this week, has been in imperious form since claiming his first PGA Tour win in February 2022. That victory at the WM Phoenix Open ignited a run of four wins in six starts, including his maiden Major title at The Masters Tournament, and which led to his first ascent to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.

The 26-year-old has started 2023 in the same vein, warming up for his return to Augusta National by successfully defending his WM Phoenix Open title and winning The Players Championship, joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win The Masters and The Players within a 12-month span.

Scheffler, who is teeing it up at the Genesis Scottish Open for the third consecutive season, said: “I’ve enjoyed having the Genesis Scottish Open on my schedule over the past few years and I’m looking forward to getting back to the Renaissance Club again.

“It’s a fun golf course to play, and I really like the style of golf it requires of you. I feel like it helps with preparation going into The Open the following week too, getting a feel for the style of golf and also playing in a big event with such a strong field and supportive fans.”

Justin Rose. Getty Images

Rose is aiming for a second victory in Scotland’s National Open, following his 2014 triumph. His two-shot win at Royal Aberdeen meant back-to-back titles for the first time in his career after his victory at the Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour two weeks prior.

The Englishman has enjoyed an impressive 2023 season, clinching his 11th PGA Tour win and his first worldwide title in four years with a three-shot victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, moving back inside the world’s top 50 and into contention for a sixth Ryder Cup appearance.

The 2013 US Open champion and 2016 Olympic gold medal winner said: “The win in 2014 was part of a special run in my career, and it’s always a pleasure to come back to the Genesis Scottish Open.

“The Scottish fans are knowledgeable and appreciative of good golf, and they add so much to what is already a huge event. My game is in a great place just now and I look forward to trying to lift the trophy for a second time this summer.”

Robert MacIntyre. Warren Little

MacIntyre will once again lead the Scottish charge, with the 26-year-old making his fifth consecutive appearance in his home open this summer. The Oban native has quickly established himself as Scotland’s No. 1 male player since being named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 2019, going on to win two DP World Tour titles.

The last of those victories, in the 2022 Italian Open, came at Marco Simone Golf Club, the venue for this year’s Ryder Cup.

MacIntyre, who will be vying to become the first Scot to win the event since Colin Montgomerie in 1999, said: “There is no better feeling than playing in front of your home crowds, and I can’t wait for the Genesis Scottish Open to come around again this season.

“It’s always been a huge event, and from becoming part of the Rolex Series to being co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour, it has just become bigger and better every year. It’s always a highlight of my summer and I look forward to trying to get my hands on that trophy in what is a massive year.”

The post Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre sign up for Genesis Scottish Open alongside Schauffele, Fitzpatrick and Thomas appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The end result, then, seemed fairly clear. One of those high-profile guys would surely follow the likes of Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Billy Casper, Tony Jacklin, Peter Thomson, Francesco Molinari, Sandy Lyle and Henry Cotton — major champions all — in etching his name onto the historic trophy. Right?

Wrong.

While no one did beat Fitzpatrick’s 72-hole total of 14-under 270, the Englishman didn’t win. Instead, it was Robert MacIntyre claiming the historic title and the biggest share (€510,000) of the €3 million prize money payout after making a birdie 4 on the par-5 18th, the first extra hole of their sudden-death playoff, to beat Fitzpatrick.

En route to what is his second DP World Tour victory — but easily the most significant — the 26-year-old Scot made 11 birdies over the course of an endlessly eventful final day. Alongside a host of challengers that included Frenchman Victor Perez (third), Australian Lucas Herbert (T-5) and Englishman Aaron Rai (T-5) as well as McIlroy (fourth), Fitzpatrick and MacIntyre filled the gap between expectation and realisation with excitement, drama and plot-twists that augur well for next year’s Ryder Cup between Europe and the United States.

In what is hopefully a prelude to the sort of entertainment we will experience during the transatlantic tussle 12 months from now, a little bit of everything transpired less than 12 miles from the centre of Rome. Just outside the ‘Eternal City’, the ever-uncertain outcome perfectly fit the game of golf’s inherent randomness — and underlined the notion that stroke-play only becomes truly interesting when it morphs into match play.

Confirming that theme, MacIntyre’s final-round numbers over the 7,268-yard layout were startling. In transforming a generally disappointing year that had seen him “double” his World Ranking from 55th to 110th, the lefty had twice as many birdies (10) while shooting a closing 64 as he did pars. That’s the sort of golf that wins tournaments and, perhaps just as significantly, matches.

That last part is nothing new for MacIntyre, of course. Before turning professional, the lad from Oban on Scotland’s west coast won the 2015 Scottish Amateur and was a finalist at the 2016 British Amateur at Royal Porthcawl. During the 2017 Walker Cup at the Los Angeles Country Club, he emerged unbeaten from two singles matches with now three-time PGA Tour winner, Cameron Champ. When it comes to head-to-head play, Macintyre has a pedigree.

“This victory means everything,” he said. “I was down-and-out about two or three months ago. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know where to go. But I spoke to the right people and started working with [swing coach] Simon Shanks. I’ve hit two perfect shots into the last hole there. So much hard work has gone into this. My approach play has gone up a notch. And that showed today.”

That last part was certainly in evidence during MacIntyre’s outward 29. None of the four birdies he made in five holes involved holing a putt more than two feet long.

“I felt so in control of my ball this week, with my wedges and my long irons … and even the hybrid that only came into the bag last week,” he admitted.

Indeed, it was ball-striking of the highest order, even if there were understandable stumbles to follow before victory was clinched. Fitzpatrick’s eagle-birdie burst on the 11th and 12th, combined with the eventual champion’s brace of bogeys on the 14th and 15th meant there was never a dip in the interest level. (Fitzpatrick would finish with a 67 that included a birdie on the 18th to force extra holes.) McIlroy, too, was a contender after fighting back from an opening double bogey, but only until a badly pushed tee shot at the drivable par-4 16th found water and led to a momentum-killing dropped stroke before finishing with a 68.

“I definitely heard the roars from behind,” said MacIntyre, who will rise from 73rd to 15th on the DP World Tour standings. “I hit a terrible shot on the 15th, which put my back against the wall. But I dug in. I’ve got a dogged attitude. I never give up. When I get punched, I punch back. The birdies coming in were massive and thankfully I got one more in the playoff.”

Inevitably, the champion’s mind turned to what might lie ahead of him and his European mates 12 months from now.

“My main goal, my only goal for the next year, is to make the Ryder Cup team,” Macintyre said. “So I’ve done this on the right golf course. At the start of this week, I didn’t think this was going to be the one, not with the style of play needed on this course and the way I was playing. But we worked on a few things Tuesday and Wednesday.”

And by Sunday he had them all just about right.

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The Scotsman defeated US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off to capture his second DP World Tour title.

MacIntyre started the final day three strokes off the pace, but raced into contention as he cleared the front nine of next year’s Ryder Cup host venue in six-under par. The 26-year-old carded four birdies and three bogeys on the back nine, signing for a seven-under 64 as he set the clubhouse target at 14-under.

A nervous wait followed as Fitzpatrick was also 14-under with two to play but dropped a shot on the par three 17th. Frenchman Victor Perez then missed the opportunity to draw level with MacIntyre on 14-under as a short-range birdie putt on the 18th slipped past the hole, settling for third place in Rome.

Fitzpatrick, who was bidding for his ninth DP World Tour title, recovered with a birdie on the 18th to force extra holes, signing for a four-under par 67.

After finding trouble with his drive and then subsequent recovery shot, Fitzpatrick made a par on the first sudden death hole. MacIntyre, on the other hand, was just off the green with his second shot, hit it close with his third and then rolled in a birdie putt from three feet for victory.

The win is MacIntyre’s first in regulation strokeplay, having won his maiden DP World Tour title at the 2020 Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown – winning the title in a final-day shoot-out format.

DP World Tour Rankings leader Rory McIlroy finished fourth on 12-under, while Lucas Herbert and Aaron Rai shared fifth on 11-under.

“Unbelievable,” said MacIntyre. “I didn’t think it was going to come again. I’ve struggled the last year and just felt like my game wasn’t quite there. I made a lot of changes the last three months and in my iron play today, this week, has been absolutely brilliant and thankfully got over the line at the end.

“I thought if I get through the front nine in somewhat par we can kind of make a move after that. When I got off to such a hot start, was just thinking, keep pushing, one shot at a time and stay aggressive. Obviously I dropped on 14 and 15 was a terrible bogey. I play aggressively, so got no option but for me to play at pins and stay aggressive and thankfully it paid off this week.

“I started doubting myself. The (Cyprus) Showdown was like today, it was just a shoot-out. But a 72-hole golf tournament, standing over the putt in the playoff, I’m shaking like a leaf thinking how am I going to get the ball in the hole. I just trusted everything that I’ve been working on, everything I do, it’s just one of them things and it went my way this week.

“We are well away from The Ryder Cup obviously, and you know what…might as well say it: it’s my number one priority. I was close last time, and I went to try to get my PGA Tour card, didn’t work out, both sides. But this is what I want. This is my only goal for the season is to make that Ryder Cup Team. I think I’ve made a good start.”

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Noted fisherman Cameron Smith reeled in Rory McIlroy for the biggest catch of his life, delivering a final round for the ages with a 64 at the Old Course. There is so, so much to discuss. Here are our parting thoughts from the 150th Open Championship.

1. We start, as always, with the winner. Cameron Smith was not the fan favourite on Sunday, but he has the ideal temperament to win a major championship as the non-fan favourite. The entire British island, and the Irish one west of it, did everything in its power to will Rory McIlroy to victory. Smith hardly seemed to notice. He is as easygoing as they come, seemingly impervious to noise or narrative. As he strutted through the back-nine in just 30 shots late on Sunday afternoon, he carried himself like a chill-as-hell Queenslander out for a twilight round on the links. As the Aussies say: “No dramas, mate.”

Rory McIlroy. Warren Little

2. On Saturday evening, with the Claret Jug firmly in sight, Rory McIlroy spoke of wanting to stay in his own bubble during what he knew would be a mentally taxing final round. His reasoning: If I interact with the crowd too much, I’ll allow myself to think about what a victory would look and feel like, and that’s an express route to failure. I certainly understand the sentiment — wanting to keep a layer of emotional insulation between your golf game and everything else — but I found it a particularly interesting comment given an interaction I had with him early in the week.
It was Thursday morning, and McIlroy had just finished the par-4 fourth when his group discovered the threesome ahead still on the tee of the par-5 fifth. He, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele stopped between the two holes to watch the group behind them finish out. (It was a theme for the first two days, particularly so on Thursday, when afternoon rounds dragged longer than six hours.) Once the group ahead had hit, Rory and Co moseyed on over to the tee, where I happened to be sitting. McIlroy, needing to kill some time, came over for a chat. He wanted to know what the ‘D’ logo on my hat was. A personal brand? No, of course not. It’s an alternate logo for Deepdale Golf Club. He’d played there. He remembered the head pro. We discussed the course and its elite membership. Then we talked about hoodies. He liked mine, and I asked if he’d ever played in one. He’d considered it, but ultimately decided the hood itself was a bit too large and might interfere with his swing. Then he turned around to hit.
McIlroy shot 66 that day, and he clearly wasn’t in his own bubble. At least not in that moment. I don’t pretend to know what kind of attitude he should have down the stretch — he’s won four majors, I’ve won zero — and Thursday morning and Sunday afternoon are not the same proposition. But maybe that’s part of the problem? That he seems to play his best golf when he’s loose, and it’s virtually impossible to be loose with three holes left at the Old Course? Or maybe it was just an ice-cold putter. (Yeah, probably that.) By the way, per the oracle Justin Ray: McIlroy is the first player on record to start Sunday with at least a share of the lead, hit every green in regulation and lose. He also hit it in just one bunker all week and holed out from it for eagle. He simply could not hole a putt when he needed to all weekend.

Cameron Young. Andrew Redington

3. Cameron Young now has five runner-up finishes in a highly impressive rookie season. He’s not satisfied. At all. Just days before heading overseas for the Scottish double, Young called his caddie Scott McKean to have the conversation every caddie fears. Making that call even tougher: McKean and Young are best friends. Like, best-man-in-wedding level boys. They became tight at Wake Forest, and McKean was on the bag for Young’s year on the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as the other four runners-up. Young felt it was in his best interest to have a veteran caddie on the bag; he didn’t love that each event was both his and his looper’s first time seeing a golf course. And so he pulled off the band-aid.
“I kind of, as much as I’ve had a solid year, there’s been a couple things missing, I think,” Young said Thursday. “I haven’t won anything, and that was just something that could change to kind of exhaust all my options to see what I could do better. That was just something that we as a team decided was probably best for my golf.”
Business comes first, and elite athletes have to make some brutal choices.

4: On the Tiger front … so, now what? Woods actually looked better physically at the Open than he did at either Augusta National or Southern Hills. The limp was less pronounced, and he was not at all far behind Matt Fitzpatrick or Max Homa off the tee. Which, of course, makes sense — the Old Course is dead flat, and he had another two months to strengthen his leg. But his game was powerfully rusty. He looked great in practice, striped it on the range, then couldn’t seem to get the ball into the hole once the scorecard was in his back pocket. The issue is that he simply cannot play enough events to develop competitive sharpness. When he came back from his back fusion, he spoke of being pain-free. He is never, ever pain-free anymore. He played 19 events in 2018 and five more in 2019 before his Masters victory. He’d proven himself a winner on the PGA Tour and a consistent contender in majors before finally cross the line. Even Woods cannot expect to turn up a few times a year, at the hardest courses, against the best fields, and snap back into championship-level form.
But he also doesn’t even seem to be considering playing more. After his 75 on Friday, he said he had zero events planned, that all he wanted to do this year was play in these three majors. He was then asked if he might try to play more events next year with an eye toward tightening his game before the majors.
“I understand all that. I understand being more battle hardened, but it’s hard just to walk and play 18 holes,” Woods said. “People have no idea what I have to go through and the hours of the work on the body, pre and post, each and every single day to do what I just did. That’s what people don’t understand. They don’t see. And then you think about playing more events on top of that, it’s hard enough just to do what I did.”
There is a distinct possibility, perhaps even probability, that this is the new normal for Woods — majors, and majors only. We simply don’t know if it’s even possible for his leg to get strong enough to sustain playing, say, 10 events a year, and we do know that he’d never in a million years ask for a cart. We know better than to count him out, but you do wonder how he would feel if he’s nowhere near contention in the majors next year. He’s said countless times that he does not have any interest in being a ceremonial golfer, but he’s also addicted to competition and seems his happiest inside the ropes, trading barbs with the boys. His future is a giant question mark.

5. This brought the close of an enchanting fortnight in Scotland, one in which we saw PGA Tour players, often (fairly) caricatured as golfing robots, morph into golf nerds like the rest of us. Max Homa couldn’t get enough, sneaking out for a twilight 18 at North Berwick after making the cut at the Scottish Open. On Wednesday evening of Open week, a few other media types came through with a last-minute invite to play Elie Golf House Club, an impossibly charming layout about 25 minutes due south of St Andrews. Andy Johnson, founder of The Fried Egg, described it as one of those rounds that fills up the tank. Spot-on. After watching the pros devise a plan of action for picking apart the Old Course, we were all itching for a crack at a links ourselves, and we got one. We teed off around 7pm and finished, just barely, in near-darkness. We shared a cab ride back and told jokes, debated our favourite holes and marvelled at the experience we’d just shared. In what other sport is there such a direct link between the best players in the world and the amateurs? This was like a bunch of American football journalists, adrenalin pumping after covering a Super Bowl practice, running Oklahoma drills. Or a couple basketball journalists, after watching a particularly fiery Final Four. Maybe that happens, but I don’t think so. Our connection to this game runs so deep because we play this game. Here’s to hoping that never changes.

6. Viktor Hovland just didn’t hit it well enough to win, so it’s sort of a moot point, but I can’t wrap my head around how conservatively he played on Sunday. The Norwegian’s driver is among his chief weapons, and even after falling behind early he opted to lay back with a driving iron a number of times. The most egregious example came on the par-4 ninth, one of the drivable holes at the Old Course that beg for a birdie. It’s not a particularly hard decision — virtually everyone in the field hit driver up by the green, and there were miles of turf right to welcome a block. It’s not a particularly tight tee shot, but Hovland pulled driving iron and did not give himself a good look at birdie. The only explanation: He just didn’t feel comfortable hitting one of the two most important clubs in the bag at St Andrews. (The other, of course, being the putter). It didn’t exactly scream confidence.

Viktor Hovland. Warren Little

7. Guys spent more time at St Andrews in the lead-up to the event than you’ll ever see at any other major. Typically, by Wednesday afternoon, the golf course is empty and the range is populated only by those desperate strugglers searching for a last-minute miracle. This week, the links and practice facilities were buzzing until about 7pm. Part of that was an attempt to familiarise themselves with the humps and bumps, but it was also because they wanted to milk every last minute out of a week they’ll tell their grandchildren about. It carried over into the tournament itself as I can’t recall seeing so many fist-pumps before noon on Thursday. Of course, guys want to be in contention at any major, but this week, they seemed almost desperate to get into the mix and feel the rush of chasing a title at the Old Course.

8. The way the Old Course played this week, springy and bouncy and brown, brought an interesting word to mind: luck. What role does luck have in this game? In a tournament that, by its very nature, should identify the best golfer of the week?
Opinions varied. Widely. On the whole, old-timey writers (and players) believe luck has always been baked into the fabric of this sport. It’s not supposed to be fair. Take Tiger Woods’ first hole of the tournament, for example. He flushed a long iron exactly where he was looking, and it finished in a fresh and sandy divot. Is that … is that good? Should that happen? In this case, I lean on the side of yes: this is a sport that’s played outside. Luck of the draw with tee times and conditions have always factored into determining who wins. If it was all supposed to be perfectly fair, why don’t we just give each player a piece of AstroTurf to carry around and hit off of? Why not just have competitions inside a simulator?
But not all luck is the same — there is luck of the draw and rub of the green, and then there’s having to hit and simply hope for the best. According to US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, there was way too much of that going on this week.
“I’m not really a fan,” Fitzpatrick said of the course and the set-up this week after his Saturday round. “It’s difficult to … I just feel like sometimes … I’ve heard it on commentary all week. You can hit good shots and get bad bounces. And you can hit bad shots and get good bounces. Like I say, I felt, for the first seven holes, I didn’t really miss a shot. I’m walking off seventh green and I’m plus-1. It’s tough to take. It’s tough to stay patient. I hit the green on 12, and I just got no putt. It’s tucked on top of a hill, and I hit what I thought was a good putt and it comes to 12 feet. There’s a lot of stuff like that that’s been done, obviously, to protect it from going lower, I guess … 16, for me, is an example of a hole where I’ve just tried to make par all week, just bang it into the long rough, wedge it up on the green, and get out with a par.”

Matt Fitzpatrick. R&A

Anecdotally, it did seem like most birdies this week were made by guys hitting it up by the green in one less than regulation — so, on their drive on a par 4, or in two on a par 5 — hoping their ball ended up in a good spot and getting up and down. There were so many driver-putters this week, and wedge/short-iron play was borderline irrelevant. When asked the two most important parts of your game you need firing to have success out here, Kevin Kisner didn’t have to think twice: Driving and lag putting. That’s different from the other major championship tests we’ve seen in recent years, where iron play is critical. As far as identifying the best players, it’s hard to argue with the quality of the leaderboard, and the unpredictable nature of the Old Course produced some highly entertaining viewing, but Fitzpatrick has a point. Justin Thomas, however, saw things differently. Like, direct opposite:
“The good part about this week is with the little amount of wind is they’ve been able to set some challenging pins,” Thomas said. And when the greens are rolling a 9 or a 10, you can do that. It’s not unfair, it’s just difficult. I thought the R&A did an unbelievable job setting up the course this week. ”
The lesson here: in any context, you’re never going to please 156 golfers.

9. For such an iconic venue, the opening tee shot at St Andrews is among the more underwhelming ones — a long iron, or a hybrid, or a fairway wood into perhaps the widest fairway in championship golf. There’s a certain charm in the first-tee introductions — “On the tee, from the USA, Tiger Woods!” — and the fans welcome each player to the tee with warm applause. Then, the player hits his shot and no one really knows exactly what to do, because literally all of them find the fairway. Contrast that with the first tee shot at Augusta, with that cavernous bunker down the right begging for a ball, trees right of it and a forest down the left. That shot can set the tone for a round; the first tee shot at the Old Course is essentially just a formality.

10. On the flip side, the first tee gave players an opportunity to show off their stingers. Yes, it was a stinger parade, with guys wanting to flight a long iron below the wind and have it roll for days. The nastiest one I saw this week — and by that I just mean, the lowest — and thus the current King of the Stinger: Joaquin Niemann. Max Homa gets the silver, Tommy Fleetwood the bronze.

11. We want athletes to be real with us, to avoid press conference mad-libs and provide a window into their true feelings. Of course, doing so might not be in their best interest — verbalising insecurities only makes them more real, and it’s not a coincidence that so many guys answer questions the same exact way. In their minds, there is little upside in spilling the beans to the press. Some brave (naïve) souls, however, eschew the sports-psychologist recommendations and let us in. McIlroy is the most salient example of this, but he’s not the only one. Enter Robert MacIntyre.
MacIntyre is currently the best player from Scotland, where this game started, and he wears that label (burden?) proudly. He spoke glowingly of the Scottish Open all week, wanting desperately to put on a good show for the home crowd. He wanted it even more at St Andrews, which made his back nine on Friday a pressure cooker. After a bogey at 15, he needed to play the last three in even par to get to the weekend on the number. He did, and then he exhaled.

Robert MacIntyre. David Cannon

“I’ve never been that stressed on a golf course in my life,” he said on Saturday. “With seven holes to go, I don’t know what was going on. Had to turn away from the actual fairway on 16 because there was too much going on. Fan support is absolutely brilliant, but I was feeling it. Almost … you’re not letting people down, but you know how much it means. There’s so many people supporting me, and it means so much to me that I just didn’t … I wasn’t going to let them down because I was having a hard bit, but I was trying almost too hard. I mean, last night I was sitting at the dinner table just slouched, didn’t know what to do. I was trying to eat, but I was just, I was done. I could have curled up in a ball when I finished and cried.”
Now that … that’s real.

12. Talor Gooch was the butt of a few jokes last week, but we’re going to focus on something he said that won’t be widely lambasted. “It was spectacular out there,” Gooch said after an opening-round 78. “There’s no better clap, cheer, roar than one at the Open. There’s something different about it. It sounds better than any other place.”
I’ll tell you what sounds different: there are no screams of “GET IN THE HOLE!” or “MASHED POTATOES!” There is indeed something viscerally pleasing about the sound of hundreds or thousands of people clapping thunderously, but not screaming. That’s the sound of the Open.

13. If I’m a LIV golfer, I’d be phoning whoever I can as often as I can to get updates on the Official World Golf Ranking conundrum. As Woods alluded to in his media conference, there is a distinct possibility that, at least in the short term, non-major winners who play the LIV series will not be able to get into majors if the circuit doesn’t offer World Ranking points soon. Guys in that position include Talor Gooch, Abraham Ancer, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Kevin Na, to name a few. Those guys being warm-blooded human beings with a pulse, this had to have been one of, if not the, best week of their year, and the prospect of not participating in these seminal events would toss me into an existential crisis.
Casey, for one, said he made the decision knowing full well that he’d likely slide down the world rankings, and that would likely impact his major-playing future. He did it anyway, pointing to his 45 years, and the fact he’s now played 71 major championships.
“It’s an interesting question for the younger guys,” Casey said. “Myself, I mean, I’m hanging on in the World Rankings. I don’t know what guys are going to do. I think there’s the option of playing some Asian Tour events. We’re going to see what happens with the DP World Tour. But I was under no illusions that my ranking could slide and be out within however long, whatever the timeframe is. More incentive to play well this week as well to try and get points.”
With the major season now in the rearview mirror, the LIV golfers are going to have to get creative should they want World Ranking points. And they desperately want World Ranking points. So, per Casey, a number of them are kicking around the idea in WhatsApp groups of playing Asian Tour events during the extended off periods between some LIV events. The saga continues.

14. Speaking of the saga … the golf world came together for four days in Scotland, but we were reminded of the drama while fans were still trying to leave the property. That’s when Cameron Smith was asked about the speculation of him making the move and … didn’t deny it. Minutes later, Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir reported that Henrik Stenson would join LIV imminently and be stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy. Even if major weeks may provide some respite, the saga is not going to stop any time soon.

15. There’s always a random storyline that develops during major weeks that’s only tangentially related to the competition. This week, that role was emphatically filled by airline baggage woes. It seemed half the press room was dealing with lost luggage — or, worse, lost golf clubs. The pros weren’t immune to these issues, either, as Mark Calcavecchia didn’t get his sticks until Wednesday evening. But the quirkiest baggage story of the week came courtesy of Trey Mullinax, who won last week’s opposite-field Barbasol Championship then had to scramble to get to Scotland. When he got to the Old Course, he noticed his irons had been bent out of shape, the product of TSA searching through his bag then not bothering to put the clubs back in the actual golf bag, meaning they were loose in the travel case. He did not, however, notice that his putter’s loft was two degrees off until he made the cut on the number on Friday.
“I knew it looked funny,” he said with a laugh. “I was having to tell my caddie, man, I’m having to forward press this a lot. I was like, man, I don’t know what’s going on. The ball wasn’t rolling like it was in Kentucky. Surely I didn’t lose it in two days.” Indeed, he didn’t — after getting it adjusted, he fired a six-under 66 on Saturday. He blamed his mistake on “pure laziness”.

16. While perusing the entry list this week, one name in particular caught my attention: Justin de los Santos. He played under the flag of the Philippines this week, the birthplace of both his parents, and Justin grew up in Southern California. We played a number of rounds in junior golf together. It’s my job to cover this game, so I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t even know he’d turned professional. Justin went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, an excellent academic university but not exactly a PGA Tour player factory. While there, he took a class in Japanese with an eye toward plying his trade in Asia.
“Coming out of college, I tried to do Korn Ferry Tour school but didn’t get through. Then, to be honest, I needed the money. I figured the Asian and Japan Tour were better money than Canada and Latinamerica, and I didn’t quite have the funding to do Korn Ferry Mondays.”

Justin de los Santos. R&A

Off to Asia he went. Justin has spent the better part of three years in Japan, grinding on that tour and working hard to improve his Japanese. He’s 30th on the money list this year and No. 497 in the World Ranking. How, then, did he get into such an iconic championship? He birdied his final two holes to finish solo fourth in the Gate Way to the Open Mizuno Open, snagging the last of four spots up for grabs. He made his way to Scotland but decided staying in the town of St Andrews wasn’t worth the money, so he found a place about 15 minutes away by car. He doesn’t have a full-time caddie, so he picked up a local looper who has been working at the Old Course for 37 years. His name is John, but Justin couldn’t remember his last name. “Starts with a P, I think.”
Justin made the cut on the number, which is huge for two reasons: the Open purse dwarfs those of normal Japan Tour events, but it counts toward the money list, so he’ll move up considerably. Secondly, making a cut in a major gets you into second stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school. Before this week, Justin didn’t know if he could afford to spend all that money to potentially not get out of first stage and figured he’d just continue focusing on keeping his card in Japan. Now, he’s thinking he’ll give KFT qualifying school a try once again. He desperately wants to get back to the States, and this week brought him much closer to that goal. With so much golf talk these days on nine-figure guaranteed contracts, stories like Justin’s resonate a bit deeper — particularly for me, given my memories of us playing together as kids. I absolutely loved seeing him this week.

17. I learned a new term this week: gravities. Apparently it’s a measure of green-speed firmness. The Stimpmeter is a staple of the golf course lexicon, but I genuinely had never heard of measuring the firmness of the greens. As in this bulletin from the R&A: “Greens single cut at 3.5 mm. Speed 10.6 — same as yesterday. Firmness is 161 gravities — 8 gravities firmer than yesterday.” This seems like valuable information to have, an added indicator of the conditions of the greens beyond just their speeds. Perhaps this will become more common.
Anyways, I was curious how they measure this, so I did some capital-J Journalism and found the answer! There’s a contraption called the clegg hammer, and it drops a steel ball onto the ground. It measures the firmness of the turf by how high the ball bounces off said turf. Next time you’re out with the squad for a weekend round, ask them how many gravities they think the greens are bouncing at.

18. Just like that, the men’s major season is over, and with another four big ones in the books, I’m feeling especially grateful. For this place, for this sport, and for all of you, who apparently enjoy my ramblings enough to read all the way to the bottom. I can’t thank all of you enough for following and allowing me to do what I love. There are 262 days until the first round of the Masters, but who’s counting. Until next time.

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The post Open Championship 2022: Cameron Smith’s chill vibe, Rory McIlroy’s bubble, Tiger Woods’ future and 15 other parting thoughts from St Andrews appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“If you ask me, it’s obscene money to be throwing at sport,” the 25-year-old Scot said ahead of the 2022 British Masters. “There’s only so much money that a human needs.”

Wise words from a young man, huh? But he was only just getting started.

“So for me right now, I’m comfortable,” the 73rd-ranked player in the world continued. “I’ve got a house, a home, my family is healthy. I’ve got a car I can drive. I have clothes I can put on and I can still treat myself and my family. What do I need? Just now, I’m as happy as I can be in the life of Robert MacIntyre.”

MacIntyre also talked about getting to play in the pro-am with Scottish football star John McGinn, and he provided a line of pure gold about that should replace the idiom about people pulling their trousers on one leg at a time.

“I was nervous today playing with him and when you get talking to him he is nervous to play with me or play in events,” he said. “It’s just different. People think you’re something that you’re not. They expect you to be something special. But at the end of the day, we use the same toilet.”

Brilliant! Point taken, Bob. You seem like a real, um, regular guy.

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