The 2019 Open Championship

[Hoganman1]

I was just wondering how all of my fellow golf fans "across the pond" feel about this year's championship being played in Northern Ireland. I'm really excited about seeing Royal Portrush as I didn't get to play there when I last visited Ireland. Also, I'm hoping Graeme McDowell will somehow be able to play. The US Open sometimes issues special exemptions for players of note that don't otherwise qualify. I know McDowell hasn't been on many leaderboards since his 2010 major victory, but he did win recently. If the R&A does offer special exemptions, McDowell deserves one in my opinion.

 

[HamiltonGuy]

I was just wondering how all of my fellow golf fans "across the pond" feel about this year's championship being played in Northern Ireland. I'm really excited about seeing Royal Portrush as I didn't get to play there when I last visited Ireland. Also, I'm hoping Graeme McDowell will somehow be able to play. The US Open sometimes issues special exemptions for players of note that don't otherwise qualify. I know McDowell hasn't been on many leaderboards since his 2010 major victory, but he did win recently. If the R&A does offer special exemptions, McDowell deserves one in my opinion.

They confirmed they don’t offer any he’ll need to qualify

 

[Grant85]

I'm looking forward to it. Not going, but love the Open and will be great to see a new venue. Don't know much about the course at all, but I'm sure they'll set it up for a good event and would be very happy to see a few weeks of dry weather in the run up to the tournament.

I'm a big McDowell fan and hope he qualifies. He has certainly been playing decent golf of late and so has an outside chance of getting a big result to push his ranking up. Possibly has too much to do on this front, but a couple of top 5s in the right events and he'd be up there. But also has at least one chance via final qualifying (not sure if he is allowed to enter this at 2 venues) as well as top finish at Irish Open or Scottish Open.

I assume a top placing in the US Open would also get him in, even if his ranking didn't get to top 50.

As for special exemptions, I agree they shouldn't give him one. He's had tour cards on both sides of the pond and if he was good enough, he'd have qualified or will qualify. However pretty sure they gave Tom Watson one in the year he was Ryder Cup captain, even though his exemption had expired. The number of players is set, so a GMac in means one less spot for a qualifier.

But come on, they have a load of guys playing every year on the back of a win in a previous decade or century. I'd much rather see a few extra spots open for current players than the likes of Sandy Lyle, Ben Curtis, John Daly, Tom Lehman, Todd Hamilton, Justin Leonard etc etc. A 10 year exemption is still generous and means it doesn't become a bit of a circus act with Darren Clarke shooting in the mid 80s having hardly made a cut all season.

Or else, have a lifetime exemption but you have to at least make 5 cuts in valid pro tournaments in the 12 months prior to the tournament.

Fair play to the likes of Faldo and Norman who don't use their special exemption, as they don't want to play if not competitive.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I’m looking forward to it!
Got tickets for Wednesday and Thursday-can’t wait.

 

[Parsaregood]

Not really a fan of it being in Ireland in all honesty

 

[User2021]

Can't wait, think it will be a great tournament.

 

[Coffey]

Not really a fan of it being in Ireland in all honesty

Why exactly? It’s also not in Ireland but that’s a different story

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Think it is great that it is being held there, looks a cracking course from the pictures.

Hopefully one day they end up holding an open in Wales and the South West of England.

 

[Captainron]

The course is simply stunning. The 2 new holes are just magnificent.

No issue with it being played over there.

 

[Yant]

Love it there. It's where my wife is from and we will be spending a week there in August. Taking my bats so planning to play;

Portrush
Portstewart
Castlerock
Royal County Down

I've played a couple of these already but going to make the most of the visit this time and try to play all 4.

I hope G Mac qualifies. It would be gut wrenching for him to miss out.

 

[Hackers76]

Got tickets for Saturday and Sunday and can’t wait. Staying in Belfast so will be very long days but definitely worth it. A lot of the weekend will be free due to work which makes it even sweeter.

 

[rksquire]

Got 2 tickets for the Thursday. Something really very unexpected has come up, so now am scrambling to see if anyone can swap 2 for Friday with 2 for Thursday! Should be fantastic.

 

[Hoganman1]

There's still time for GMac to qualify. I hope he can do it. I've always thought he was a class act and I love his style of play. It would be fun to see him paired with Clarkie and Rors for the first two rounds.
The Open is my second favorite major after The Masters. Being raised in South Carolina and now living in Charlotte has afforded me many April trips to Augusta National and I've attended three PGAs and four US Opens but I've never been to an Open Championships. I've dropped several hints with my son and son-in-law that a trip to the UK during July would be a great 70th birthday gift. I'd love to complete the lifetime spectator slam.

 

[KenL]

Looking forward to this year's Open (THE best major).

Going to be great to see it at a new course in Northern Ireland.

Apparently advanced ticket sales are the best ever.

 

[Hoganman1]

Since I've never played Royal Portrush, I'm hard pressed to pick just which player is the favorite. I would think Rory would be a popular choice. Who else do my friends on this site think will play well enough to claim the coveted Claret Jug?