The Open 2023

[Deleted member 15344]

An excellent renewal on a challenging course with a thoroughly deserving winner. Every aspect of Harman's game, physical and mental, was truly impressive. I only watch on TV these days, but all four days were very enjoyable. Looking forward to nxt year already.

Yep - was excellent again , it’s a tournament that’s unmatched , on courses that you don’t see too much and it produced some excellent golf

The crowds made it feel like the major it is

It didn’t have a dramatic finish but that was only because of the spectacular golf by Harman

Just a shame we now have to wait another year before seeing another comp on true links

 

[Backache]

These 4 you mention only average a half shot better than average on putting per round, which on a full season is a lot and proves they are very solid putters, but with the exception of Rahm , not sure the others are capable of having a +10 shots gained on the field on the greens

The very best putters are usually less than a putt a round better than average over a season.
I think Fitzpatrick is well capable of gaining shots over a field with his putting, he can be very good indeed.

 

[PJ87]

Not displeased with the winner , just a shame it wasn't a shoot out down the last

A parade (from anyone) is kinda boring

Unless they are winning and go on a smashing birdie run rather than steady golf

But fair enough

Not the best for the fans to watch but still a good tournament

 

[howbow88]

Anyone else find that golf tournaments like this (when someone wins at a canter) are proper boring? Good luck to the guy but it is always so much better when there are twists.

 

[Steve Wilkes]

Not the case at all. Tee to green is the key factor in 9 out of 10 majors. TV gives a skewed view, as the majority of the golf you see is from the golfers whose long game has put them to the fore in the first place. And a putt has a much more obvious strokes gained impact than half a dozen tee shots then are in the semi rough rather than the fairway, or a layup short of bunkers rather than a drive that carries them. Amongst those at the top, yes, putting can then be the decider - but its almost as a tie breaker for the real deciding golf that happens up to that.

I respect you view Backsticks, but I think we will have to agree to disagree

 

[howbow88]

Not displeased with the winner , just a shame it wasn't a shoot out down the last

A parade (from anyone) is kinda boring

Unless they are winning and go on a smashing birdie run rather than steady golf

But fair enough

Not the best for the fans to watch but still a good tournament

Yes, exactly. I think golf as a spectator sport really relies on someone either winning it from someone else, or when you see someone collapse. Eg Tiger at The Masters in 2019 or when Spieth fell apart in 2016.

 

[slicer79]

Harman kept it very cool over weekend and saw it out well. His lack of mistakes made it a poor watch I suppose, bit of excitement was lacking today.
Seems like a decent guy. But I saw an online article about him and his love of hunting. Photos of him with animals he's killed hunting, huge elk, etc. Beautiful animals. Dropped him down a bit in my estimation, as an animal lover I absolutely hate that stuff

 

[jim8flog]

I wonder if the engraver put Harmon on the trophy.

 

[Backsticks]

I respect you view Backsticks, but I think we will have to agree to disagree

Not really my view, more the analysis of the strokes gained statisticians.
For example, on the US Masters :

"Normally, people may think that putting is the most important part of the game. However, the statistics from the Masters Tournament indicates that is actually not the case. In each of the last 12 Masters, there has not been much indication that an excellent putter is essential for winning the tournament. Out of 12 winners, 5 of them have SG: Putting metrics that are negative, which means the player is actually losing strokes relative to the rest of the field. In addition, there have only been 3 winners that have SG: Putting numbers that are 1 standard deviation above the mean. "

What Makes a Master?

By: Erik Chen and Brendan Zytowski

www.bruinsportsanalytics.com

 

[Deleted member 21445]

Today was a good day..

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Whilst the event didn’t have the finish we have seen from some over the years we should surely applaud the pure skill and ability of the winner

To only visit 2 bunkers shows how well he played , but what it also shows is that its not always about power and distance from the tee and players don’t always destroy courses- especially when they are set up to test the players

The course wasn’t tricked up but plenty struggled when they tried to fire at pins and take on bold shots - many of the players didn’t show the course enough respect at times apart from the winner . He kept the ball in the fairway , he found the heart of the greens and he relied on his putting to produce some stunning golf

He isn’t a Rahm or Rory or Koepka blasting it from the tee but none of them could match his pure ball striking and short game - maybe the ball doesn’t need rolling back after all , just find ways to test the players better

 

[BubbaP]

Sky - it would be good if you could just put the golf action on please instead of the inane nonsense.

Thought I'd wait until the tourney was over. I guess there must be an audience that prefers to not watch the golf.
On Thursday morning (not early), I prepared a large bowl of cereal and put the golf on, but managed to finish my breakfast without seeing any!
On Friday waiting in a station car park as we were giving a ride to someone to the park and ride, I fired up now tv app, and in ten minutes no golf was shown, gave up.
Today, with the open in England, an Englishman shot -3, and finished T17 (was higher earlier). Unless someone spotted something I didn't, no shots or coverage of them.

 

[Backsticks]

Whilst the event didn’t have the finish we have seen from some over the years we should surely applaud the pure skill and ability of the winner

To only visit 2 bunkers shows how well he played , but what it also shows is that its not always about power and distance from the tee and players don’t always destroy courses- especially when they are set up to test the players

The course wasn’t tricked up but plenty struggled when they tried to fire at pins and take on bold shots - many of the players didn’t show the course enough respect at times apart from the winner . He kept the ball in the fairway , he found the heart of the greens and he relied on his putting to produce some stunning golf

He isn’t a Rahm or Rory or Koepka blasting it from the tee but none of them could match his pure ball striking and short game - maybe the ball doesn’t need rolling back after all , just find ways to test the players better

Its an option. But is essentially lengthening golf courses. Changing the ball back to suit courses is a more easier correction. 7400 yards ? Just take 10% off the ball.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Just got home from a wet wet day.

Nice to arrive, as in literally walk through the entrance, to a fore shout and nearly being hit by Bryson going left on the 3rd! Then watched him drive the 4th.

Settled on the grandstand behind the 6th and watched a few groups come through before wandering over to the 17th and watching the first few groups come through there.

Then the rain came. Absolute savage .

Can thoroughly recommend the UA goretex jacket and decathlon waterproof trousers though, kept me bone dry all day!

We ended up leaving as the final group were finishing up on the 15th or so and beat the rush back into Liverpool where we'd decided to park after suspecting that the park and ride would be a nightmare with all the rain forecast.

Took my waterproofs off on the train and got more drenched on the 400 yard walk back to the car park than I had in 6 hours of rain on the course .

Edit:
Also bumped into Tony Bellew on the 9th I said "hey its Tony!" To which he responded "no it f-ing isn't pal" I don't think I've ever seen a more chilling look in someone's eyes so just wished him a good day and carried on walking haha.

Cracking day!

 

[Backache]

Not really my view, more the analysis of the strokes gained statisticians.
For example, on the US Masters :

"Normally, people may think that putting is the most important part of the game. However, the statistics from the Masters Tournament indicates that is actually not the case. In each of the last 12 Masters, there has not been much indication that an excellent putter is essential for winning the tournament. Out of 12 winners, 5 of them have SG: Putting metrics that are negative, which means the player is actually losing strokes relative to the rest of the field. In addition, there have only been 3 winners that have SG: Putting numbers that are 1 standard deviation above the mean. "

What Makes a Master?

By: Erik Chen and Brendan Zytowski

www.bruinsportsanalytics.com

Your quote is actually quite misleading from my quick scanning of the article.

The article was focussing on factors that were predictive of a Masters win not about what won the Masters.

They explain that as the Masters is not covered by shotlink you cannot get Strokes gained from the Masters and the strokes gained statistics were how the winners performed in tournaments preceding the Masters.
They probably had to putt far better during the actual tournament itself.
In Broadies analysis of PGA tour winners in Every Shot counts he calculates in his sample putting made up 35% of the victors margin against the field on average. And to have a negative SG putting was an extreme outlier though it occurred.
His general statement is that the best golfers are usually the better exponents of the long game who are having a good putting tournament which is a far more volatile performance.

 

[Redtraveller]

Harman kept it very cool over weekend and saw it out well. His lack of mistakes made it a poor watch I suppose, bit of excitement was lacking today.
Seems like a decent guy. But I saw an online article about him and his love of hunting. Photos of him with animals he's killed hunting, huge elk, etc. Beautiful animals. Dropped him down a bit in my estimation, as an animal lover I absolutely hate that stuff

It’s all over his Instagram page. Now he’s a major champion he might regret showing it off…… but if he’s that type of person maybe not

 

[Jason.H]

Another one open wonder

That’s a million miles better than all the zero open wonders.
It was a convincing win.

 

[TigerBear]

The official attendance for the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool is 261,180. It is the largest attendance for a Championship held outside of St Andrews, surpassing the total of 237,750 at Royal Portrush in 2019.


How the heck is the sport in the doldrums

Because 261k turned up to watch that borefest, doesn't mean it wasn't turgid or completely underwhelming!

 

[Jason.H]

When you consider today’s pros have putting coaches and all the clever training aids and I’ve never seen so many missed putts. Must be so frustrating for the likes of Fleetwood, so many birdie putts over 2 days and they were not even close to going in.

 

[Billysboots]

Whilst the event didn’t have the finish we have seen from some over the years we should surely applaud the pure skill and ability of the winner

To only visit 2 bunkers shows how well he played , but what it also shows is that its not always about power and distance from the tee and players don’t always destroy courses- especially when they are set up to test the players

The course wasn’t tricked up but plenty struggled when they tried to fire at pins and take on bold shots - many of the players didn’t show the course enough respect at times apart from the winner . He kept the ball in the fairway , he found the heart of the greens and he relied on his putting to produce some stunning golf

He isn’t a Rahm or Rory or Koepka blasting it from the tee but none of them could match his pure ball striking and short game - maybe the ball doesn’t need rolling back after all , just find ways to test the players better

I still remember the plaudits Tiger got when he won all those years ago when he hit irons off every tee. So some very good points, Phil.

I haven’t seen very much this week as I’m abroad and there’s quite a time difference, so can’t really comment on the quality of the golf. But I do find it a little underwhelming when someone like Harman wins The Open. For me, it’s supposed to be the ultimate tournament, when the cream rises, but we see almost as many one time major winners winning it as we do the US PGA.

I acknowledge I will be in the minority with that view, but I can’t help it. I recall how I felt when Ben Curtis won - it almost felt as though The Open had been reduced to just another event.

Probably been in the sun too long today!