The courses, the crowds, the cheers: the Open Championship has a unique feel and a distinct atmosphere.
It's traditional links golf at its finest in this year's 148th Open and the winner will need imagination, determination, creativity and the ability to play every shot in the bag to have their name inscribed on the iconic Claret Jug.
THE COURSE
The Open returns this year to Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland after a 68-year absence.
Royal Portrush was founded in 1888 and last hosted the Open in 1951 when an Englishman named Max Faulkner claimed victory.
The course winds its way through sand dunes on the picturesque Antrim Coast and is regularly rated among the top 20 in the world.
And like every Open Championship it’ll be a stern test of links golf, particularly if the wind is howling in off the neighbouring North Atlantic Ocean.
The course hosted the European Tour's Irish Open in 2012, which was won with a score of 18-under by Welshman Jamie Donaldson, but it’s since been redesigned for the Open Championship.
Nearly 200 yards have been added and the old 17th and 18th holes have made way for a new 7th and 8th.
Image Credit - The Open Website
RORY MCILROY
Rory has found some decent form of late and as a local lad, will be one of the favourites for the Open.
As a 16-year-old he shot a course record 61 around the old Royal Portrush layout (before it got the nip and tuck for the Open) and he’s quite chuffed to be playing a major at home.
Rory is near peerless with his TaylorMade M5 driver and TaylorMade P730 irons but will be hoping his TaylorMade Spider X putter will get warm at this year’s Open.
His seven-shot win in the Canadian Open showed just how good he is when he’s in the groove and after backending a top 10 finish in the US Open at Pebble Beach, he’ll be keen to again hoist the Claret Jug he won at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
CALAMITY CORNER
Regarded as one of the best par 3s in the world, the 16th hole at Royal Portrush is called Calamity Corner and will no doubt play a starring role in deciding the winner of this year’s Open.
At 236 yards uphill, it'll test even the longest of hitters and three woods will no doubt be called upon if it’s playing into the wind.
Adding to the hole’s difficulty is a chasm spanning almost the entire length of the hole.
Tee shots landing short or right will land in the ravine, where impossible lies and long, wild grasses will produce a calamity on the scorecard.
But playing safe and bailing out to the left will leave a very tricky chip shot to get up and down for par.
It’s the kind of par 3 where making a bogey won’t necessarily drop you down the field.
Video Credit - The Open Website
THE DEFENDING CHAMP
2018 was a career year for the calmest golfer on the planet, Italian Francesco Molinari.
He won the Open at Carnoustie and his unflappable demeanour showed how clutch his game is in the big moments.
Molinari didn’t make a single bogey in his last 37 holes, and when paired with Tiger Woods in the final round, he parred his first 13 holes before notching a birdie on the par five 14th.
While the lead was shared by six players at one point in the final round, Molinari calmly drained a clutch six-footer for birdie on the 18th green and claimed a two-stroke margin in his first major victory.
Molinari followed up with a perfect 5-0 record in the Ryder Cup and has enjoyed a fruitful campaign this season playing the new Callaway Epic Flash driver and Callaway Apex MB blades.
He won at Bay Hill and finished fifth at the Masters after being in front for much of the final round.
Royal Portrush under Open conditions will test a player’s patience more than any other major but expect Francesco Molinari to thrive.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
WEATHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT
A US Open has its thick, punitive rough, the Masters is famous for its lightning-fast, sloping greens and the PGA is perhaps unfairly regarded as the poor cousin of those two.
But the Open Championship is notorious for its wind, rain and cold - serving up some of the worst weather that can blow even the best players in the world off their game, quite literally.
The weather is part of the challenge at the Open and if it's still and the sun is shining the scoring will be low. But if you’re on the wrong side of the draw at a weather-affected Open you can drop out of contention quicker than a Kevin Na putt retrieval.
Image Credit - The Open Website
OPEN MOMENT #1 - MUIRFIELD 2002
The third round of the Open at Muirfield in 2002 saw the weather turn just as the leading groups were preparing to tee off.
It looked like the world was about to end as an enormous layer of thick, dark cloud, tinged with purple around the edges, rolled in off the sea.
Oil rig workers in the North Sea contacted Open organisers to relay the severity of the storm, but no-one was adequately prepared when it hit Muirfield.
The temperature plummeted, the wind whipped up to 60km/h interspersed with squalls and the rain began pelting in sideways.
Umbrellas were of no use as the best players in the world lost control against conditions most players in the field described as the worst they had ever experienced.
Drivers were used on par 3s, 8-irons were travelling 80 yards and one player even topped the ball because they couldn't feel their hands in the freezing conditions.
The course won the battle that day: Tiger Woods shot 81, the worst score of his professional career at that point and the first time he’d ever posted a score in the 80s.
Colin Montgomerie, who was leading after a course record 64 in the second round, went 20 shots worse with an 84.
On the flipside Steve Elkington, who got through on the cutline, shot -3 before the weather hit and was in the top 10 at the end of the day.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
CAN TIGER WOODS SNAG OPEN NO.4?
Tiger Woods’ win in the Masters this year was one of sport’s greatest comebacks.
Can the fairytale continue at this year’s Open Championship?
Woods is one of the players to beat but at age 43, he knows he can’t play and practice as frequently as he once did.
Injuries and back surgery have taken their toll and Tiger's chances will depend on how well his body holds up over four rounds.
Woods, who has been playing the TaylorMade M5 driver and TaylorMade P-7TW irons, has been successful three times in the Open.
But he’ll be hoping for some unseasonably warm weather in this year’s Open to keep his body loose and enhance his chances of securing a fourth Open title.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
THE YELLOW LEADERBOARD
There's always a familiar presence overlooking the grandstands on the 18th green at an Open Championship: the iconic yellow leaderboard.
The manually operated leaderboard is run by a small army of volunteers and is an anachronism among the LED screens of today.
But it's an Open icon, and its traditional Sunday afternoon congratulatory “WELL PLAYED (WINNER’S NAME), SEE YOU AT (NEXT YEAR’S VENUE)” is legendary.
While the winner’s name won't be decided until Sunday afternoon at Royal Portrush, next year’s Open will be held at Royal St Georges.
Image Credit - The Open Website
BROOKS KOEPKA
A hot favourite at Royal Portrush is Brooks Koepka, a player who seems to bring his A-game whenever a major is at stake.
Koepka’s record in majors is impressive: four wins and two runner-up finishes from his last 10 starts and a combined score of 85-under par in majors since 2016.
He’s in form, having finished runner-up at Pebble Beach where he launched his TaylorMade M5 driver long and followed up with laser-accurate approaches using his Mizuno JPX 919 irons.
Koepka’s best result in the Open is a tie for sixth in 2017 but based on his current form, winning the Claret Jug this year won’t be a surprise.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
THE FIFTH HOLE
Royal Portrush's signature hole is the fifth, a downhill 411-yard par 4 that doglegs right off the tee.
A confident player can cut the corner with a driver to leave a wedge into the green but most will play an iron off the tee and accept a longer second shot.
The two-tier green has quite a severe slope between levels and is perched on a cliff about 13m above White Rocks Beach.
Out of bounds is only a few metres behind the putting surface so players will need to pull the right club when the pin is located on the back tier.
It's a safe bet the stunning scenery of the fifth green will feature heavily in the Open broadcast.
Video Credit - The Open Website
ADAM SCOTT
Adam Scott again looks the best hope of the six Australians pegging it up at Royal Portrush.
Scotty loomed late in the US Open, charging to within three shots of the lead before hitting a drive out of bounds and recording a double bogey at the 13th.
He was visibly frustrated after the final round, eventually finishing 7th and recording his 19th top 10 finish in a major.
His only major win remains the Masters in 2013 but he has gone agonisingly close in the Open previously: in 2012 at Royal Lytham and St Annes he finished runner-up in heartbreaking circumstances after dropping four shots in the final four holes to lose by a stroke to Ernie Els.
Scotty hasn’t played in a tournament since the US Open but his game looks in top shape to add this year’s Open to his resume.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
OPEN MOMENT #2 - Jean van de Velde
This year marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most astonishing ends to an Open Championship.
Playing the final hole at Carnoustie in 1999 with a three-stroke lead, Frenchman Jean van de Velde chose to hit driver off the tee on the par 4 18th, a risky decision given it was the only club in the bag that brought trouble into play off the tee.
He hit his drive so far right it landed on the 17th, an incredibly fortunate break to avoid a watery grave in Barry Burn.
But bewilderingly, he chose to attack the green with a 2 iron with his next shot. It hit a grandstand and ended up in thick, tall rough, from which his next shot found the water in Barry Burn.
The gallery could almost not believe what they were seeing, as van de Velde removed his shoes and waded into the water before deciding to take a penalty.
His next shot landed in the greenside bunker but he made an impressive up-and-down to join a four-hole playoff with Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard. However, van de Velde was never really in it after a double bogey on the first hole.
While Lawrie won, Jean van de Velde will always be the player most remembered.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
LEISH, DAY & CO.
With Adam Scott leading the charge, Marc Leishman and Jason Day are the other Aussies who will be a top chance to capture this year’s Open.
Leishman was runner-up at St Andrews in 2015 after losing a four-hole playoff with Zach Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen, while Day recorded his best Open finish the same year with a tie for fourth.
Steve Williams will again be on Day’s bag after looping for the Queenslander in the US Open and having carried Tiger Woods’ bag in his three Open wins, his experience should benefit a slightly erratic Day.
Cameron Smith, who has been quiet of late, will also tee it up, as will Australian Order Of Merit winner Jake McLeod and Dimi Papadatos, who qualified after finishing second at the Australian Open in December.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
GARY WOODLAND
When Gary Woodland won the US Open at Pebble Beach last month, it felt like it came out of nowhere.
But the reality was the world no.12 had been on an upward trajectory ever since he began working with English coach Pete Cowan 18 months prior.
Woodland led in the third round at last year’s PGA before finishing tied for sixth but attributed his US Open win to Cowan’s help to improve his chipping and boost his mental control.
Conditions at a Pebble Beach US Open always seem to prepare players well for the Open so Woodland, who uses Wilson Staff Model blades, should go well again at Royal Portrush.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
THE BEST NAME IN GOLF
Edging out Kiradech Aphibarnrat for the best name in this year’s Open Championship is fellow Thai Jazz Janewattananond.
The 23-year-old has won twice this season and is currently in the International team's top eight automatic qualifiers for this year’s Presidents Cup.
Jazz stood tall at this year’s US PGA when he finished 14th after being tied second at the start of the final round and while he didn’t gain a start at the US Open, he won in Korea last month and notched a third in Japan.
If Jazz goes close in this year’s Open, it’ll open the floodgates for puns like “Jazz on song in Open”.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website
OPEN MOMENT #3 – HENRIK STENSON V PHIL MICKELSON
The final round at the 2016 Open at Troon saw Swede Henrik Stenson and five-time major winner Phil Mickelson engage in one of the greatest duels the game has seen.
The pair went birdie-for-birdie and the lead see-sawed during a pulsating final day reminiscent of the famous Tom Watson-Jack Nicklaus Duel In The Sun at Turnberry in 1977.
Phil Mickelson had four birdies and an eagle for a six-under-par 65 but Stenson’s 10 birdies helped him to an eight-under-par 63 and his first major victory.
Even more remarkable was how far Stenson (-20) and Mickelson (-17) pulled away from the rest of the field, with third-placed JB Holmes at -6.
It was a duel for the ages that was played with great spirit and respect as two of the world’s best golfers turned it on.
Image Credit - PGA Tour Website