TROON, Scotland—Friday afternoon the 152nd Open Championship was on TILT. Justin Thomas, tied for third at the start of his round, went out in 45, and he wasn’t even the most woebegone player over the first few holes, as Robert MacIntyre began his round triple bogey-bogey-bogey-triple. Rory McIlroy made an 8, part of his front-nine 42, and Joaco Niemann had a snowman of his own on the 120-yard Postage Stamp hole; two less accomplished players recorded a 9. Poor Aguri Iwaski somehow made back-to-back 9s! Tony Finau made an 8 and a 7; Matt Fitzpatrick had a pair of 7s. Wyndham Clark shot 80, as did Min Woo Lee. Players were bleeding to death live on TV and it was glorious.
It’s always entertaining to watch pros suffer but windswept Royal Troon revealed something deeper about the state of professional golf, asking questions that few players were equipped to answer. In every sport the athletes have become bigger and faster but the defense holds them in check; a 6’9” point guard in the NBA doesn’t have as much of an advantage when the man guarding him is just as tall and athletic. But the typical setup on any pro golf tour has been rendered defenseless by space-age equipment fine-tuned by computers and wielded by athletes whose mind and bodies have been optimized by nutritionists, trainers, sports psychologists and stats geeks. Golf at the highest level is now all offense.
Royal Troon changed the calculus, with its small greens, skinny fairways, wicked bunkers and, especially, ever-present gales. The mindless, paint-by-the-numbers golf that works so well on marshmallowy PGA Tour setups has led to despair and ruin at this Open. For two days, at least, art triumphed over science.
Shane Lowry, a preeminent shotmaker and magician with a wedge, leads by two strokes, at -7. Tied for 4th, five back, is Scottie Scheffler, a shot-shaper extraordinaire. The ultimate feel player, Dustin Johnson, is back from the dead and in contention after a 69 that was bettered by only four players, including an inventive Jason Day, who didn’t make a single bogey (it should be noted that all four players teed off before 9:57 a.m. and missed some of the worst winds).
Enumerating the challenge, Adam Scott said, “You have to strike your shots really pure. They have to start on the right line. You have to land the ball in very small areas. And we’re not used to seeing the ball move so much in the air. It’s just really difficult out there. A few guys are managing better than others but once it starts going the wrong way it’s hard to figure out what to do because your go-to is not working.”
For all of that, Abe Ancer believes the challenge is metaphysical. “It’s tough, man. On any shot, you can hit three or four different clubs. It’s just trying to pick the one that you feel most comfortable with pulling off the shot. I think you have to be extremely precise but also extremely creative. Mentally, I mean, it can drive you crazy.”
The players who have prospered embrace the unique test. “I always loved being able to curve the ball,” Scheffler said after a second straight 70. “That’s just something that I always loved to do. It kind of fascinated me a little bit. To me that’s kind of the fun part of the game, and out here it can be challenging.”
After a couple of practice rounds, pro golfers script their tournament strategy like Bill Walsh calling plays for Joe Montana. Typically, when they step on the first tee on Thursday the pros have a game plan for every hole and a pretty good idea which club they’ll employ on any given shot. All of that went out the window at this Open when the prevailing wind flipped for the first two rounds and gusts reached 32 miles per hour. “Nothing makes sense with the yardage book, really,” Justin Rose said following his second round 68, which left him tied for second at -5. “You’re hitting wedges from like 180 (yards). I hit driver, 3-wood into the (par-4) 15th hole in practice. I hit driver, flick sand wedge today. It’s pretty crazy the difference that links golf can give you. That’s the fun part of it, though. I say the yardage book is out the window, yes, but at the same time you’re making a lot of calculations out there, and nothing is standard.”
Justin Rose, 43, has relied on his experience at Royal Troon. (GETTY IMAGES/Harry How)On the 5th hole, dead into the wind, Adam Scott nuked a 3-iron that expired after 180 yards. On the downwind 18th his 4-iron rolled out to 315 yards. “Where else could that happen?” he asked with a tinge of wonderment. The shot he was most proud of on Friday came on the 6th hole, a 7-iron from 112 yards to 20 feet. “Yardages don’t mean anything,” he says. “They’re not even a guide. It’s all feel. To play a 5-iron from 140 yards, you have to hit that 100 times to have confidence. But out here you only get one chance, and it’s do or die.”
Players lacking imagination or conviction were badly exposed by Royal Troon. Bryson DeChambeau became the poster boy. His towering drives and metronomic iron play have made him a force on LIV Golf’s benign setups and carried him to victory last month at a windless U.S. Open, but DeChambeau’s game did not translate to the ancient linksland; he shot 76-75 to miss the cut by three strokes. He still doesn’t understand the essential challenge of this unique championship. Asked about his future Open prospects, he said, “I can do it when it’s warm and not windy.”
Top Photo Caption: Tommy Fleetwood was among the top players to miss the cut this week. (GETTY IMAGES/Andrew Redington)
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