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As the dust settles on the unforgettable Open Championship at Royal Troon, we look back at what made it such a week to remember for golf fans.
1. Lesson
Royal Troon sits at 32nd in the Top 100 Golf Courses rankings, with only Royal Liverpool (42nd) among the other open courses below it. All the others on the list are comfortably above it and it is generally considered one of the Unsexier Opens.
Hopefully that might change after last week. Here we had the perfect test on a course that required ball-striking, accuracy and patience in almost equal measure. No power was lost, no players were successful with the popularity of the drivers around the world and the winning points (something we look at the most) was nine under.
On the par 5s we had Jon Rahm fail to make one birdie. By the end of it all we had nine players in the red and most of us were wondering if the 100 yard par 3 on Sunday was the best short hole in the world.
2. A worthy winner
Xander Schauffele is everything you want in an Open champion and the type of golfer you want to come back year after year. This was the type of setup where it looked like a double-bogey or worse was just around the corner and he had just six bogeys in four rounds.
The PGA champion never missed a shot and, when he did, he recovered well. These days he’s added a lot of height and, whatever he’s been doing to help with his mental game, it’s worked. Not too long ago he was shooting a final round of 70 at The Players to overtake Scottie Scheffler and he looked nothing like he did at Ayrshire on Sunday.
He is now the second best player in the world and, despite the ridiculous season Scheffler is enjoying, we have another player who could be named Player of the Year.
READ MORE: The real story of how Xander Schauffele won the 2024 Open Championship
3. The weather played football
It’s always more satisfying than it should be to get at least one miserable day at the Open. On the first day many were surprised by the wind change, but that was nothing when we got the Saturday afternoon winds.
Shane Lowry complained he couldn’t hit a few fairways and we saw Scheffler and co miss the 502-yard par-4 15th with two drivers. The 17th was also a driver except it was Scheffler who hit the Championship shot when he blasted a knee-deep 3-wood to putt away.
And still the players got it to something like level par and Schauffele somehow shot a comfortable 69. This is what anyone without a club in their hand wanted to see.
4. Love of links golf
Ever wonder if we are so obsessed with golf links. Whether it’s in our top 100 rankings or the way we look at the Open, some brands can’t be seen. The week of the Scottish Open at Renaissance is a welcome break from the norm, but the course will not be. in the top five in the East Lothian region and then we get a week like The Open and it’s all clear again.
When you get a truly world class link setup there is nothing like it. If we get the right weather, watching the best players in the world hit a tiny 6 iron there from 120 yards is as good as it gets. On the other hand, Xander Schauffele hit one shot of the Championship – a sinker from 172 yards – when he made the only birdie on the 11th on Sunday.
We saw irons and drivers in equal measure off the tees and all kinds of shots from the greens. Troon’s putting greens are generally considered greens where you can cover a lot of putts and, when it mattered, Schauffele covered them.
5. Hurry to Get Final Eligibility
Justin Rose was a star in the win at Burnham & Berrow and almost pulled it off at Troon. It’s been said a million times, but those players who make it to the game’s oldest Major this 36-hole course deserve everything they get.
In West Lancs it was cold, dull and sunny and here we had Dan Brown tipping his season on the head with a huge putt on his final hole. Speaking to him there he revealed that he had never played Troon before – now it’s almost been a week.
Rose played well enough to lift the Claret Jug and Brown played well enough to prove himself capable of big things in the game. Most qualifying routes for The Open are highly questionable, Final Qualifying ticks every box.
READ NEXT: What can an 18-handicapper find around Royal Troon? The good ones give their opinions
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