Jack Nicklaus has repeatedly said that in order to be remembered as a truly great player, winning The Open Championship at St. Andrews is a must.
Bobby Jones first inspired that thought, claiming that no golfer’s career is complete without capturing that win.
Tiger said The Old Course is golf, “how it should be.”
Spieth called it the best tournament professional golfers play.
For Rory, it’s the ‘holy grail” of the sport.
Jon Rahm appeared to have visible chills running up his spine when he spoke earlier this week of the impact Seve Ballesteros’ win at the Old Course had on him and the entire country of Spain.
Seve’s win was in 1984. Rahm was born 10 years later.
The richness of the history at St. Andrews permeates through time in a different manner than any other golf tournament, and the rarity of the opportunity to win the 150th Claret Jug at St. Andrews is not lost on anyone.
The unending barrage of footage, photographs and anecdotes passed on through the broadcast and from players both current and past conjures up a magical intrigue and mystique around St. Andrews.
If you polled every player who’s teed it up in all four majors and asked them which one is the best in professional golf, I’d be surprised if The Open wasn’t the most popular answer.
There is something pure and fulfilling about seeing the best in the world return to where the game began and embrace a test of golf in its purest form as it was intended. Balls bounce, run and roll in ways unfamiliar to the eyes of most fans (and some players too) who have no true relationship with links golf. Inviting that element of randomness into the equation is largely what makes The Open the most captivating tournament on the calendar.
Major championship weeks have a true knack for extracting the most captivating storylines within the field and drawing them to the forefront of a four-day conversation. And there hasn’t been a stage or setting with quite the grandeur as the 150th Open at St. Andrews.
Talking yourself into picking a winner at St. Andrews is like weighing your options in line for movie tickets; the cast is full of A-list actors, but which one is attached to the most interesting plot line?
It’s not difficult to envision Scottie Scheffler flighting his ball around the Old Course, quickly adding a second major, and turning this heater into a historic one.
If not Scheffler, then Rahm, who almost assuredly drops F-bombs every morning when he wakes up and sees any number lower than 1 next to his name in the official world rankings. The history of the game is also clearly meaningful to Rahm, who would be the first Spaniard to win an Open since Ballesteros.
This is the last of Xander Schauffele’s four annual opportunities to change the narrative about himself, and The Guy Who Never Wins is suddenly The Guy Who Can’t Stop Winning. Three victories in a row and a maiden major at St. Andrews would certainly make up for the many close calls he’s endured over the years.
Without defending his title, Collin Morikawa’s sequel to his links golf debut at Royal St. George’s a year ago would be forgettable. Retaining the Claret Jug, however, would re-ignite the conversation as to whether he will win ___ or more majors.
Simply put, one player’s legacy and career trajectory will be forever changed come Monday morning, and the uncertainty in knowing who or how is gripping.
Nicklaus correctly said on Monday that there are more good golfers now than there ever has been, making the question as to who will conquer the unpredictable championship even harder to answer.
One aspect of the typical unpredictability of an Open is expected to be tamer this week, with rain and wind projected to be at a relative minimum for the Old Course. But, as one element of potential surprise fades, another challenge arises in the form of a seriously firm golf course.
The idea that we will see the major scoring record (62) fall this week has been a popular take on in the pre-tournament lead up, and Paul McGinley said on Golf Channel that he expects to see drives reach, “near 500 yards” if winds are favorable and the firmness holds.
If that ends up becoming remotely accurate, the Claret Jug will truly be up for grabs. With the emphasis taken off driving accuracy and shifted toward short game and putting, few other players come to mind quicker than Cam Smith.
Smith has cooled off since his two early season wins at Kapalua and The Players, and his cooling off truly began with the aggressively fatal mistake at the 12th hole at Augusta. Since squandering any chance of catching Scheffler that day, Smith has flown incredibly close to the sun and shot himself out of tournaments (see: a third round 73 at the PGA, final round 77 at the Memorial) he otherwise was on the verge of taking.
A second round score of 75 exhausted his chances at the Scottish Open last week where he was fifth in strokes gained putting. The glaring weakness in his game is an inaccurate driver, and Smith is coming off his most accurate driving performance (+13% adjusted driving accuracy) in more than two calendar years, per DataGolf.com.
If Smith can dial in his aggressive mentality on the Old Course’s most tempting holes and limit his mistakes, he will have a great chance to be major-less no more and leave Schauffele as the best player in the world currently without a big trophy.
Speaking of major-less, Will Zalatoris has three legs of the Career Runner Up Grand Slam in just nine starts. The Open is the only major Zalatoris has not come runner up in, with his only appearance resulting in a withdrawal last year at Royal St. George’s.
The doubters will repeat the same tired reasons why he can’t pull one out:
“When it comes down to it, he can’t putt.” False. His three best putting performances have been in the majors and it’s not even close.
“He’s never played here before.” And? Have you seen him strike a golf ball?
“He’s never won on Tour before, he doesn’t know how to.” Do you recall who he lost to at the U.S. Open? That guy had never won before either.
Finally getting over the hump at St. Andrews would be an epic way to win your first major, and Zalatoris is a major player. Fast and firm should be music to his ears.
Until he gets that elusive first one, I’ll be picking him to win every single major. The dude just shows up.
I am now imagining Zalatoris standing next to John Daly, Zach Johnson and Tiger Woods at the next Open Champion’s Dinner. Talk about a range of body types.
The list of names who have won the Open at St. Andrews is downright elite.
Jones, Snead, Nicklaus, Ballesteros, Faldo, Daly, Woods.
With all due respect to Louis Oosthuizen and Zach Johnson— who most recently won at the Old Course in distinctly different yet entertaining fashions— we are due for a massive name to win here.
There are three players that move the needle unlike anyone else, and a win from any of them would set the golfing world ablaze until April.
When Spieth came to St. Andrews in 2015, he was in pursuit of his third consecutive major win. At age 21, he ran away with the Masters and stole a U.S. Open from Dustin Johnson. He was buzzing with the most electricity a golfer had been able to generate since Tiger.
Spieth came up one shot short of a playoff and I am still convinced he won that day. Avenging that loss and breaking his five-year major drought at St. Andrews is the third best outcome for golf fans this week.
The next best comes from the only other golfer to garner a similar amount of electricity during his career. At the time of the 2015 Open, when a soccer injury kept him away from defending his 2014 Open win, it was not unreasonable to think that Rory McIlroy could win 10 majors by the end of his career. He hasn’t really come close to winning one since.
His only Open start at St. Andrews featured a wild 63-80 start in 2010 that dashed his chances of catching Oosthuizen en route to a disappointing T-3 finish.
His second attempt here comes at an extremely opportune time. Aside from playing rock solid golf this summer, he is also the unequivocal leading voice for the PGA Tour in its existential battle with LIV Golf. If winning the Canadian Open during LIV’s debut was an on-course boost the PGA Tour needed, imagine how a Rory win at St. Andrews would ripple across the golf world. Can his major drought really extend to nine years?
Tiger might be the first to congratulate Rory on 18 green if he were to win, but he’s likely envisioning other Sunday plans.
Before he quieted everyone by making the cut, it didn’t quite make sense for Tiger to play Augusta in April. Looking back now, it makes a lot of sense. This Open has undoubtedly been on Tiger’s radar throughout his entire recovery process, so walking difficult tracks and competing against the strongest fields was valuable for his endurance more than anything. And it’s showing.
Before he tees off Thursday, he will have walked nearly 60 holes over four days and has been ramping himself up to go in a way that fosters a genuine belief and confidence that he can contend in this one. He’s also spoken openly all week to media about how this is likely his last chance to play competitively at St. Andrews.
After several days walking, playing and soaking in the scenery, Tiger said it, “does feel like it's the biggest Open Championship we've ever had."
I sense that this is a tournament where everyone watching will know that history is unfolding as it is transpiring. At a place where special things tend to happen, I would be shocked if we didn’t get an all timer this week.