The Open: A Poor Showing
The 149th edition of the British Open at Royal St George’s enjoyed fine weather throughout. The Open: A poor showing because players were unable to come to terms with the course and the brutal fescue. This was compounded by the fact that the network coverage I watched spent hours showing Rory McIlroy who was never in contention. The producers chose to highlight their favourites over and above many fine players who were thereabouts at various times. The TV coverage reminded me of a band that was out of tune and not keeping time.
The Rory Show
The Open: A poor showing for fans of golf who may have been interested in watching players outside of the narrow choices of those producing the coverage. TV producers like to limit the number of characters in the story that their coverage is conveying to viewers. They like to highlight characters who are familiar to their audience. This is why we are subjected to hours of Rory, DJ, Brookes Koepka, Jordan Spieth, and more recently Bryson DeChambeau. Tiger was, of course, the headline character in the professional golf narrative for most of the last couple of decades. Those directing the cameras are loathe to show unknown faces for too long unless absolutely necessary.
Links Golf a Tough Test
Links golf on a tough track like Royal St George’s is a test for the best golfers in the world. The Open challenged our Australian golfers and their results were a poor showing. Young Cameron Smith flew the flag for the longest, but the TV producer obviously detested his wispy mullet because he was rarely sighted. In fact, Cam’s ‘do’ reminded me of that fescue, which was plaguing so many of those high-profile golfers. Adam Scott was never in contention but did make the cut unlike the other 9 Aussies who had the weekend off. The fine weather must have bothered them.
Blow Torches & Pot Bunkers
Those steep faced pot bunkers looked nasty. Apparently, they use a blow torch to burn the roots out of the face of those bunkers. I felt for those golfers who left shots in the bunkers and had to play out sideways. The Open was celebrated by the commentators I listened to. The players were not mad about the course but were glad to be there competing for the championship. Sweet swinging Louis Oosthuizen and the equally talented Collin Morikawa went at it hammer and tong around this tight track. Spieth was on their heels making unlikely long putts. Jon Rahm could not make a putt.
A Classic Finish
The best iron player beat the best scrambler in a classic finish at this year’s Open. Collin Morikawa is the Champion Golfer of the Year! Jordan Spieth played a great last round on Sunday. My heart goes out to Louis Oosthuizen who could not get it done on the final day.
