Don’t change your clothes when you’re watching the back 9 of a major championship on Sunday
You’ll miss the most important shots
While watching the coverage of the 150th Open Championship and Rory McIlroy up two shots on the field, I left my desk for a moment to change into some casual clothing.
I came back a few minutes later, and Rory was down one stroke to Australian Cameron Smith who had just gone on a barrage of birdies.
Though not playing in the same grouping, Smith—playing with American Cameron Young for the second day in a row—was holding off McIlroy, playing in the following group and who was paired with the Norwegian, Viktor Hovland.
In fact, the “Two Cams” pairing led the tournament and was the last one to go out for Round 3. Smith led The Open at -13 going into the weekend. On Saturday, Hovland and McIlroy each carded a 66 to earn them the right to play in the final group on Sunday.
As the competitors came down the stretch, we came to the most iconic hole in golf, “The Road Hole.” This is also a strange hole with unorthodox shot choices and even rules that you don’t see at most golf courses.
After a good drive at 17, Smith looked like he may have hit his approach a little fat. The commentators thought he was heading into the famous and treacherous Road Hole Bunker, the “most notorious golf hazard in the world,” according to The Herald (Glasgow).
Luckily for Smith—but perhaps not for the drama viewers around the world may have been looking for—the ball avoided the pot bunker, which left him with several choices on how to get his ball on the green.
Smith chose his “Texas Wedge.” Employing the use of his putter, the Queenslander slung the golf ball around the bunker, through the fringe, and up the undulating grade of the green, swinging ever so slightly left before straightening out and settling in the slight swale below the hole, presenting a makeable par putt for the leader. He sunk it.
Rory just kept making pars all day. Two birdies were the only deviations marked upon his scorecard.
“Perhaps he’s not as aggressive as he needs to be,” came a voice from the television.
McIlroy’s drive on the Road Hole—requiring a blind tee shot over a building—took a left-to-right shot shape, something that the NBC crew was wondering about, since his “natural” shot is more of a draw—right-to left.
Rory executed near-perfectly, but he was still one shot back of Smith.
At about the same moment, going into 18, “Tom Morris,” Smith took his driver to the teeing grounds looking to perhaps “drive the green,” forsaking the normally “smart play” of laying up.
In the final round, Old Tom Morris, according to the NBC crew, was playing “easier” than it normally does.
Smith hit the ball to the right, just below the green and well below the hole.
“A harsh angle,” said Dan Hicks, the lead play-by-play man for NBC.
During his post-round interview, Smith said, “I love feeling uncomfortable.” A great mindset for a sportsman, but also one that may be unavoidable in everyday life for this mildly hirsute youngster, one who practically sets himself up for ridicule with an unkempt “shorty longback” hairstyle and haphazardly scattered blonde thatch about his face.
This is the attitude of a champion nonetheless. In March, the Brisbane-native took home the title at THE PLAYERS Championship, considered by some to be the “fifth major.”
Meanwhile, “the other Cameron,” the American Cam Young, drove the green and had a good look at an 15-foot eagle putt that could put him even with Smith, forcing the Aussie to make birdie to avoid a playoff.
Moments after Smith’s shot rolled past the hole location on 18, McIlroy knocked his approach shot on 17 just feet from the green, looking for his first birdie since the 10th hole which would tie him with Smith at -19.
Viktor Hovland, the co-leader to start the day, had already faded from contention.
McIlroy missed his birdie putt on 17 by mere angstroms.
Smith then turned that “harsh angle” he was saddled with into a beautiful lag putt, setting him up for birdie.
Young poured in the 15-footer to get to -19, leapfrogging McIlroy and putting him tied for the lead, briefly, with Smith.
Smith birdied to get to -20, leaving McIlroy needing an eagle on 18 to tie. Theoretically, a win was still on the table—all that would be required would be to hole-out his tee shot.
McIlroy didn’t quite drive the green, though, which left him with a testy chip shot to hole out and force a playoff.
A birdie in this case—thanks to the phenomenal final hole of Cam Young—would merely garner McIlroy a T2, whereas par would leave the Irishman in sole possession of third place.
A wedge shot, to the left and past the hole, left the four-time major winner with a lot of meat on the bone for the putt coming back. He missed it and tapped in for par.
McIlroy putted well all tournament, but “burnt the edges” all day in the final round.
Thirty-six putts on the day. Two per hole. Smith only putted 29 times.
McIlroy needed a couple of those great putts to fall in the hole, and not settle for the “St. Andrews lag,” which is generally considered to be remarkable putting on the greens of the Old Course. But he found himself in a major championship on a Sunday afternoon, not in a casual game with the fellas.
Rory was up by 4 on Cam Smith going into Sunday and he did not 3-putt and did not bogey the entire round.
With the leader able to get around the course in such a manner during the final round and with the final score to par at -20, it makes you wonder if the Old Course was set up properly for a major championship.
The U.S. Open, for instance, is regularly played on a par-70 track and scores often hover around even par. (Yes there are exceptions.)
The Old Course is a fun one. Nice tradition—perhaps the best in all of golf. But when the leader doesn’t “choke” and then loses, it is a bit disappointing.
I would have preferred to watch an unfettered Sunday choke-job.
The Aussie Cam, however, played his tuchus off, as did the American Cam. Both played well—better than McIlroy at the end of the day.
McIlroy, nevertheless, has performed well this season.
2nd place at The Masters
8th at the PGA Championship
5th at the US Open
3rd at the British Open.
As for other tournaments in 2022:
won the Canadian Open
5th at the “Wells Fargo”
Collected earnings of well over $4 million since March
On to Hoylake (Royal Liverpool) next year for the 151st Open.
To be fair, I wanted to write more about McIlroy, but situations change as better golf scores get carded.
Nevertheless, McIlroy is one of the top golfers in the entire world and has been coached by one fellow, Michael Bannon, for his entire career.
Bannon is no slouch.
He turned pro in 1981
won more than 20 titles on the Irish Region Tour
lost the Irish PGA Championship in a playoff to a young Padraig Harrington
was named European PGA Golf Coach of the Year in 2011.
“Michael Bannon is the only coach I’ve ever had. It’s scary—he knows my swing better than I do. When things started sliding south he knew exactly what to do…taking me back to the basics that rocketed me to number one in the first place…steps that he taught me when I was a little kid,” said Rory McIlroy.
Rory’s coach has one of the best online golf lessons out there…for less than 40 bucks…a “6 Step Golf Lesson” that will:
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Like Rory McIlroy says,
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Might not win you The Open at the Old Course, but third ain’t too shabby, either.
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Brian O’Leary