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**2017 British Open (Open Championship) Thread**

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The British Open (or Open Championship) is now just a little more than a week away. Per my usual custom, here is my list of my top ten favorties and other possible contenders. Picks are subject to change a bit also depending on what happens during the next week or so, but probably not much. Royal Birkdale plays host to this year's tournament. The last time it was held there, Padraig Harrington was the champion.

Top Ten:

1. Louis Oosthuzien- Louis's career has included many close calls in majors. I think he'll find a way to contend in this one and I'll pick him to win even though I think any of the top six really are interchangeable for the most part.

2. Tommy Fleetwood- Hottest player in Europe combined with course familiarity makes Fleetwood a favorite next week according to just about everyone.

3. Rickie Fowler- Fowler continues to trend towards his first major win. I would say that the chances of him either picking it up here or at Quail Hollow are about 30%.

4. Jon Rahm- Despite a disappointing US Open, Rahm can't be left out of the top five in any future majors for a while. Too strong a player to ignore.

5. Sergio Garcia- With major pressure off, Garcia can play free. His creativity and ball striking should be a good fit for this course.

6. Jordan Spieth- Spieth's play of late suggests that he will contend in the year's final two majors. Wouldn't surprise one bit if he found a way to win this.

7. Brian Harman- Harman just seems dialed in this summer. He should be able to score well at Birkdale if he can keep it out of the tall stuff.

8. Adam Scott- Scott hasn't played particularly well in 2017, but his ability to maneuver around links courses should serve him well here...and he's rested.

9. Marc Leishman- Another Aussie...lost in a playoff two years ago. Just a solid player who seems destined to contend at a few more majors over the next five years or so.

10. Richie Ramsay- Longshot pick; European vet with a good links history.

Players outside of my top ten who have a very legitimate shot at winning: Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey, Si- Woo Kim, Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar, Hideki Matsuyama, Alex Noren, Thomas Pieters, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas.

Highly talented, top tier players who have either struggled in 2017 thus far or struggled recently; Can put it together at any time: Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Tyrell Hatton, Jason Day, Branden Grace, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel.

Can never be counted out of a major due to experience and savvy: Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Ross Fisher, Francesco Molinari, Ryan Moore, Brandt Snedeker, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood. Ian Poulter.

Darkhorses, but with plenty of game: Bill Haas, J.B. Holmes, Andrew Johnston, Soren Kjeldsen, Daniel Berger, Wesley Bryan, Kevin Chappell, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Emiliano Grillo, Adam Hadwin, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, William McGirt, Pat Perez, Hideto Tanihara, Jimmy Walker, Bernd Wiesberger, Gary Woodland, Andy Sullivan, Chris Wood, Byeong Hun-An, Jason Dufner, Russell Henley, Charley Hoffman, Brendan Steele, Kyle Stanley, Jamie Lovemark, Xander Schauffele.

Other past major winners in the field: Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Ben Curtis, John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els, Todd Hamilton, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Bubba Watson, Danny Willett.

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I dn't see Rahm contending but understand him being in a top 10.

 

I'd have casey and Keopka over Rahm and ramsay

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Casey is a solid choice. I'm a little concerned about a figurative "hangover" for Koepka. He hasn't played since he won the US Open.

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Casey is a solid choice. I'm a little concerned about a figurative "hangover" for Koepka. He hasn't played since he won the US Open.

Koepka is going to shoot an 80

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Of all the rotation courses, RB is maybe the least exciting of the bunch.... That said, it's still the Open - hope we get something that goes down to the wire. Hope we also get a little bit of weather too - always adds a bit of UK touch.

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Koepka is going to shoot an 80

 

 

Living on fat street.

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Koepka is going to shoot an 80

I honestly haven't heard his name or seen him once since Erin Hills.... Did he go into the Witness Protection program? :unsure:

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I honestly haven't heard his name or seen him once since Erin Hills.... Did he go into the Witness Protection program? :unsure:

Him and Danny Willet have been boozing and stuffing their faces with bangers and mash

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As usual, I whiffed on some picks and did o.k. on others. Thought Spieth would contend despite not picking him to win. Leishman and Ramsay turned out to be good picks. Whiffed horribly on Oosthuzien, as well as Fleetwood and Rahm. It was a fun four days. PGA starts in 18 days...

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What a championship - Speith was clutch, Royal Birkdale did not disappoint, and even the weather was perfect in how the Open should be.

 

* A finish for the ages.. This ranks right up there with Arnie's 1960 Masters finish, Omera's '98 Masters finish and even Schwartzel's Masters win.

 

* No bigger fan of Spieth than me, Metroplex kid turned super star.... But for the love of Gawd - stop being such a whiny, crying, punk ass biitch! It's embarrassing, grow a set and focking handle shiit.

 

* Kooch is down on himself, saying this one will take a while to get over - my question is, why? It's not like he blew a huge lead or even did anything to doom his fate - Jordan just went out and took it away, in legendary style - nothing Kooch did.

 

* Glad the Chinese kid didn't win.. And no, not bcoz of politics nor race. I just didn't want to see the Open winner cruise to victory w/out facing any Sunday adversity.. As remarkable as his 63 was, he did it carefree, w/out a worry or pressure in the world. There's a huge difference between playing a major final round like that, and playing it in one of the final groups - coming down the back nine.

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I turned to a buddy and said that bogey save after all that craziness is momentum for Spieth, he had to feel okay after that bogey. Didn't think he would do quite what he did though. Took the pressure off himself a bit with that bogey.

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Fock the Edex Cup for ruining another major

 

I did record and FF through a lot of yesterday, so I did get to see Speefs fock up and impending choke, only to not choke and play his off

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I turned to a buddy and said that bogey save after all that craziness is momentum for Spieth, he had to feel okay after that bogey. Didn't think he would do quite what he did though. Took the pressure off himself a bit with that bogey.

 

PGA needs to implement some kind of rule.

 

it's not okay to take 23 minutes between shots and leave the other dude just sitting there in the fairway.

 

Completely unfair to Kooch

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I turned to a buddy and said that bogey save after all that craziness is momentum for Spieth, he had to feel okay after that bogey. Didn't think he would do quite what he did though. Took the pressure off himself a bit with that bogey.

History will remember the near hole-in-one, the following eagle bomb and the birdie, birdie run after that.

 

What it won't remember is the ridiculous up and down save that kick started it all.. That was damn near an impossible chip - one I bet he gets up and down maybe 4 out of 10 times... It's what I will remember about that charge.

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PGA needs to implement some kind of rule.

 

it's not okay to take 23 minutes between shots and leave the other dude just sitting there in the fairway.

 

Completely unfair to Kooch

Sort of sucked for kooch but hey that's golf. Not many time will you see that sort of thing happen. He wasn't only trying to find out the best place to play from but he had to scale that hill a few times just to get lined up and get people out of the way. Not sure how they would fix that.

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Sort of sucked for kooch but hey that's golf. Not many time will you see that sort of thing happen. He wasn't only trying to find out the best place to play from but he had to scale that hill a few times just to get lined up and get people out of the way. Not sure how they would fix that.

 

you get 5 mins to find your ball (which they are changing to 3 minutes)

 

but you get infinity to take your next shot if you take unplayable? bullchit

 

This is what they have in the new rule changes.

 

 

  • Pace-of-play support: Reduced time for searching for a lost ball (from five minutes to three); affirmative encouragement of “ready golf” in stroke play; recommending that players take no more than 40 seconds to play a stroke and other changes intended to help with pace of play.

 

 

 

 

40 seconds, unless you're Jordan Speef

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