Can Portrush return light McIlroy's fire?
Can Portrush return
light McIlroy's fire?
Finally ending his long quest for a career grand slam with a win at Augusta has had its drawbacks, with the sharpness disappearing from Rory McIlroy's game and his driving and approach shots suffering the most. The Northern Irishman will be well aware when the Open came back to Portrush - where he shot a course-record 61 as a 16-year-old - he tried too hard at his 'home' major. He missed the cut by a stroke after a first-round blow-up despite shooting 65 on the Friday. Feeding off the emotion and not succumbing to it will be key.
Can English wait for
a winner end?
Not since Nick Faldo lifted his third Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1992 has an Englishman won the Open. However, the chances look as slim as ever this year. Tommy Fleetwood is the country's top-ranked player at 13 and finished second on this course in 2019. There are only three other Englishmen in the top 50: Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose and Aaron Rai. Considering the average ranking of the last 10 champions is 13, it would look like an English triumph would have to buck the trend.
Who will be in contention?
Statistics help narrow down the contenders, not withstanding a Ben Curtis-type shock. The average world ranking of champions since 2000 is 37 - skewed by world number 396 Curtis - but every winner since 2012 has been inside the top 30. This century, Tiger Woods is the only world number one to lift the Claret Jug, in 2000, 2005 and 2006 - which would appear to rule out Scottie Scheffler. Last year's champion Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Ernie Els are the only other players to win while ranked in the world's top three, which offers hope to McIlroy and Schauffele. The average age of champions since 2000 is 32.5, while 18 of the last 24 winners had recorded a previous top-10 finish at The Open. Winners since 2000 average 8.58 previous Open appearances. Schauffele - aged 30, world number three, with seven previous Opens - would appear to meet most of the metrics but the bad news for the defending champion is only eight have ever won back-to-back since the first World War, with only Woods and Padraig Harrington achieving it in the last 42 years.
What will the weather do?
The conditions are nearly always a talking point when golf's oldest major rocks up at a seaside course but it is wind rather than rain which is usually more of an issue. In the final round in 2019 at Portrush, Shane Lowry made light of miserable, wet conditions to win by six, and three of the last four Opens have had to deal with less-than-ideal weather. The early forecast is for things not to be as bad as they were six years ago, but even in July and even with the summer we have been having, the Causeway Coast can throw up its fair share of obstacles, with some rain expected.
(PA Media/DPA)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
9 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Ben Sulayem ruling FIA with an iron fist can have its advantages: Wolff
Principal of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, Toto Wolff says Mohammed Ben Sulayem's FIA presidency of 'ruling with an iron fist' has had 'its advantages' to assert two key topics the Mercedes boss feels he has got right within Formula 1. The FIA president and Mercedes chief have clashed over how the governing body has overseen tighter restrictions over a 'swearing ban' and a push for an 11th F1 team since Ben Sulayem became president at the end of 2021, but it appears tensions have reduced in recent months. 'You can't deny that he's ruling with an iron fist,' Wolff told selected Austrian media during the Austrian GP weekend last month. 'He doesn't let anyone tell him what to do. That can have its advantages.' The most recent matter in the spotlight has been the FIA's 'swearing ban' which was criticised heavily upon introduction, until the governing body announced revisions to the rules in Appendix B of the International Sporting Code in April, which outlines restrictions on swearing. Fines have been reduced from €10,000 to €5000 and stewards can suspend penalties for first-time offenders, while exceptions were introduced for swearing in uncontrolled environments, such as over team radio. Wolff overall has supported the 'swearing ban' as he felt drivers in F1 needed to consider their status as role models to young drivers and fans. 'I think his stance on swearing is right,' Wolff said, referring to Ben Sulayem. 'Many of the drivers who scream on the radio don't speak English as their first language. If a French or Italian driver says 'go and fuck yourself' on the radio and thinks it's normal, it's probably because he's heard it that way since his karting days. But if you translate it literally into his native language, it can actually shock him. 'I think kids need to learn not to insult others on the radio. That engineer [on the radio to the driver] has a family at home who are very proud that their father or husband is working with a Formula 1 driver. 'If the driver lashes out at him like that, it's not good – and unfortunately, that already happens in junior categories.' Wolff speaks from personal experience, as his son Jack now races in karting, with drivers influenced by what happens in F1: 'The eight-, nine-, 10-year-olds talk like the pros. They're obviously their role models, I think it's good that the president is taking a strong stance on this.' The Mercedes boss added: 'You can debate where to draw the line between swearing and insulting. During a race, we're also a dumping ground for the drivers. They're going 300kph, wheel to wheel, physically and mentally on the edge, and then we tell them to be polite. But that's not the point. 'It's fine if they vent. What's not fine is when it turns into personal abuse. That's where a firm line is drawn.' The other topic Wolff previously hadn't seen eye-to-eye with the FIA president over was his push for Andretti to join the F1 grid as an 11th team, but his stance did soften once the project was tied to Cadillac's manufacturer backing, with the team set to join the championship in 2026.
Qatar Tribune
9 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Schauffele trying to ‘piece way back' ahead of Open defence
PA Media/DPA London Defending Open champion Xander Schauffele admits it was humbling to see the 'perfect storm' which brought him two majors in three months last summer disappear. A year ago the 31-year-old added the Claret Jug to his US PGA title in a stellar season which also brought 13 other top-10 finishes. However, a rib injury in December restricted him to just one appearance in the first three months of this year and any hope he had of continuing his momentum was lost. 'Going from on top of the moon to, you know, knocked off completely, it's a humbling thing for sure,' Schauffele told the PA news agency at an event for sponsors Callaway in Portrush's famous Harbour Bar. 'Winning my first major, getting the monkey off my back, came at a perfect time - if you want to, call it a perfect storm. 'Feeling completely free and playing unbelievable golf, it's a pretty dangerous thing so I felt like I was riding that wave. 'So I'm just trying to piece my way back, gain a little bit of confidence each and every week with each and every shot to be honest.' His confidence received a boost with only his second top-10 finish in 12 events at last week's Scottish Open. Performing well on a links course was ideal preparation for the defence of the Claret Jug he won at Troon, but the American does not really view it in that manner. 'It's a strange thing to defend when the venue changes. When I handed over the Claret Jug on Monday morning it felt like a defence, but when I'm on the property I'm not remembering the shots I hit when I won,' added Schauffele. 'I'm trying to relearn the course, learn how far the ball's going, what the winds are doing, what bunkers you can and can't hit it in. So it's a weird thing.' What does not change, however, is the fact he has two majors under his belt to give him valuable experience. He said: 'I don't think it hurts. I think it's one of those things where, if I can get myself in a position, I've done it twice now. There'll be a pack of guys who have done it more than that and then there'll be a pack of guys who've never done it. 'So it'll give me a slight advantage in that moment, but we're far away from that and I'm trying to focus on some small things to start. 'My advantage will be if I can put myself in a good position come the weekend.'
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Healy takes yellow jersey as Yates wins stage
PA Media/DPA Paris Irishman Ben Healy rode himself into the yellow jersey with an outstanding display of grit and power as Simon Yates won stage 10 of the Tour de France from a breakaway on the Puy de Sancy on Monday. A monster Bastille Day stage through the Massif Central delivered the fireworks as Healy put in a huge shift in the break to maintain a sizeable gap over the chasing peloton, fighting his way to third on the stage and then counting the seconds until Tadej Pogacar finished. Pogacar put in a late dig as he traded blows with rival Jonas Vingegaard, but when the world champion came in four minutes 51 seconds behind Yates, 4:20 behind Healy, the yellow jersey swapped shoulders with Healy 29 seconds better off going into Tuesday's rest day. Yates profited as he followed Healy's lead for most of the last 20 kilometres, then distanced him on the climb to the finish, but the biggest grin was on the face of the 24-year-old EF Education-EasyPost man who became the fourth Irishman to wear yellow and the first since Stephen Roche in 1987. 'It was insanely tough, it was a battle against myself really,' Healy said. 'I just had to dig deep. My team-mates put in so much work today, Harry (Sweeny) and Alex (Baudin), I really, really wanted to pay them back and I'm happy I could do that in the end. 'I kind of gambled a bit. I had the stage win in the bank and how often do you get the opportunity to put yourself into yellow so I felt I had to take that and really go for it.' With the peloton made to wait an extra 24 hours for their first rest day, race organizers put a monster challenge in their way with eight categorised climbs and 4,500 metres of elevation on the 165km stage from Ennezat - ideal territory for a breakaway. A group of 29 eventually got away but were given little rope until they were whittled down to a more focused group of 17 midway through the stage, with the gap growing sufficiently to give Healy a hope of yellow. He got the message, abandoning the ambition of doubling up on his stage six victory and putting all of his efforts into powering on what became a group of just six riders, maintaining the gap to the peloton at more than five-and-a-half minutes almost until the foot of the 3.3kilometres climb to the finish. That was the moment for Yates, the Giro d'Italia winner who came to the Tour to support Vingegaard, to launch attack, quickly distancing Healy and holding off Thymen Arensman to win his third career Tour stage.
