The Open Championship - St. Andrews (Old Course)

E5 Yaz

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How is this not a choke? Literally did nothing all day while the field behind him was moving up. Whether it was bad strategy or bad play, it is a choke.
Being Mr Hot Take just demonstrates that you have no idea of what you just watched
 

voidfunkt

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Look at the leaderboard... this was a scoring day, tons of guys with -4 or more under. Rory limping in with a -2 is really really bad. If he plays even competitive with the rest of the field he wins this.
 

johnmd20

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Young probably finishes alone in 2nd. Solid by the kid.

Great day, great round. The Open Champ is so insane for the internal clock, it's not even 2pm.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Balls round from Cam. Rory did not choke, just had a very average round when the competition was unconscious today.
 

BigMike

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Rory played with the attitude to play to middle of greens, tke the 2 putt pars, and then take advantage of the couple of easy holes, and go through. And then he F** up 9 , taking the safe miss. He F** up 12. He F** up 15. In the end he F** up 18 as well How on earth did he needing eagle end up 20_ yards short on 18
 

cshea

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Smith tied for low round of the day (-8).

I don't think Rory choked but his putter was simply not good enough today.
I think it was more the approaches than the putting. He 2-putted every hole but only had 2 looks from 10 feet (3 and 9). Those are 50/50 for pros and he came up empty. It wasn’t like he was missing 4 footers, he just couldn’t get any mid-to-long range ones to drop.
 

E5 Yaz

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He hit 18 greens, 35 of 36 over the weekend. You can’t just jam it in to 5 feet every hole.
Just too bad he choked while a guy shot 30 on the back nine of the final round of the British Open :rolleyes:
 

Dave Stapleton

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See Rory gets criticized for not playing controlled and letting it get away. He played the final round like a leader should. He had lots of opportunities and no putts were made. He lost by 2 strokes to the lowest round ever at St A at the Open.

If he played super aggressive and lost then he’d be accused of blowing it again.

Cam won it today. The play on 17th was both disciplined and clutch.
 

PayrodsFirstClutchHit

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Rory had a few chances from within 100 yards to get it close and give himself a decent shot at birdie and was not able to execute. Not a choke, but not his best day with the wedges.
 

johnmd20

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Rory hit 100% of the greens in regulation today. He just couldn't hit a putt. But if you hit every green in regulation, you didn't choke, someone else just beat you.
 

BigMike

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Rory hit 100% of the greens in regulation today. He just couldn't hit a putt. But if you hit every green in regulation, you didn't choke, someone else just beat you.
he also had I think 5 holes where he was 55 or less yards away for eagle, and ended up with Par, which is Awful
 

Dave Stapleton

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He definitely had chances early that are going to haunt him. And we should stop defending the non-choke position. Only one poster said so and we are just giving it air.
 

Zomp

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It wasn’t a choke but as the president of his fan club it really, really hurts. I had to avoid the result all day and came home to watch around 3pm. Ugh. This sucks.
 

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It wasn’t a choke but as the president of his fan club it really, really hurts. I had to avoid the result all day and came home to watch around 3pm. Ugh. This sucks.
If you're president, I'm veep, and it's put me in a shitty mood all day. Good for Smith, but damn, I wanted Rory to make a damn putt.
 

Zomp

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Strong rumors that after the presidents cup Cam is off to LIV with the rest of the aussies.

I can’t remember feeling this shitty after a tournament before. I’m almost at Boone levels here.

I’m gonna go lay down with my kids.
 

Average Reds

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Strong rumors that after the presidents cup Cam is off to LIV with the rest of the aussies.

I can’t remember feeling this shitty after a tournament before. I’m almost at Boone levels here.

I’m gonna go lay down with my kids.

The latest wave of rumored defectors includes Henrik Stenson - the current Ryder Cup Captain for Europe - along with Smith, Fleetwood, Matsuyama, Leishman and Bubba Watson.

I get why the older/younger players are jumping, but I don’t understand this group. To each his own, I guess.
 

cshea

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Money, that's really it.

Stenson is 46 and has been non-competitive for several years now. I think he likely would've been part of the first wave if not for the Ryder Cup captaincy. Bubba's 43, coming off injury and hasn't really been competitive himself for a while.

The Aussies (i'd also throw Scott and Day into this group), I do wonder how much influence Norman has over them. They probably have a much different view of him than we do. Scott and Day have previously said that the schedule appealed to them, though they haven't been linked too much recently.

Fleetwood...I don't know? Maybe he's tight with Poulter, Westwood, Casey? He's much younger than them but that's basically been the trio of elite English golfers over the past two decades.

Hideki would be a coup for LIV. If they do intend on making some money grabbing the biggest Japanese star can only help.
 

Dave Stapleton

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At this point the LIV players have to believe that eventually they will get their cake and eat it too. The more that leave the more likely the PGA won’t be able to shut them out.

I just think the PGA handled this all wrong. I don’t know how they will resolve if all this comes to pass but bullying and threats clearly aren’t working.
 

jercra

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At this point the LIV players have to believe that eventually they will get their cake and eat it too. The more that leave the more likely the PGA won’t be able to shut them out.

I just think the PGA handled this all wrong. I don’t know how they will resolve if all this comes to pass but bullying and threats clearly aren’t working.
How should it have been handled?
 

Average Reds

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Money, that's really it.
This is true for Stenson. The LIV will be like playing on the Senior Tour with a 10x multiplier.

Cam Smith is 28 years old and has already made about $10 million this year alone. Unless he’s a degenerate gambler like Phil, the extra money he would make from LIV won’t make a bit of difference to his life. So there’s obviously something else driving him. (That’s assuming the rumors are true.)

At this point the LIV players have to believe that eventually they will get their cake and eat it too. The more that leave the more likely the PGA won’t be able to shut them out.

I just think the PGA handled this all wrong. I don’t know how they will resolve if all this comes to pass but bullying and threats clearly aren’t working.
IMO, it all comes down to the world rankings.

If the LIV is included in the calculations, that league will thrive. If not, most LIV players will eventually lose their access to majors.
 

TFP

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Unless he’s a degenerate gambler like Phil, the extra money he would make from LIV won’t make a bit of difference to his life
An extra $100M won’t make any difference to his life at all?
 
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Average Reds

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An extra $100M won’t make any difference to his life at all?
Relative to the earning power of a 28 year old who is on track to make $20 million or more (including endorsements) this year alone without LIV? No.

Edit: Just to be clear, I understand the inclination to take the money. All things being equal, I would too.

The problem is that this isn’t like a baseball player deciding which franchise to play for or what city he chooses to live in. This is a pro golfer deciding to join a start-up tour with the stated intent of destroying the existing order in golf while simultaneously burnishing the reputation of the murderous dictatorship in Saudi Arabia. (I’ve been very critical of Mickelson, but he was very honest about the “scary motherfuckers” he now works for.)

If I’m a pro golfer already making tens of millions a year, the marginal utility of doubling or tripling my income isn’t great enough (from my perspective) to justify selling myself to the Saudis. But that’s just how I see it, and I get that many will view it differently.
 
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Dave Stapleton

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How should it have been handled?
I think they needed to acknoweldge the threat and hit it head on rather than threatening it's members and underestimate the concerns. Absolutely valid approach to call the defectors wrong and explain why their concerns aren't worth discussing but I think it was wrongheaded.