Sports fans may be getting too much of a good thing right now. The FIFA World Cup drama has rightfully dominated the water-cooler conversation while Wimbledon and the international rugby circuit have offered points of contrast. The upcoming Open Championship threatens to overwhelm us with options.
The rugged, windswept links have a calming effect on me, making this easily my personal favourite of the four majors. With the Open little more than a week away, I thought it a good time to jog the memory and look at some of the standout renewals in recent history.
5. 2000- St Andrews: Tiger Woods runs rampant at the Old Course
Sure, this was hardly the most competitive of tournaments. But you can’t deny its importance in the broader Tiger mythos. Woods was virtually unplayable during this window, winning the last four events in 1999 before racking up more wins in 2000. He won the US Open at Pebble Beach by a jaw-dropping 15 strokes, making all the other top pros look ten years older than they were. This was also the 2nd leg of his famed ‘Tiger Slam’, which represents perhaps the most dominant period for any sportsman ever. Thomas Bjorn summed it up perfectly, saying ‘it looks like he is playing golf on a different planet than the rest of us’. I couldn’t agree more.
4. 2009- Muirfield: Els wins four-man playoff after Tiger implosion
There haven’t been many times when Mother Nature got the better of Tiger Woods. But this was one of those rare exceptions. Tiger-mania was almost at a peak heading into the 2009 Open Championship (Woods had won seven of the previous eleven major championships). He was two shots off the lead after 36 holes before a freak storm blew into town as he teed off on Saturday. Woods struggled in the inclement weather, shooting 81 to show a glimmer of human fallibility (we could come to see plenty more of that in years to come). Ernie Els appeared to have blown his shot with double-bogey on the 17th, relegating himself to a spot in the Open’s first four-man playoff (the other players being Elkington, Levet and Appleby). Els would par the sudden-death 5th hole to pick up the first of his two Claret Jugs.
3. 2017- Royal Birkdale: Jordan Spieth wins from Birkdale practice range
Seve Ballesteros- golf’s greatest escape artist- won the Open from a parking lot at Lytham in 1979. Not to be outdone, American short-game virtuoso Jordan Spieth found a way to win from the practice range at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Spieth entered Open folklore on that fateful Sunday, slicing his drive on the 13th into thick, unplayable rough. Chaos ensued, as the American wisely opted to take an unplayable drop on the practice range (which took the better part of 20 mins to finalize). He made a memorable bogey before playing the final five holes in 5-under-par, playfully pointing to the hole and instructing caddie Michael Greller to ‘go get that’ after holing for eagle on the 15th.
2. 2009- Turnberry: Cink holds off age-defying charge by Tom Watson
Not all fairytales have a happy ending (though those in the Cink family may disagree on that account). Venerated veteran Tom Watson turned back the hands of time at Turnberry, evoking memoires of his famous victory over Jack Nicklaus at the same venue back in 1977 (more on that later). A 59-year-old Watson nearly became the oldest major champion in history at Turnberry, using all his links nous to withstand the brutal coastal winds that decimated scorecards all week. Watson just needed to par the last to pick up a 5th Claret Jug. But Watson hit his approach through the green and settled for bogey, setting up a four-hole aggregate playoff with Cink. A deflated Watson capitulated in the playoff, shooting 4-over-par to finish six shots behind the unflappable Cink.
1. 2016- Royal Troon: Stenson stares down Mickelson in ‘High Noon at Troon’
This was the 21st century answer to the famed ‘Duel in the Sun’ at Turnberry, where Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus outclassed the field in one of golf’s most iconic shootouts. Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson lapped the field in similar fashion at Royal Troon, with J.B. Holmes finishing 3rd a full fourteen shots back of Mickelson. Stenson and Mickelson put on a shot-making clinic on the undulating Scottish links, delighting the locals with rounds of 63 (Stenson) and 65 (Mickelson). Stenson just couldn’t be denied, shooting a then-record 20-under-par to win by three strokes.
