GOLF GLANCE: ROYAL TROON HOSTS 2024’S FINAL MAJOR
Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Scottish Open (Robert MacIntyre)
THIS WEEK: The Open Championship, Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland, July 18-21
Course: Royal Troon (Par 71, 7,385 Yards)
Purse: $17M (Winner: $3.1M)
Defending Champion: Brian Harman
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 1:30-4 a.m. ET (Peacock), 4 a.m.-3 p.m. (USA), 3-4:15 p.m. (Peacock); Saturday: 5-7 a.m. (USA), 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (NBC); Sunday: 4-7 a.m. (USA), 7 a.m.-2 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming: The R&A controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights.
X: @TheOpen
NOTES: The field includes 49 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, the top 30 in the FedExCup standings and 19 past Open champions. … Royal Troon is hosting The Open for the 10th time, with Henrik Stenson winning the most recent in 2016, when he famously outlasted Phil Mickelson. … Scheffler is already just the fourth player with at least six wins in the same season since 1983 and the first since Tiger Woods in 2009. Woods in 2007 is the last player to win at least seven times in a single season. … Woods will make his fifth start of the season, with his only made cut coming at the Masters (60th). He finished T24 in the 1997 Open Championship played at Troon and T9 in 2004. … Justin Rose went through Final Qualifying to earn a spot in this week’s field. At No. 75 in the FedEx Cup standings he has only three weeks remaining to get inside the Top 70 that will qualify for the first leg of the playoffs. … Xander Schauffele has the longest active streak with 51 consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour. Scheffler is second with 40. Hideki Matsuyama owns the longest consecutive cuts made in majors streak at 17. Adam Scott leads all active players as he will play in his 93rd consecutive major.
BEST BETS: Scheffler (+500 at DraftKings) had his best finish at The Open three years ago with a T8, but this has also been a year of shattering previous standards for the world’s No. 1-ranked player. In addition to his wins at the Masters and Players, Scheffler has claimed four signature event victories. He leads the field at the book with 16 percent of the total bets backing him to claim his first Open title this week. … Rory McIlroy (+850) returned from his post-U.S. Open meltdown break to post a T4 at the Scottish Open. McIlroy has a final opportunity to break his decade-long major drought this year. He is second to Scheffler with 9 percent of the total bets backing him, but McIlroy does lead the field with 18 percent of the money. … Schauffele (+1200) wasn’t able to successfully defend his title at the Scottish Open, but he did produce his 10th consecutive top-20 finish. That includes a win at the PGA Championship, a T2 at the Masters and a T7 at the U.S. Open. … Ludvig Aberg (+2000) showed his inexperience in blowing the 54-hole lead with a 73 on Sunday at the Scottish Open. He does have a solo second at the Masters and a T12 at the U.S. Open on his 2024 resume already. Aberg is third with 8 percent of the money backing him to win his first major at Royal Troon. … Collin Morikawa (+1400) hasn’t found the winner’s circle since last fall, but the 2021 Open champion continues to knock on the door. That includes a T4 last week — his sixth top-10 in his past nine starts, a streak that includes no finishes lower than T16. … Bryson DeChambeau’s (+2000) major record this year includes a T6 at the Masters, second at the PGA and his win at the U.S. Open. A ninth-place finish at Andalucia on Sunday was underwhelming against LIV’s smaller fields, and his best Open finish was a T8 two years ago.
THIS WEEK: Barracuda Championship, Truckee, Calif., July 18-21
Course: Tahoe Mountain Club, Old Greenwood (Par 71, 7,480 Yards)
Purse: $4M (Winner: $720,000)
Defending Champion: Akshay Bhatia
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Sunday, 5-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
X: @CudaChamp
NOTES: There are only three weeks and four events remaining before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, where only the top 70 players will qualify for the first event. There are 26 players in this week’s field with an opportunity to move into the Top 70 with a win. … This is the only PGA Tour event to use the Modified Stableford scoring system. Players earn eight points for a double eagle, five for an eagle and two for a birdie. No points are earned for a par, while a bogey is minus one point and a double bogey or worse is minus three points. … Bhatia will not defend his title as he competes in The Open Championship. The field does include 50 players from the DP World Tour courtesy of the strategic alliance between the tours. … The winner will earn a PGA Tour exemption through 2026 if a current member of the tour, or through 2025 if a current member of the DP World Tour. … Erik Van Rooyen holds the tournament scoring record of plus-50 set in 2021.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: 3M Open, Blaine, Minn., July 25-28
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Evian Championship (Akaya Furue)
THIS WEEK: Dana Open, Sylvania, Ohio, July 18-21
Course: Highland Meadows Golf Club (Par 71, 6,666 yards)
Purse: $1.75M (Winner: $162,500)
Defending Champions: Linn Grant
Race to the CME Globe leader: Nelly Korda
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 12-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel/Peacock); Saturday, 2-5 p.m. (Peacock), 8-10 p.m. (GC — Tape Delay); Sunday, 1-2 p.m. (GC), 2-4 p.m. (CBS)
X: @danaopenlpga
NOTES: This is the 39th playing and 40th anniversary of the event, which Highland Meadows has hosted since 1988. … Friday will be “Lexi Thompson Day” and will feature fans, players and tournament staff wearing pink, the favorite color for Thompson, who announced this will be her final year playing a full LPGA Tour schedule. … Linnea Strom is the only one of 12 winners on tour this year (ShopRite LPGA Classic) in this week’s field, which does include 20 of the 26 rookies in 2024. … Se Ri Pak holds the tournament scoring record of 261 set in 1998.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: CPKC Women’s Open, Calgary, July 25-28
PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: Kaulig Companies Championship (Ernie Els)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Els
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Senior Open Championship, Carnoustie, Scotland, July 25-28
LIV Golf League
LAST TOURNAMENT: Andalucia, Spain (Individual: Sergio Garcia; Team: Fireballs GC)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
2024 Leaders: Players, Joaquin Niemann; Team, Crushers GC
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf United Kingdom, England, July 26-28
TOMMY FLEETWOOD AIMS TO TURN PAGE AT OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Tommy Fleetwood has come close to the winner’s circle at majors throughout his career only to routinely fall short.
The 33-year-old Englishman is intent on changing that narrative this week at the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.
“I try not to dwell on it too much. I get frustrated like anybody else. I get down on myself like anybody else,” Fleetwood said on Wednesday, one day before the start of the tournament.
“I don’t win anywhere near as much as I would like, and I’m probably not sort of in a position in the game where I want to be, even though I’m doing perfectly well. It’s not where I believe I can be, and the results don’t always show that.”
Fleetwood, who is winless on the PGA Tour, enters this week No. 25 in the FedEx Cup standings. He made his first tour appearance in 2013 and has seven wins on the European Tour.
Fleetwood made a sterling challenge at the Open in 2019 before finishing in second place at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.
He then made a spirited run at the landmark 150th Open at St. Andrews 2022 before ending up tied for fourth place with Viktor Hovland. He followed that up with a T10 last year at the Open.
“Like I said, I try not to dwell on it,” Fleetwood said. “I try to focus on positives and what I need to do to actually get to where I want to be or contend in tournaments and win tournaments. I try to focus on that every day, but yeah, to be sure, the game’s annoying. Even when you play well, you come off frustrated because you might have missed a putt or you might have finished a shot or two behind where you thought you could.
“You always start a new week fresh, and I try to focus on that as much as possible really.”
He also finished second at the U.S. Open in 2018, tied for fifth at the PGA Championship in 2022 and tied for third at the Masters this year.
Despite the lack of results, Fleetwood said he is still motivated to compete on the golf course.
“I still love golf. I think golf is my absolute favorite thing to do, and I still — I don’t believe that I’ve reached my potential at all in what I can do,” he said. “I think I’m still very driven by that. I still wake up every day and want to be the best player I can be, and I still want to find things that will make me better and what I can improve on. There’s still so many tournaments that I enjoy playing, tournaments that I want to win.
“Yeah, until — I’m sure one day I might wake up and might not have the same enthusiasm for it, but it’s never left me yet, and it continues. I’ll wake up tomorrow excited to play The Open. Whether I play good or bad, I might be disappointed, but I’ll probably want to go and practice afterwards and see if I can get better.
“Yeah, like I say, it’s still my favorite thing to do. I love the game.”
ROBERT MACINTYRE CHASING RARE SCOTTISH DOUBLE AT THE OPEN
Scottish Open champion Robert MacIntyre looks to complete a rare feat in his homeland by winning this week’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.
The last player to win the Scottish Open and an Open Championship in Scotland in the same year was Phil Mickelson in 2013.
MacIntyre also is seeking to become just the third Scottish player to lift the Claret Jug in the past 100 years, joining Paul Lawrie (1999) and Tommy Armour (1931).
MacIntyre arrived at Troon with momentum following an eagle-par-birdie finish to win by one shot on Sunday at The Renaissance Club.
He also arrived with a well-earned hangover after going “absolutely wild” following his Scottish Open triumph. Asked Wednesday to rate his celebration on a scale of 1 to 10, he gave it a 10.
“Look, I’m not a big drinker, but when you get moments like that that’s a childhood dream and a lifetime goal and you’ve got family and friends there that have backed you since you were a young kid, I think it was quite right to go absolutely wild,” MacIntyre said. “I think we done a good job of that.”
It was the second win of the season for MacIntyre following the Canadian Open in early June.
The 27-year-old still is seeking his first major win, with his best finish to date a tie for sixth at the Open Championship in 2019 at Royal Portrush.
After becoming the first Scot to win the Scottish Open in 25 years (Colin Montgomerie), he looks to become the first Scot to win the Open in 25 years (Lawrie).
“It’s possible,” MacIntyre said. “Tomorrow we’ll start off from level par. I’ve got as much chance as everyone else in the field. Same Thursday last week, I had the same chance as everyone else.
“It’s just about getting in that position on Sunday and seeing where the cards fall. Obviously last week they fell my way. My job is to go out there, fight as hard as I can, try my best, and hopefully get in a position where I can just have a chance.
“That’s all I can ask myself, and that’s the only bit of kind of anything that I want is just have a chance. If I do my job well enough and I hit the shots I see, execute them as well as I can, accept where they end up, then there’s a chance.”