Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Off Topic => Sports Arena => Topic started by: Villa Lew on January 05, 2023, 07:43:57 PM
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This time last year
Scheffler had never won on the PGA tour
Mickelson was a defending major champion
Cam Smith wasn't even in the top 20
DeChambeau was ranked higher than McIlroy
Wonder what this year will bring, a long awaited grand slam for Rory would be good.
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A good start to the season for Jon Rahm, winning The Tournament of Champions by 2 shots with a 10 under 63, Matt Fitzpatrick finished joint 7th.
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Massive collapse form Morwikana though, and on a course that isn't hard either by their standards. I think he had a 7 shot lead after 6 holes in the FR.
His short game really got found out at the same time as his putter went cold.
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Just booked a trip to St Andrews for four days with some mates. I've been before and played there, the others are new to links golf.
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Just booked a trip to St Andrews for four days with some mates. I've been before and played there, the others are new to links golf.
Do you get to play on the grass or do you have to carry a mat round to play off?? Saw that online last year and didn’t know if that was standard or just a response to a particular weather. Think I’d need a search party if get stuck in some of the pot bunkers :-)
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Mats are obligatory during 'winter'. We are heading up first week of April, so no mats.
Bunkers can be brutal...
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Good effort from Charley Hull finishing joint 2nd in the Tournament of Champions in Florida, hopefully this is the year we see her, if not winning, at least be in contention for one or more of the Grand Slams.
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Superb birdie on the last hole, gives Rory a one shot victory over Patrick Reed in Dubai.
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Superb birdie on the last hole, gives Rory a one shot victory over Patrick Reed in Dubai.
Good work Rory!!
I actually don’t mind Reed because he doesn’t hide the fact he’s an arse…majority of them are with LIV in Mickeltwat, Watson, Koepka, Johnson
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England's Daniel Gavins wins for the 2nd time on the European Tour, nearly blew it, leading by 2, on the par 5 18th drove into the water, ended up with a very good putt for a double bogey 7 to win by one shot.
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Been a good couple of days for the Brits, Justin Rose has just won The Pebble Beach Pro-Am by 3 shots, finishing on 18 under.
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Nice to see Rose playing well again. Always nice to see Pebble Beach too if in the tournament seems a bit half arsed.
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Good to see Tiger playing his first tournament for 7 months on the PGA tour, hopefully injury wise he has a better 2023 than he did in 2022, when he only played 3 competitive events.
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Good to see Tiger playing his first tournament for 7 months on the PGA tour, hopefully injury wise he has a better 2023 than he did in 2022, when he only played 3 competitive events.
Yep, good to see him making misogynistic gestures as well.
Bloke has always been a twat.
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John Rahm returns to number 1 in the world with a win in California, now already has 3 wins this year, not bad with the Masters only a few weeks away.
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Rory finishes 1 shot behind the winner in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he's a Man Utd fan, so today's not been a great day for him!
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World number one Jon Rahm has withdrawn from The Players Championship with a stomach bug.
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Local boy Aaron Rai in joint 4th place 5 off the lead, going into the last round, with a 65, which included a hole in one on the famous 17th. Tommy Fleetwood also joint 4th, Scheffler leading by 2 shots.
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Very comfortable win by 5 shots for Scottie Scheffler, looks in pretty good form for The Masters in just over 3 weeks time. A brilliant back nine of 29 from Tyrell Hatton, as he finished with a 65 to take 2nd place, good tournament also for Viktor Hovland finishing joint 3rd, not so good for Aaron Rai, after his hole in one yesterday at th 17th, he hit his tee shot in the water and ended up with a triple bogey 6.
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Good weekend for the Brits, Matthew Baldwin, after 200 events, wins for the first time in a tournament in South Africa, also good to see Tommy Fleetwood returning to form on the PGA tour, finishing 3rd in Florida, 2 behind the winner.
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Rory beaten by Cameron Young on the 19th hole in the WGC Match Play semi final. Surprisingly Scheffler loses to Sam Burns in the other semi.
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Admittedly the field was poor, as the top players were competing in the WGC Match Play, but still good to see Matt Wallace winning for the first time on the PGA tour. He won by 1 shot with a final round of 66, his first victory in nearly 5 years.
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At the age of 65 Sandy Lyle has announced he is retiring after this week's Masters. Without doubt one of Britain's greatest golfers, best remembered for his famous fairway bunker shot at Augusta's 18th in 1988, which he went on to birdie and became the first Brit to win The Masters, also of course he won The Open in 85 at Sandwich.
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Going to be a wet and chilly Masters by the looks of it, you'd think that should hamper the bombers and slow the greens up a bit.
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Yeah it's not looking great, Saturday looks like being the worst day with heavy rain all day. Would love to see Rory win it, apart from missing the cut at The Players, has been in good form, but if I had to choose a winner, it would be Scheffler.
Oddschecker have got Scheffler and Rory joint favourites at 7/1, Rahm 9, Spieth 16, Cantlay 18, Thomas 20, Finau, Smith and Schauffele 22, Day, Johnson and Morikawa 25, best Englishman Fitzpatrick 45.
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I’m liking the 33/1 on Max Homa
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Not a great round from Rory, got a lot of catching up to do, 7 behind the leaders. After 4 putting Rahm had a double bogey 6 on the first, but still ended up one of the joint leaders with a 65, that's not a bad last 17 holes.
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A very ragged round from Rory.
If it helps. To view the golf.
Open up Official site.
Click on Leaderboard. Selecting traditional view is less painful on the eyes.
https://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/index.html
Then click on a player.
Move cursor over scorecard/hole (haven't tried a touchscreen), and if it highlights in green, video can be selected of shots on each hole. Almost live if they are out on course.
Worked with most players I watched yesterday, with the odd "video not available" for some shots.
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It was a bit scary those trees falling, thankfully no one was hurt or even worse, mind you they're a tough lot those patrons, it probably didn't bother them.
As it's looking pretty unlikely we're gonna have a home winner, Rose, the best placed Brit, is 8 behind the leader, what be great, if the amateur Sam Bennett were to beat the LIV Brooks Koepka by one shot, with a winning putt on the last hole, extremely unlikely, but you never know.
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Not surprisingly Tiger has withdrawn, sadly it looks doubtful that we will be seeing him play again in The Masters.
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Rahm on 10 under leads by 2 from Koepka and Spieth going into the back 9.
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No pressure for Rahm but he has to win and keep the sports washers esp vulgar Mickelson at bay!
Go Jon!!
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Mickelson clubhouse on 8 under after a round of 65, Spieth ruined his chance of joining him with a bogey on the 18th.
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Still a few to go but I never saw Koepka blowing up like this.
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Yeah Koepka was poor, he only started getting a few birdies, when it was too late, but well done to Jon Rahm, major number 2 and I would have thought quite a few more to come. No longer a fan of his, but fair play to Mickelson finishing joint 2nd is some effort, at the age of 52.
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Good to see Matt Fitzpatrick winning again, beating Jordan Spieth on the 3rd play off hole at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina, his first victory since his US Open win last year.
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Was good to see…could do without all the caddy lying down to read lines though…
Not sure how Speith’s putt on first extra hole missed but great approach from Fitz on the third
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Jason Day wins the Byron Nelson in Texas, his first victory in 5 years, also a good tournament for Tyrrell Hatton finishing joint 5th, with the PGA starting on Thursday.
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Frost delays the start of the PGA, that's a new one on me for a Grand Slam.
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Good to see 2 Brits on the top page of the leaderboard, Justin Rose, not a surprise, Callum Tarren is, Rory in contention joint 10th 5 off the lead on level par, surprised to see Jon Rahm well down the leaderboard on +4.
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Looking like the winner is probably gonna be either Koepka or Hovland, although you certainly can't rule out Conners. The pundits reckon Rose and McIlroy are still in with a shout, can't see it, if there is one player, who comes from the pack it's likely to be Scheffler.
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A disaster on the 16th fairway bunker sadly ended Viktor's chances, but he's getting closer in the Grand Slam, don't think it'll be too long, before he wins one, well done Koepka a deserved winner. Star of the Championship was club pro Michael Block, finishing joint 15th, which included a slam dunk hole in one, the highest position a club pro has finished since 1986 at the PGA.
US open only 3 1/2 weeks away.
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A great effort from Cornishman Harry Hall in finishing joint 3rd in the PGA event in Texas, sadly his drive on the 18th went in the water, blowing his chances of winning or going into a playoff.
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Well done on 20 year old Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin on getting his first victory on the DP World Tour at the European Open in Germany, could he be the next Rory McIllroy in the making?
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Great effort from Viktor Hovland in winning Jack's tournament on the first hole of the play off, gotta be one of the favourites for the US Open in 11 days time.
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PGA / LiV and DP world Tour merge….pga/dp couldn’t resist getting their sticky fingers on the Saudi bloody money.
Gonna see that smug tw@ Mickelson all over the golf media now
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So it was never about morals then?
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Roll out the welcome mat - pathetic.
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Yeah it's a sad day for golf.
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Every man has his price.
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An amazing putt of 72 feet wins it for Canadian Nick Taylor in his own Open, beating Tommy Fleetwood in a play off.
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Next few days are gonna be great TV viewing for me, starting with the US Open tomorrow, then from Friday watching the Ashes during the day and the golf in the evening.
Bookies have got Scheffler favourite at 6/1, Rahm 10, Koepka 11, Rory 12, Cantlay and Hovland 16, Schauffele 18 and Smith 25. Wouldn't totally rule out an English win, Hatton and Fleetwood hitting a bit of form, even defending Champ Fitzpatrick has show a bit of an improvement.
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Rory only one behind the leaders, would love him to finally win a major again, but can see Scheffler coming from behind to win it.
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Yes, good to see Rory in contention for this one. He seems to do well on the last day of majors (apart from that Masters) so fingers crossed.
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I'd quite like to see RICKIE! win it (sorry, Bianca has ruined that name for me for all time I think). I remember him being talked up as one of the real hot propects coming through, but his game just collapsed.
If not, then Rory of course.
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Leona Maguire won the Meijer LPGA Classic earlier so hopefully Rory can make it an Irish double today.
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Love watching Rory but think it's a mental block now and maybe that 5th major will never be.
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Yeah putting once again let him down, gonna be interesting to see how he does at the Open, it's at Hoylake and he has won there. Well done to Clark, only won his first PGA title last month and now a major winner.
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Yeah putting once again let him down,
I don't know what the official stats are on that, but just watching yesterday his putting seems bang average.
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Yep, wasn't he top of the stats for hitting greens in regulation and possibly also fairways off the drive? He missed a simple birdie putt on one of the par 5s early on, really pushed it.
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Love watching Rory but think it's a mental block now and maybe that 5th major will never be.
Not sure I'd agree with that although it might come into play if he was in contention on the last day of The Masters. Disappointing for him to lose to a guy named after a hotel but he just seemed to go cold with the putter yesterday. I think he'll win a couple of more majors but it's tough with all the top-level players around these days.
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I felt the next time Rory was in contention he needed to win it. He didn't so I think that's him done not because he's not good enough but because of the pressure.
He'll certainly get a few more top 10's though.
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I felt the next time Rory was in contention he needed to win it. He didn't so I think that's him done not because he's not good enough but because of the pressure.
Just watch him win The Open now. ;)
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Rory Mcllroy "If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth I would retire, that's how I feel about it".
Well said Rory, top man.
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It's a disaster, The Open and The Ashes are gonna clash this week, does it not occur to the R & A and the ECB that there is a very large number of sports fans, who want to see both. I'm not a happy bunny, anyway off to Currys to buy a 2nd tele!
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Rory Mcllroy "If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth I would retire, that's how I feel about it".
Well said Rory, top man.
Yes well said, but it's probably easier to be principled when you're worth a couple of hundred million. :)
Nice to see him win yesterday but it'll be tough to win 2 weeks in a row. Will be rooting for him and Lowry though.
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Very rare that anyone’s wins the Scottish Open and The Open.
I’m going Scheffler.
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Yeah it is, Mickelson did it last in 2013, not sure if anybody else has, one good thing should be in Rory's favour is, he won it last time it was played at Hoylake in 2014.
Bookies have got him joint favourite with Scheffler at 8/1, then Rahm 12, Smith 16,Koepka and Hovland 20, Cantlay, Fowler, Fleetwood and Hatton 22, Schauffle 25, Lowry 28, Morikawa, Johnson and Spieth 30.
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Superb round of 5 under 66 from amateur Christo Lamprecht, also good round of 69 from Hoylake member Matthew Jordan.
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Tommy Fleetwood is in great form & as been there or thereabouts the past few tournaments .
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Yeah finishes with a 66 joint leader.
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Despite taking two shots in the bunker on the last hole, Rory still managed to save his par and finished on level par with a 71, so very much still in it, which can't be said for Justin Thomas, who finished with a 82.
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Tommy Lad Fleetwood finishes with a par 71, now in 2nd place 5 behind the leader Harman. Not a great leaderboard, Spieth the only big name in the top 10, probably as good as chance ever Tommy will have of winning it. Rory needs to find his form of last week, if he's gonna be in contention.
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Hoping Harman comes back to the pack in the inclement weather to make it interesting. If he does, anyone under par after 2 rounds could be in the mix.
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Superb 63 from Rahm
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Really impressed with Harman today, thought he would go back to the pack, but he kept his nerve, a solid round, only player I think will catch him is probably Rahm.
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Harman seems too rock steady in his play to throw it away tomorrow. Going to take a special round, along the lines of a 62 or 63 from someone currently at 5/6 under to have a chance of beating him
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Good response from Harman follows a bogey 6, with a birdie 2.
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Rory hanging on by the skin of his teeth.
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Harman looks way too solid to throw this away now. He had a slight wobble but is right back on form. Someone at -7 or -6 is going to have to have perhaps the greatest back 9 in Open history to put him under pressure
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That's a turn up bogey for Harman.
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Well done to the local boy Matthew Jordan.
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Tremendous stuff from Harman, admittedly nobody put any pressure on him, but that was some performance. As for Rory the wait continues.
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PGA / LiV and DP world Tour merge….pga/dp couldn’t resist getting their sticky fingers on the Saudi bloody money.
Gonna see that smug tw@ Mickelson all over the golf media now
This popped up on my Youtube feed this week.
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Going into the final round joint leader with American Lilia Vu, sadly, after bogeys at the 4th and 5th holes, Charley Hull was never in contention to win her first major at the Women's Open. The American won comfortably by 6 shots, with Hull in second place.
I remember seeing Hull compete at the Solheim Cup, when she was just 17 and she looked then that she was to go on to be one of the top players in the world. Hasn't worked out like that so far, but as well as finishing runner up yesterday, she also was 2nd in the US Open, so perhaps, she is at last starting to fulfill her potential, still only 27, next year could be a big year for her.
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Great end of the season for Viktor Hovland winning the FedEx Cup by 5 shots, I would have thought his first major win will come fairly soon and also good news with the Ryder Cup only a few weeks away. Also good to see World number 394 England's Todd Clements win his first DP World Tour title with a final round of 9 under par 63 at the Czech Masters.
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Luke Donald has taken a bit of a gamble, choosing Ludvig Aberg as one of his captain's picks, aged 23 turned pro only 2 1/2 months ago has played 9 events and won his first title on Sunday, the European Masters.
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Think it’s great, LIV has caused a proper change of the guard in Europe…was a good time to move on from Westwood, Poulter, Garcia etc…only really Casey of those who defected that might be missed.
Think it will be a real close one, expect to see Aberg, Hojland, MacIntyre, Straka etc properly emerge as the future.
USA seem to have more issues with selection of Thomas (who is a no brainer to me) causing lots of moans & only having Koepka of the LIV mob.
Best thing about it all is no Mickelson…hopefully never have to endure him in it again.
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Had a few days golfing in Ireland with sensible green fees. All in proximity to Dalkey south of Dublin, Woodenbridge, Powerscourt and Dun Laoghaire highly recommended.
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Had a few days golfing in Ireland with sensible green fees. All in proximity to Dalkey south of Dublin, Woodenbridge, Powerscourt and Dun Laoghaire highly recommended.
Are we looking at the 2025 Ryder Cup team, or is that a bit too soon for you?
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As a ball spotter Lew !
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Surprised to read this. https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/66744858
Not sure if this is necessary. Being Irish, I'm happy enough to have The Open on the island of Ireland e.g. at Royal Portrush or Royal County Down, so don't see the need to host it in the Republic.
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Surprised to read this. https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/66744858
Not sure if this is necessary. Being Irish, I'm happy enough to have The Open on the island of Ireland e.g. at Royal Portrush or Royal County Down, so don't see the need to host it in the Republic.
It does seem odd as there’s more than enough English/Scottish/ NI courses on the rota already.
I’m surprised there’s no Welsh course at all if they’re looking to expand the rota.
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Probably only Royal Porthcawl in Wales that makes the grade.
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Great comeback from Europe, after going 4 down in yesterday morning foursomes, scores level going into tomorrow's singles.
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The super rookie Ludvig Aberg paired with Hovland, other pairings Rahm/Hatton, Lowry/Straka and Rory/Fleetwood, come on Europe.
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4 0 up what a start!!
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BOO!
Had 3-1.
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4 0 up what a start!!
I'd have taken that beforehand.
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4 0 up what a start!!
I'd have taken that beforehand.
I’d give it all up for the omission of the USA USA USA noise.
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Decent afternoon too from what looked a sticky situation at times
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Decent start from the Europeans so far this morning.
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Great start this morning too, I hope we annihilate them over the rest of the weekend. See the excuses have started too, Johnson saying there's a bug going round their camp. Yeah, whatever.
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Hovland/Aberg have beaten Scheffler/Koepka 9 & 7, biggest ever foursomes win.
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As well as it's going, the afternoon fourballs will be key, because even though they've been bad in the team events, the US are always strong in the singles. And I don't think Rahm is at his best, one guy you'd expect to be a banker at the singles.
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The US made it closer than expected but Europe have done it. E-E-C, E-E-C....
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Still probably gonna be 17-11 which is a fairer reflection of the week as a whole than had Europe squeaked it at the end.
Sky's coverage has been the only annoying thing. Very little actual live golf shown and the amount of adverts is getting ridiculous now.
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A bit more nervy than I would have liked, but that was fantastic Europe.
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Tremendous performance from Europe, thoroughly enjoyed the Americans getting a pasting!
Agree that Sky’s coverage was bloody awful.
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Faldo was in full Partridge mode and I agree there were too many breaks. They could vary that music coming in and out of the breaks, over every RC weekend I hear it in my sleep.
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Tiger returning to competitive golf yesterday for the first time since withdrawing from the Masters and having ankle surgery, shot a 3 over par 75, which under the circumstances is not bad.
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Jon Rahm becomes the biggest name yet to join the LIV tour, the concern now is will there be more to follow.
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Jon Rahm becomes the biggest name yet to join the LIV tour, the concern now is will there be more to follow.
Indeed, just wish they would be honest and say it’s the money & less tournaments they are going for rather than spouting nonsense like Rahm has about loving team golf.
For the 400m+ most would park their ethics & happily be shipped to Riyadh and be given a ring side seat to the Tuesday lunchtime beheading sessions