This year’s Open Championship was brutal. Picking a winner was hard enough but the conditions made it even more of a challenge. The best man won in Xander Schauffele, with a final round 65 to secure his second major of the year. It was a ruthless round of golf from the world number two and every time he needed to step up, he did. Schauffele was very much under the radar the first two rounds but he hanged in there and was very consistent.
The media spotlight was more on the likes of Shane Lowry and Daniel Brown the first two days, who stood out from the field in some of toughest conditions I’ve ever seen in professional golf. Even some of the best of the longest hitters in the world couldn’t hit some of the par fours in two and watching drivers being hit into the par three 17th hole was crazy. It was great viewing from the sofa!
At the start of the final round, I really felt the world number one Scottie Scheffler was going to push through the field and win The Open by two or three shots but it was the world number two who stepped up. Schauffele made six birdies in the final round and was bogey free. His short game is on a different level to anyone else and he rarely makes a silly mistake, which was what made sure he hanged in there when other top players crumbled in the early stages of the tournament.
I can see him completing the grand slam first out of the current crop of players in the professional game. His game is trending and it suits every type of major, especially The Masters, where I think he will heavily tipped for next year.
The story line of Royal Troon in my opinion was Billy Horschel. When I’ve watched him at the BMW Championship before, I’ve always felt like he had the home crowd with him, even though he is American. The Europeans love him and he always comes across the pond to play on the DP World Tour a few times a year. His West Ham golf bag is a trademark piece of his and all the West Ham fans follow him around shouting West Ham chants and cheering him on.
He’s known to be one of the nicest guys in golf so it was great to see him being in contention going into the last day and seeing how much The Open Championship means to him. His major record in the past has been statistically poor so it’s great to see Billy prove that he can handle the immense pressure of a major championship. He finished with three birdies in a row to finish T-2 with Englishman Justin Rose.