British Open: Nothing to lose for those chasing Shane Lowry in finale
The British Open leaderboard entering Sunday’s finale is Shane Lowry and then “everyone else”. But that leaves everyone else with nothing at all to lose.
Singer Janis Joplin wasn’t much of a golfer, bless her. But when she belted out that freedom was having “nothin’ left to lose” she was as spot-on as any of golf’s talking heads or celebrated gurus. After three rounds of the British Open Championship at Royal Portrush, the leaderboard is a billboard who’s who of Nothing-left-to-lose versus Everything-to-prove.
Lee Westwood leads the pack of those willing to jettison expectations utterly while throwing caution into the wind. On Friday Westwood told the press, “I literally don’t care anymore.” Then, as if to double down on detachment, he added, “I just go out there and have fun. I’m 46 years old and still competing with these young lads. [I] won last year. There is no pressure on me.”
To illustrate his newfound Zen, Westwood fired his long-time caddy and hired his girlfriend to carry the bag, giving golf orthodoxy the middle finger. Now the resurgent Brit sounds as if he could be getting his mental coaching from 29-year-old Brooks Koepka, who said on Thursday, “I actually don’t have to do much thinking. I just go out and play.”
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Sports adage says beware the man, or the team, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, but with so much expert not-caring going on, does anyone care to catch leader Shane Lowry, the Irishman and local favorite who enters Sunday’s final round with a four-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood?
Lowry’s third round 63 put him at 16 under par and secured him a place in the record books, as he posted the lowest-ever 54-hole total at the British Open. The affable Irishman cared enough to get visibly emotional at the heartfelt show of support he received from the hometown fans as he made his way up the eighteenth hole Saturday.
Among those with everything to prove in what figures to be a fascinating British Open final round are three golfers who end up on the perennial list of “Best Without a Major”: Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, and J.B. Holmes. Each boasts a handful of big wins on world-class courses, and each needs a major to prove their major championship mettle.
Strangely enough, it’s shaping up to be the Have-nots versus the Want-nots in what figures to be an epically stormy final round Sunday. Lowry is playing historically great golf, though finds himself up against that old sports saw that holds that pros can’t go low two days in a row.
Look for a final round with as many ups-and-downs as the Links at Dunluce, as Lowry comes back to the fold and could-care-less pursuers like Koepka and Westwood make devil-may-(not)-care runs from behind.
Next. Even a four-shot lead is no lock at the British Open. dark
In the end maybe Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, or Rickie Fowler–caring just enough but not too much, in the classic Goldilocks fashion–end up duking it out down the stretch with the Irishman for whom victory means the world.