British Open: Winners and losers from the 148th Open at Royal Portrush

Shane Lowry capped off a long week of golf by raising the Claret Jug in a momentous 2019 British Open…for some. For others, maybe it’s a good idea if the R&A takes their time going back to Royal Portrush.

Portrush is a quaint seaside town on the north coast of Northern Ireland home to 6,454 people according to the 2011 census. Over four days at the British Open, more than 237,000 patrons strolled the grounds, transforming Portrush into the mecca of golf on planet Earth.

The British Open is the world’s golfing championship. It is the only major played outside the U.S. and crowns more international champions than any other major. But the British Open’s return to Northern Ireland profoundly highlighted the progress of the two countries that occupy the same island, through what else, but golf.

25 years ago, Portrush was incapable of hosting the British Open. More than 30 years of violence known as The Troubles had ripped Northern Ireland apart pitting loyalists against Irish nationalists, Protestants against Catholics.

Even golf, the region’s most sacred game born not far from Northern Ireland, wasn’t safe. Fred Daly, the first Irishman to ever win the British Open was the head-pro at Balmoral golf Club in Belfast. On the morning of August 5th 1976, two men walked into the pro-shop and dropped a bag on the floor. The men exclaimed that the bag contained a bomb and raced out. Daly’s wife, Jean, was working the shop that day. She picked up the bag and walked it out of clubhouse. 15 minutes later, it exploded.

Americans had Dolly Madison to save the paintings when the British burned down Washington. Ireland had Jean Daly.

Deric Henderson, who worked as the Ireland editor for the Press Association, may have summed up best what golf’s place in Ireland is in an interview he gave to The Guardian during this year’s British Open. When referring to the attacks on golf clubs during the troubles, Henderson said, ‘”But they left the tees and the greens alone, because that would have caused us more grief than losing the clubhouse. You can get by without a clubhouse. We’d just put up a temporary one and carry on playing.”‘ (You can read The Guardian piece in its entirety here)

The conclusion of the 2019 British Open demonstrated once again just how powerful sports can be. 25 years ago it was inconceivable to unite 6,000 Irishmen, let alone more than a quarter-million. But as Shane Lowry approached the 18th green on his way to the Claret Jug, all of Ireland cheered. Some in the crowd, undoubtably, had lived through the Troubles. Some may have been on different sides. But for four long days in July, golf brought them together.

With that in mind and remembering that all of Ireland* is a winner, it’s time to take a step down and examine the winners and losers from the week that was (SPOILER: Rory’s a loser).

*Including Guinness sales.

Loser: Rest

The MLB and NBA have adopted what is now the hottest trend in professional sports: load management. Kawhi Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to an NBA title while only playing 60 games in the regular season. Starting pitchers (a seemingly antiquated idea) are largely limited to one hundred pitches or twice through the order, even in the midst of a perfect game. As it turns out, load management doesn’t work so well in golf.

Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, and Gary Woodland took more than month off after the U.S. Open and all missed the cut at the British Open. While Woodland’s absence from the tour schedule is excusable, both Woods and Scott are racing the clock to win majors before their time is up. Woods also similarly took a month off after winning the Masters, and subsequently missed the cut at the PGA Championship. Ironically, Woods’ breakthrough at the 2018 Tour Championship came on the heels of three consecutive weeks of golf.

Who knew that playing golf is the key to being good at golf?

Winner: Rickie Fowler

Fowler earned his 11th top-10 finish in major championships tying for sixth at Royal Portrush.  A Saturday 66 catapulted Fowler near the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday (near being the operative word). Fowler regressed on Sunday, however, playing the back-nine in four over par and dashing his already slim chances of winning. Still, losing by 10 strokes was good enough for Fowler to earn just over $300,000 for the week. They say stress can take years off your life. At 30 years old, Fowler still looks 25.

Loser: Course Knowledge

Few had seen Royal Portrush coming into the 2019 British Open, but a trio of players and one very well-paid caddie had the inside scoop of the championship venue. Rory McIlroy grew up not far from Portrush in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and at 16 years old, shot the course record of 61. Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, and Brooks Koepka’s caddie, Ricky Elliot, are all current members at Royal Portrush.

But if this hometown quartet thought they had an advantage, they were dead wrong. The Dunluce Links showed no mercy. McIlroy began the championship by blasting a tee-shot out of bounds and carding a quadruple bogey at the first on his way to a shooting 78. Even his second round score of 65 wasn’t good enough to make the cut in a big win for bookies everywhere.

Clarke met a similar fate as his younger countrymen, but took a different route. Clarke began his last hole of the second round at even par for the championship needing at worst a bogey to make the cut. The winner of the 2011 British Open made a triple-bogey and missed the cut.

McDowell squeaked his way into the weekend and even found himself in a top-20 bid after shooting 68 on Saturday. All for not, however. McDowell carded a six over par score of 77 in the final round to finish 57th out of the 72 players that made the cut.

Prior to the British Open, Koepka had finished second at the Masters, first at the PGA Championship, and second at the U.S. Open. Looking for his first British Open championship, many believed he had the secret weapon: Ricky Elliot. It turned out that Mr. Elliot was of no help because Koepka turned in his worst major finish of the year (T4).

Loser: Competition

Shane Lowry won the British Open in a historic blowout. In the past 40 years, only Tiger Woods and Louis Oosthuizen have won the championship by six shots or more. If anyone was hoping for a down-to-the-wire finish, they were surely disappointed.

Tommy Fleetwood began the day four shots back of Lowry and never made a move. Through the toughest conditions of the week Fleetwood gave himself ample opportunities to catch the Irishman. But much of Sunday was spent watching Fleetwood miss putts and waiting waiting for the ending.

After 12 hours of Sunday golf, Lowry finally approached the 18th green surrounded by thousands of elated patrons in a scene that made the not-so-captivating 2019 British Open one to remember. The scene at 18 etched Lowry’s place among the greatest scenes in golf history reminiscent of, Tiger Woods at the 2018 Tour Championship, and of Seve, Nicklaus and Watson in British Opens of old.

Winner: Daylight

A normal Irish day in July lasts almost 16 hours. The first two rounds of the British Open began approximately at 1:30 am EST and ended around 4:00 pm EST totaling about 30 hours of British Open coverage through the first two days.

Unlike American majors with their measly 12 hours of daylight forcing half the field the start their round on the 10th hole, the British Open participants meandered their way through Royal Portrush playing the course exactly how it was designed to be played with time to spare. All told, about 54 hours of live British Open coverage was broadcasted around the world.

While 15 hour days in Ireland probably weren’t helpful for working class Americans back home, it was nice to be reminded that while Portrush is undoubtedly beautifully, residents can only see it for seven hours a day during the winter.

Winner: Srixon

Aside from looking remarkably similar, Shane Lowry and J.B. Holmes played in the final game on Saturday both sponsored by Srixon. With Srixon’s new poster-boy, Cameron Champ, missing nine cuts in 2019 already, the company desperately needed a win to keep up with the big boys.

Through Saturday it seemed Srixon had discovered the key to British Open success [insert a new technological breakthrough here]. J.B Holmes then shot 87 on Sunday, and Lowry won the championship in a runaway. Maybe it isn’t the clubs.

Loser: U.S. golf courses

Only outside of the U.S. can the most pristine land remain untouched by condominiums, houses, and strip-malls. Even the inner holes at Pebble Beach are dotted by vacation homes giving the distinct feeling that the cops will show up at any moment and arrest you for trespassing. Not at Portrush. The views were free and unobstructed this week; of winding country highways, to ancient castles, to a coastline that has inspired writers such as Oscar Wilde, Jonathon Swift, and James Joyce to produce some ironically uninspiring works.

American courses just seem claustrophobic compared those on the Open rota, reserving the best land and views for the select few who buy them. Golf is the people’s game in Ireland. Remember that the next time your tee-shot hits a multi-million dollar house that’s way to close to the fairway.