The Open needs fireworks to stave off summer sport overload

TThe Open Championship can struggle in years like this. Even dedicated sports fans get exhausted when a European Championship and the Olympics frame the summer. The Open – like Wimbledon or Test Matches – can feel like it’s been squeezed in somewhere in the middle of the madness.

Against this backdrop, Royal Troon is under pressure to deliver something special. A repeat of last year, when Brian Harman sailed to victory under ugly skies at Hoylake, will not suffice. History is on the side of this beautiful Ayrshire venue; Henrik Stenson’s epic joust with Phil Mickelson here eight years ago was on the last truly gripping Open Sunday.

That the R&A does not want a repeat of Stenson’s 20-under-par total is clear from a glance at the rough. Players could lose their caddies there, let alone their golf balls.

Scottie Scheffler’s excellent touch in 2024 makes him the man to beat. Scheffler’s dominance on the PGA Tour has evoked memories of Tiger Woods in his prime. Even a tie for eighth at the U.S. PGA Championship in May was notable, as Scheffler was in a police cell Thursday morning. Scheffler has won six times this year; the last player to do so in July was Arnold Palmer, who added the 1962 Troon Open to his resume.

The Open, however, is a code that Scheffler has so far failed to crack. A tie for eighth place in 2021 was followed by a tie for 21st and 23rd. Crosswinds could pose problems for Scheffler, but his record so far speaks for itself. He is a perfectly legitimate favorite for the tournament.

“He’s the best player in the world and in terms of teammates he’s great for us in terms of someone we want to get,” said Tommy Fleetwood. “We look at him and are motivated by what he does.

“He’s had an incredible season, won six times and has been in contention as often as he can over the last two years. He’s phenomenal at golf, at a game that’s as unpredictable as it gets.

“The standards are getting higher and higher and the margins are getting smaller and smaller and smaller. To be there all the time and to have a winning streak like he has, it’s just unbelievable. It’s amazing.”

Fleetwood has a big chance here. And so does 2021 champion Collin Morikawa. Bryson DeChambeau deserves huge respect after his US Open win. Rory McIlroy is behaving like someone who has psychologically recovered from an implosion at the same tournament in North Carolina.

We can’t really judge McIlroy’s state of mind until he’s in pole position to win that fifth major again. What’s clear is that there would be no more popular recipient of the Claret Jug. Tom Kim and Alex Noren look like lively outsiders. The Open hasn’t produced back-to-back winners since 2008.

This will be the final Open under Martin Slumbers as CEO of the R&A. Slumbers has been an undisputed force for good in his sport since taking the job at St Andrews in 2015. Golf and its oldest major are elevated with Slumbers at the helm.

“I’m very pleased that we have 62.3 million people playing golf in our part of the world,” he said. “And let’s not forget that golf declined globally pretty much every year between 2016 and 2018. Everyone says, ‘Covid was the thing.’ Well, golf has grown more since Covid than it did during Covid and it’s perhaps the only sport in the world that has grown since Covid.

“We should be incredibly proud of that as a sport. We should write about it. We should talk about it. And we should bang the drum. That’s really, really important.”

Supporting Slumbers’ sentiments, 250,000 spectators will visit Royal Troon during this championship week. “Big sport needs big crowds,” he said. “When I came here in 2016, it surprised me, 170,000 people in a week around this track. It felt a bit empty. The stands weren’t often full. The image wasn’t that great. Big sport is so much better when there are big crowds, a lot of noise and a lot of enthusiasm.”

Slumbers also offered hope to Muirfield, the East Lothian left-winger stuck in Open cold storage since 2013. “We’re going back to Muirfield,” he said. “It’s a brilliant course.”

With Royal Lytham and St Annes also having Open returns, it would come as no surprise to see them chosen for 2027 and 2028. Slumbers won’t be concerned then. What happens on 72 holes at Troon certainly is. The Open needs to prove its worth in a packed sporting calendar.