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.
Quick Guide Starting times for the opening round
Show
06:35 Todd Hamilton (US), Justin Leonard (US), Jack McDonald
06:46 Tom McKibbin, (a) Calum Scott, Alexander Noren (Swe)
06:57 Michael Hendry (Nzl), Vincent Norrman (Swe), Jesper Svensson (Swe)
07:08 Daniel Hillier (New Zealand), Ryosuke Kinoshita (Japan), Young-Han Song (Kor)
07:19 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
07:30 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Keita Nakajima (Jpn), Adam Scott (Aus)
07:41 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Justin Rose, (a) Jasper Stubbs (Aus)
07:52 Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Matthew Southgate, Justin Thomas (USA)
08:03 Laurie Canter, Nick Taylor (Can), Matt Wallace
08:14 Matteo Manassero (Ita), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Sebastian Soederberg (Swe)
08:25 Austin Eckroat (USA), Zach Johnson (USA), Thorbjoern Olesen (Den)
08:36 John Daly (US), (a) Santiago de la Fuente (Mex), Aaron Rai
08:47 Stewart Cink (US), (a) Dominic Clemons, Chris Kirk (US)
09:03 Stephan Jaeger (German), Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Adam Schenk (USA)
09:14 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Lucas Glover (USA), Adam Hadwin (Can)
09:25 Tony Finau (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
09:36 Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Jon Rahm (Spa)
09:47 Ludvig Aaberg (Sweden), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor)
09:58 Brian Harman (USA), Viktor Hovland (Nor), Sahith Theegala (USA)
10:09 Tyrrell Hatton, Max Homa (USA), Rory McIlroy
10:20 Keegan Bradley (US), (a) Gordon Sargent (US), Will Zalatoris (US)
10:31 Alexander Bjoerk (Swe), Harris English (US), Maverick McNealy (US)
10:42 Sean Crocker (USA), Guido Migliozzi (Italy), (a) Tommy Morrison (USA)
10:53 John Catlin (USA), Gun-Taek Koh (Kor), David Puig (Spa)
11:04 Daniel Bradbury, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Elvis Smylie (Aus)
11:15 Ignacio Elvira (Spa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Min-Kyu Kim (Kor)
11:26 Mason Andersen (USA), Sam Hutsby, Masahiro Kawamura (Japan)
11:47 Ewen Ferguson, Marcel Siem (Dld)
11:58 Yuto Katsuragawa (Jpn), Romain Langasque (Fra), Chengtsung Pan (Tai)
12:09 Angel Hidalgo (Spa), Rikuya Hoshino (Japan), Richard Mansell
12:20 Jorge Campillo (Spa), Corey Conners (Canada), Ryan Fox (NZL)
12:31 Ernie Els (Rsa), (a) Altin van der Merwe (Rsa), Gary Woodland (USA)
12:42 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), (a) Jacob Olesen (Den), Henrik Stenson (Zwe)
12:53 Billy Horschel (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Victor Perez (Fra)
13:04 Jordan Smith, Sepp Straka (Aut), Brendon Todd (US)
13:15 Denny McCarthy (US), Adrian Meronk (Pol), Taylor Moore (US)
13:26 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Jason Day (Aus), Rickie Fowler (US)
13:37 Alex Cejka (Germany), Eric Cole (USA), Kurt Kitayama (USA)
13:48 Dean Burmester (RSA), Darren Clarke, JT Poston (USA)
14:04 Dustin Johnson (US), Joost Luiten (Ned), Phil Mickelson (US)
14:15 Padraig Harrington, Matthew Jordan, Davis Thompson (USA)
14:26 Wyndham Clark (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)
14:37 Patrick Cantlay (US), Xander Schauffele (US), Tiger Woods (US)
14:48 Sam Burns (US), Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Collin Morikawa (US)
14:59 Matthew Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Cameron Smith (Aus)
15:10 Scottie Scheffler (US), Jordan Spieth (US), Cameron Young (US)
15:21 Akshay Bhatia (US), Tom Hoge (US), Sami Valimaki (Fin)
15:32 Ben Griffin (USA), Emiliano Grillo (Argentina), Mackenzie Hughes (Canada)
15:43 Joseph Dean, Andy Ogletree (USA), Yannik Paul (GER)
15:54 Charlie Lindh (Zwe), (a) Luis Masaveu (Spa), Ryan van Velzen (Rsa)
16:05 Kazuma Kobori (Nzl), (a) Jaime Montojo (Spa), (a) Liam Nolan
16:16 Denwit Boriboonsub (Tha), Daniel Brown, (a) Matthew Dodd-Berry
16:27 Sam Horsfield, Aguri Iwasaki (Jpn), Jeung-Hun Wang (Kor)
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.
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“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.