The Women’s British Open is on the brink of something special. Following the success of England’s Georgia Hall at her home Open last year, women’s golf was plastered over every news channel in the country. Now, women’s golf has a chance to grow exponentially in Britain and across the globe.

Branching Out

Hall became the first Englishwoman since Karen Stupples in 2004 (also the British Open) to win a Major. In 2016, Brooke Henderson (PGA Championship) became the first Canadian women’s Major winner since 1968 before Ariya Jutanugarn (2016 British Open & 2018 U.S. Open) became the first Thai golfer, man or woman, to win a Major. In June this year, Hannah Green became the first Australian woman to win a Major since Karrie Webb’s seventh title in 2006.

There’s no denying a South Korean domination of the Majors; winning 47% in the 5-Major era and three of four Majors so far this year. However, we really haven’t seen a domination of the biggest titles by a single player since Inbee Park’s seventh & most recent win in 2015.Woburn Golf Club could very well favour Europeans and, in particular, Brits. This is an opportunity.

Money Talks

The purse is often cited as the main disparity between the men & women’s game. But money doesn’t come from nowhere. If you want an organisation to dish money out, they’ll need to get money in first! So…Chase fans, and the money will come. And I’d be willing to bet that Georgia Hall’s heroics at Royal Lytham & St Annes will have earned some fans. Incidentally, the British Open purse has risen by 40% to $4.5million (around £3.7million) since last year.

A Few to Watch

Ko Jin-young won her first Major at the ANA Inspiration before going on to win her second at The Evian Championship. As such, she is the obvious favourite. Ariya Jutanugarn isn’t far behind, having progressed methodically through this year’s Majors with results of T61-T26-T10-5. Her sister Moriya was just one stroke behind her last week (T6, -10), though. Moriya also caught the eye with an impressive closing 5-under 67 (T12) to at the ANA Inspiration in April.

Lexi Thompson was restored as America’s poster girl after returning from a mental break from the sport, and looked promising with 3-T2 in the first two Majors but fell away a bit (T26-CUT) in the two Majors since.

Charley Hull

Despite Georgia Hall being the reigning Champ, England’s best hope arguably comes in the form of 23-year-old starlet Charley Hull. She was the Ladies European Tour Player of the Year as a teenager and has wins on both the LET and LPGA Tour, including and LET title at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in January. This year, she notched a T12 at the ANA Inspiration and a T16 at the U.S. Women’s Open. If that wasn’t enough, Hull became a member of Woburn Golf & Country Club- host of this week’s tournament- aged 11 so will have a better knowledge of the course than most.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

As Major season drew to a close at Royal Portrush, the world’s elite golfers breathed a sigh of relief; safe in the knowledge that Brooks Koepka’s torment of them was over for another year. And then… Memphis.

Tough Task in Tennessee

TPC Southwind didn’t yield an abundance of birdies in the way that many PGA Tour courses do. Methodical golf could keep you out of trouble, but attacking the course was risky business. Just ask Jordan Spieth, who managed 7 birdies to a bogey and two triples for par on Thursday and 8 birdies to two bogeys & two doubles on Sunday.

Setting up Sunday

Jon Rahm flew out the blocks with an 8-under 62 before Matt Fitzpatrick went 67-64 for the lead entering the weekend on -9. Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka leapt to the top on Saturday. Rory set the course alight with his 62 to reach -12, whilst Koepka’s 64 put him one shot back. Fitzpatrick sat one further back on -10.

Sunday Sensation

McIlroy entered Sunday leading World No.1 Koepka by one stroke, with aggressive golfers like Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood & Bubba Watson lurking in the shadows. On paper, we were set for a thrilling contest on Sunday. But a contest it was not, as Koepka birdied three of four holes between the third & sixth whilst Rory made the turn with nothing but pars. Despite Webb Simpson firing a 64 to reach -13 and solo second, two more birdies at the 10^th & 17^th helped Koepka cruise to a three-stroke win on -16. However, it wasn’t the birdies that made it clear the contest was over at the turn but rather the fact that he was never in danger of making a bogey.

Rory fell to +1 with two bogeys and a birdie as Bubba, Rahm, Fitzpatrick & Ian Poulter all took the methodical approach to 1-under rounds. Fleetwood’s -4 gave him a T4 (-11) result; a second consecutive week of impressive golf on a big stage without ever truly threating top spot.

Killer Koepka

Sure, we all want to see a neck-and-neck contest, but any true golf fan could sit back and admire the sheer brilliance of the world’s greatest golfer as he played X Factor golf. The amount of times we heard the word “Wow!” from commentators was matched only by the phrase “That’s why he’s World Number One”. We’re all aware of his incredible driving ability, but what makes him the best of the best is the fact that there is genuinely no weak area of his game. He had a perfect putter on Sunday and he was magic with a wedge in hand.  I mean, he found the green with a GAP WEDGE from 150 yards! Oh, and finally, he is the only golfer I’ve ever seen with a mental game that could rival that of Tiger Woods.

It took a while, but there’s no doubting that he’s getting the attention his game deserves now. The entire golf world is purring over Brooks Koepka.

Brooks Koepka - What's in the Bag?

Driver: TaylorMade M5

Fairway Wood: TaylorMade M2 Tour HL

Irons: Nike Vapor Fly Pro (3), Mizuno JPX 919 Tour (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7

Putter: Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport 2

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

Portrush & Patriotism

The Open Championship at Royal Portrush was poignant, and Sunday was a celebration. The swarm of fans around the 18^th as Shane Lowry capped his victory has drawn comparisons to Tiger at East Lake, but this moment stands alone. Given that The Troubles are often cited as the main reason The Open didn’t return for 68 years, we witnessed a moment of history as the Northern Irish crowds loudly cheered a Leinsterman to the Claret Jug in united patriotism.

Darren Clarke opened the tournament on the course his house overlooks, followed by Graeme McDowell in his boyhood town. But before the golf had even begun, fans, players and reporters were scrambling for superlatives to heap praise on the venue making its long-overdue return to the Open rota.

Rory McIlroy’s quadruple bogey on the first and eventual Thursday 79 threatened to sour the show. Having entered the tournament as the favourite, McIlroy’s valiant Friday comeback fell a single stroke short of making the cut after 7 birdies to a costly lone bogey. However, the crowd responded to Irishman Lowry’s low-round of the tournament; a blitzing 63 on Saturday to give himself a four-stroke lead for the final day, and suddenly the crowds were singing his name.

Proper Links Golf

The heavens opened along the coastline over the four days, but whilst there was no avoiding getting wet in the rain, spirits could not be dampened. This was what the Europeans would call “proper links golf”. Sunday afternoon saw Portrush turn from tough to outright brutal. In fact, the champion’s closing 1-over 72 was arguably as impressive as his bogey-free 8-under 63. Americans like World No. 1 Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler & Open Champ Jodan Spieth all hoped to mount late charges but fell to +3, +3 and +6 respectively at the mercy of the elements.

Runner-up Tommy Fleetwood was raised on links golf in Sunny Southport, whilst the likes of Lee Westwood (T4), Robert MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton & Danny Willett (T6) cemented a resounding result for British golf.

I find one definitive sign of an entertaining golf tournament is colourful scorecards, and we had that in abundance with everything from Emiliano Grillo’s hole-in-one to David Duval’s 14.

Shane Lowry - What’s in the Bag?

Driver: Srixon Z 585

Fairway Wood: TaylorMade M4

Irons: Srixon Z U85 (driving iron), Srixon Z 785

Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4

Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Exo 2-Ball

Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV

Glove: Srixon

Shane Lowry is officially the Champion Golfer of the Year, and deservedly so. Congratulations, Shane!

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

Popular Portrush

The Open will return to Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951. With The Troubles in Ireland between 1968 and ’98 there was no chance of a return, but times have changed and there will be several smiling faces welcoming this event to a hometown course. Darren Clarke has a home nearby, whilst Graeme McDowell was born in the small town of Portrush along with Brooks Koepka’s caddie, Ricky Elliott. Oh, and Rory McIlroy has some history on this course too, but more on that later.

Lending a local view of the event, Clarke admitted “Obviously we (Northern Ireland) have had our difficulties in the past”, but says that only adds to the “Very, very proud” feeling of hosting an anticipated 215,000 spectators on golf’s biggest stage.

What to Expect

To expect the unexpected would be impossible, given nobody knows what to expect (or, more specifically, what not to expect). We know the weather will have its say, but its lips will remain tightly sealed until such time as it wants to bare its teeth. Serene weather at the Scottish Open last week saw a season-low winning score on the European Tour around the sort of links course that is notoriously punishing, so if the wind holds off then whatever half-cooked scripts had been scrambled together by TV experts and pub pundits can be thrown out the window.

At the Ready

Matt Kuchar and Justin Thomas managed -16 (T20) & -19 (T9) respectively in Scotland, showing that generous weather certainly opens things up to the Americans more. The likes of Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods enter the week with reason for optimism, but it’s Brooks Koepka who possesses the edge (for a change) in the form of aforementioned local caddie Ricky Elliott. Whilst the new 7^th & 8^th holes present a fresh challenge, he may well have the best knowledge of the rest of the course in the entire field. Elliott’s knowledge is, of course, Koepka’s knowledge.

Francesco Molinari defends the Claret Jug that he won primarily thanks to his precision and bogey-avoidance (a bogey-free weekend at Carnoustie is something to behold). However, this year’s winner will likely need to mix a few more birdies in there. Statistically speaking, that puts Matt Fitzpatrick in the mix as he ranks third in Bogeys Per Round (2.30) & fifth in Birdies Per Round (4.46) on the European Tour. Perhaps it will require the more aggressive approach, such as that of Jon Rahm at the Irish Open, to get over the line, but Fitzpatrick is in with a strong shout for his first Top-10 at a Major since T7 at The Masters in 2016.

As for Rory…Sure, he’s World No. 3, has his name on the Claret Jug, is playing a local course of his childhood and has eleven Top-10 finishes and two wins in 13 starts this year… That’s all fine, but it’s all background noise. The real story is something McIlroy did as a 16-year-old amateur. The local starlet blitzed Royal Portrush’s Dunlace Links course to card a 61 that obliterated the course record. And he did it all as a kid.

In Conclusion…

With its extreme unpredictability and outstanding field of talent, an Open Championship at Royal Portrush is a gambler’s nightmare and a golf fan’s dream.

Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

Sunday really was a day for tight sporting battles in the United Kingdom. England won the Cricket World Cup by the finest of margins in a SUPER OVER after drawing with New Zealand, whilst Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in a relentless, record-setting fifth-set tie-break. The memo reached Scotland in time for Frenchman Benjamin Hebert to force a dramatic three-hole playoff with Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger thanks to a scintillating Sunday at The Renaissance Club.

How it Happened

Wiesberger entered the final round with a two-stroke lead over Erik Van Rooyen and looked comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. However, he failed to follow suit as several men took advantage of kind conditions to shoot low. A hard-fought 2-under 69 took him to -22 for the tournament after firing the round of the week with a Friday 61 featuring eleven birdies.

Van Rooyen dropped from fierce challenger to dead & buried inside two holes; following up a birdie at the first with a quadruple-bogey at the second. However, Hebert managed a bogey-free 62 to overturn a 7-stroke deficit for a share of the lead. A pair of pars on the first extra hole was followed by Hebert’s first bogey in 35 holes, although Wiesberger matched that score. But the Austrian’s experience prevailed as Hebert compounded his error with another bogey to Wiesberger’s par on the third extra hole.

It was a second win of the season, sixth on the European Tour and first in the Rolex Series for the 33-year-old. The title comes a week after an impressive T2 at the Irish Open… Watch out Royal Portrush!

Open Qualifiers

Despite the disappointment of a playoff loss, Hebert can seek solace in an Open Championship berth along with Italian Nino Bertasio (4^th) and South African Dylan Frittelli, who won the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic. The headlines, though, will go to Andrew “Beef” Johnston. Just ten days after opening up about his mental health struggles in a gallant & honest article in the European Tour’s Player Blog, the fan-favourite pulled off an incredible 62 of his own to clinch an improbable place at The Open.  He won’t be short of support at Portrush.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

It’s the final tournament before The Open. It’s also the European Tour’s third Rolex Series event of the season, following Jon Rahm’s Irish Open victory last week. Rahm produced a scintillating Sunday of golf with aggression and excellence in equal measure; everything we want to see from superstars in the most lucrative events. This week will be loaded with plenty of stars, with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Matt Wallace & Henrik Stenson joined by Americans Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar & Rickie Fowler.

Love for Links

Lahinch Golf Course set the bar high, but there’s little doubt that The Renaissance Club’s East Lothian links course can fit the bill. It’s ready-made for entertaining golf, with penetrating ball flights and expert precision duly rewarded. Harping back to Rahm’s Sunday 62 in Ireland, we saw how playing fast & hard can not only please the crowds but also produce super-low scores on tough links courses.

Ones to Watch

Russell Knox seems the prime candidate for a home favourite, although Tour rookie Robert MacIntyre certainly fits the “One to Watch” tag. McIlroy is obviously the clear favourite this week, as he will be next week. Eleven Top-10 finishes and two wins, including The Players Championship, in 13 starts this season makes his form unparalleled, although it’s worth noting this is his first event in Europe since The Open last year.

A couple of Englishmen in Matt Wallace and Tyrrell Hatton may be worth keeping an eye on, as World No. 24 Wallace continues to establish himself among the world’s elite and Hatton appears to have finally found a way to tap into that aggressive approach whilst maintaining sufficient composure.

Pick of the Bunch

Martin Kaymer is a name trending in the right direction; north of the leaderboards. In 2019, three missed cuts in 17 events have all been Stateside (no worse than T24 in five European tournaments) and the German has notched three top-10 finishes, including a third, in his last 7 starts. As the biggest name and highest-ranked player in the field without an Open spot, he’s not lacking in motivation.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

The European Tour headed to Ireland’s Lahinch Golf Club for the second of the lucrative Rolex Series events. Jon Rahm became the first man to win 3 Rolex Series events, making it three wins, three top-fives and no worse than T15 in 8 Rolex Series events.

How it Happened

England’s Robert Rock, who combines the roles of European Tour Pro and golf instructor to the stars, entered Sunday atop the leaderboard after a sublime Saturday 60 catapulted him to -13. Eddie Pepperell & Rafa Cabrera Bello started the final round one shot back, with Rahm five shots behind.

Spain’s Cabrera Bello got off to a fast start, with 3 birdies through five compared to Pepperell’s +2 and Rock’s +1 at the same stage. Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger found a run of three birdies on the trot between 5 & 7, as Rahm got into his groove with four birdies to a lone bogey at the turn. Cabrera Bello notched two more birdies, but four bogeys in 6 holes left him on -1 and out of contention whilst Pepperell recovered with three birdies to tie with the Spaniard and overnight leader Rock (level-par) on -13.

Andy Sullivan and Wiesberger both carded 6 birdies and two bogeys to finish on -14 for a share of second, but Sunday belonged to Jon Rahm. An incredible birdie putt from well off the green on No. 2 was followed by a pin-hugger from right of the fairway at the seventh. However, it was a long-range eagle putt at the 12^th that launched him to the top of the pile on 14-under. A bogey at the next proved irrelevant as the World No. 8 sunk a further three birdies for -16 and a two-stroke victory. Ultimately, Rahm was able to do what he does best: Aggressive golf.

The T2 was enough to earn Wiesberger a spot at The Open, alongside Rock (-13, T4) & Paul Waring (-12, T7).

PGA Tour: It’s Your Time, Mr Wolff

When Matthew Wolff gained with PGA Tour card, talk of his unconventional swing spread like wildfire, with his heel-lifting, knee-jerking, club-flailing style about as unique as they come. However, he’s no novelty. In fact, it’s taken just four PGA Tour starts for Wolff to notch his first title at the 3M Open. Bryson DeChambeau (hardly conventional himself) eagled the 72^nd to seemingly steal the victory at the death. However, the newbie also eagled the final hole to leapfrog DeChambeau in sensational style. You could say there were a lot of boys & girls crying Wolff at TPC Twin Cities. With a whacky but efficient swing and superb putting to match, this looks like the birth of a new star… Expect plenty of terrible Wolff-related puns for years to come!

Jon Rahm – What’s in the Bag?

Driver: TaylorMade M5

Fairway Woods: TaylorMade M5 (3-wood & 5-wood)

Irons: TaylorMade P-750 (4-PW)

Wedges: TaylorMade Hi-Toe

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Red

Golf Ball: TaylorMade TP5x

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com