1.        Golf is in good hands

While it’s unlikely we’ll see any golfer resonate culturally as much as Tiger Woods did/does it’s still safe to say golf is in excellent hands going forward. Four amateur players (Jordan Niebrugge, Oliver Scniederjans, Ashley Chesters and Paul Dunne) finished within the top 30 and the race for the Silver Medal, so often a non-factor on the final day, became a real feature.

Arguably the most notable of all the amateur performances was the man that finished last of those aforementioned players, Paul Dunne. Although he struggled mightily on the final day his performance during the first four, which worked him in to the final group on Monday, set headlines across the globe.

However, it’s easy to forget that Jordan Spieth is younger than all of the amateur players aside from Niebrugge; whose birthday falls a matter of days after Spieth’s. It is Jordan himself that is the true future of golf, the one man amongst all of golf’s youth who has shown he has the ability to win as many Majors as he pleases.

2.        Rory’s return will be fun

Whilst The Open wasn’t exactly short on drama it was hard not to consider how much better it could have been with the presence of the world’s number 1 ranked golfer. His ankle injury was obviously unfortunate for him personally but it also denied us the chance to watch him defend his title.

You have to feel that his time away from the game - having to sit through the frustrations of watching a Major Championship on TV - will give him extra motivation when he returns, and that budding rivalry with Spieth will turn in to an absolute classic for years to come.

3.        Dustin, Sergio and Jason – forever the bridesmaids

Again three of the games nearly men came close, again they faltered close to the finish line. Dustin Johnson, who looked invincible for the first two rounds, completely collapsed over the weekend; seeing his score tumble from 10 under to eventually settle on 4 under, a tie for 49^th. Clearly he has all the physical tools to win a Major but as of yet he hasn’t been able to keep the mental aspect of his game in check for four consecutive rounds.

The failures of Jason Day and Sergio Garcia on Monday weren’t quite as egregious. Both played pretty solid rounds of golf but when it really mattered they were both missing that little something.

It was agonising watching Day miss his putt to force himself in to the play-off on the 18^th. You’d have thought, given the situation he was in, that he’d give the putt every chance. Sadly it was a rather timid effort that rested well short of the hole, a metaphor for his previous experience in majors if ever there was one.

For Sergio it was the same old story. He came out of the gate like a house on fire; sinking every putt he saw on the front nine before his putter went icey cold during the home stretch.

Anytime I watch these guys play I find it hard to convince myself all three won’t win a Major one day. Here’s hoping that’s the case!

4.        No better place for golf

The Old Course really is the perfect venue for a Major. We’ve seen some courses in the past, notably those used for past US Open’s, that are too punitive, turning tournaments into dreary affairs where everybody struggles and the winning score is somewhere around par.

Whilst St.Andrews can behave like this when the wind really picks up - as it did before the suspension of play early on Saturday morning - for the most part it’s the ideal blend of challenging holes and holes that allow for scoring. As we saw on Monday, seemingly every player near the top of the leaderboard got off to a fast start only to really struggle on the back nine.

It made for a fascinating tournament and I for one can’t wait for The Open to return here in the future.

5.        Tiger isn’t close

After his performance at The Greenbrier there were some suggestions, most notably from the man himself, that Tiger Woods’ game was getting closer to where he wanted it. Whilst it would be unfair to denounce that statement based on one tournament's performance, it’s not like the performance at The Greenbrier was THAT impressive.

He finished in a tie for 32^nd place. That’s obviously better than missing the cut, his default setting prior to that, but it’s still not exactly Tiger Woods. St.Andrews was supposed to be a comfortable setting for him; somewhere where he’d enjoyed success before and the wide fairways would better suit his erratic play off the tee. Unfortunately it was a poor performance from the first hole onwards, where he dumped his second shot straight in the Swilcan Burn.

On to the PGA for Tiger and everybody else for the last Major of the year. 

                                                                                                                                     Harrison Ryle

                                                                                                                                     harrison.ryle@foremostgolf.com