‘In Birkdale, you can still be aggressive, but you really don’t always have that chance’
Who said that: Rahm, who used the 1st hole as an example. “You could hit driver, but who knows where that ball is going to end up if you’re not accurate.” He also said this: “From what I’ve learned in the past, if you start pulling out drivers in an Open Championship, you can do a good job short term. You can maybe get away with it one round. Over four rounds, you’re going to start finding spots you don’t want to be in, and you’re going to pay the price.”
What it means for a pick: Accuracy off the tee won’t hurt. But approach again will be paramount — if players are hitting something less off the tee, strong iron play will become advantageous. However …
‘OK, it might be in the rough, but it’s not that penal’
Who said that: Rory McIlroy, in talking about one of the effects of the dry conditions at Birkdale. “The big thing, especially off the tee here, is the fairway bunkers and avoiding those,” he said. “You might see some guys being more aggressive off the tee, taking driver, trying to take the fairway bunkers out of play. OK, it might be in the rough, but it’s not that penal, so you get a wedge in your hand and you can figure it out from there.”
What it means for a pick: Bryson DeChambeau has heard some chirps this week. But if Mcllroy’s assessment is right, DeChambeau is in play this week — he won very similarly at the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Opens.
‘The runoff areas were still quite long’
Who said that: Joe Dean, on Monday after his win at the new Last Chance Qualifier. “I was surprised to see the runoff areas were still quite long, the grass,” he said. “Usually you can putt them fine. It’s obviously just nearly putting off the green, but not today. I’m guessing it’s to stop it from drying out too much. Just a 5-iron chip-and-runs and seems to do the trick.”
What it means for a pick: With putting potentially not an option, chipping will be a factor, and possibly even creative chipping, as Dean noted with his mention of a 5-iron chip. The PGA Tour’s top five in strokes gained: around the green this season are Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day and Ben Griffin. On LIV, Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas Detry and Scott Vincent are ranked in the top five in scrambling.
‘You’ve always got to make a choice’
Who said that: In some manner, several players said that, but let’s listen to Tommy Fleetwood’s thoughts.
“It’s an amazingly well-designed golf course because going back to the main goal a lot of the time in links golf is to avoid bunkers, avoid fairway bunkers, avoid pot bunkers, but I feel like there’s always something in play unless you want to be unbelievably sensible and then like you’re always on the back foot of the golf course. You’re always leaving yourself a long way.
“I think it’s an amazingly well-designed golf course for that. I think you’ve always got to make a choice of you’re either taking something on, bringing something into play, or you’re almost playing too safe if anything.
“Yeah, it’s a course that makes you think. I think it’s a course that gives you options. You can hit driver everywhere if you want. There’s never anything stopping you doing that. It’s not how I would see the golf course, but some people will.
“Yeah, I think that’s always a great sign of a great golf course is that there’s — you could sit six people here, and they might think of six different things to do off the tee, and I think that’s always a really good sign.”
What it means for a pick: Open Championships force you to think — the horror! — and Birkdale is for the scholars. What’s the wind doing? What’s the turf look like? How much can you flirt with the bunkers? Where can you be aggressive? Is there any bail-out? Then there’s answering these questions all over again the next day. Then there’s answering these questions on Sunday, when there are just a few holes left. In a practice round at Birkdale, Rahm said he was hitting 6-irons off par-4s — 6-irons! We’ll say that if you’ve reached the Open, you can solve the riddles asked of you, along with being malleable because of ever-changing conditions and just the vagaries of golf — and especially Open Championship golf. But maybe your pick is a former Open winner, or at least a major winner. Or someone invested in analytics; someone who’s done the work ahead of time so any surprises feel a bit less shocking. Or they have a strong caddie. …
‘I think the communication is obviously really important’
Who said that: Fitzpatrick, when asked about the value of caddies this week. “I think the communication is obviously really important,” he said. “Just you’ve got to be on the same page of the shots you’re seeing, particularly in links golf. There’s obviously such a variety that you can play. Birkdale allows you to play a lot of different shots because you might be able to fly on the green, you might be able to bounce it short, you might be able to use a contour to the right or left. That’s links golf.”
What it means for a pick: This week, a caddie must be decisive, reassuring and unstifling. Being a veteran looper will help.
‘It’s a tough environment’
Who said that: McIlroy, when asked about playing an Open at home, which he did last year and in 2019 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. “It’s a tough environment,” he said. “It’s a great environment, but tough in a way that you just feel the extra expectation on your shoulders, and you feel like you’re trying to play well for everyone else and not for yourself. I think there’s already enough pressure on anyone in this field to play well for themselves, so to add that extra layer on top of that is always pretty difficult. Yeah, like Tommy coming back here, for example, he grew up five minutes away, but I feel like Tommy’s more level-headed than I am and maybe won’t — he won’t fall into that trap like I did in 2019. It always seems like it takes me one go round to get it right.”
